Somehow, I have to say that I am a …. computer geek :-) I realized last sunny Sunday one of my technology-dream:

I was sitting in my garten with my laptop and … a WiFi connection to my server at home and consequently, my DSL connection. I was like a little boy, surfing and chating and sending email, with a view on the swimming-pool. I told you, I’m a computer geek ;-)

What is a “geek”?

As promised, and after some definitions (I hope you have seen that this kind of notion is actually quite…large, complexe but interesting ;-), it’s time to look at some concrete examples. Let’s begin with General Electric and some thoughts about Corporate Entrepreneurship from Jack Welch.

Concerning Jack Welch and to avoid misunderstanding: Mr. Welch is definitely NOT my leadership model in all fields. On the other hand, it is unquestionable that he was a great leader and that he developped some interesting ideas, not all very ethic to my “European” point of view ;-) His story, linked with the development of GE during the 1981-2001 period, is greatly related in his autobiography – not so many leadership’s information but definitely a great book:

About Corporate Entrepreneurship:

[1]

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Bibliographical references:

[1] The Individualized Corporation: A Fundamentally New Approach to Management

Sumantra Ghoshal, Christopher A. Bartlett, 1999

Hierarchy of terminology in Corporate Entrepreneurship

It can be interesting to classify the different terms used in the field of Corporate Entrepreneurship according to a hierarchical system. The goal of this grading is to identify some characteristics and dimensions of population and groups, characteristics which can define discrete types of entrepreneurial processes. On a high level, entrepreneurship can be divided in two main categories: internal and external processes (with the company as reference). You can find below the complete overview of this hierarchy of terminology:

[1]

For the Internal Corporate Venturing process, we identify specifically four dimensions:

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Bibliographical references:

[1] Toward a reconciliation of the definitional issues in the field of Corporate Entrepreneurship

Pramodita Sharma, James J. Chrisman, In: Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 1999

Yes, we were 15 and now, we are 25 in the European Union!

What are the new members of the EU?

Some figures about this “new extended” EU:

Covin & Miles have also presented a definition of Corporate Entrepreneurship:

Corporate entrepreneurship necessarily implies the presence of innovation, but there is more to corporate entrepreneurship than innovation.

Innovation refers to the introduction of a new product, process, technology, system, technique, resource or capability to the firm or its market. [1]

Finally, Sharma & Chrisman also give us a synthetic overview on different terms:

Corporate entrepreneurship

organizational creation, renewal or innovation

+ instigated by an existing organizational entity

Internal corporate venturing

organizational creation

+ instigated by an existing organizational entity

+ treated as new businesses

+ reside within existing organizational domain [2]

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Bibliographical references:

[1] Corporate entrepreneurship and the pursuit of competitive advantage

Jeffrey G. Covin, Morgan P. Miles, In: Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 1999

[2] Toward a reconciliation of the definitional issues in the field of Corporate Entrepreneurship

Pramodita Sharma, James J. Chrisman, In: Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 1999

Waouw, it’s time for IPO. Let’s have a look at the Google’s annoucement itself or an ABC newsonline article – Google files for share offer. Because of the SEC’s document, we know now a little more about the financial situation of the company, which is, as expected, quite good :-)

– Revenues: $US 961.9 miliion

– Net profit: $US 105.6 million

– Revenues: $US 389.6 million

– Net profit: 63.9 million

Umh, not a bad situation ;-)

The terminology in the fields of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation could be confusing. Thus it seems to be necessary to first review some of the definitions used and to present some basic structures in these fields.

Sharma and Chrisman present an overview of the different definitions in the field of entrepreneurship:

A variety of terms are used for the entrepreneurial efforts within an existing organization such as corporate entrepreneurship (Burgelman, 1983 ; Zahra, 1993), corporate venturing (Biggadike, 1979), intrepreneuring (Pinchot, 1985), internal corporate entrepreneurship (Jones & Butler, 1992), internal entrepreneurship (Schollhammer, 1982 ; Vesper, 1984), strategic renewal (Guth & Ginsberg, 1990) and venturing (Hornsby, Naffziger, Kuratko & Montagno, 1993).

Entrepreneurship encompasses acts of organizational creation, renewal or innovation that occur within or outside an existing organization.

Entrepreneurs are individuals or groups of individuals, acting independently or as part of a corporate system, who create new organizations, or instigate renewal or innovation within an existing organization. [1]

Burgelman, in his work, also proposes a definition of Entrepreneurship:

Corporate entrepreneurship refers to the process whereby firms engage in diversification through internal development. Such diversification requires new resource combinations to extend the firm’s activities in areas unrelated or marginally related to its current domain of competence and corresponding opportunity set. [2]

This definition can be compared with the one proposed by Sharma & Chrisman:

Corporate entrepreneurship is the process whereby an individual or a group of individuals in association with existing organization, create a new organization or instigate renewal or innovation within that organization. [1]

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Bibliographical references:

[1] Toward a reconciliation of the definitional issues in the field of Corporate Entrepreneurship

Pramodita Sharma, James J. Chrisman, In: Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 1999

[2] Corporate entrepreneurship and strategic management: insights from a process study

Robert A. Burgelman, In: Management Science, 1983

I will post differents articles about Corporate Entrepreneurship in the next days. I think it’s the right time, some of you know what I mean ;-) These posts will be based on quotations from a marvelous book written by Bartlett and Ghoshal (I published a blog about the death of Ghoshal some days ago), called The Individualized Corporation: A Fundamentally New Approach to Management.

As usual, we will begin with some definitions about Corporate Entrepreneurship. You will see, not so easy to define this notion :-) We will then discuss some thoughts from Jack Welch (and his vision) about Corporate Entrepreneurship by General Electric. The third part will be dedicated to innovation and Corporate Entrepreneurship by 3M. And we will conclude with general ideas from Bartlett and Ghoshal about Corporate Entrepreneurship.

A recent article of the New York Times (free online registration) – Choice trumps price on Internet – points out that the real added value of Internet for the consumers is not only, as expected, a lower price (average of 6 to 16%), but more a question of selection. In this field, selection means a bigger amount of product choices. For example, Wal-mart offers online 6 times more products than its biggest “real” store (!).

This paper is based on a study from Erik Brynjolfsson of the Sloan School of Management at MIT. He is, among other things, Director of the MIT Center for eBusiness. I must say, I like very much the slogan of the Center for eBusiness: “eBusiness is Business”. One of the logo from the eCenter, the unit I’m responsible for by the Helvetia Patria Group, looks like this:

About the same vision :-)

I’m sorry but I have changed my blog “entry point”. From now, you can find my weblog under:

http://www.didierbeck.com