Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-29T16:41:44.605Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - The internal business environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

Vijay Sathe
Affiliation:
Claremont Graduate School, California
Get access

Summary

Several factors in the internal business environment influence new business creation (Table 4.1).

The influence of the existing business

Existing business as a drag and a distraction that hurts new business creation

The demands of the existing business can take management's attention away from new business creation. As DGM Dan Stewart of Monsanto Fab Products said: “Well, certainly for the first year and a half, the ongoing business was a tremendous drag and took a lot of time. But once it was in good shape, it freed up time to get into new products.” Stu Little, VP&GM of the Systems SBU of Xerox OPD, explained why Xerox's existing copier business was a drag on OPD's ability to compete in the office automation race:

I think one of the things that was very, very difficult for Xerox — always had been — was that the copier business was one with tremendously long product cycles, and tremendously high demands for end-user customer support, but very big profit margins. And you had a lot of time to make changes, and you could afford to be very logistics conscious in terms of what you did. That was the way it was determined that we would run the Xerox Corporation for quite a little while. And that wasn't a bad way to run it then, when it was an oligarchy. But you can't use that kind of scheme in the fast-paced, highly competitive office automation business. And yet, the industry culture didn't allow Xerox to change very easily. These things have natural roots and it's not hard to understand why that industry culture pre-existed. And it's also not hard to understand why it was terrible baggage in the office automation business.

Type
Chapter
Information
Corporate Entrepreneurship
Top Managers and New Business Creation
, pp. 54 - 60
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×