Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) strategies are widely recommended for established firms to solve growth- and economic performance-related problems that they encounter in highly competitive business environments. However, relatively little empirical light has been shed on practical CE strategy processes and how they function in the everyday lives of organizations. The case study presented herein addresses this underexplored issue by describing how one long-established firm in dire economic circumstances renewed its strategy, as related by an interview with the company's managing director. The analysis draws on the theoretical ideas of corporate entrepreneurship models and focuses on practical activities within the strategic renewal process: What did the case firm actually do to compensate for decreasing turnover and to improve its longer-term position in the market? The findings underscore the progressive, proactive, and impermanent nature of CE strategies; further, they suggest that firms need clients and other external partners with equally ambitious business objectives in order to successfully implement their CE strategies.
Every day, managers face the risk of lawsuits being filed by their workers. Lawsuits are disruptive, time consuming, expensive, and often completely unexpected/unanticipated. To better prepare for this undesirable occurrence, managers must understand the risks involved. Three metrics-frequency, severity, and range-elucidate the risks of employment lawsuits and illustrate how these may vary from one state to the next. Risk management tactics can be deployed strategically to handle the variety of risk present in various locations. These tactics create a defense-in-depth strategy with layered multiple-hurdles to stymie employee depletion of corporate assets. Rather than live in perpetual fear, employers can more successfully manage the risks of worker lawsuits.
Sugar and Spice and Sparkles are two companies in the high-end cupcake market that have chosen two different competitive and operating strategies. Sugar and Spice has configured its operations to emphasize a high level of customization. Sparkles has a strategy that emphasizes a narrower range of products. Based on data collected by Sugar and Spice, the question is whether its position is at risk. The case focuses on Sugar and Spice and the defensibility of its position using its current operating system. The issue requires students to compare the competitive and operating strategies of both companies and to identify and evaluate the sources of cost differences in their operations.
In March 2010, a city in Southwestern Ontario received a costing proposal from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). The mayor and the other city councillors needed to decide whether to disband the city’s current municipally based Sarnia Police Services (SPS) and replace it with contract policing from the OPP. The city’s request for the proposal had created much discomfort for the SPS employees, and had polarized the entire community. After analyzing the OPP contract proposal, the city planned to make several adjustments to the OPP financial estimate so that it would more closely reflect the current level of service provided by the SPS.
This case describes the organizational and strategic challenges of outsourcing research and development (R&D) activities from Denmark to China. Nokia Denmark was founded in 1996 as a subsidiary of the Nokia Corporation and contained the largest Nokia R&D unit, concentrating on the development of mobile phones, outside Finland. In 2007, Nokia Denmark received instructions from corporate headquarters to drastically increase the number of mobile phones developed. Motivated by the need to alleviate pressure on its in-house capacity, Nokia Denmark outsourced certain product development projects to the Taiwanese company Foxconn in a joint R&D (JRD) setup. Foxconn, one of the world’s largest electronic component manufacturers, which was also developing products for many of Nokia’s competitors, was given the responsibility of developing and testing selected standardized and less complex mobile phones. However, by 2010 Foxconn had become a central figure in Nokia Denmark’s product development process with responsibility for increasingly complex projects. <br><br>Given the growing importance of Foxconn for Nokia Denmark, the rising pressure from the corporate headquarters, and the competitive market environment, Nokia Demark thus faced the question of how to proceed with the JRD. Three alternatives were outlined for the future of Nokia Denmark’s JRD with Foxconn: the management could decide on scaling up, phasing out, or continuing the status quo.
Following the lean years of the Great Depression when bankruptcies proliferated and financing for new ventures virtually dried up, new demand for capital was created in a post-War environment of scientific and industrial expansion. Venture funding occurred more widely in the United States than it ever had done before. While the roots of the American venture capital industry are long-standing and multifaceted, they are frequently traced back to the pioneering initiatives of the French General and Harvard Business School professor, Georges Doriot, who established the American Research and Development Corporation (ARD) in 1946.
With European nations approaching financial meltdown, conflicts multiplying in the Middle East, and the fiscal cliff looming in the United States, the world seems threatened by geopolitical crisis. This article identifies five factors that are contributing to global insecurity and delaying financial recovery. The first is economic uncertainty, marked by the global financial crisis and high unemployment — youth unemployment is 17 per cent in the United States and surpassing fifty per cent in Spain and Greece. The second factor is demographic shifts, with high projected population growth in Asia and Africa and shrinking projected populations in countries like Germany, Russia, and Japan. The third factor is political paralysis, as exemplified by partisanship in the U.S. Congress or the struggles of the fledgling Iraqi state. The fourth factor is war and terror, marked by an unresolved War on Terror, a rising Chinese military, and cyber warfare. The fifth is climate change and resources, particularly the increasing problems of global warming and resource scarcity. After outlining these five challenges to global security, this article stresses the importance of innovation and research and development as ways to avoid potential crises.
