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Chapter 2 - Corporate Examples with Indian Scenario

2.1. Introduction: Peter Drucker stated that there are only two constant factors in

business – innovation and marketing. (16) Management literature emphasizes the

need for continually reinventing and changing business organisations - according

to the present and future needs of the market place. The external turbulence and

dynamic market conditions that one experiences today have come to stay for

good. Therefore, the challenges are quite different today, like, need for a new

business strategy, to hire better competencies, to revise compensations.

Rekindling business growth inside a maturing corporate is often the toughest

challenge. The entrepreneurs place a huge amount of emphasis on finding,

investing in and coaching the right people to work with them. The attribute that

they seem to be seeking with prospective workers is ‘the right attitude with

specific skills’. People could be one of the most important determinants for the

success of an organisation - their collective efforts, initiatives, decisions. They

are the engine and the fuel for the corporate growth. If corporate value the people

and respect them they would take on responsibility and pride and then they would

become inventive.

3M, one of the world’s largest corporate, has a long history of entrepreneurial

behaviour. Similarly study of Intel Corporation's strategy suggested that

entrepreneurial activities were the outcome of the interaction of individuals and

groups at multiple levels within the firm. American folklore and legends glorify

and honour entrepreneurs like Henry Ford, Bill Gates etc. Greece celebrates Plato

and Austria acclaims Mozart. Many of the successful firms (e.g. Hewlett-Packard,

Levi-Strauss) began as small, innovative enterprises. These businesses grew and

evolved into corporate. The presence of ‘entrepreneurs in corporate’ is recognized

and honoured by industrially developed countries. The end result of these and

similar observations have been the conceptualization of entrepreneurship as a

‘firm-level phenomenon’.

2.2. Strong link between CE behaviour and business performance: Various studies

have established a strong link between CE behaviour and business performance,

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in terms of marketing, promotion, product quality, pricing, innovation. In

addition, the research shows that CE and business performance correlation is

strong with medium size firms and even stronger with large firms. Bigness often

could lead to a loss in innovation. In good and bad economic times in uncertain

and turbulent times, innovation is a requisite for companies seeking to remain

competitive. Many organizations are increasingly looking at CE as a way of

combating the lethargy and bureaucracy that often accompanies ‘big size’. Larger

firms have greater and more varied resources, financial strength, asset base, more

aggregate knowledge and people to undertake activities than small businesses.

But if they do not utilize these strengths then fewer new products would come to

market from these corporate. Their emphasis could shift inwardly, like to

‘incremental cost reductions’ in manufacturing and raw materials. The orientation

could be ‘to sell what is produced’, not necessarily market what customers need.

Stability and complacency could become the modus operandi in big corporate.

2.3. Corporate Examples: Observations by experts show that once an entrepreneurial

venture reaches the point of being an established business, the growth rate levels

off, it is very hard to keep the entrepreneurial spirit of the venture alive. Reaching

a point of ‘being there’ is an achievement. It could be in terms of: a certain value

sales, rate of growth, existence for a certain length of time, market position,

expanse of the market. Hence, the growth of CE - fostering entrepreneurism

within established organizations becomes more critical for these corporate. There

are examples of corporate that practiced CE without waiting for the theory or the

concept to evolve to its fullest potential. Industrially developed countries have

recognized and honoured the presence of entrepreneurs in corporate. The end

result of these and similar observations have been the conceptualization of

entrepreneurship as a firm-level phenomenon. There are ample examples from

the corporate where the concept was tried out in different modes and formats with

encouraging positive results. The leading corporate examples are enumerated

below:

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2.3.1. ‘PR1ME Computer Inc: PR1ME Computer Inc’s growth is a real world

successful case study of a firm that used intrapreneurship. It created a captive

leasing division to help intrapreneurs grow from a small OTC listed company to

be the number one performing company listed on the NYSE by supporting and

orienting their innovative efforts. Dr. Howard Edw. Haller presents his inside

view of PR1ME's intrapreneurial venture in his book "Intrapreneurship Success:

A PR1ME Example." (17)

2.3.2. Apple Computers: Apple Computers’ Chairman, Steve Jobs popularized the

term ‘intrapreneurship’ in his article published in the September 30, 1985 issue of

Newsweek. It was an intrapreneurial venture within a corporate. Steve Jobs and a

group of 20 Apple Computer engineers created the Macintosh computer without

‘adult supervision,’ mainly to compete with Apple's mainstay. The Macintosh

team was a group of people who did experiments within Apple computers. One

founder member of the company, Steve Wozniak, left to pursue other interests,

while the other, Steve Jobs was replaced with a CEO from a much larger

company. Many years later, Jobs returned to the helm to enjoy the entrepreneurial

culture of the corporate – the entrepreneurial spirit was apparent. (18)

2.3.3. 3M: 3M was founded in 1902 in the Lake Superior town of Two Harbors, Minn.

3M employees get 15 percent free time from their routine allotted work to pursue

projects that are of interest to them and they believe will benefit the company.

Most of the innovative product-launches from 3M are its living examples.

Following are few of the examples of innovations by employees who made the

best use of the ‘15 percent work rule’. (19)

3M scientist Jerry Scherger from the Abrasive Systems Division had an

idea that there was ample room for 3M to be both supplier and competitor

in the same industry. Necessity prompted Scherger to get innovative. He

explained his idea to a division vice president. Digging back to his farm

roots, he recalled a simple $300 grain auger used to coat grain with a

liquid insecticide. He applied that same idea and mixed Cubitron with a

crucial solvent; his brainchild worked. Production was doubled at the

same time customer demand took off. The grain auger was

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commercialized without spending a lot of money. The entire line of

Cubitron-based products had benefited from Scherger's and others'

innovations. Today, Cubitron 321 grain is a product with exceptional

grinding performance that has a worldwide presence in the multi-million

dollar grinding-wheel industry. Scherger needed the equipment to trial the

product with customers.

The world's first waterproof sandpaper, which reduced airborne dusts

during automotive manufacturing, was developed in the early 1920s.

A major milestone occurred in 1925 when Richard G. Drew, a young lab

assistant, invented masking tape - an innovative step toward

diversification and the first of many Scotch brand pressure-sensitive tapes.

In the following years technical progress resulted in Scotch Cellophane

Tape for box sealing and soon hundreds of other practical uses were

discovered for the innovative product.

In the early 1940s, 3M was diverted into defense materials for World War

II, which was followed by new ventures, such as Scotchlite Reflective

Sheeting for highway markings, magnetic sound recording tape, filament

adhesive tape, and the start of 3M's involvement in the graphic arts with

offset printing plates.

In the 1950s, 3M introduced the Thermo-Fax copying process, Scotchgard

Fabric Protector, videotape, Scotch-Brite Cleaning Pads and several new

electro-mechanical products.

Dry-silver microfilm was introduced in the 1960s, along with

photographic products, carbonless papers, overhead projection systems

and a rapidly growing health care business of medical and dental products.

Markets further expanded in the 1970s and 1980s into pharmaceuticals,

radiology and energy control.

In 1980, 3M introduced Post-it Notes, which created a whole new

category in the marketplace and changed people's communication and

organization behaviour forever.

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In the 1990s 3M continued to develop an array of innovative products,

including immune response modifier pharmaceuticals; brightness

enhancement films for electronic displays; and flexible circuits used in

inkjet printers, cell phones and other electronic devices.

In 2004, sales topped $20 billion for the first time, with innovative new products

contributing significantly to growth. Recent innovations include Post-it Super

Sticky Notes, Scotch Transparent Duct Tape, optical films for LCD televisions,

and a new family of Scotch-Brite cleaning products that give consumers the right

scrubbing power for a host of cleaning jobs.

Genesis Grant is another 3M intrapreneurial program which finances projects that

might not end up getting funds through normal channels. Genesis Grant offers

$85,000 to these innovators to carry forward their projects.

2.3.4. IBM: IBM, DEC, Siemens and others found it increasingly difficult to compete

with the multitude of smaller, faster, more opportunistic companies challenging

them in the market place, with lower prices, faster service, newer designs, and

faster product development. IBM's Emerging Business Opportunity [EBO]

management system was a successful effort in mastering several of these

challenges. Once a new business was up and running, IBM's finance group

calculated its revenues and direct expenses. The reports provided the basis for

monthly reviews that the finance group conducted with each EBO's executives.

Of the 25 business bets that IBM made in five years, only three failed. Gerstner's

successor, Sam Palmisano, shifted most of the new businesses to IBM's business

groups. Almost overnight, 14 EBOs were out of the corporate system and into

IBM's business groups. The decision was based on clear ‘leadership’ and

‘strategy’ explained below:

IBM employee Don Estridge hid out in Boca Raton, Florida, far from his

bosses at IBM headquarters, to spearhead the creation of the personal

computer.

Then Bernie Meyerson from IBM inhabited a world of two junctions

where other engineers wanted just one. Silicon chips had dominated the

semiconductor industry for decades. In 1982, the IBM researcher began

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exploring a new hybrid chip that combined two materials, silicon and

germanium. The resulting ‘hetero-junction’ chip could speed electrons

through the junction of a transistor much faster than the ‘homo-junction’

chip. It took years for Mr. Meyerson to prove that silicon germanium

could be made on exactly the same manufacturing line as a typical silicon

chip, thereby resulting in much lower manufacturing costs than the highly

specialized and difficult manufacturing of gallium arsenide, a chemical

compound that produces about five times the chip speed of silicon. Over

time, Mr. Meyerson's hybrid materials found an application. As wireless

chip technologies reached ever-higher frequencies, only silicon

germanium could double the speed of silicon and not melt down from the

excess heat. Mr. Meyerson moved from the lab to managing IBM's silicon

germanium business. Half-dozen companies have licensed the technology

from IBM. Efforts were made to successfully commercialise technical

products. This willingness to shift gears, without handing the project off to

someone else, kept the project alive and made it successful in this case.

