November - 202019MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTS70 percent - staying current on the company· 69 percent - compliance· 66 percent - financial planning· 55 percent - risk management· 42 percent - innovationMany experts agree that, over the decades, solely focusing on the shareholder has resulted in the demise of what were once America's largest corporations. According to American Enterprise Institute, just 60 companies from 1955 remained on the Fortune 500 list in 2017, with 88 percent absent as a result of either bankruptcy, merger or falling revenue--all of which suggest they were usurped by more innovative disruptors.Searching for the Center of the UniverseWith the advent of the Internet, social media platforms, and mobile apps, the proliferation of information-sharing coupled with deregulation and a burgeoning global marketplace has given unprecedented power to the consumer of goods, services and solutions, whether that is an individual or a business. And, rightly so. But it is nothing new. The world-renowned management consultant, Peter Drucker underscored the critical importance of focusing on customers and anticipating what they want in his highly acclaimed book, The Practice of Management. Written in 1954, he argued that the very purpose of a business is to create a customer. "It is the customer," he wrote, "who determines what a business is. For it is the customer, and they alone, who through being willing to pay for a good or for a service, converts economic resources into wealth, things into goods. What the business thinks it produces is not of first importance--especially not to the future of the business and to its success. What the customer thinks he is buying, what he considers `value', is decisive--it determines what a business is, what it produces and whether it will prosper."Looking Inward and Building OutwardA term first introduced in a 1976 paper written by Gifford Pinchot III and Elizabeth Pinchot, the word intrapreneurship was used to describe a system that removes the bureaucracy stifling new ideas in a large corporation to enable it to behave like an entrepreneur and a nimble, agile startup. Today, according to Intrapreneur.com--which is powered by Pinchot's Seattle-based Pinchot & Company--the concept is widely used by Fortune 100 companies as well as many international companies and non-profits. A Brief History of Intrapreneurship illustrated by the nonprofit Intrapreneurial Initiative offers an excellent overview and pointed examples, including the invention of the Post-It Note in 1974 by a 3M employee, Art Fry. In 1968, he held on to the idea of an adhesive developed by fellow 3M employee and scientist Spencer Silver, who accidently created a lightweight sticky substance instead of the strong bonding agent necessary for aerospace technology. There are many more examples of intrapreneurial discoveries in large organizations, from Sony's PlayStation to Sun Microsystems' launch of Java programming language in 1995. However, given the challenges of size, rigid structures, hierarchies and processes today, innovation in large organizations, which is often obtained externally through acquisition of startups or emerging companies remains a relatively lower on the priority list. Creating an Intrapreneurial Environment and CultureSince Pinchot introduced intrapreneurship into the business vernacular, countless books have been written and keynotes delivered expressing why businesses should embrace intrapreneurship, and how it can be done. Pinchot himself developed his own guidelines, entitling them The Intrapreneur's Ten Commandments:1. Come to work each daywilling to be fired.2. Circumvent any ordersaimed at stopping your dream.3. Do any job needed to makeyour project work, regardless of your job description.4. Find people to help you.5. Follow your intuition aboutthe people you choose and work only with the best.6. Work underground as long as you can--publicity triggersthe corporate immune mechanism. 7. Never bet on a race unless you are running in it.8. Remember it is easier to ask forgiveness than to askpermission.9. Be true to your goals, but realistic about the ways toachieve them.10. Honor your sponsors.As Chief Technology Officer responsible for innovation at Advanced Energy (AE), in order to support those who It is the customer who determines what a business is. For it is the customer, and they alone, who through being willing to pay for a good or for a service, converts economic resources into wealth, things into goods
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