Inventuring – Why Big Companies Must Think Small

'An important and timely contribution to the field of corporate venturing.'
Pekka Ala-Pietil䬠President, Nokia

'By taking this book to heart, those involved in business creation can significantly enhance their chances of success and avoid costly mistakes. It provides a wealth of guidance on how to go about renewal in a flexible, measured manner.'

Erik Vollebregt, CEO, Shell Technology Ventures

'Offers a new perspective on the age-old problem of generating growth inside well-established companies. Through detailed examples, it provides a clear set of guidelines that companies can follow if they want to manage their new business creation activities more effectively.'

Laura Tyson, Dean, London Business School Formerly Chairman, President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors, 1993-1995

'The central message of this book is that to grow successfully, a company needs ultimately to create a culture and capability that supports the process of business creation. Inventuring provides a wealth of detail on how to do this.'

Sir Peter Davis, CEO, Sainsbury's

'Rich with ideas and examples, Buckland, Hatcher and Birkinshaw have served up a practical, readable aid for managers.'

Andrew Campbell, Director, Ashridge Strategic Management Centre UK

'A useful tool for evaluating whether venturing will create value for your organization and offers useful advice on how to get started.'

Heino von Prondzynski, Head of Roche Diagnostics Member of the Executive Committee of F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd

'Experience has taught me that the best time to be investing in new business ventures is at the low-point of the market. Valuations are low, and the resources you need are in plentiful supply. This book will tell you how to build your company's venturing capability so that you are prepared for the next boom.'

John Taysom, Founding and Managing Partner, RVC Europe Ltd

What do Virgin Atlantic, Heathrow Express, the Ericsson mobile phone, Tesco.com and Egg, the online bank, all have in common?

They are all successful new businesses created within existing companies.

New business creation can be the most powerful wealth-creating tool in the modern firm's armoury. When used effectively, it can enable a company to reinvent its core business and extend its strategic assets. But it is difficult to get right. Companies routinely invest heavily in business creation initiatives which subsequently fail to deliver significant organic growth.

Following extensive research across Europe, North America and the Far East, Buckland, Hatcher and Birkinshaw argue that the trick to successful business creation lies in a firm's ability to:
*intergrate a business creation capability across it's operation
*combine small-company attributes such as agility and creativity with a risk-tolerant, long-term approach

Inventuring shows why business creation should be at the top of a company's strategic agenda and how to organize and manage it alongside other business development techniques. It demonstrates how to build a business creation capability from scratch and how to embed it within everyday practices so that it becomes routine.

The book provides a step-by-step guide to generating and turning ideas into commercially viable enterprises while avoiding the many pitfalls. It will help you to determine which ideas to run with, how to develop and launch them, and how to extract the best value for corporate growth.