Silicon germanium could account for 10 percent of its chip

revenue in 2001. (20)

2.3.5. Intel: Intel's gigantic microprocessor business got its start when Ted Hoff and a

couple of engineers from the corporate decided they didn't want to do just another

custom chip for a Japanese calculator maker. Intel established an in-house ‘new

business initiative’ in 1998 to bootstrap new businesses that employees propose,

regardless of whether the concepts had anything to do with Intel's core chip-

making business. In contrast to a venture capital program that Intel has had in

place for a decade, the new business initiative provided finance for businesses that

the company's own employees started. The company invested in outside

companies, so the employees said they wanted to be entrepreneurs - suggested

that their ideas should also be considered for investment. Intel's started a new

business fund, and earmarked it for non-microprocessor businesses. In one year

employees pitched more than 400 ideas, and Intel provided funding for about two

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dozen of them. In contrast, Intel reviewed 5,000 ideas from outside entrepreneurs

in the same period and made investments in about 250 of them.

One Intel engineer who took the plunge was Paul Scagnetti, who had

worked for a couple of years developing chip-making processes. He came

up with a concept for a handheld computer aimed at helping people to

record and plan their fitness and nutrition data - The Vivonic Fitness

Planner. He worked on the idea for nine months and then Intel gave him

funding to hire 15 people and launch the product. There were a few

hiccups, like trying to recruit from within Intel and running into managers

who didn't want their employees to transfer. But the project met

expectations. The next challenge was to plan expansion either by spinning

off or otherwise growing within Intel. Study of Intel Corporation's

corporate strategy suggested that entrepreneurial activities were the

outcome of the interaction of individuals and groups at multiple levels

within the firm. (21)

2.3.6. Sun Microsystems: James Gosling, Patrick Naughton, and the rest of the Sun

Microsystems crew holed up in a shuttered Digital Equipment research lab in Palo

Alto, California, played Nintendo and created Java. (22)

2.3.7. Xerox: Xerox initially ignored intrapreneurs. In the '70s and '80s, the Xerox Palo

Alto Research Center [PARC] was set up in 1970 as a research arm of Xerox

Corporation to invent the technology of the future. In a little over 30 years since it

was set up till it was incorporated as a Xerox subsidiary in 2002 it invented some

of the best technologies of the era, from the graphical user interface to the

Ethernet but failed to commercialize the products under the Xerox banner.

Microsoft, poached great Xerox technology, suffered from a brain drain as their

executives start their own firms. Both of these companies are now emphasizing

internal entrepreneurial efforts and have made intrapreneurship a keystone of their

business. Xerox never lived down its failure to capitalize on the PC technologies

it invented at PARC and it learned about intrapreneuring in the process. John

Seely Brown, Xerox's chief scientist, vice president, and for many years director

of the world-renowned PARC, determined not to let history repeat. He believed

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that PARC-bred technologies like networking saved Xerox's core copier business

from the Japanese onslaught in the '80s. PARC formalized the process for moving

an idea from research to product. The company’s innovation council reviews

about a dozen new business proposals a year. Cooperation facilitated by bringing

in Harvard University educators to train the researchers, so they can invent not

only new products but new ways to bring them to market. Intrapreneurs with great

business ideas found a chance to get rich along with the corporate. (23)

Xerox has also created a unit called Xerox Venture Labs, which incubates

new businesses and acts as a broker with outside venture capitalists. Over

time, Xerox's PARC technologies have led to more than a dozen spin-offs,

including SDL, which makes laser-based electronics. A joint venture with

3M to create ‘electric paper’ that can be written on over and over again.

Xerox PARC researcher Ramana Rao turned his idea for ‘hyperbolic trees’

a way to view and organize documents in three dimensions, into a new

venture called Inxight Software. Mr. Brown expects the spin-off to

eventually go public. Xerox learnt to strike the right balance between

structure and spontaneity.(24)

PARC's Artist-in-Residence Program (PAIR) brings artists who use new

media to PARC and pairs them with researchers who often use the same

media, though in different contexts. This is radically different from most

corporate support, where there is little intersection between the disciplines.

The result is both interesting art and new scientific innovations. (25)

2.3.8. Microsoft: Seamus Blackley, a game designer, joined Microsoft in early 1999.

His last big project, ‘Trespasser’ a dinosaur-shooting game based on Michael

Crichton's ‘The Lost World’, failed in the market. He figured he would keep a

low profile as a graphics programmer, but then he dreamed up a new idea banded

with three other engineers to create a video game console, called Xbox using

personal computer technology. They all worked in separate groups, but got

approval early on to continue their project when they demonstrated how such a

machine would be easier to use than a PC. Bill Gates decided at a strategic retreat

in March 1999 to enter the game console business. By July, the Xbox team had

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blossomed into a project headed by hardware chief, Rick Thompson, a veteran

who knew how to get things done at Microsoft. Mr. Blackley handed over his idea

to another team as he knew he didn’t have the skills to run the entire business.

The other team had to turn the idea into a profitable venture. Microsoft's culture

allowed Mr. Blackley to speak his mind and proceed with his plan Xbox was

launched in the fall of 2001. Robbie Bach, J Allard and team employees of

Microsoft had an idea of creating a new console-based gaming system, to

compete against Sony's Playstation that had more than 50% of the market share.

The amount of capital in the order of 100s of millions, and the quality of talent,

demanded by the business plan would have not been feasible without the

Microsoft’s umbrella. (26)

2.3.9. Sony: When Ken Kutaragi began dreaming about a game machine in the '80s, he

had to deal with a management team at Sony that considered games to be mere

toys, not serious consumer electronics devices. But he persevered and the then-

CEO Norio Ohga took a chance on the project, and Mr. Kutaragi led the team that

developed the PlayStation. Since its launch in 1994, the machine has taken the

number one market share in consoles with sales of more than 70 million units. In

the United States, one in four households has a PlayStation. By 1998, the

PlayStation was providing 40 percent of Sony's operating profits. Mr. Kutaragi

become president of Sony's computer entertainment unit, sat on the board of

directors, and spearheaded the launch of the PlayStation 2, which sold about 3

million units in Japan and hit the U.S. market. The machine can also be used to

watch The Matrix. Sony's success in product innovation has been largely

attributed to the success it has inculcated its ‘Sony Spirit’ in employees. The

interplay of ‘human capital’ and the ‘corporate culture supported innovation’

produces startling success for Sony. Sony followed an unorthodox practice of

hiring brilliant people with non-traditional skills for key positions in management

and product development projects. [E.g. an opera singer and a high-tech vagabond

with no college degree were hired for one such project.] Another of Sony's

practices is to promote young people over their elders and provide visible awards

for outstanding technical achievements. The value placed on research and

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innovation is emphasized by an annual exposition that serves to spread ideas

across project teams and gives the engineers an avenue to show off their

inventions. In addition, they have a chance to win the personal support of Sony's

chairman and other members of the management team. (27)

2.3.10. Autodesk: At smaller companies, a good intrapreneurial effort can simply revive

morale. Autodesk is viewed as a kind of ancient software company, founded well

before the rise of the Internet. It was a humble creator of design tools for

architects, with sales of more than 4 million units. But the company hopped on the

internet bandwagon, when it created Autodesk Ventures, an in-house effort aimed

at incubating new businesses in-house and investing in start-ups. In June 1999,

Autodesk employees created Buzzsaw.com, a web site that served as an electronic

market and collaborative design tool for the construction industry. At first, CEO

Carl Bass and others wanted to keep the unit in-house. Some employees were

jealous that the Buzzsaw employees might become rich from an IPO. The

company realized it could not afford the negative impact of the start-up on its

earnings per share, so they retained a minority ownership and incubated the idea

for six months. Then the company spun off Buzzsaw.com. The venture created

enough noise for Autodesk. The company won some recognition, its stock price

improved. Autodesk Ventures became the starting point for a lot of ideas and they

decided whether to spin off, incubate, or direct them to outside venture capitalists.

They created a catalytic environment. (28)

2.3.11. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone: In Japan, consensus is valued over

individual initiative. A state-run telecom operator, Nippon Telegraph and

Telephone [NTT] known by its brand name DoCoMo, was transformed into a

global wireless powerhouse by the individual efforts of Mr. Kouji Ohboshi. He

had to face conflicts with his colleagues because of this. Then in 1992 before the

mobile boom, he was transferred to run wireless communications division. He

considered resigning but he completely changed the division instead. First, he

budgeted more than $5 billion to build a fully digital cellular network.

Uncharacteristic for a Japanese executive, he fostered a racy corporate culture that

emphasized marketing over engineering, unleashed a price war against rival

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wireless operators, hosted office parties to socialize with co-workers, build an

entrepreneurial culture by replacing key managers with outsiders with American

business degrees. In 1998 he laid plans for NTT's most radical and ambitious

project: an Internet-enabled wireless service called I-mode. It became Japan's

successful and largest internet service provider. Mr. Kouji Ohboshi became a

celebrity among the country's managerial classes. His story serves as evidence

that an entrepreneurial executive can change Japan's sleepy corporate climate. He

showed that a CEO can have the biggest impact as an intrapreneur. (29)

2.3.12. Genentech: Genentech original owners lost their majority in the company during

the late '80s. Swiss drug giant F. Hoffman-LaRoche invested $2 billion in

exchange for a majority ownership stake. In 1995, the head of research Arthur

Levinson was made chairman and CEO and the firm's market value improved

tremendously. Skeptics said a scientist couldn't manage. Out of its nine approved

drugs on the market, three were launched under the leadership of Arthur

Levinson. He ran the company like a loose confederation of labs, each part of a

mission to change the world, by curing cancer in particular. He revived risky, yet

solid, research programs that had been buried. From one of those programs, the

breakthrough breast cancer drug Herceptin was born. Mr. Levinson rebuilt the

board and found a way to keep that driving scientific and entrepreneurial spirit

alive in the company. (30)

2.3.13. Texas Instruments [TI]: Few companies have been more affected by a single

intrapreneurial innovation than Texas Instruments. For most of its history, the

Dallas-based company was a conglomeration of defense, geological, chemical,

computer, and electronics products. A type of semiconductor chip known as the

Digital Signal Processor (DSP), used in everything from cell phones to MP3

players, DSPs are programmable microprocessors that can instantly crunch vast

quantities of numbers. The company first created its DSP chips in the late '70s. A

team of engineers including Gene Frantz toiled in Houston, away from the

headquarters. They regarded DSP as an ideal way to process speech in an

educational toy, dubbed Speak & Spell, and further refined the chip in subsequent

generations. Driven by early success, the team was allowed to expand its charter.