By the late 1980s, Japan was the second-largest economy in the world, in part due to its ability to produce high-quality products like automobiles. But the Japanese Miracle, which had begun with Japan’s quick economic recovery after the Second World War, ended abruptly in 1990. This article suggests that Japan, while excelling at reverse engineering and incremental product improvements, must boost innovation in order to thrive. It attributes Japan’s innovation deficit to its culture of harmony, which affects decision making. Japan’s “nemawashi-ringi” decision-making process involves preparing the groundwork for a new proposal, including talking with those affected by the proposal, getting their feedback, and modifying the proposal. Unfortunately, this process is slow, focuses on incremental improvements, and suppresses innovation. A better process should be compatible with Japan’s culture of consensus building, should foster knowledge creation, and should fit a centralized, hierarchical firm. Top management should encourage the formation of self-organized groups (the engines of innovation) and use a Rapid Evaluation of Ideas process. This includes a group formulating a proposal on a specific problem, identifying stakeholders, preparing a list of assumptions for each stakeholder, assessing these assumptions’ “Importance” and “Certainty,” plotting assumptions on a two-dimensional scale, analyzing the plot and identifying the next steps, collecting more information, meeting a week later after gathering information, and determining the next steps.
Although entrepreneurs commonly give advice, many of their most valuable lessons are left unsaid. This article lists and explains ten entrepreneurial “secrets.” 1. People are lazy and most innovations involve efficiency or reduced effort. 2. People are impatient and want instant gratification. 3. Starting a new business is a slow and deliberate process, but time is limited. 4. There is value in getting started and learning as you go. 5. Everything is a trade-off. 6. Unexpected things happen. 7. Take care of your body and you will make better decisions. 8. Know the intimate details of a venture. 9. Learn from everything. 10. Don’t be a jerk.
The global nuclear industry is at a pivotal point, as risk is weighed against opportunity. The debate is fuelled by the recent disaster at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, the global focus on a secure energy supply, climate change, and political instability in oil-producing regions. This article, co-authored by the communications director of the Canadian Nuclear Association, describes what steps the Association is taking to communicate its strategy to stakeholders and increase their understanding of nuclear. <br><br>True to its scientific focus, the Association built its 2010-2015 strategic plan and communications on mental models research, which helps in identifying deeply held expert and stakeholder beliefs about an issue. With insights from mental models research, the Association developed a communications strategy built on sociology and psychology, insights from social science-based research, a dialogue orientation, and an understanding of network effects. What the association learned about successful communications strategy was to a) create impactful, consistent branding; b) enrich your web site and social and mainstream media to energize dialogue; c) hold milestone events for continuity, connection, and consensus; d) educate, inform, and engage; e) build strategic partnerships for inclusiveness and transparency; f) advertise key information and issues; g) engage with all levels of government; and h) engage and support members and employees. The Association measures communications efficacy using a variety of techniques, including updated mental models research, social media assessments of participation, web metrics, stakeholder surveys, and advertising reach.
Business growth, though one of the most discussed topics in the entrepreneurial world, is the subject of many faulty assumptions and erroneous beliefs. In detailing the science of business growth, this article starts by debunking the common myth that growth is always good. Growth can create value, but mismanaged growth can destroy value. A growth risk assessment tool is provided so that entrepreneurs can assess whether or not their firm is prepared to grow. Growth requires much more than strategy, and the author shares lessons such as that growth requires constant improvement, that hiring for cultural fit is essential, that a choice must be made between a team culture and a star culture, and that when a firm believes it “has it all right,” it has started to decline. The article discusses business upgrading and the growth plateau, and describes the four ways to grow — through improvements, innovations, scaling, and strategic acquisitions. It ends with a nine-part strategic growth checklist that includes geographic expansion, introduction of complementary products to existing customers, and expansion to new customer segments with existing products.
