FEATURE
PAPER
Corporate Entrepreneurship Outcomes: A Study in Failing
to Learn from Failure
The
following paper was presented at the 2007 Allied Academies
International Conference - Jacksonville. It was written
by Elizabeth McCrea of Seton Hall University and
Stephen C. Betts of William Paterson University.
Abstract
Firms that are able to react and
respond to today’s
dynamic environment with appropriate
creative solutions are better able to gain and sustain a competitive
advantage. The general term
used to describe such activities that create new business through
process and product innovation
is corporate entrepreneurship. Such internal entrepreneurial
activities, however, should be
accompanied with a willingness to adjust the firm’s strategy.
In this paper we examine 93 new
product development teams and assess whether they are aligned
with the corporate strategy and
whether they are ultimately successful. When aligned projects
are successful they are perceived as
confirming the strategy, however projects that fail frequently
do not result in modifications to the
strategy. The failure to modify strategy when projects fail
indicates that firms are not learning as
much as they can from their mistakes.
Introduction
In
today’s
dynamic environment, static firms are not likely to endure.
They must adapt to
their environments’ varying conditions, react to their
competitors’ actions and respond to their
customers’ changing requirements. Based on their particular
situations, some firms favor sustained
regeneration, which “support and encourage a continuous
stream of new product introductions in
current markets as well as entries with existing products into
new markets” (Dess, Ireland, Zahra,
Floyd, Janney and Lane, 2003: 354), while others engage in
strategic renewal, in which “the firm
is seeking to change how it competes” (Dess, et al. 2003:
355).
In
the academic literature, these activities are generally aggregated
under the terms
intrapreneurship or, more recently, corporate entrepreneurship.
The underlying premise of
deliberate entrepreneurship is that organization members
- typically top managers - can accurately
deduce what changes to strategy are required by external
events such as the entrant of a new
competitor or the creation of a new technology. Importantly,
it also presumes they can accurately
assess the ramifications of the outcomes of internal actions
like successful implementation of a new
process or the failed launch of a new product. Thus strategy
seems to form the framework that
managers use to interpret corporate entrepreneurial outcomes.
Read
the Entire Paper...
TIP
OF THE WEEK
Creating
Value with Unique Business Models
How do family-controlled enterprises create value? Speed and agility
have already been mentioned as competitive advantages often inherent to
entrepreneurial and small, privately held companies with first-generation
leadership. The result of unique organizational capabilities, speed allows
the business to stay close to the customer, whether through personal or
digitally enabled relationships, and to detect when the customer needs
chance. Dell, the owner-managed computer and digital services company,
is well known for its speed. Michael Dell has been the architect of a
company that not only makes customized computers quickly through it innovative
choice board on the Internet but also accelerates cash flow and asset
turns by collecting on the sale before the company even orders the necessary
raw materials and assembles the computer. Family-owned Research in Motion,
well-known for its very successful Blackberry handheld device, has similarly
moved quickly and nimbly among giants in the wireless and telecommunications
industries.
The seven primary sources of value on which family companies can build
competitive advantage are: (1) financial resources, such as cash and securities;
(2) physical assets such as plant and equipment; (3) the product (sometimes
protected by patents) and its price and performance; (4) brand equity,
which is the market's perception of a distinction in quality or reputation,
a perception created over time; (5) organizational capabilities, which
are the competencies residing in employees and unique organizational architectures;
(6) customer-supplier integration (once called distribution), which includes
new ways of getting the product or service to the customer in any form,
at any time, and in any place; and (7) the family-business relationship,
a resource that can be leveraged. Combining these seven sources of value
in various ways, as if different pieces in a custom-assembled puzzle,
will give rise to a unique business model, one that is rooted in the core
competencies of the business and can create value for both the owners
and customers.
Competitive advantages created by real assets (such as financial resources
and equipment) can be copied or cloned and are often temporary and transient.
Competitive advantages created by intangible assets (people, their knowledge
and skills, company values, and other organizational capabilities) are
often more defensible and longer lasting. The clear tendency then is for
family businesses to create a business model that relies more heavily
on the sources of value on the right quadrants of the puzzle.
Ernesto
J. Poza. Family Business.
2007. Thomson Southwestern. pg.179-180.
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CONFERENCES
MEI
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| Who: |
MEI
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| What: |
The
3rd International Symposium on Management, Engineering
and Informatics
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| Where: |
Orlando, Florida, USA |
| When: |
July 8-11, 2007 |
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Creativity
Seminars
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| Who: |
Creativity
Seminars
|
| What: |
Creativity
Workshop - 2007 Educator Fellowships
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| Where: |
Florence,
Italy |
| When: |
July
13-22, 2007 |
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MMA
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| Who: |
Marketing
Management Association
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| What: |
MMA
Fall Educators Conference
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| Where: |
St.
Louis, Missouri, USA |
| When: |
September
26-28, 2007 |
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E-nnovations
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| Who: |
E-nnovations
|
| What: |
E-nnovations 2007: Mid-Atlantic
Entrepreneurship Conference
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| Where: |
Anne Arundel Community College -
Arnold, Maryland, USA |
| When: |
October
13, 2007 |
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CADMEF
and DMEF
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| Who: |
Chicago
Association of Direct Marketing Educational Foundation
and the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation
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| What: |
2007
Case Writers’ Workshop
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| Where: |
Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| When: |
October
13, 2007 |
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CALLS FOR PAPERS
IBEC
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International Business and Economy
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| What: |
Seventh International Business
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San Francisco, California, USA |
| When: |
January 9-12, 2008, |
Submission
Deadline:
September 7, 2007
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WUN
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| Who: |
Worldwide
Universities Network
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| What: |
Inspiring and Developing Enterprising
People:
Entrepreneurship and Global Impact Conference
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| Where: |
Chicago,
Illinois, USA |
| When: |
October
4-6, 2007 |
Submission
Deadline:
July 15, 2007
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USASBE
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| Who: |
United
States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship
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| What: |
USASBE
2008 Annual Conference
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| Where: |
The
Westin La Cantera Resort - San Antonio, Texas |
| When: |
January
10-13, 2008 |
Submission
Deadline:
August 15, 2007
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SBI
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| Who: |
Small
Business Institute
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| What: |
2008 SBI Conference
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| Where: |
Handlery
Hotel – San Diego, CA |
| When: |
Feb.
14-16, 2008 |
Submission
Deadline:
October 1, 2007
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