Corporate Explorer: How Corporations Beat Startups at the Innovation Game - Hardcover

by Andrew Binns (Author), Charles A. O'Reilly (Author), Michael Tushman (Author)

Corporate Explorers Transform Disruption Into Opportunity With This Proven Framework

Innovation used to be seen as a game best left to entrepreneurs, but now a new breed of corporate managers is flipping this logic on its head. These Corporate Explorers have the insight, resilience, and discipline to overcome the obstacles and build new ventures from inside even the largest organizations.

Corporate Explorers are part entrepreneurs, using innovation disciplines to jump start cutting-edge ideas, and part change leaders, capable of creating support for investment. They see that corporations already own the ideas, resources, and--critically--the talent to build new ventures. Companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Bosch, LexisNexis, and Analog Devices enable managers to put these assets to use and gain an upper hand over startups that threaten to disrupt them.

Corporate Explorer is a guidebook to the practices that enable these managers to go from idea into action. It demonstrates how success is not only possible but may offer entrenched companies better odds than venture-capital backed startups.

This actionable and proven framework explains how managers can become successful corporate innovators; it includes tools to:

• Learn how to apply innovation practices with greater discipline
• Turn great ideas into a full-time job as an innovation leader
• Experiment with and scale original business models
• Transform innovation programs into a thriving source of new business
• Attract, retain, and motivate entrepreneurial talent
• Energize employees by creating a realistic way to innovate

These lessons come from the trailblazers of corporate innovation--Andrew Binns (Change Logic), Charles O'Reilly (Stanford Graduate School of Business), and Michael Tushman (Harvard Business School)--who have decades of experience helping entrepreneurial-minded executives activate employees to become Corporate Explorers.

Entrepreneurs take notice--it's time for Corporate Explorers to set the pace and chart the course for disruption.

Front Jacket

Innovation used to be seen as a game best left to entrepreneurs, but now a new breed of corporate managers is flipping this logic on its head. These Corporate Explorers have the insight, resilience, and discipline to overcome the obstacles and build new ventures from inside even the largest organizations.

Corporate Explorers are part entrepreneurs, using innovation disciplines to jump start cutting-edge ideas, and part change leaders, capable of creating support for investment. They see that corporations already own the ideas, resources, and--critically--the talent to build new ventures. Companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Bosch, LexisNexis, and Analog Devices enable managers to put these assets to use and gain an upper hand over startups that threaten to disrupt them.

Corporate Explorer is a guidebook to the practices that enable managers to go from idea into action. It demonstrates how success is not only possible but may offer entrenched companies better odds than venture-capital backed startups. In Corporate Explorer, you will:

• Learn how to apply innovation practices with greater discipline
• Turn great ideas into a full-time job as an innovation leader
• Experiment with and scale original business models
• Transform innovation programs into a thriving source of new business
• Attract, retain, and motivate entrepreneurial talent
• Energize employees by creating a realistic way to innovate

These lessons come from the trailblazers of corporate innovation--Andrew Binns (Change Logic), Charles O'Reilly (Stanford Graduate School of Business), and Michael Tushman (Harvard Business School)--who have decades of experience helping entrepreneurial-minded executives activate employees to become Corporate Explorers.

Entrepreneurs take notice--it's time for Corporate Explorers to set the pace and chart the course for disruption.

Back Jacket

Praise for corporate Explorer

"If you think you can't change a big company from the inside, Corporate Explorer will prove you wrong. This book is a practical guide to what every aspiring innovator needs to know."
--GAVIN PATTERSON, President and Chief Revenue Officer, Salesforce.com

"Corporate Explorer is a practical guide for how every manager can end stagnation and help companies regain their innovation agility."
--TONY ULWICK, CEO, Strategyn

"If you want to understand how Corporate Explorers play a key role for the future of corporations, this is the book.... These lessons are definitely on my agenda as we are improving our innovation efforts and scaling new businesses."
--TAKAYUKI MORITA, President and Chief Executive Officer, NEC Corporation

"This book is a bible that provides insights and practical guidelines for being a disruptor that can bring about real change and success."
--YOKY MATSUOKA, Founder and CEO of Yohana, Managing Executive Officer of Panasonic

"Corporate Explorer explains how large corporations can stay in front of disruption by leveraging talent, capability, and industry know-how to outperform even the most well-funded startups. This book is packed with case studies and practical tools to help large firms turn aspirations into commercial reality."
--SHAD KROGER, President, Industrial Solutions, TE Connectivity

Author Biography

ANDREW BINNS is Co-Founder of Change Logic, a Boston-based strategic advisory firm. He works with CEOs, boards, and senior teams leading transformational business changes. He is a sought-after speaker and lecturer at companies and business schools.

CHARLES O'REILLY is the Frank E. Buck Professor of Management at Stanford Graduate School of Business and a Co-Founder of Change Logic. He is Co-Director of Leading Change and Organizational Renewal.

MICHAEL TUSHMAN is a Baker Foundation Professor; Paul R Lawrence, MBA Class of 1942 Professor Emeritus; and Charles (Tex) Thornton Chair of the Advanced Management Program (AMP) at the Harvard Business School. He is also Co-Founder of Change Logic.