Google is a company well known for fostering intrapreneurship in its employees, below is a link to a video where Google employees talk a little about the environment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOZhbOhEunY&feature=related
Monday, November 8, 2010
Intrapreneur vs. Social Intrapreneur
"An intrpreneur is somebody who is working inside a large organization to develop entrepreneurial solutions to business problems... A social intrapreneur is someone who is doing that... taking direct initiative, but tackling environmental and social challenges profitably."
-Dr. David Grayson
Professor of Corporate Responsibility
Director of Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility
-Dr. David Grayson
Professor of Corporate Responsibility
Director of Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility
Sunday, November 7, 2010
"Look back at any great business or invention at just about any big company and you can find that intrapreneurs created it"
Gifford Pinchot, a founder and President of the Bainbridge Graduate Institute (BGI), a #1 rated school of socially and environmentally responsible business.
More Examples of Intrapreneurship
- The IBM PC created by Don Estrige.
- Creation of Macintosh by Steve Jobs and his computer engineers team at Apple Inc.
- Ted Hoff invented microprocessor while working for Intel.
- James Gosling developed Java programming language while working at Sun Microsystems.
- Seamus Blackley independently developed Xbox while working at Microsoft.
- Ken Kutaragi invented PlayStation, a #1 gaming machine since 1994, which
accounted for 40% of Sony’s profits by 1998.
- Arthur Levinson revived buried research at Genetech and the breakthough breast cancer drug Herceptin was born bringing $100 million in gross profits after the first year of its launch.
- Creation of Macintosh by Steve Jobs and his computer engineers team at Apple Inc.
- Ted Hoff invented microprocessor while working for Intel.
- James Gosling developed Java programming language while working at Sun Microsystems.
- Seamus Blackley independently developed Xbox while working at Microsoft.
- Ken Kutaragi invented PlayStation, a #1 gaming machine since 1994, which
accounted for 40% of Sony’s profits by 1998.
- Arthur Levinson revived buried research at Genetech and the breakthough breast cancer drug Herceptin was born bringing $100 million in gross profits after the first year of its launch.
Factors that Inhibit Intrapreneurship
• Resistance to change in organizations
• Corporate bureaucracy that slows down project approval
• Refusal to allocate resources to new ideas
• Lack of training and support for employees
• Low rewards for success coupled with high costs of failure
• Performance evaluation based solely on job descriptions
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Hwengere, Emily. "Factors that Inhibit Intrapreneurship." Financial Gazette, 30 May 2002.
• Corporate bureaucracy that slows down project approval
• Refusal to allocate resources to new ideas
• Lack of training and support for employees
• Low rewards for success coupled with high costs of failure
• Performance evaluation based solely on job descriptions
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Hwengere, Emily. "Factors that Inhibit Intrapreneurship." Financial Gazette, 30 May 2002.
Advantages of Being an Intrapreneur vs Being an Entrepreneur
o Access to the company's resources increases chances of success
o Maintenance of a salaried position provides security in case of failure
o Opportunity to gain valuable experience that they can apply to future
entrepreneurial ventures
o Opportunity to cooperate with other employees on the project
o Availability of advice and additional expertise from the peers and coworkers
o Opportunity to test an idea before executing in a live business environment
o Possibility to bring change faster and on a larger scale than one would if acted on his/her own
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Fattal, Tony. "Intrapreneurship at Work: Championing Projects to Push Innovation in Your Company." CMA Management, November 2003.
Pinchot, Gifford, and Ron Pellman. Intrapreneuring in Action. Berrett-Kohler, 2000.
o Maintenance of a salaried position provides security in case of failure
o Opportunity to gain valuable experience that they can apply to future
entrepreneurial ventures
o Opportunity to cooperate with other employees on the project
o Availability of advice and additional expertise from the peers and coworkers
o Opportunity to test an idea before executing in a live business environment
o Possibility to bring change faster and on a larger scale than one would if acted on his/her own
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fattal, Tony. "Intrapreneurship at Work: Championing Projects to Push Innovation in Your Company." CMA Management, November 2003.
