That we live in an age in which "the pace of technological change is pulsating ever faster, causing waves that spread outward toward all industries" is taken for granted.
Corporate venturing divisions and people generally have then to cope with, shape or use the changes brought about by technology.
But this can only be done in the context of understanding the aims of the people and businesses they work for. This area of thinking is usually neglected in the same way the allies during the First World War nearly a century ago only came to draw up their war aims effectively just before the peace treaty was signed.
Tactics follow strategy, which follows aims. The reason Intel has by far the biggest and most sophisticated corporate venturing unit – and also the most influential as judged in this month’s Global Corporate Venturing ranking – is because it is regarded as an important strategic tool to meet the company’s aim: survival.
Andrew Grove, co-founder of Intel and chief executive when it set up its corporate venturing unit, said in 1996 he was accredited with the business motto: "Only the paranoid survive."
There is no better risk management tool than corporate venturing for a company focused on survival, conscious, as Grove said, that the "pace of technological change is pulsating ever faster".
When resourced properly, corporate venturing allows themes and trends to be discerned, and as a result managers can find the appropriate companies to invest in or support through other tools, such as partnerships, acquisitions or competitions. In Intel’s case, it is looking for themes or markets that encourage greater use of computer power to ensure the company’s health and survival.
Technology improvements are the biggest cause of changes in the way business operates, which creates opportunities for players who are adept at operating in the new way – whether incumbents or newcomers.
The difficulty in deciding the ranking of this month’s technology corporate venturing
units was often in deciding whether they are a technology company allowing customers to operate in a specific sector or a business with technology at its core (the latter being excluded to be covered in a relevant sector-themed issue).
Almost all the larger corporate venturing units in other sectors, such as Novartis, Dow, Siemens and General Electric, invest in technology companies (these divisions will be covered in other issues focused on their sectors) as they are aware of the strategic inflexion point they could be facing and which might be insidiously building up force.
John Taysom, previous manager of the media group Reuter’s Greenhouse corporate venturing fund, said all products now had technology at their heart.
One underused tool to help with deciding on aims, strategy and tactics is to define a problem in writing, and why it matters, and then gain feedback. To help readers of Global Corporate Venturing, iScout has produced an online tool at www.innovationscout.
co.uk
There are also a few changes to this second issue of the monthly magazine following your feedback from the June edition – for which thank you and please get in touch with
further suggestions.
It gives me great pleasure to introduce Adam Caper, managing director of Synchrony Venture Management, as a regular columnist to answer your queries about the
industry, and Andrew Gaule, founder of H-I Network and the Senior Corporate Venturing Executives forum, to host a monthly question and answer session.
An edited transcript of Gaule’s Question Time is inside and the full audio is available online through the www.globalcorporateventuring.
com website under video. This second issue also represents only a round-up of the daily new coverage online, where you can register for a free trial ahead of paid subscription to the complete editorial coverage at Global Corporate Venturing.