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It kept finding new uses for DSPs and seeded universities with software tools so

that engineering graduates would know how to program the DSPs and find more

and more applications. The team had both autonomy and accountability and was

empowered to innovate more as they produced better and better results. The

business grew 30 percent a year. By 1996, the next CEO Thomas Engibous saw

DSPs as the product to focus on for the future. He divested TI's non-chip

businesses and poured all of the proceeds into development of semiconductor

factories and DSPs. He even sold off TI's mainstay memory chip business in

1998, and created a $100 million venture capital fund to seed new DSP-related

businesses. A fresh market for DSPs was created in MP3 players. Now TI has

more than three dozen customers among MP3 player manufacturers, and

continued to anchor its fate to the home grown DSP, the persistence and focus

paid off. (31)

2.3.14. Kodak: Kodak's CEO oriented the company to march into a new business. Kodak

executives knew that digital pictures would one day replace silver halide film

business. The company's researchers created their first digital camera more than

two decades ago. But shifting from a dependence on film had required continuous

intrapreneuring. Motorola chief George Fisher moved to Kodak as CEO in 1993.

He jump-started the digital-imaging efforts and provided the much-needed

encouragement for employees to take risks without fear of reprisal. By 1996,

engineers had found a source of cheap imaging sensors and produced a

breakthrough camera, the DC50. Many competitors quoted lower price than

Kodak, but Kodak still ranked in the top three makers of digital cameras. Alvin

Hulsebus, an information management executive in the digital unit, brainstormed

with a couple of other Kodak employees to create the ‘project gold mine’

marketing campaign. Mr. Hulsebus figured out how to take all of the customer

contact information coming in from the Web and other sources and target those

customers with personalized marketing pitches. Kodak figured out new way to

have personal relationship with the customer. Customers, who bought digital

camera, were contacted to sell printers that produce photos independent of a PC.

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Another team of engineers came up with PalmPix, a digital camera that became a

big success and had a huge impact on Kodak. (32)

2.3.15. Lockheed: The large established aircraft manufacturer, Lockheed, allowed and

encouraged development and free thinking in its ‘Skunk Works’ operation. This

was one of the earliest large documented successful corporate entrepreneurship

ventures, which took place over forty years ago before the books and articles

about intrapreneurship were published. (33)

2.3.16. ARCO & LM Ericsson: An example from the 1980's of a major short term

intrapreneurial success was done within a joint venture by two major international

companies, ARCO and LM Ericsson. They formed a subsidiary to finance the

sales of their products internationally. The subsidiary was able to grow quickly by

using non-recourse basis loans from a group of major banks, with minimal

investment by the parent company, and nominal guarantees on the bank loans.

The venture was successful for a time, but short lived. (34)

2.3.17. Deepend: When Deepend, the new media agency co-founded by Gary Lockton

collapsed, a whole host of enterprises were started up by former Deepend

employees e.g. Dish, Recollective, Deconstruct, Airtight, Player 3, Tonic etc.

Some of Deepend employees in the offices in Rome, New York, Prague and

Sydney bought out businesses from the liquidators and turned them around.

Deepend employees took many of the elements of the culture in Deepend with

them because they knew it was one of the things that made them enjoy working

there. If one enjoys working somewhere then one is more productive, more

flexible and there is more team spirit. (35)

2.3.18. Do.com units: The proliferation of dot.coms and their new business models has

brought tremendous pressure and dramatic changes in the rules of industry.

Amazon.com is probably the best-known new economy company that

successfully changed the rules of engagement for booksellers. It has forced

Barnes & Noble to seriously re-evaluate and change the major elements of its

business model. Peapod.com has changed the way many people shop for

groceries. Autobytel.com has forced GM and others to put up their own Web sites

in direct competition with their own dealerships. (36)

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2.3.19. Fast Company: Online forums that encourage new thinking have evolved. Fast

Company had the goal of chronicling the changes under way in how companies

create and compete, highlighting the new practices shaping how work gets done,

showcasing teams who are inventing the future and reinventing business, and

equipping the people exploring this uncharted territory with the tools, techniques,

models, and mind-sets they need. Fast Company began regular publication in

1995 after a 1993 ‘prototype’ issue. It is still published today. (37)

2.3.20. The Intrapreneuring Cafe: The Intrapreneuring Cafe, run by intrapreneur.com

discussed a variety of specific intrapreneurship issues such as what the best

businesses are for intrapreneurship and government agency intrapreneuring. They

also run ‘want ads’ for intrapreneurs. (38)

2.4. Summary of the successful intrapreneurial Practices followed by corporate:

Intrapreneurs have created most of the major innovations in big companies. Many

corporate are now emphasizing internal entrepreneurial efforts and have made

intrapreneurship a keystone of their business. They enable the employees to use

their creativity, imagination and pursue their entrepreneurial drive to further the

company's overall business goals. Corporate try to make the move of ideas from

‘research to the real world’ easier. They make sure it is not a lonely struggle for

the innovator. They create an entrepreneurial culture, an environment that satisfies

the entrepreneurial employees, let the employees ‘not carry any baggage to lose’

while being creative. The real challenge for any company trying to unleash new

businesses is that people have to believe that this is not an unnatural act.

Companies have to learn how to leverage the competencies and the assets that

they already have within. In return corporate improve their competitive edge and

reap the benefits. This can be achieved by various means. The experiences and

experiments of various corporate considered and sited here bring out the

following points that corporate, the corporate entrepreneurs and the researchers in

the subject have to take cognizance of. The specific strategic management

practices and the elements thereof that influence CE are:

2.4.1. Internal-Locus of Planning: On employees’ insistence that they want to do

entrepreneurial things and to prompt, impress and influence the innovation

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process, corporate create formal innovation programs. They ensure that every new

idea receives a fair hearing, encourage employees to identify ‘necessities’ of

internal/external customers, encourage them to apply their experience and ability,

to dig back their roots. Corporate may ‘bootstrap’ with the employees, or with

external companies to meet the expectations stated by the project plan. The

necessary approvals from departments like finance etc. are taken early on to

continue the project without barriers. The emphasis is on lateral planning by

encouraging employees to form competing teams that function like small

businesses, as internal vendors, work in separate groups, encourage the

willingness to get their hands dirty.

2.4.2. Flexibility in Planning and Operation: Corporate show willingness to shift

gears to formalize the process for moving an idea from research to product - move

from inventor to technical champion, from a fund-raiser to business manager. The

ideas selected by the employees may not fit in the core business of the corporate.

Corporate consider investments into such ideas in different ways. The flexibility

is apparent in the way the projects are handled like: some companies encourage

employees to form competing teams that function like small businesses or internal

vendors. Some teams hand the project off to someone else for want of specific

skills, competencies and knowledge. Some may decide not to hand over the

project off to anyone else and let it stay with the original team who proposed it,

for similar reasons. Some permit the team to acquire expertise. Some help to

manage the hiccups: like, recruiting from within, poaching of the ideas,

technology, brain drain at critical point, veteran executives moving out of the

corporate etc.

2.4.3. Corporate Involvement: focused analysis is conducted to identify scope for

convincing innovations like: strong new markets, niche manufacturing processes,

line of business, lower costs, rapid speed, develop hybrid materials or new

applications. Corporate adopt many strategies to keep the project alive: upper

management acts like a venture capital firm and give funding, create special

business fund, evaluate promising new ideas, bootstrap, work in partnership on

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the project, incubate the new businesses, act as a broker with outside venture

capitalists etc.

2.4.4. Control Attributes: The entrepreneurial corporate and the team working on new

ideas would face many challenges in the journey of turning the idea into a

profitable venture. Possibility that the employees with great ideas would have a

chance to get rich: whether their ideas are spun off into employee-owned

businesses or spun in as a new division. The impact of the same on the moral of

the rest of the employees could be positive and/or negative. The positive ones are

desired for, but the negative would need to be controlled and managed.

Innovations and creativity would thrive on freedom and spontaneity but to convert

the same into a viable project, structure and discipline would be needed. The need

to ‘understanding the right balance’ between structure and spontaneity control

mechanism would be needed.

2.4.5. Risk Taking: the ideas would be evaluated in terms of risks involved - the

sharing pattern of the risks would be decided with the intrapreneur/s. The ‘entry

point’, ‘exit point’, ‘strategic partnership points’, ‘strategy change points’ are

considered for arriving at ‘calculated risk’, keeping in view that entrepreneurs

thrive on ‘risk taking’.

2.5. Corporate entrepreneurship - Indian scenario: The stalwarts of Indian

industries have expressed their opinions – in words and / or deeds – on corporate

entrepreneurship. Traditionally, Indian economy supports entrepreneurship. The

Indian mindset has cultural advantage, which is evident from the following.

‘Artisans-system’ was a well-known practice in India. Generation after

generation the artisans developed their profession and made it richer in

skills and knowledge by continuously innovating, experimenting and

expanding.

Mentoring and counseling is part of Indian social system. In joint

families the family head as well as other elders in the family play the role

of mentor. The ‘Panchayat’ in the villages and the ‘Biradari’ act in the

capacity of counselor as/if the need arise. There are certain castes, which

promote their own community members as entrepreneurs in a very

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systematic way with a well-developed support system. Appropriate kind of

support – psychological, social, financial - at critical stages goes a long

way in establishing an entrepreneur.

The multi-cultural environment of India helps in building sensitivity

and tolerance that is so vital for successful entrepreneurship.

One can say ‘Entrepreneurship’ is in the genes of Indians.

In the present century, Indian corporate have entered the global market on a large

scale. IT industry took the lead in this exercise and is a role model. The recent

trends and declarations of corporate leaders/catalyst show that corporate have

realized the need and urge to innovate and are committed to innovation. There are

ways of getting new innovative ideas through systematic research and

development plans, buying innovations from laboratories specially working for

the purpose, collaborations, joint ventures, franchisee arrangement and by

involving employees. Corporate are showing good interest in utilizing the

potential in employees’ to be creative and innovate. Indian managers are

becoming more visible globally; their talent and opportunities are growing.

