About the Book

Who can benefit from this book?

Companies of all types and sizes must create internal entrepreneurial capabilities in order to stay competitive in an increasingly globalized marketplace where competitors can come from anywhere. Even government executives and non-profit leaders are being challenged to find new ways to meet their missions.

Grow From Within is targeted to all those responsible for, or interested in, creating growth and future directions for their organization: internal venture leaders, business development managers, R&D executives, brand/channel managers, and of course the senior executives ultimately accountable for growth. It will substantially benefit all of the budding corporate entrepreneurs looking for inspiration and strategies to build significant value through innovation and new business creation.

What you can learn

Innovation within large companies is fundamentally an organizational challenge. As companies grow, they evolve structures, processes, and cultures that emphasize efficiency in addressing their core markets but typically discourage or even punish entrepreneurial impulses. Grow From Within will help you create organizations that enable innovation rather than obstruct it. Our research provides frameworks and tools for overcoming your particular organizational challenges.

Grow From Within outlines different ways leading companies are harnessing internal entrepreneurs and how you can find the right model for your company. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to building entrepreneurial capabilities. Instead, the book explains the four basic models— opportunist, enabler, advocate and producer— around which companies successfully drive new business creation and innovation initiatives more generally. Grow From Within also addresses 12 different ways companies innovate and fits them into a useful design tool called the Innovation Radar for new business creation and/or the transformation of existing businesses.

Key messages & takeaways

Internal entrepreneurial capabilities are becoming important for all types of companies and organizations. Competition from new directions, driven by globalization, is making intrapreneurship an imperative.

A corporate entrepreneurship effort does not have to be expensive or disruptive in order to motivate your most creative and passionate employees to help your enterprise grow from within.

Our research has uncovered a range of new and successful approaches to innovation and corporate entrepreneurship. These approaches have been developed and implemented by many companies to drive billions of revenues in new business.

Contrary to popular perception, large companies can be exceptionally innovative, sometimes more so than small entrepreneurial companies. In fact, new business development involving complex systems or large-scale networks will never come out of a small start-up company.

Structure and process do not have to be the enemies of innovation. As companies grow, they have traditionally evolved structures, processes, and cultures that emphasize efficiency in addressing their core markets but unintentionally discourage or even outright punish entrepreneurial impulses. Large companies require appropriate structures and processes in order to overcome their organizational challenges. Grow From Within provides frameworks and tools for understanding and overcoming many organizational challenges.

Innovation needs to be about more than new products and technologies. Companies need to consider innovation as a new business design challenge in order to realize the potential of innovative opportunities that don’t neatly fit into the existing core.

Finding enough good ideas is rarely the problem. The greater challenge organizations face is creating the processes and capabilities to identify the best ideas and bring them to market in new ways.