Grow from Within: Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation [Hardcover]

Robert Wolcott (Author), Michael Lippitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 22, 2009

Create Business and Generate Profits in New Markets through Innovation!

“The best account I have read about how companies can enable and support internal entrepreneurs to achieve innovation-led growth.”
Philip Kotler, S.C. Johnson & Son Professor of International Marketing, Kellogg School of Management

“An essential resource for both private and public sector leaders seeking to align new business creation with an organization’s mission and strategy . . . and achieve results.”
William J. Perry, former U.S. Secretary of Defense

“Wolcott and Lippitz are not only insightful, they are spot on. This is exactly the book corporate leaders—from CEOs and functional executives to corporate entrepreneurial teams—need to help them navigate the exceptional challenges of organic growth and innovation.”
Betsy Holden, Senior Advisor, McKinsey & Company, and former Co-CEO, Kraft Foods, Inc.

About the Book:

IBM reports $15 billion of annual new revenues from 22 Emerging Business Opportunities.

In 2008, $4 billion in revenues from companywide innovation efforts allowed Whirlpool to maintain its top line, despite global recession and the steep drop in housing markets.

A DuPont business group leader, Ellen Kullman, backed an ambitious new business creation program and later became DuPont’s CEO.

Each of these companies has learned how to create new businesses on a repeatable basis. In Grow from Within, two leading scholars from the Kellogg School of Management explain how your company can discover the right approach to corporate entrepreneurship and make it profitable.

Taking innovation to the next level, corporate entrepreneurship is the process of building new businesses within an established organization— new businesses that are distinct from the core company but that leverage some of its most powerful assets. Grow from Within examines:

• The fundamentals of designing a new business
• The four dominant models of corporate entrepreneurship
• Ways to align your innovation program with your strategy
• Leadership requirements for developing new businesses

Innovation is critical to business success and growth, but it’s only the first step. Without strategically driven processes to turn insights into growing businesses, even the best ideas can fail. Creativity is often serendipitous; innovation management should not be.

Grow from Within provides the knowledge you need to conceive and design valuable new businesses that breathe life into ideas and dramatically improve your top and bottom lines.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Grow from Within provides frameworks and tools for new business design, along with advice on how to plan and lead an ongoing innovation program based on your company’s strategic objectives and corporate context. You’ll learn how to:

• Define domains for new business creation that are closely linked to overall corporate strategy
• Conceive truly new businesses within your company
• Fit all the pieces together at the organizational level
• Transition new ventures into existing business units

Use Grow from Within to defeat commoditization, expand when acquisitions fail, and retain the talent that makes your company great.

About the Author

Robert C. Wolcott, Ph.D., a faculty member of the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, is the cofounder and executive director of the Kellogg Innovation Network (KIN): www.kinglobal.org. He is a frequent speaker worldwide, advisor to governments, and cofounder of strategy consultancy and venture firm Clareo Partners LLC (www.clareopartners.com).
Michael J. Lippitz, Ph.D., is a senior research fellow with the Center for Research in Technology & Innovation (CRTI) at the Kellogg School of Management, a principal with Clareo Partners LLC, and a senior policy analyst with the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA).

Visit the authors at www.growfromwithinbook.com

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (September 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071598324
• ISBN-13: 978-0071598323
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #110,269 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leading edge tools for corporate entrepreneurs, October 14, 2009

By 

Kellogg School Entrepreneur "high-growth vent... (Evanston, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grow from Within: Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Hardcover)

Wolcott and Lippitz created research-based tools for entrepreneurs within corporations to genuinely bring innovative ideas to market. My favorite is the Innovation Radar, which has different elements for corporate professionals to consider while developing their ideas. Everytime I show this radar to an entrepreneur or corporate entrepreneur, they realize they had not considered at least one of these elements.

The other areas of the book: The Four Models of Corporate Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Learning, all provide insights not normally provided by other authors, books, or conversations with experts. There are far too few skilled business professionals familiar with corporate entrepreneurship. Wolcott and Lippitz know many of this special group and have the skills to capture what the best of them accomplish, thus making plain this important art for the rest of us regular people. I highly recommend the book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real insight transferrable into practice, October 9, 2009

By 

S. Mordell (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Grow from Within: Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Hardcover)

In my work we have been wrestling with the innovation question from a number of perspectives. I am previously familiar with the authors through their work leading the Kellogg Innovation Network, and this book reflects high level insights gleaned from a number of leading organizations around the world. However, I personally find more value in how this isn't just a book of stories. There is a very good balance of explanation and simplicity. With the manner the thinking has been segmented and formatted, the book is easily usable by leaders to learn and then apply as a manual within existing organizations.

In short, this is a real and practical addition to a very challenging business topic. I highly recommend this book, and believe it will be discussed and referred to by managers for years to come.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Innovation in Business Design, November 9, 2009

By 

Paul R. Donnellan (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Grow from Within: Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Hardcover)

Having worked in corporate entrepreneurship in one form or another for more than a decade, this book really resonated with me. It makes a compelling case that the key to innovation and growth is not merely technology or product innovation but the design of new business models that exploit new market and product opportunities. The iPod/iTunes business model, among many others cited, is a great example of this.

There are also great insights into different models of corporate entrepreneurship as well as frameworks and tools for new business design. Importantly, the book addresses the obstacles that are likely to arise and offers advice on how to overcome them. It's a great read for those who are tasked with building new businesses within the corporate environment, as well as corporate leaders looking to foster growth beyond the traditional core business.