Various news items appearing in media, which supports this view:

Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata group of industries and industry

stalwart, has committed a separate fund to support employees’ creativity

and innovation efforts: succeeded or tried out.

Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla believes that it is better to emphasize on

excellence than perfection. This mindset boosts innovation efforts for

further improvements.

Vivek Paule, of WIPRO believes that there are ample viable innovative

ideas coming from India for a venture capitalist to consider. So not only

India has the opportunity to invest, it can offer innovative proposals.

TCS has shown its interest in ‘Talent Pool Generation’. They are planning

to set up a venture fund for this purpose. Mr. S. Ramadorai, the CEO and

MD of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. has plans to fund the best of the

innovative minds in schools and colleges: talent is being groomed to dare

and think differently.

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HCL Technologies’ Vineet Nayar has shown his keenness to place

employees before even the customers.

The Economic Times’ study along with ‘Great Place to Work’ Institute’s

study, on ‘India’s Best Companies to Work For’ is globally acclaimed

workplace study. It is based on months of strenuous employee surveys and

culture audits. The institute works to create and enlarge a learning

community, which together will make India a great place to work. The

study has become the largest study in this area, with 373 registrations.

They have introduced ‘Innovative People Initiative in an Economic

Downturn’ as part of a Special Category Award. (39) Thinkers and media

are thus supporting innovative minds.

Bajaj award for business excellence: The objective of Ramkrishna Bajaj

National Quality Award is to help stimulate Indian companies through

pride of recognition while obtaining competitive edge, so that they serve

as a model to others. It motivates and enables organizations to excel the

accepted benchmark through their business practices and go for world-

class criteria. All applicants receive a detailed feedback that guides the

company in the endeavour. These efforts contribute in promoting efforts

from the company and its employees towards excellence. This is a

motivation to accept the opportunity for incremental and radical

innovations where CE can play very vital role.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, the Chairman and MD of Bharti Enterprises, entered

into a completely virginal mobile market in India. His journey from

Ludhiana's by-lanes to Delhi made him the mobile tycoon. As an

intrapreneur, he unfolds new rules, new paradigms of how he broke all

barriers. He entered the telecom market at a time when there were no other

players in this industry. A job well done is more satisfying for him than

the number crunching results. He thinks the numbers just make the

journey more enjoyable. He can handle failures / disappointing

experiences as he is passionate about new ventures, transformational

businesses. The personal vision of the Chairman guides the organisation to

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be enterprising, develop the culture of CE to pursue new opportunities,

transform business, enter virgin arena and take risk.

Deloitte in association with The Economic Times, Delhi, organised a

forum: ‘The CEO Power Breakfast’ on Friday, 13th Nov. 2009 in New

Delhi. The forum was organised to consider ‘How companies can sustain

and prosper in uncertain times’. The topic for discussion was ‘Tectonic

shifts in global economic power: how not to fall through the cracks and

rise to new heights’. The objective of the forum was to deliberate on

dealing with uncertain times and many of the industry stalwarts suggested

‘innovation’ as one of the appropriate solution. Some of the comments of

key speakers in the forum are as follows:

Kapil Kaul CEO, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation said,

“Innovation is the key to create opportunities. Healthy

competition gives ample opportunity to be innovative, be agile to

adapt to changes.”

Niren Chaudhary MD Yum Restaurants said, “It is time for price

led innovations to drive the Indian market - by striking a balance

between third world affordability and first world cost.”

Ravi Pandit, Chairman and group CEO, KPIT Cummins said,

“We need to have fast and smart growth, by combining elements,

shift from wasteful consumption to sensible consumption.”

Innovative efforts would be needed to create these changes.

Alok Bharadwaj, Senior VP Canon India said, “Collaborations

even with the competitors creates and offers new propositions,

allows innovations that help to get into new domains.”

One can see the Indian corporate realize the strategic role innovation can

play. They would try to advocating it in every possible way.

In business and investing, traditionally risk has been viewed negatively:

investors and companies can lose money due to risk and therefore

typically risk taking is penalized in corporate. Most books on risk

management focus strictly on hedging / dodging or mitigating risk. This

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approach towards risk is changing now. It is accepted that great companies

become great because they seek out and exploit intelligent risks, not

because they avoid all risk.

Corporate can seek out and exploit intelligent risks by involving

employees with CE. For business success risk needs to be exploited

judiciously. Corporate can project the change in its mindset by investing in

innovative projects of intrapreneurs, removing the social negative stigma

attached to risk taking, decide not to penalize employees for taking risks,

for experimenting, for looking at situations from different angle. The

daring to be different in a judicious manner is imperative to create real

competitive advantage. To separate good risk (opportunities) from bad risk

(threats) the most powerful tool would be empowered employees

interested in: increasing firm’s value, drive higher growth and returns and

wanting to share it. Empowered employees would help to assess the

potential dangers and payoffs of risky ventures. The approach to ‘risk

management’ is changing. Companies are learning that risk taking is

absolutely central to business success.

It needs to be seen whether the Indian corporate are utilizing this

strength of Indian employees: do corporate encourage innovation, reward

efforts in doing so, promote risk-taking, and renew corporate vision and

culture to accommodate these beliefs; do they continually improvise

defined set of corporate competencies or lose creative talent. In reality

there are many factors within a corporate that could act as constrain for

CE. Corporate need to encourage innovative efforts of employees, support

them, develop positive perception regarding company’s sincerity towards

CE, build entrepreneurial characteristics within its culture. Some

information on the Indian corporate that shows commitment to innovation

is as follows:

2.5.1. TATA Group: Tata brand is well known for trust, quality and honesty. House of

Tata’s has significant presence in diverse industries - from luxury hotels and

jewelry to first Indian car for the masses, salt, water purifier. Tata have remained

35

true to its liberal roots as it goes global. 'Leadership’ is allocated the highest

scores in the Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM), which measures

excellence in Tata Group companies. Leaders those who can execute and drive

change within their companies, rather than merely control it. The objectives of

Tata Management Training Centre is: parting latest knowledge and skills among

practicing managers, facilitating attitudinal and behavioural changes, help to

derive solutions for organisational issues, institute learning organisations. Since

2000, Tata have expanded widely. It has also moved into markets where Western

multinationals dare not tread, including Bangladesh and Africa. Tata’s feel that

the productivity of the workforce is more in Tata companies because of their

overall policies.

Making an elephant dance is difficult as IBM’s Lou Gerstner found out while

transforming the 112 year-old IBM into a service company during the mid-90s,

but the 70 year-old Chairman Ratan Tata is making a similar attempt to make the

Tata Group swing. Mr. Ratan N. Tata serves as the Chairman, Member of Group

Corporate Centre and Member of Group Executive Board of Tata Group. He has

been Chairman of Tata Industries Ltd. since 1981. He has developed a strategy

think-tank for the group. Under his leadership, innovation is the mantra for Tata

group.

Mr. Ratan Tata encourages the Tata Group to keep up the spirit of enterprise and

innovation alive to remain competitive and a force to reckon with in a changing

world. Mr. Tata urges everyone not to be complacent about success and keep on

scaling new highs and not to forget the high ideologies, mission and vision of the

group. Mr. Tata stresses on empowering young people to dream and harnessing

the power of those dreams and ideas, however crazy they may seem. He believes

that great ideas have their roots in strange places, happen at strange times and

may come to the most unassuming people. Mr. Tata says that the efforts which

we put today may not have immediate effects but may bear fruit in the long run.

The idea is to persevere with great self belief and not expect immediate results

because those efforts are aimed at a longer future. The group has supported many

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CE concepts that were not just unique but helped to make innovation became the

overriding strategy for the group.

Following are some of the initiatives from Tata group of companies:

The group celebrates ‘Tata Innovation Day’ to recognize the most exciting

innovations to come out of the Tata Group from across the globe. Three

categories of innovation are appraised. ‘The leading edge’, ‘Dare to try’

and ‘Promising innovations’.

Leading Edge Innovations are the most innovative business idea

for the future. It has three sub categories: Innovation for one’s

own company, innovative idea for a different Tata company,

innovative idea that is new to the Tata Group.

Dare to try: this category is for the efforts: attempting novel ideas

but not quite succeeded in implementing them.

Promising Innovations: These are Innovations which are

successfully implemented.

These awards are usually followed by a film on innovation where Tata employees

from different parts of the globe express their opinions, dreams and ways to

accomplish them. Through these awards, Tatas inculcate a sense of belonging

which leads to quality, reliability, the urge to innovate. They take efforts to build

positive perception of employees regarding CE being supported in Tata group of

companies. Tata’s believe that satisfied and happy employees make an ambience

not only to create wealth but let companies become global competitors.

The potential of outsourcing was spotted early on by FC Kohli, ex-

chairman, TCS which resulted in the creation of the company. This was

decades before the rest of the country caught on to it.

Speaking on the occasion of the 14th JRD QV awards function held on the

29th of July, 2008, the birth anniversary of Mr. J R D Tata. Dr. J J Irani,

Chairman, TQMS, stressed on corporate governance, innovation, climate

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change and safety. He appreciated the increased level of participation

active support and involvement from the senior management in the

movement. Dr. Irani stressed on the importance of innovation and

encouraged the practice of giving awards not only to innovations which

were successful, but also to those innovative practices which weren’t

successful but were composed of novel ideas.

Tata Motors´ Disruptive Innovation Strategy - Nano: India´s car

manufacturer Tata Motors revolutionized the global car market with its

disruptive innovation strategy. Tata Motors is an established company in

passenger car and truck manufacturing and the only Indian car producer

with a certified crash-test facility. With Nano it determined a new era in

inexpensive personal transportation.

Nano is a low cost family car. It is an engineering masterpiece. It is

smaller, lighter, and cheaper. The project to create a 1 lakh rupees car

began in 2003. The strategic thinking behind the concept of providing a

luxury product to the masses is innovation by itself. The strategy behind

the project was the awareness of the number of Indian families who had

two wheeled transport, but couldn't afford a four wheel car. Also it was

based on the company's success in producing the low cost 4 wheeled Ace

truck in May 2005. Nano costs about double the price of an Indian motor

scooter. Tata would win over a large part of the millions of price sensitive

motor bike and motor scooter drivers. With its four wheels and the

protecting body, it open ups a totally new world of safety and comfort for

motor bike and scooter riders. Tata Motors is giving reassurances that it

will comply with the Indian safety and emission standards. The innovative

car will be assembled in further three satellite plants which will also sell

and service the cars, if needed, in order to save the trade margin of the

intermediaries. In its innovation strategy, Tata Motors makes use of its

network of European partners such as BASF, which supplies components,

or Fiat, which helps Tata with its design. Tata has already sufficiently

proven in the past that it knows how to design likeable cars. Export to

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emerging countries such as Thailand and Bangladesh is envisioned. Tata

Motors came up with a design, marketing and operational strategy keeping

its strengths, opportunities, constraints, challenges in view.

