Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom
Article Abstract:
Not too long ago small companies were considered by large companies (if they were considered at all) as candidates for acquisitions. The idea that these small entrepreneurial firms could actually teach the big giants about such things as creativity and innovation was not heard at all. But then these small start-up firms began to succeed beyond anybody's wildest dreams, and their outpouring of innovative new products left industry giants trailing in their dust. So some large companies (such as NCR, IBM, and Memorex) began to study what it was about these small companies which made them so successful. It was discovered that what was working against large companies was their centralized control, by splitting a large corporation into several smaller more independent units, innovation and risk taking could be nurished and developed. These smaller units offer independence and control to small groups of people which had never been available in the midst of a huge corporate setting. Not every company, however is jumping on the bandwagon. Some are creating links with innovation by forming partnerships with start up firms. These relationships can be mutually beneficial as the alliance between DMA and Memorex points out. While it can be argued by some that the focus of a corporation goes through centralization and decentralization stages, and that the current preoccupation with small operating units is just part of a cycle, the great success of small, independent, innovative firms may have changed the American corporation in a permanent way.
Publication Name: Inc.
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0162-8968
Year: 1984
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Every Employee an Entrepreneur
Article Abstract:
Inc. interviews Allan Kennedy who left a very successful job as a partner in a leading management consultant firm to start his own entrepreneurial enterprise, Selkirk Associates, Inc. On the way from one position to the other he wrote a book about the culture of corporations, and became so impressed with many of the entrepreneurs and risk takers he encountered that he had to try that route himself. He feels that any organization can capture that orientation that makes entrepreneurs so successful - they take pride in doing and producing a product. The reasons for the current explosion of risk takers are many, and the impact they could have on the economy are enormous. Kennedy believes that in order to become more successful big companies are going to have to start acting and thinking like small companies - decentralization is one way to achieve that kind of independent, entrepreneurial atmosphere which seems to foster innovation and creativity.
Publication Name: Inc.
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0162-8968
Year: 1984
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Fredrick W. Smith of Federal Express: He Didn't Get There Overnight
Article Abstract:
The story of Fredrick W. Smith, and his $1.2-billion dollar company, Federal Express, and the three billion dollar industry that was created, has assumed the proportions of a myth. Observers note how Smith anticipated and capitalized on a trend before it even started, how his Federal Express company changed the business world, how Smith proved there is a profitable world outside high tech, and how his success helped to shape the venture capital industry as we now know it. Smith went through almost nine million dollars in family money, and much, much more in many refinancing deals before, four years after it began, Federal Express was in the black. Although air courier services probably would have been inevitable without Smith, and the venture capital market would have grown, neither would have done as well as quickly, if it had not been for Smith, who was persistent, and convinced that he had the right product for the emerging market.
Publication Name: Inc.
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0162-8968
Year: 1984
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