Corporate Entrepreneurship: Top Managers and New Business Creation

by Vijay Sathe , Foreword by Peter F. Drucker

• ISBN13: 9780521531979
• ISBN10: 0521531977
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-02-26
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

How do large corporations encourage their senior managers to become more entrepreneurial? This is a key question which is seldom addressed in mainstream entrepreneurship studies. Professor Sathe has written this study based on hundreds of hours of interviews with senior managers to help understand why some organizations and some top managers are better than others in fostering entrepreneurship leading to successful new business growth. Corporate Entrepreneurship explores the real world of top managers in a systematic and comprehensive way, examining business realities, the management culture, the corporate philosophy, the organizational politics, the personalities and the personal agendas of the people at the top. The book offers both a theory of corporate entrepreneurship and practical advice on how to manage it better. An interesting and valuable contribution to the literature on strategic management, this is a book that will appeal to graduate students, researchers and reflective practitioners.

Table of Contents

Foreword Peter F. Drucker

Preface

1. Introduction

2. Why a consistent emphasis and approach for new business creation is beneficial but difficult to achieve

Part I. The Business Environment: 3. The external business environment

4. The internal business environment

Part II. The Management Culture: 5. Shared beliefs about rewards, risks, opportunities, and rule-bending

6. Shared beliefs about control and learning

Part III. The Corporate Executives: 7. The bigger-is-better corporate philosophy

8. The small-is-beautiful corporate philosophy

9. New business creation challenges for corporate executives

10. Guidance and coaching by the DGM's boss and support and challenge by the controllers

Part IV. The Division General Manager: 11. The DGM's personal assets

12. The DGM's motivation and strategy for new business creation

13. Building corporate support for new business creation

14. Leading the division for new business creation

Part V. The Division and Its Top Management Team: 15. The identification and pursuit of new business opportunities

16. Other new business creation challenges for the division

17. The division's organization, competence and collaboration for new business creation

18. The effectiveness of the division's top management team

Part IV. Putting It All Together: 19. How the five major influences interact to drive new business creation

20. Managing ten critical issues in new business creation

Bibliography

Notes