At The Economist's Eighth Annual Innovation Awards Ceremony and

Summit was held in London on October 29th &30th 2009, to honour

greatest thinkers and doers. The Business Process Innovation Award was

announced for Tata Nano, the world's lowest-cost car: for the innovative

methods through which the car is designed and manufactured, for offering

a affordable, safe and efficient form of mobility to families in emerging

markets, for shaping businesses across the globe and changing the way

Indian companies conduct business. The ‘Tata Nano Europa’ the Tata

Nano's European counterpart made its first ever appearance, at the

Summit.

"Innovative ideas are everywhere," said Mark Langley, executive vice

president and COO of the Project Management Institute, said during the

ceremony and summit, "What we salute with the Business Process Award

is rarer: the implementation, through effective projects and programs that

translates ideas into lasting change. Tata Motors' Nano challenges the way

automobiles have been made and marketed for a hundred years. The

application of project management is testimony to Tata Group's record of

refining its processes, from boardroom to manufacturing floor, and

promises transformation of an industry facing a billion new customers

over the next generation."

Tata Consultancy Services [TCS] and Innovation: TCS is the flagship

information technology enterprise of the Tata group. TCS is the pioneer in

software R&D. The company has an innovative environment and culture

that offers research-based solutions in leading-edge technologies. The

company celebrates ‘Innovation Days’ that help key customers and TCS

researchers to collaborate on research toward specific solutions.

‘Innovations Forums’ are held annually that serve as confluences of

thought leaders and researchers from academia, start-ups and customers,

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bringing value through shared experiences. TCS has awards for young

innovators, coding competitions, research workshops and conferences

where scientists of international repute participate and create a fertile

environment for TCSers. To gain a competitive advantage in the market

TCS uses an open and collaborative framework to promote innovative

efforts. TCS has created a strong IPR base and has stepped up investments

in building assets such as patents, copyrights and trademarks with the help

of its employees. Research at TCS is segmented into the following three

categories:

Sustaining or Derivative Innovation: Innovations that offer

improvements on current offerings in current markets.

Platform Innovations: Innovations that help customers move to

adjacent technologies and create additional capabilities.

Disruptive Innovations: that changes games and brings radical

changes to current markets and capabilities and also focus on

developing re-usable solution frameworks.

TCS Innovation Labs: the company runs several innovation centers that

provide environment in which innovations are developed, incubated, and

piloted with corporate support. The lab works on convergence of

networks, products, and industries.

TCS has won the Nasscom Innovation Award 2005, FAPCCI Award for

Best New Product Innovation in 2004. Dr M. Vidyasagar of the TCS

Innovation Lab, Hyderabad, won the Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary

Lecture Prize in 2005. India is primarily the story of an enterprising

private sector. The Tata Group of Industries is a window into the rise of

India. ‘Healthy work environment’ at Tata’s enables its employees to

reach their full potential, while facilitating the company’s drive to achieve

all its objectives in the marketplace. 'Leadership’ is allocated the highest

scores in the Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM), which measures

excellence in Tata Group companies. Leaders those who can execute and

drive change within their companies, rather than merely control it -

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manage the expectations of different stakeholders. Tata are known for

trust, quality and honesty, the house still lives unto its image. The

corporate realize and accept their responsibility towards development and

towards empowerment of the employees. Giving scope to them would be

ultimately being in the interest of the corporate and the country. (40)

2.5.2. KPIT Cummins Infosystems Ltd. [KPIT]: Mr. Ravi Pandit, Chairman and Group

Chief Executive officer of KPIT leads the group. In his interview to ‘Shared

Services News – July – August 2009’ his thoughts clearly indicate the preference

for ECC. [Entrepreneurial Corporate Culture] If the chief mentor supports

intrapreneurship rest of the company would also put in their efforts. It is also

apparent from the successful CE case study ‘REVOLO’ at KPIT.

The excerpts from his interview are:

Ravi remembers a particular teacher because he taught him to think.

The preference for independent thinking, to go beyond the job role is CE

supportive.

‘Toughness’ is the most valuable work lesson for him, thus far.

Intrapreneurs need to be tough to manage failures, constrains,

disapprovals.

He looks for ‘energy’ in new recruits.

He likes the ‘self-confidence’ of the new generation and has nothing to

worry about them.

For him ‘one good way to foster innovation’ is to get the right guy and

leave him to himself.

As a leader he judges his success from the ‘full freedom others enjoy to

express their views’.

Intrapreneurs go beyond their job role – sometimes beyond the prevailing strategy

of the company. There is a trying time till the idea is accepted, due changes are

incorporated and strategic support is provided by the management to make it into

a successful venture. This demands high level of energy and self-confidence in

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the proponent to promote his idea. A company employee with an innovative idea

will have to work hard to turn that into a viable business proposal and would need

autonomy and support for the same. Management encourages CE by accepting

that, every idea may not turn into a successful venture, but it needs to be heard.

He goes for a deal with ‘we are both on the same side of the table’

attitude.

He believes that ‘values’ are the only constant element in times of great

change.

More than personal biases a set of values and principles are better parameters for

guidance. In that case both the mentor and the mentee can be on the same side of

the table. For CE the intelligence support of the corporate would be of great

advantage. Values would be the guiding force when empowered employees are

given liberal autonomy to work on ideas.

BPO providers bringing innovations to customer relationship: KPIT is

working to push the benefits of best practices and streamlined processes

developed by them far beyond their immediate customers out to their ecosystem:

i.e. customer’s suppliers, customer’s customers, customer’s employees, all those

who are touched by their customer’s business. Getting better products from

vendors help them to improve their business, extending the benefits of

innovations in the processes is also an innovative practice.

KPIT Centre for Research in Engineering Sciences and Technology

(CREST): the company is committed for continuously innovating in technology.

CREST actively focuses on several knowledge sharing activities across the

organization. It has a budget equivalent to 4-5% of annual profit. The company

has strong focus on the following:

Fostering a culture of innovation through encouraging participation for all

employees in events, technical seminars, international conferences etc. and

has presented 15+ technical papers in conferences so far.

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Building patents driven technologies. The company has filed for 28 global

patents.

Publishing a technical journal – ‘TechTalk’

Arranging regular lectures by eminent scientists to foster learning.

Establishing and maintaining connect with academic and research

ecosystem for continual learning - relationships with 5+ international &

10+ Indian universities

Completed 20+ R&D projects across automotive and semiconductor

technologies.

Technology Innovation Award – 2011 by Wall Street Journal

Best Implemented Sustainability Innovation of the Year 2011 by

Knowledge@Wharton

Promising Innovation of the Year 2010-11, by NASSCOM

Best Electronic Product of the Year 2011, by India Semiconductor

Association

Automotive Idea of the Year 2011, by Economic Times Zigwheels

Innovation Award in the Cummins CMD Awards, 2009

Maharashtra State IT

R&D Innovation Award 2011.

One of the most impressive projects of KPIT is REVOLO.

‘REVOLO’: it is a classic text book case study of CE pursued by KPIT.

KPIT and Bharat Forge Ltd. together developed ‘Ready to Fit Hybrid

Technology Solution’ ‘REVOLO’

A young KPIT engineer Tejas Kshatriya in 2008 came up with an idea

REVOLO – revolutionary Solution for converting any car from 800 CC to

3000 CC into a parallel hybrid without tampering with the transmission of

the car. When the idea first occurred to him, he was actually stuck in

Mumbai traffic en route to Pune. The idea then evolved through trial and

error into a viable technology. There were several false starts, including

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technical but things began to fall in place. When he got the go-ahead from

the company for the project, a team of four engineers was sanctioned for

the project. The team worked separately from CREST. Kshatriya used his

own Maruti Alto to develop the prototype.

The product is innovative and would provide value for money to customers and

the country in many ways. Some of the features are as follows:

The indigenous revolutionary technology innovation saves a lot of cost,

installation efforts, is less complex and light in weight. The cost factor and

efficiency factor combined make this solution 10 times more value for

money compared to the available counterparts.

Fuel Efficiency Improvements of over 40 %: as tested by Automotive

Research Association of India (ARAI) in Pune.

REVOLO works best in typical stop-and-go city traffic and allow cars to

cruise at about 30 km an hour in third gear. In city driving conditions, the

efficiency can be as high as about 80 %.

The technology does not need additional infrastructure from the

government. Hybrid and electric cars are the future for a country such as

India, which faces two biggest challenges; fuel shortage and climate

change. Given the poor efficiency levels of conventional engines, such

alternative technologies will become more main stream.

Green House Gases Emission Drops by over 30 %

Provides additional boost in power and improves driving pleasure.

Increases engine life by reducing load on the engine.

REVOLO can be installed on all kind of cars, in 4 to 6 hours by trained

technicians. It will be for the masses and is the first wave towards cheaper

hybridization.

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As a case study of CE, following can be observed in REVOLO:

The innovative idea came from an employee. Employee takes his share of

risk by developing the prototype on his own car.

The idea is a departure from software, the main area of expertise of KPIT.

Entrepreneurial zeal in the company takes the risk, does lot of intelligence

work to evaluate the ides and gives support to evolve the idea.

Company Support: Company provides support in the form of expertise,

network, talent, marketing support, cost-revenue viewpoint, strategic

partnership, business acumen.

A team is given to work with Tejas Kshatriya and the technology uses

battery management software devised by KPIT.

Bharat Forge Ltd. and KPIT are into 50:50 joint venture for REVOLO.