Pinchot, Gifford, and Ron Pellman. Intrapreneuring in Action. Berrett-Kohler, 2000.
Ways to Organize Intrapreneurial Culture in the Company
• Encourage employees to form competing teams that function like small businesses or internal vendors
• Create formal innovation programs to ensure that every new idea receives a fair hearing
• Make upper management behave behaves like a venture capital firm, evaluating and providing financial support for promising new ideas
• Provide necessary infrastructure for developing promising projects
• Create formal innovation programs to ensure that every new idea receives a fair hearing
• Make upper management behave behaves like a venture capital firm, evaluating and providing financial support for promising new ideas
• Provide necessary infrastructure for developing promising projects
Importance of Retaining Talented Intrapreneurs
Although the term Intrapreneur was created only in 1980s, the forward-thinking corporations relied on internal entrepreneurial efforts to alter an organization's status quo, connect the energies of talented employees, and give sponsorship to promising projects long before this specific period of time. The only problem was that companies could not compete with riches available to successful intrapreneurs who would start their own businesses. However, given the current market volatility and small chances to attract venture capital, intrapreneurs are likely to combine the best of entrepreneurship and corporate risk aversion when developing their ideas.
In order to prevent their employees from becoming their competitors, modern companies are devising ways to help intrapreneurs develop potentially lucrative products within the corporation. By providing seed capital to the promising projects, awarding successful intrapreneurs with stock options or guaranteeing a stable paycheck, companies manage to retain the brightest employees.
Employees who succeed as intrapreneurs tend to possess many of the same talents and traits as traditional entrepreneurs as well as a commitment to the organization and its goals. Working within an existing company—rather than launching an independent start-up business—offers a number of advantages to such individuals. Access to the company's resources increases their chances of success, for example, while maintaining a salaried position provides them with added security in case of failure. Intrapreneurs also gain experience that they can apply to future entrepreneurial ventures, as well as a stimulating work environment.
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Byrd, Jacqueline, and Paul Lockwood Brown. The Innovation Equation: Building Creativity and Risk-Taking in Your Organization. Pfeiffer, 2002.
"Intrapreneurship: Spinning Off a New Company." Inc., September 2000. Available from < http://pf.inc.com/articles/2000/09/20222.html >.
In order to prevent their employees from becoming their competitors, modern companies are devising ways to help intrapreneurs develop potentially lucrative products within the corporation. By providing seed capital to the promising projects, awarding successful intrapreneurs with stock options or guaranteeing a stable paycheck, companies manage to retain the brightest employees.
Employees who succeed as intrapreneurs tend to possess many of the same talents and traits as traditional entrepreneurs as well as a commitment to the organization and its goals. Working within an existing company—rather than launching an independent start-up business—offers a number of advantages to such individuals. Access to the company's resources increases their chances of success, for example, while maintaining a salaried position provides them with added security in case of failure. Intrapreneurs also gain experience that they can apply to future entrepreneurial ventures, as well as a stimulating work environment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Byrd, Jacqueline, and Paul Lockwood Brown. The Innovation Equation: Building Creativity and Risk-Taking in Your Organization. Pfeiffer, 2002.
"Intrapreneurship: Spinning Off a New Company." Inc., September 2000. Available from < http://pf.inc.com/articles/2000/09/20222.html >.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Case Study of Intrapreneurship Success – WL Gore Associates, Inc
W.L. ELIXER Guitar string line is an intrapreneurial success story of the WL Gore, Inc. (maker of Gore-Tex™), which was possible due to the WL Gore’s corporate policies aimed at fostering entrepreneurial thinking within the company. The “Dabble Time Policy” allowed Gore’s employees to spend 10% of their time at work on their own creative projects. This approach to the corporate culture proved to be successful over time as many exceptional products were developed by the WL Gore’s intrapreneurs including the Elixir guitar strings, now the top-selling acoustic guitar string.
