Corporate Entrepreneurship: Top Managers and New Business Creation [Hardcover]

Vijay Sathe (Author), Peter F. Drucker (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 21, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0521824990 | ISBN-13: 978-0521824996

Vijay Sathe examines how top managers--corporate executives, division general managers and the division's top management team members--influence corporate entrepreneurship, specifically new business creation in a corporate division. Corporate Entrepreneurship takes the reader into the real world of top managers to explore a relatively uncharted territory in a systematic and comprehensive way. The business realities, the management culture, the corporate philosophy, the organizational politics, the personalities, and the personal agendas of the people at the top are vividly portrayed in these pages. New business creation is innately difficult and it does not help that top managers are insufficiently educated and trained for it. This book offers both a theory of corporate entrepreneurship based on the real-world experience of top managers and practical advice on how to manage it for better results. Vijay Sathe is Professor of Management in The Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. He has published numerous journal articles and three other books: Controller Involvement in Management (Prentice Hall, 1982), Culture and Related Corporate Realities (Irwin, 1985), and a co-authored book, Organization (Third Edition, Irwin, 1992). Sathe has taught in MBA and executive education programs in the United States and Europe. He has also consulted with government agencies, not-for-profit organizations, and private and public companies around the globe.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Corporate Entrepreneurship is full of interesting people and interesting stories. But it is not a 'popular' book of 14miracle workers12 and 'originals.' It is a book of ordinary executives doing the right thing but also making plenty of mistakes. The book shows what to do and what not to do; what the opportunities are and what the pitfalls are. It is a book both to enjoy and to study but above all to apply its lessons to one's own enterprise." From the Foreword by Peter F. Drucker

"To companies around the world seeking to revitalize organizations exhausted from a decade of restructuring, Corporate Entrepreneurship offers clear hope that it is possible to restart the engines of growth not just by frantic acquisition, but through internal self renewal. Sathe takes a microscope to the organizational and managerial drama of entrepreneurial creativity at four major corporations, leading the reader through insightful analysis, conceptual understanding, and practical advice as he goes. The result is a book that no practicing executive or student of management can afford to miss: the first serious study to show that corporate entrepreneurshipa need not be an oxymoron." Christopher A. Bartlett, Thomas D. Casserly Jr. Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, and coauthor of The Individualized Corporation

"Corporate Entrepreneurship may be temporarily ignored but always reasserts itselfewith a vengeance. Professor Sathe's book provides fascinating data to remind top management of this nagging challenge and a useful framework for thinking about how to better meet it." Robert A. Burgelman, Edmund W. Littlefield Professor of Management, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and author of Strategy is Destiny

"A remarkably insightful and revealing look at what makes corporate entrepreneurship tick and what stifles it. The book is based on outstanding research in leading companies." YVES L. DOZ, The Timken Chaired Professor of Global Technology and Innovation, INSEAD, France, and coauthor of From Global to Metanational

"Corporate Entrepreneurship could not have been published at a better moment. With economic growth rates back down to low digits, and with new economies conquering their positions at increasing speeds, our companies are focusing on growth and innovation to drive their value creation. This book, written with academic rigor and based on a detailed analysis of a set of valuable case studies, provides recommendations that will benefit top management and the champions of corporate entrepreneurship, academics and students alike. With its scope and focus the book breaks new ground in the management literature, and hence the author is the best example of entrepreneurship that he advocates so convincingly." Jan Oosterveld, Chief Strategist and Member of the Group Management Committee, Philips Electronics

"This book addresses the most difficult problem facing most businesses. It is a must-read as a blueprint for launching new businesses inside an established enterprise. It is also an enjoyable read!" Shane Robinson, Executive Vice President, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer, Hewlett-Packard Company

"Corporate Entrepreneurship is essential reading for practitioners, researchers, and MBA students interested in new business creation. We have a rare opportunity to learn from 'what went right' as well as 'what went wrong' in the real world. We also learn from the real-life stories and direct quotations of top managers at large corporations as well as the writings of academic giants of leading business schools around the world. Most importantly, we learn from the author's insights into 'how to do' as well as 'how to see' the new business creation process. Without new business creation there is no futureefor corporations as well as for our society." Hirotaka Takeuchi, Professor and Dean, Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy, Hitotsubashi University, Japan, and coauthor of Can Japan Compete?

Book Description

How do large corporations encourage their senior managers to become more entrepreneurial? This is a key question which is seldom addressed in mainstream entrepreneurship studies. Professor Sathe has written a pioneering book based on thousands of hours of interviews with senior managers to help understand why some organizations are better than others in fostering a culture of entrepreneurship leading to successful new business growth. This is an original and valuable contribution to the literature on strategic management that will appeal to graduate students, researchers and the more reflective practitioner.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 406 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (July 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521824990
• ISBN-13: 978-0521824996
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,622,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great practical book - Good job Vijay !, January 29, 2004

By 

Nicolas Gutierrez (Colombia, South America) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Corporate Entrepreneurship: Top Managers and New Business Creation (Hardcover)

This is a very interesting book with tons of practical examples and situations from the four companies the author studied. It's a great book about the organizational culture, strategies and personalities that encourage corporate entrepreneurship. It could be a valuable tool to any company engaged in new business / new product development.