KPIT’s founders have known the Kalyanis of Bharat Forge for about three

decades. With REVOLO Bharat Forge would enter a new arena of

electrical components, perhaps become a battery manufacturer whereas,

KPIT frugal engineering methods have got the auto world’s attention and

the company has been fielding calls for sharing the REVOLO technology.

Efforts are taken by the mentors to develop positive perceptions of

employees regarding sincerity of the company in promoting CE.

Corporate projects entrepreneurial profile: it wants to innovate, take risk,

achieve greater heights, involve employees in the process etc. The excerpt

from interviews of Ravi Pandit confirms this. He indicates the

competencies the corporate would appreciate in its employees.

Marketing Strategy: REVOLO is launched as ‘after market kit’ which

comprises 90% of the car population, rather than being pitched directly to

auto makers. It will be available for installation at the authorized service

partners.

Cost – Revenue Model: KPIT Cummins’ founders Pandit and Kishor Patil

were both chartered accountants before they ventured into information

technology (IT). The challenge is to show value-conscious customers that

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they can save money with the help of REVOLO technology. The capital

costs are planned to be kept low with indigenous ideas. The revenues are

expected to be between Rs300-500 crore, by selling between 30,000 and

50,000 kits, assuming an average price of Rs1 lakh per kit.

KPIT has used elements of different models of CE and developed a suitable

model that would work for REVOLO project.

2.5.3. Kalyani Group, established in mid 1960s, is a leading Indian industry house with

interests in forgings, auto parts, steel and other areas. The Group currently has

operations in eight countries around the world. The emphasis is on market

leadership through technology and its strong human resources. Mr. B. N. Kalyani,

Chairman and visionary leadership of the Kalyani Group says, “Innovation has

always been a driving force at Kalyani. It is something that has always been

inherent in our corporate culture, our processes and our values – a constant,

unending commitment to excellence and innovation”

The tagline ‘Driving Innovation’ signifies the group’s conviction, courage and

commitment to unending excellence & innovation and belief in using mind

power. Its new logo is international in its look and feel as well as visually rich,

denoting high technology and innovation.

The major group companies are: Bharat Forge Ltd (the flagship company of the

Kalyani Group), CDP Bharat Forge GmbH, Bharat Forge Aluminiumtechnik

GmbH, Bharat Forge America, Bharat Forge Kilsta AB, Bharat Forge Scottish

Stampings, Automotive Axles, Kalyani Steels, Kalyani Carpenter Special Steels

and Kalyani Lemmerz. The Kalyani Group is a successful world-class producer of

auto parts- a group that is revolutionary in its thinking & approach, a truly

futuristic and global brand. The core values of the group are conviction, courage

and commitment to excellence.

Company has a clearly enunciated HR philosophy that says, ‘We are people

oriented. Training, empowerment and fostering team spirit are means through

46

which our talented employees can unleash their creativity for the benefit of the

organization and its customers.’ (41)

2.5.4. The Concept of Maha-Intrapreneur: Praj Industries Ltd. [Praj] believes that

the innovative contribution of entrepreneurs is really supported by intrapreneurs,

to a great extent and together it becomes successful in organization. Praj is a

global Indian company that offers innovative solutions to significantly add value

in bio-ethanol, bio-diesel, brewery plants and process equipment and systems for

customers, worldwide. Praj is a knowledge based company with expertise and

experience in bioprocesses and engineering. It has one of the largest resource

bases in the industry with over 450 references across all five continents. Led by

an accomplished and caring leader, Praj is a socially responsible corporate citizen.

Praj is the founding member of Global Growth Companies.

Inception of the Awards: To promote ‘intrapreneurship’ more strongly, Praj

Industries has instituted an award called the ‘Maha-Intrapreneur’ Award. This

award will identify and reward professionals who display ‘intrapreneurial’

qualities in terms of actions and results in various organizations. The awards have

brought to light the progressive characteristics amongst organizations operating

out of cities and districts other than the usual, like Mumbai and Pune.

Applications are received from locations as spread out as Ahmednagar, Nashik,

Beed, Solapur, Aurangabad and Nagpur, apart from Mumbai and Pune. The

award is called the ‘Praj-Symbiosis Maha-Intrapreneur Award’.

At the onset of its Silver Jubilee year, Praj organized a one day program called the

Maha-Intrapreneur on December 20, 2008 to discuss the 'employee-manager'

approach towards a more 'entrepreneur-manager' approach in their careers.

Around 200 Eminent professionals from various industries and institutes shared

their experiences.

Pramod Chaudhari, Chairman, Praj Group, himself a well-known entrepreneur

shared his thoughts on this program saying, “While entrepreneurs create new

businesses, we require professionals who display a high level of entrepreneurial

qualities while in service as well as the same passion and leadership qualities as

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any entrepreneur. The term ‘intrapreneurship’ has not received as much

recognition as it should. Entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship are

complimentary concepts that put innovative ideas to work thereby promoting

growth and transformation in any enterprise or society. The difference lies only in

the degree and form of risk-taking.”

In the second year, Praj intrapreneurship awards were conferred on Dec 20, 2009:

Speaking as chief guest at a function Nitin Paranjape, chief executive officer and

managing director of the Hindustan Unilever Ltd on Saturday said,

“Entrepreneurship, complemented by intrapreneurship, will help achieve scales

and will also facilitate full utilisation of potential of people in an organisation.

Indian managers have the capability to go ahead and encouragement to

intrapreneurs' who have capacities to work within the systems and processes will

phenomenally increase the rate of an organisation's progress.” The categories for

the awards were, Large Scale, Medium Scale, NGOs, Semi Government, Society

and Trusts.

The third edition of PRAJ 'intrapreneurs' awards were conferred on July 27, 2010:

Managing director of Persistent Systems Limited, Anand Deshpande, was the

chief guest. He emphasised on the need to develop intrapreneurs and brought to

the attention of the audience the skills required in an intrapreneur and their

effective role in supporting the growth of the organisation. He explained the

mantra of 5Ps for aspiring intrapreneurs: passion, pro-activeness, ability to build

long-term partnerships, positive attitude and persistence. (42)

2.5.5. Tech Mahindra & Innovation as a business model: Mahindra and Mahindra

started as a jeep assembling company in 1945 and have over the years branched

out into tractors, commercial vehicles, information technology, holiday resorts,

financial services, making sports utility vehicles and passenger cars. More

recently, the group entered the two-wheeler market and its software arm, Tech

Mahindra, acquired beleaguered Satyam Computer Services Ltd to become

India’s sixth largest technology firm.

At Tech Mahindra, innovation is pursued as a business model. This is achieved by

the creation of Capability Solution Units [CSUs] staffed with more experienced

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consultants and architects from the telecommunications industry and labs. CSUs

dedicated to certain key technological areas as well as to map the technology to

business/client needs. Ten percent of revenues are invested back into the CSUs to

uphold the management’s commitment to incubate innovation within Tech

Mahindra.

Thought leadership at Tech Mahindra: Innovation is born of ideas. To this end,

Tech Mahindra fosters thought leadership by actively engaging its employees

with various forums to keep abreast of industry developments.

Ignite Innovation contest: Tech Mahindra has also partnered global companies

to set up research labs and develop proof of concepts. For example, its “Next

Generation Telecom Solutions Lab” is in cooperation with Intel. Further, Idea

Factory is Tech Mahindra’s lab instituted to generate ‘software + service’ etc. In

order to provoke thought and discussion in areas like business strategy, human

engineering, delivery excellence and technology, Tech Mahindra organizes an all

inclusive annual contest “Ignite Innovation”. Senior management members

evaluate the entries. The teams emerging as finalists of this contest then present

and sell their ideas to the top management at a Management Summit.

Mahindra group is giving its employees some time off from work to come up with

new ideas. The company brings people together to share the vast pool of

knowledge. The group companies are fairly diverse and the rate of change is very

fast. With this new thrust, the Mahindra group hopes to innovate faster with

fertilized ideas. The group’s innovation pad invites ideas in at least a dozen areas,

from automobiles, computers, consumer electronics and health to cost reduction.

Even the group’s older employees are open to new age though many ideas

generated so far have come from younger employees. (43)

2.5.6. Kotak Insurance and innovations: Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance

Ltd is a joint venture between Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., its affiliates and Old

Mutual. A company that combines its international strengths and local advantages

to offer its customers a wide range of innovative life insurance products, helping

them in taking important financial decisions at every stage in life and stay

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financially independent. The company is one of the fastest growing insurance

companies in India and has shown remarkable growth since its inception in 2001.

Company Mission: To focus on the needs of customers and create confidence,

trust and loyalty by offering a wide range of innovative insurance solutions.

Strengthened by commitment to professional management, they ensure the

continued growth and advancement of their employees.

Vision: Kotak Life Insurance has a deep rooted commitment to improve the

quality of life of its customers, employees and stakeholders. They aim at

improving the long term value in their relationship by continuous innovation and

improvements. They do this by their three-prong effort which strives to make

Kotak Life Insurance a corporate with values. Kotak Life Insurance has gone to

the heart of its customer’s requirements and developed products which are unique

and serve the customer needs perfectly. At Kotak Life Insurance the customer

always comes first.

Cohesive Work Environment: the company forms long-term partnership with

the employees by offering them an invigorating work experience. It not only

demands loyalty, sincerity and values but also gives it back in equal measures.

Kotak Life Insurance offers its employees space to grow, innovate and build a

long-term career. (44)

2.5.7. Kirloskar Brothers Limited (KBL) established in 1888, manufactures and

exports centrifugal pumps in India. It is India's largest manufacturer of split case

pumps. It is a part of Kirloskar Group of companies. The group produces pumps,

engines, compressors, lathes and electrical equipments like motors, transformers

and generators. The company is headed by Sanjay Kirloskar. It was honored with

the Innovation for India Award on March 19, 2008 for designing pumping system

for Sardar Sarovar project. Kirloskar Group has worked relentlessly to increase

exports in sustainable way and also de-risk them by concentrating on sales to

institutions so the revenues are stable year after year. Towards this objective,

Kirloskar has positioned itself as cost competitive producer of high quality

products and is constantly on look out to increase exports.