Little is known about the growing phenomenon of the “reluctant entrepreneur,” or individuals who start new ventures because they have no other choice. Often, these individuals would prefer to work as salaried employees but find themselves jobless; their motivation is less the entrepreneurial spirit than economic necessity. This article, based on an empirical study of 287 reluctant entrepreneurs, examines the personality issues that may drive them and provides evidence that they can achieve impressive results despite their less-than-perfect motivation. The study seeks to find out whether reluctant entrepreneurs possess the “Big Five” characteristics of entrepreneurs — risk-taking, need for achievement, need for autonomy, self-efficacy, and internal locus of control. The authors find that reluctant entrepreneurs are generally older than opportunity entrepreneurs when they start their business, and so have more managerial experience. A higher level of managerial experience predicts a higher level of success, and a higher level of the Big Five characteristics predicts a lower level of reluctance to become and remain an entrepreneur. Although it is encouraging that reluctant entrepreneurs are often successful, it is less encouraging that many are unhappy and want to return to their positions as salaried employees.
Many entrepreneurs believe that simply filling a niche will result in business success, but they fail to see the crucial role of effective media relations. Media coverage is essential in order to raise capital, generate demand, and gain credibility, yet it is difficult to attain. The direct method to attract media coverage is to issue a press release, yet this rarely garners attention unless delivered by a large firm. The indirect method, however, is to cater to the media’s needs — in effect, asking not what a reporter can do for you, but what you can do for a reporter. The author, a Manhattan-based public relations expert, describes how decades ago he earned limited coverage in The Wall Street Journal for a client’s medical product. But rather than focusing on simply promoting the product, he could have leveraged the inventor’s medical credentials and knowledge — this way, the media could have interviewed him as an expert who had made a scientific discovery and then gained familiarity with the product. In another case, a facial recognition product failed to gain publicity until after the World Trade Center attacks, when the inventor was widely interviewed as an authority on how to increase border security. This article suggests that if an entrepreneur can become positioned as a source of information on the broader field encompassing or related to their product, then the media can in turn become the entrepreneur’s "customer."
The Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist Steve Coll is interviewed on the topic of ExxonMobil, the American multinational oil and gas corporation that is often considered both a corporate bully and a paragon of prudent management practices. In describing his research on ExxonMobil, Coll details its extreme degree of discipline and tightness of information released on the energy industry. He describes the former CEO Lee Raymond as sophisticated, concrete, and reform-minded, albeit intimidating to colleagues and ardent in his philosophy of anti-government regulation and climate change skepticism. Raymond focused on metrics for measuring company health, forced employees to follow the same script on operating performance, improved safety records, and bolstered financial discipline. He also had a close relationship with Dick Cheney, the U.S. vice president under George W. Bush. Besides his complex views on ExxonMobil, Coll shares his thoughts on “resource nationalism,” particularly the fraught relationship between oil and nationalism. He attributes opposition to building oil pipelines to environmentalist forces, and finishes the interview with his outlook on the U.S. military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Companies must strike a balance between competing effectively in their current market while strategically innovating to capitalize on future opportunities. This article begins by examining the concepts of “competitive strategy” and “strategic innovation.” It details the Competitive Strategy Framework (5 C’s) of customers, competitors, channel configurations, cost structure, and core capabilities. It also unpacks the four archetypes of strategic innovation: attacking the mass market by designing a new value configuration; opening a new market by maximizing economies of scope through horizontal integration, value bundles, and enhanced customer experience; opening a new market by maximizing economies of scale through vertical and virtual integration; and pursuing the unserved, under-served, or non-consumers by tailoring products and business models to them. Managers should consider an organizational design that can both manage stability and handle change. The ability to continually adapt strategic moves as a function of strategic ambitions and new consumer behaviour will inspire new business models and innovations, which is the ultimate sustainable competitive advantage.
The case focuses on the execution challenges facing Nandan Nilekani, the Chairman, and Ram Sevak Sharma, Director General and Mission Director of the Unique Identification Authority of India. India had no nationally accepted way to prove identity and hence 42% of the population at the base of the pyramid had to resort to bribery to access entitlements, while a web of fake or multiple identities facilitated criminal diversion of government subsidies. UIDAI was tasked to deliver a unique identification number to every Indian resident. This involved the issue of a total of 1.2 billion unique IDs by 2020 and an interim goal of 600 million UIDs by 2014 - the largest data management program in the world. The case deals with the challenge of implementing a towering vision, of executing on an epic technology project, and of changing minds on an unprecedented scale. It examines the forces that both facilitate and derail change. It also examines the leadership style and motivation of Nilekani, and the transition in skills required to move from building a global organization to working within the Indian bureaucracy.