Refocusing on New Business Creation

Highlights of the Corning's Innovation Strategy

• The company's long-range technological strategy emphasizes optic fibers, photonic parts, and leading-edge ceramics

• In 1990s, new business creation had become central to corporate strategy. Over 70% of business is now in growing and new ventures

• From 1995 to 2000, R&D spending increased from 3.4% of sales to 8.4%, from $175 million to $560 million; research space doubled; research personnel increased by 67%, to more than 1,500 people

• In 1998, 57% of the company's sales were from products less than four years old; in 2000, that portion had grown to 84%

• The company's market capitalization rose from $9 billion in 1997 to $65 billion in 2000

• from 1998 to 2000, the Corning's stock price rose tenfold, from less than $25 to more than $280

Main source of information: Venture Catalyst, Donald L. Laurie

Internal Venture Capabilities

Key Features

Compared with many corporate → innovation processes, Corning's internal venture capabilities differ in three ways:

1. Managers have a shared view of trends discontinuities and future events that could have an impact on industry and shape the future; they develop industry, systems, and technology roadmaps to develop the innovation strategy

2. Respect for company's researchers, who are linked to the company's business objectives

3. New business creation is central to achieving corporate strategic and financial objectives; cross-functional teams are involved at every stage of the innovation process; employees recognize the innovation process as the creative source of next-generation systems and products.

 Culture of Innovation

Corning has a long heritage of inventing new technologies and creating new businesses. It presents an excellent example of harnessing the benefits of the in-company ventures and the → business systems approach to new product development and project management. 

Managers of the company operate within a shared context that encompasses anticipation of future events that might have an impact on industry.  >>>

Research, development, and the innovation process are the lifeblood of Corning. It is an integral part of its → culture and → values-driven tradition. It is a highly competitive process ‒ not all projects get funded.

Corning is oriented around → innovation, built on → constant reinvention.  "Discovering Beyond Imagination" is a corporate → slogan that embodies literal truth... More

Vision and Core Technological Competence

Corning invented optical fiber, has deep knowledge of materials, technology, and high-speed manufacturing, and  also has a systems perspective of how the various pieces of an optical communication network fit together. All that knowledge and expertise fostered Corning's clear vision of the large and fast-growing optical communications industry.  >>>

To form the → corporate vision and technological strategy, a series of day-long off-site meetings of company's ten top-line and technical managers were held. These "deep dives" meetings were schedules every four to six weeks. Besides shaping the Corning's technological strategy and finding ways to get close to customers, the meetings were also to build a sense of informality, trust and shared understanding of the future among the ten team members.