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Kirloskar Group is basically an engineering group driving critical industries like

power, construction and mining, agriculture, industry and transport, oil and gas

and environment protection with a range of world class industrial products and

turnkey services. It comprises of five companies in India, each led by talented

engineers and managers. The group continues to focus on engineering sector, and

strives to offer world-class products based on over 100 years of engineering

excellence. The multi-unit, multi-product, multi-location group is built on the

plinth of Experience, Expertise, Quality, Innovation and Values in the business

and aims at creating a new industrial order. All the Group companies are ISO

9001 certified since 1992 and some are ISO 14001 and QS 9000 certified. The

motto of the Group is: “Invent before time, provide before it is needed and give

life the cushion it needs”. (45)

2.5.8. Serum Institute of India Ltd and Innovation: [Chairman Dr Cyrus Poonawalla]

Serum Institute of India commenced with a humble beginning of Tetanus

Antitoxin and has now emerged as the world’s largest manufacturer of Measles

Vaccine and DTP group of vaccines, with the result that at least one of two

children born has been administered with Measles vaccine or DTP vaccine

manufactured by Serum Institute. Serum Institute of India is basically an

organisation concentrating on vaccines and other biological. The need was felt for

introducing pharmaceuticals like Haematinics, Calcium Supplements, Digestives,

Anti-diarrhoeals, Hormones, etc.

Serum Institute went on to launch, Polyvalent Anti-Snake Venom Serum, Measles

Vaccine on Human Diploid Cells, etc. and several other products that attest to its

seriousness of purpose. Some of the products in the pipeline are Hepatitis B

Vaccine, Hepatitis B-DTP Combination Vaccine, BCG Vaccine, etc. The

collaboration agreement will focus on next generation drug delivery technology.

London based Lipoxen Technologies Ltd, the drug and vaccine delivery company

signed major research and product collaboration agreements with the Serum

Institute of India in 2004.

Serum Institute made it an unstated policy to secure and retain only the best in

terms of human resources, in terms of equipment and technology, in terms of

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materials and consumables. It established a proud record of ‘Innovation without

limits’ and ‘Quality without compromise’.

Progressively, Serum Institute eliminated India’s dependence on imports for

several product lines.

Emerged as the largest supplier for the Government’s Expanded

Programme of Immunization.

Brought the latest research and manufacturing technologies to the country

and simultaneously scored in developing indigenous processes.

Nurtured a core group of Biotechnology scientists, which has gained

official recognition in International scientific forums and is the only

private sector manufacturer of vaccines from a developing nation to be

invited to Geneva for WHO’s programme of ‘Children’s Vaccine

Initiative’. (46)

2.5.9. Thermax India Ltd.: Thermax, an energy-environment major has set for itself an

ambitious growth plan. The company believes that the primary Human Resource

skill is to make people from different backgrounds work together for a specific

purpose. Thermax believes that: innovation is not just about the future - today’s

environment is cataclysmic and the biggest challenge is to survive and innovate.

Company celebrates Technology Day which is very popular among the

employees. Idea generation is the fundamental DNA of an innovation-based

system in Thermax. An innovation matrix is created to evaluate the efforts put in.

The management believes influencing perception and behaviour of employees is

an important challenge.

It plans to develop innovation not only in technology or products but in all

business activities at all levels.

The company wants to focus on young managers at the lower levels as

they deal directly with the customers. The company believes young people

can come up with crazy ideas, so the young leaders have full support at

Thermax.

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It believes that innovation may be a matter of personal acumen, but all

ideas must be given a fair hearing.

A lot of freedom is given to people for idea generation accepting that all

ideas cannot be converted into viable proposal.

The company takes calculated decisions and nurtures ideas with potential

and takes an idea from the stage of generation to conversion. The required

support is provided by the company. Company’s Human Resource policy,

is formulated to make the work environment exciting and motivating, help

them adapt to working in a team environment.

RTIC: The Company’s top management is very supportive for creating

‘innovation culture’. The Thermax Board is very much involved in the research

initiatives of the company. It has invested in an ambitious Research, Technology

& Innovation Centre (RTIC) with a new infrastructure. Innovation council of

experts led by Dr. R A Mashelkar would guide the centre. The focus will be on

collaborative research, to work on new technology that can change the

fundamentals of business. The company networks heavily and does not just focus

on doing everything in-house. The centre will undertake projects with premier

research and scientific institutes with the aim to revitalize the innovative

traditions of Thermax and drive creative practices across the company. RTIC has

five centers of excellence to promote innovative work in diverse areas of energy

and environment. (47)

2.5.10. HCL Technologies Ltd. (HCL), HCL is a leading Global Technology and IT

Enterprise that comprises two companies listed in India – HCL Technologies &

HCL Infosystems. The 3-decade-old Enterprise, founded in 1976, is one of India's

original IT garage start-ups. The HCL team comprises professionals of diverse

nationalities, who operate from 19 countries including 360 points of presence in

India. HCL has global partnerships with several leading Fortune 1000 firms,

including leading IT and Technology firms. It works with clients in the areas that

impact and redefines the core of their businesses. Since its inception into the

global landscape after its IPO in 1999, HCL focuses on ‘transformational

outsourcing’, underlined by innovation and value creation.

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‘Golden Peacock Innovation Award’: the company was conferred with

the prestigious ‘Golden Peacock Innovation Award’ on Oct, 22, 2009. The

award is conferred by Institute of Directors [IoD] and is bestowed only to

the highest example of innovation and thought leadership.

On October 22, 2008 the company received ‘Optimas Award’ for

Innovation from Workforce Management. HCL received the award for the

implementation of its innovative management philosophy of ‘Employee

First, Customer Second.’ The company is recognized for implementing

sweeping changes in policy across the company to empower employees.

Employee first aims to create a culture that empowers employees to be at

the forefront of creating value for HCL’s customers. It is built on the

premise that it is the individual in an organization who deliver value to the

customer, not the top management.

For 18 years, the Optimas Awards have recognized workforce

management initiatives that directly improve business results. They are

awarded annually to ten organizations that have demonstrated how their

management strategies, policies and programs affect the bottom-line

success of their organizations. Companies selected for the 2008 award are

acknowledged for reinventing the workplace through efforts such as

streamlining HR processes, creating innovative partnerships and

confronting talent shortages. The company believes that one can't just mix

people, mission and culture together and expect to get a great business

result. The company’s focus on employee empowerment has evolved a

culture that instills a strong sense of pride across the company, motivate

and engage them.

The Computer World Honors Program 2008 recognized two of HCL’s

customers for their outstanding IT innovation. Merck & Company and

Teradyne Inc. were both named as Laureates, while Teradyne was also

recognized as a finalist in its award category. (48)

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2.5.11. Persistent Systems Ltd.: Established in 1990, it is recognized as an award-

winning technology company specializing in software product development

services. Persistent currently conducts business at various locations in India

including in Pune, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Goa and overseas in Canada, Japan,

Germany, The Netherlands and UK. The Company also has business presence

through its subsidiaries in US and Singapore. With innovative business models,

and reusable assets and frameworks, Persistent aims to help its customers increase

revenues and margins, and enhance brand value. It has developed proven

processes for the entire product lifecycle.

Dr. Anand Deshpande, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director, Persistent

Systems Ltd., is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM),

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Computer Society of

India (CSI) and the Young Presidents' Organisation (YPO). He currently serves

on the executive committee of the National Association of Software and Services

Companies (NASSCOM) and Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce Industries and

Agriculture (MACCIA).

The company believes in and follows certain practices:

Innovation that can co-create value for the customers. The focus is on

three main areas of innovation: platform innovation, PE process

innovation and domain specific innovation. The company itself is

innovator and helps the customers to build innovative solutions. This was

recognized when it won the 2008 NASSCOM Innovation Award.

The company believes in mentoring its talent to induce them to think

creatively.

Persistent pursues strategic acquisitions and other inorganic initiatives that

will strengthen the competitive position as well as drive profitable revenue

growth.

After the market slowed down in October 2008, most of the customers

were not in a position to discuss specific projects and actually pushing the

company for rate discounts. But still the company regularly had meetings

with them. Persistent used this opportunity to get meetings with CEOs of

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clients. They learned a great management lesson and insight with this

innovative initiative. The company quickly realized that the CEOs have a

very different approach to their business as compared to the VPs and

others. By and large, CEO behavior is independent of the size of the

Company. CEOs like to focus on a few important items and leave the rest

to someone else to handle. They are keen to conserve management

bandwidth and ensure that it is used for important tasks. They would be

interested in proposals that could boost revenues and growth rather than

provide just cost efficiency benefits. Most CEOs are market focused

rather than being focused on internal efficiency. CEOs are interested in

solving the ‘entire’ problem for their customer; when they do not have a

complete solution for the same, they are open to working with other

partners. It was observed that when CEOs sell, they are selling a

relationship rather than a transaction. This innovative study oriented the

company’s approach towards business. Persistent realized that instead of

offering pre-prepared model they need to be creative in thinking and find

innovative solutions to solve customer’s problems. If there was no service

offerings, stepping back and referring someone else was much appreciated

by the CEOs. The increased faith and business by the customers shows

that it was prudent on behalf of Persistent to spend the time with existing

customers even if though they were on a budget freeze. (49)

2.5.12. Syntel Inc: Proactive innovation delivers huge savings: Bharat Desai isn’t the

type of leader who sits still. The chairman, president and CEO of IT service

company Syntel Inc. lives by tinkering with his company’s products, services and

even its internal operations. He uses innovation to drive his company’s growth.

“It’s absolutely critical to innovate,” says Desai. “In the information technology

industry, things are changing and evolving all the time. We see our role as helping

clients figure out how they can use innovative technologies to create a

competitive advantage in their business. That is a continually ongoing process.”

Bharat Desai, an MBA from the University of Michigan, launched the company in

1980 and has been among the most daring in his industry. In 1992, when

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competitors were focused on delivering on-site services, Desai was spearheading

offshore operations in Mumbai, India. Today, he’s put the emphasis on using his

company’s own products and services to create better efficiencies within Syntel’s

operations before offering them to the public.

Mr. Desai’s views on importance of innovation and activities that promote

innovations are as follows:

Emphasize the importance of innovation across the whole organization

through constant communication.

The best innovative ideas come from people closest to the clients’

businesses.

Encourage people to innovate and take risks in delivering superior value to

clients. Recognize people who take risks and come up with new ideas.