Dave Myers, an employee in the WL Gore’s medical-product plant in Flagstaff, Arizona, was primarily working on inventing new types of plastic implants and, as a side project, he was trying to improve his mountain bike’s movement by coating its gears with a thick layer of plastic, which he thought would make the gears shift more smoothly. The experiments led to the creation of Gore’s Ride-On line of bike cables, which after was discontinued because it was not profitable. However, Myers was inspired by his innovation and started working on improving the puppet cables at Disney World and Chuck E. Cheese’s. In order to control oversized animated puppets, the cables with small diameters were necessary, so Dave Myers tried coating guitar strings with plastic for this purpose. Suddenly, it struck him that he could make a new guitar string using a Gore coating.
Because did not have expertise in guitars, Myers went to search an advice from another Gore’s employee who was a guitarist. Chuck Hebestreit realized the old – existing problem of the guitar players who would experience a dampened and unpredictable sound after as tiny debris of dirt and natural oils from guitarist’s fingers accumulated on the guitar strings. Myers ad Hebestreit concluded that by coating the strings for longer better sound and longer useful life that they could quickly take a major market share of the guitar string market. After the project has been approved by the Gore’s management, the Elixir strings were produced. Despite their expensive price, the costumers enjoyed the superior quality of the Elixir strings and soon this Gore’s product became the number one selling string in the world.
As WL Gore’s employees dabble in different industries and collaborate with their colleagues, they continue to produce innovative products that revolutionize the industries in which Gore operates. The Gore’s entrepreneurial approach to its corporate culture helped this company to launch a wide variety of products and successfully enter a large number of markets ranging from dental floss to Gore-Tex fabrics, and from heart patches to synthetic blood vessels.
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References:
Haller, Howard E. "Intrapreneurship Success – Case Study – WL Gore Associates, Inc (Makers of Gore Rain Gear) | Intrapreneurship Institute." | Intrapreneurship Institute. 2008. Web. 01 Nov. 2010.
Harrington, A 2003, ‘Who’s afraid of a new product?’, Fortune, 10 November, vol. 148, issue 10,pp. 189-191.
Dave Myers, an employee in the WL Gore’s medical-product plant in Flagstaff, Arizona, was primarily working on inventing new types of plastic implants and, as a side project, he was trying to improve his mountain bike’s movement by coating its gears with a thick layer of plastic, which he thought would make the gears shift more smoothly. The experiments led to the creation of Gore’s Ride-On line of bike cables, which after was discontinued because it was not profitable. However, Myers was inspired by his innovation and started working on improving the puppet cables at Disney World and Chuck E. Cheese’s. In order to control oversized animated puppets, the cables with small diameters were necessary, so Dave Myers tried coating guitar strings with plastic for this purpose. Suddenly, it struck him that he could make a new guitar string using a Gore coating.
Because did not have expertise in guitars, Myers went to search an advice from another Gore’s employee who was a guitarist. Chuck Hebestreit realized the old – existing problem of the guitar players who would experience a dampened and unpredictable sound after as tiny debris of dirt and natural oils from guitarist’s fingers accumulated on the guitar strings. Myers ad Hebestreit concluded that by coating the strings for longer better sound and longer useful life that they could quickly take a major market share of the guitar string market. After the project has been approved by the Gore’s management, the Elixir strings were produced. Despite their expensive price, the costumers enjoyed the superior quality of the Elixir strings and soon this Gore’s product became the number one selling string in the world.
As WL Gore’s employees dabble in different industries and collaborate with their colleagues, they continue to produce innovative products that revolutionize the industries in which Gore operates. The Gore’s entrepreneurial approach to its corporate culture helped this company to launch a wide variety of products and successfully enter a large number of markets ranging from dental floss to Gore-Tex fabrics, and from heart patches to synthetic blood vessels.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
References:
Haller, Howard E. "Intrapreneurship Success – Case Study – WL Gore Associates, Inc (Makers of Gore Rain Gear) | Intrapreneurship Institute." | Intrapreneurship Institute. 2008. Web. 01 Nov. 2010.
Harrington, A 2003, ‘Who’s afraid of a new product?’, Fortune, 10 November, vol. 148, issue 10,pp. 189-191.
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