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Vadim Kotelnikov    

In-Company Ventures

Managing Radical Innovation through Internal Ventures in a Breakthrough Business

   

Business e-Coach     

  

The need for managing radical innovation separately Innovation Project Management: 2 Routes Radical Project Management Spinouts Innovation Management VK on Innovation Internal Startups Who Can Implement a Radical Innovation Project How to implement an innovation project

  

10 Commandments of Innovation Download PowerPoint presentation, pdf e-book

 

New Product Development: 10 Best Practices Download PowerPoint presentation, pdf e-book

 

Specific Skills of Radical Project Managers

  

The Jazz of Innovation: 11 Guiding Principles Download PowerPoint presentation, pdf e-book

Loose-Tight Leadership

 

Case Studies Corning

Corning, a Fortune 50 company, presents an excellent example of harnessing the benefits of the business systems approach to new product development. New business creation is central to achieving strategic and financial objectives. It's project leadership, not control by top management, that makes the process work... More

Systemic Innovation: 7 Areas  Download PowerPoint presentation, pdf e-book

Case Studies GE Digital X-Ray Project

The Digital X-Ray technology development project at GE was about to die several times. This radical innovation initiative survived and finally prospered mainly due to entrepreneurial skills of the project leader.. More

 

  

Case Studies Quantum

Quantum launched Plus Development division to create an upside opportunity for people after the growth of the parent company has slowed. Using vehicles such as phantom stock it provided a feel and reward of a startup and helped Quantun retain key staffers who might have left the company and formed a startup of their own.  >>>

Case Studies 3M

3M achieved legendary success as an innovator by giving its people room to develop their ideas in quasi-entrepreneurial fashion... More

 

Why In-Company Ventures?

  Surprise To Win: 3 Strategies Download PowerPoint presentation, pdf e-book

Today, in-company ventures, or internal start-ups, a new form of creating and financing a high-tech company are very popular. As companies must stand out from the competition in today's hyper-competitive economy, the growing need for radical innovation and  diversification, both related and unrelated, added another dimension of complexity to managing a large firm.

This complexity is managed through the creation of "virtual" small companies within the large company. Corporate management focuses on the performance of these in-company ventures as wholes, while business unit management tends to everyday matters.3

New ventures established as independent companies, or spinouts, can more readily fulfill their potential. In this case, the entrepreneurs do not have to argue with superiors or put up with interference.

In contrast, the in-company venture enjoys the benefits of the company's greater resources, brand name and corporate image. Getting autonomy for a new in-company venture may help it operate more like an independent. But, Peter Drucker warns, established business is also "the main obstacle to entrepreneurship".

7 Routes to High Profits

 

 

New Upper Management Approaches to Support In-Company Ventures

Many organizations,  willing to exploit the benefits of new product/service development as internal ventures, will need to change their mindset, redefine their concept of organization and loose controls in order to expand their capacity for speed. Mastering of the new business systems approach  Download PowerPoint presentation, pdf e-book to managing projects aimed at development of innovative products and services will help corporations to move with speed to capitalize on emerging technology and market opportunities.

How To Discover Opportunities

Corporations should broaden their tolerance to mistakes and encourage entrepreneurial approaches not only verbally, but by creating conditions by which you can be an entrepreneur. Top management should be ready to face the fundamental conflict between the mainstream organization and the radical innovation team, and manage the relationships between them. If the new business is significantly different from the parent company, you may need to break cultural ties that could get in the way.

Top management should also create an upside opportunity for people in order to retain key staffers who may wish to leave the corporation and form a startup on their own. Using such vehicles as phantom stock and stock appreciation rights (SAR), in-company ventures can provide the feel and reward of a startup.

Freedom to Fail

Noble Failure

Project Leadership

Having a sound research, development, and innovation process is not enough. It's leadership that makes the process Download PowerPoint presentation, pdf e-book work. The key is to select project leaders on the basis of their cross-functional understanding of technology, marketing Download PowerPoint presentation, pdf e-book, and manufacturing, as well as their leadership skills Download PowerPoint presentation, pdf e-book and judgment.

Entrepreneurial Leader: 4 Attributes  Download PowerPoint presentation, pdf e-book

Organizations should also provide an enabling environment to empower the project leaders to act as CEO and thus to contribute their best to the overall corporate strategy Download PowerPoint presentation, pdf e-book.

Entrepreneurial approach to project management that understands the dynamics of the marketplace and competition may require radical change in the project success measurement and control systems of most organizations. Business-oriented controls should focus on market performance, timing and investing for higher return rather than on meeting fixed specifications and constraints. They must resist the temptation to use operating-plan logic to manage new ventures.

Business Synergies Approach to Project Management

Case Studies GM OnStar Project

To create OnStar, a new business based on in-car voice activated communication, General Motors appointed Chef Huber, a nonconformist inside GM. Huber put together a special-purpose multi-disciplinary team... More

  

 

Peter Drucker advice quotes

For in-company ventures in an established business, insulate the new venture from the main business... >>>

Peter Drucker

Sun Tzu advice The Art of War quotes

Victory comes from having

a capable commander and

the government leaving him alone.

Sun Tzu

The Art of War

  

References:

1. "High-tech Start Up", John L. Nesheim

2. "Venture Catalyst", Donald L. Laurie

3. "The Centerless Corporation", Bruce A.Pasternack and Albert. J. Viscio

4. Radical Innovation, Harvard Business School

5. "Every Business is a Growth Business", Ram Charan and Noel. M. Tichy