The Venture Imperative
IS STRONGLY PRACTICAL IN
ORIENTATION...A MUST-READ FOR THOSE SERIOUS ABOUT LAUNCHING A CORPORATE VENTURING UNIT
WITHIN THEIR OWN COMPANY.orporate Strategy and Knowledge Development, Genaral Motors
Corporati
Innovation has become a game
of corporate life or death: Produce and market successful new ideas, and a company
thrives; ride competitors' coattails, and the company eventually falls by the wayside. Yet
continuous innovation has traditionally been as risky and difficult as it is essential.
How can corporations create an environment that has enough freedom to allow for
innovation, while providing enough structure to control risk?
In this groundbreaking book,
Heidi Mason and Tim Rohner leading voices in venture strategy prove that corporate
venturing is the best way to intelligently and successfully test and launch innovative
corporate growth strategies. Venturing drives corporate strategy by harnessing internal
and external innovation, while limiting financial risks. The process starts with the right
environment: the Venture Business Office a group that directly connects individual
ventures to the parent investor and the larger venture community.
Corporate venture programs
have traditionally failed because they lacked a viable structure for business R&D.
Drawing lessons from years of experience, Mason and Rohner unveil a new,
four-step approach that will
enable any business to:
-
Create a diversified portfolio of ventures to drive new growth opportunities
-
Optimally allocate people and capital
-
Recognize and remedy failing ventures at any stage
-
Keep venture programs connected to the parent firm's strategy, and integrated with
R&D, M&A, and Corporate Development
-
Measure the results
-
Continuously innovate
The authors also show how to
utilize the proven Bell-Mason Venture Development Framework derived from the
time-tested best practices of successful new ventures as a guiding tool throughout the
process.
For executives, investors,
and entrepreneurs alike, this book reveals the art and the science behind winning
corporate venture program
Heidi Mason is Managing
Director of the Bell-Mason Group, a Silicon Valley-based venture consulting firm and a
Fellow with DiamondCluster International.
Tim Rohner is a Partner with
DiamondCluster International, a management consulting firm, where he is a leader in the
digital strategy and corporate venturing practices.
358 pages