Understand customers’ needs by being close to them and learn more about

their business. Syntel has increased recruitment of people that understand

specific industries and specific industry domains well. These people would

communicate with clients, understand their challenges and opportunities,

and come up with solutions proactively to solve the problems.

Company hires people who are customer-driven, who are responsive to the

needs of customers and who are motivated by growth and innovation.

They will have a multiplied effect on the innovation at Syntel.

To communicate the message that company is encouraging employees to

take risks, the new ideas that were presented and helped deliver value to a

given client are publicized internally.

Reward people who go out of their way in driving innovation. Superior

performers get nominated for the annual president’s award programme

and are invited on a cruise that Mrs. and Mr. Bharat Desai host. It puts

them in very elite company.

By servicing multiple industries, leading the innovation process and

driving the message of innovation across the enterprise, the company

thinks it can mitigate the risk of a downturn in any one segment.

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The credit of success goes to the leaders’ abilities to understand the reason

and motivation behind the change. He has to successfully communicate

where the enterprise is headed and get the organization aligned behind the

change. (50)

2.5.13. Deloitte Consulting and Innovation: Deloitte is the brand under which tens of

thousands of dedicated professionals in independent firms throughout the world

collaborate to provide audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management and

tax services to selected clients. These firms are members of Deloitte Touche

Tohmatsu, a Swiss Verein (”DTT”). Each member firm provides services in a

particular geographic area and is subject to the laws and professional regulations

of the particular country or countries in which it operates. DTT helps coordinate

the activities of the member firms but does not provide services to clients itself.

DTT and the member firms are separate and distinct legal entities, which cannot

obligate the other entities. DTT and each DTT member firm are only liable for

their own acts or omissions, and not those of each other. Each DTT member firm

is structured differently in accordance with national laws, regulations, customary

practice, and other factors, and may secure the provision of professional services

in their territories through subsidiaries, affiliates, and/or other entities.

Deloitte ranks just behind McKinsey, among strategic consulting firms. Clients

expect great insight from the consultancy firms and also strategy to implement it

and generate results that are tangible and measurable. It is not just enough to

come in with a great idea and submit a report. Clients want to know: how to

implement and get tangible results. Deloitte's approach for the deals is very

pragmatic - heavy on data on benchmarks from the industry and other deals.

There is lot of scope for innovation to achieve strategic position.

Deloitte innovation is positioned as an internal initiative as well as it is externally

focused. It has plans to achieve the “Super Growth” target. This strategy was

designed after the collapse of Enron, the demise of Andersen and the

re-integration of Deloitte Consulting with Deloitte & Touche. Deloitte was forced

to become internally focused in terms of governance and control, innovation and

growth became a lower priority for the firm though Deloitte Consulting has a

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special post for AERS -Innovation Manager. The consultancy firms had begun to

wonder where their next wave of profitable growth was going to come from. Also

to restore the image of the profession, it was necessary to rearrange the priorities.

Company provides guidance on emerging technology trends and application

strategy within the enterprise by leveraging Deloitte’s technology Innovation

framework. (51)

2.5.14. Gadre Marine Exporters [GME]: Innovators of value added product-‘Surimi

and Surimi analog products’: GME, Mirkarwada, Ratnagiri, was started in 1978

under the proprietorship of Shri Deepak P. Gadre. Initially the unit was processing

prawns to export the same to Japan and various countries. The same was done

from 1978 to 1993 but it did not prove to be economically successful and

financially viable as was conceived originally. The unit had to face acute financial

crisis and to recover it searched for alternative methods in the same line of

activity. During this decline phase the entrepreneur along with his technical team

looked for innovative methods to rejuvenate the existing business.

Product and process innovation: GME directed their attention to use

materials which were available at lower cost and started exporting: namely

Ribbon fish and Dhoma which were hitherto considered to be waste in

India, to S.Korea, Hongkong and China. The curiosity of this export

process turned the entire organization to intrapreneurship which further

lead to bring in the product and process innovation of ‘Surimi’ - fish paste.

In 1992-93 the entrepreneur visited South Korea to have a close look at

the process and equipment required for manufacturing Surimi. In 1994 the

first India Surimi production unit was set and GME dominated the market

as Surimi manufacturers. There was a monopoly by GME as suppliers

from Indian market globally till 2000 after which there were followers for

the innovation like HLL. Surimi was produced basically by using fish

varieties which were not normally eaten in India and which were thrown

back in the sea as thrash.

Imitation crab – sticks: The innovation further continued where other

marine exporters were thinking of investing in Surimi plant. GME further

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geared up to meet fresh challenges for value addition, by manufacturing

Imitation crab – sticks from Surimi which had great market in USA and

Europe.

Constant up gradation and innovation have helped GME to obtain the

status of 100% EOU with export house status from government. It also has

the certification of HACCP & EU. Exports have been growing at a faster

rate than the production.

Achievements of GME in CE: The two business Models created by innovation.

The Surimi plant which was the first in India.

Creating Surimi analogue [parallel]: imitation crab sticks which was also

for the first time in India.

The analysis of the case study indicates the following critical points:

Serving customers in a way that is distinct from competitors.

Ability to exploit business opportunity when it arises.

Speed at which an organisation is growing (in terms of finance, market

share, innovation).

Satisfaction of employees and their contribution towards the growth of

organisation.

High Risk taking capacity.

Right attitude of entrepreneur and the organisational employees.

Flexibility: To speed up and maneuver the competition. (52)

2.5.15. Azim Premji leader of WIPRO group of industries: on Thu, 25 Dec 2008 - there

was an e-mail by him, to ‘Wiproites’ titled ‘Important Business Thoughts!!’ it

describes his experience as an ‘intrapreneur’, as quoted below:

Dear Wiproite,

Recently I had the opportunity to talk to a very large group of entrepreneurs -

about 1700 of them. They wanted me to share my experiences of leading Wipro,

for the past 40 years - during which period our organization has grown from $4

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million to over $5 billion - from absolute obscurity to being a globally known

leader in IT.

I always look at the future, and am hardly prone to reminiscing, but this

opportunity did spur me to think about the past of Wipro, and what I have learnt

from the privilege of leading this wonderful organization.

I thought it might be worthwhile for me to share these thoughts with all of you –

who have actually shaped and defined Wipro. What follows are a few passages

from my speech.

My experience tells me that we learn a lot more from difficulties and failures than

from successes. In fact, hidden behind each success is a trail of difficulties and

failures. So as I describe my experience as an intrapreneur, I will focus more on

the difficulties, than on the successes.....because the successes of Wipro are

reasonably well known.

In 1966, at the age of 21, I was practically overnight thrust in to the role of the

CEO of the company that we know today as Wipro, and was then called Western

India Vegetable Products Limited. The company was about USD 4 million in

sales then, and was not in the best of shape. We used to make vegetable oil.

To take over that responsibility, and with that suddenness, I had to leave my

education two quarters incomplete. The circumstances demanded it. My father

had passed away at the age of 51, and I absolutely had to take care of the

company.

It was not easy. Actually it was very difficult. I was dealing with a personal loss,

and I was also trying to take charge of a role for which I had no training, no

experience, no preparation and no demonstrated strengths.

I learnt a lot. I learnt not to look back. I learnt that pining for what could have

been, is neither a path to happiness nor to success. I learnt that the most important

thing is to deal with the here and now. And I learnt that, that can happen only

through personal action. It has stayed with me forever. There is no substitute to

action. That to me is the starting point and the ending point of being an

entrepreneur.

Let me stay with those early days.

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In the very first AGM, there was a shareholder, who said that he didn't trust my

ability to run the company. He said that if I were running the company, I could

only run it to the ground. In hindsight, perhaps he had good reason to say what he

did, because indeed I was very young and with no experience in business. (At

that time, my need was to dye my hair white to look older).

But for me at that point in time, his statement was a challenge. A challenge, that

consumed me in many senses. I made up my mind that I will prove him wrong,

and with each passing day my resolve only increased. With each difficulty that I

faced, my determination only grew.

As I look back, I can only thank that man.

Thanks to this man and to this episode I also learnt a crucial lesson. To be

successful you have to be challenged by something, and then have the resolve to

deal with it. This is the surest way forward. I learnt that challenges, determination

and passion are what propel a person. Eventually I have also learnt that, often you

have to go out seeking challenges, because challenges may not come seeking you.

There is another interesting insight that I got over time. Rarely have I come across

a successful entrepreneur, who became an entrepreneur only to make money. In

practically all cases, people become entrepreneurs because there is a challenge

that excites them....a challenge to change the world, a challenge to invent

something, a challenge to create something etc.....some deeply captivating

challenge that appeals to them personally – but rarely is the desire to make money

the prime driver.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Azim Premji

It is quite clear from the thoughts openly shared by the corporate leader that

‘challenges’ and not just ‘profits’ motivate people who have the capacity for value

addition – employees with an entrepreneurial abilities. These ‘corporate

Entrepreneurs’ exist – they could be attracted to the employment, identified from

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the corporate, nurtured, supported, groomed in the required arena for sharing the

outputs of the joint efforts etc. they show ‘entrepreneurial capabilities’

2.6. Concluding Remarks: India is primarily the story of an enterprising private

sector. Leadership is allocated the highest scores, leaders those who can execute

and drive change within their companies, rather than merely control it - manage

the expectations of different stakeholders. The corporate realize and accept their

responsibility towards development and towards empowerment of the employees.

Giving scope to them would be ultimately being in the interest of the corporate

and the country. This can be seen from the news item in Financial Express, dated

9 April 06. pg.1, ‘Tata, Birla lash out at reservations’. Ratan N. Tata chairman

Tata Sons Ltd reiterated his stand on the issue of reservations in jobs in the

private sector “it’s unfortunate. It would divide the country into segments. Instead

everybody should be given equal opportunities. You head into the business world

at a time when India is being seen as a country on the move. And you have an

opportunity to play a role in the future development of the country.” It is quite

clear that the industry stalwarts see a bright future for Indian corporate. They see

opportunity for the employees in it. They do not agree to classify the employees

on any other terms than may be ‘competencies’. They think about equal

opportunity for growth and progress – CE is the right kind of tool and strategy to

support this thinking and empower employees.