This part of the book examines the ways in which management culture influences new business creation (Figure II.1).,

There are many definitions of culture; most people are familiar with the one adopted here – a set of beliefs shared by members of a community. The typical corporation has a number of corporate cultures and subcultures; for example, the beliefs shared by members of a functional discipline within the corporation, such as the engineering culture within AMP, or the beliefs shared by employees in a division of the company, such as the subculture of AMP Sigcom employees. The corporate culture examined in Part II of this book is the set of beliefs that the corporate executives and the managers in the division studied shared in common, i.e. the management culture.

The importance of a consistent emphasis on new business creation was highlighted in Chapter 2. With such an emphasis over many years, AMP and 3M had developed management cultures that supported this activity. Without such a history, Monsanto and Xerox had not developed management cultures that supported new business creation.

The shared beliefs are presented sequentially in the next two chapters, but they are in fact interrelated and this will become clear as these chapters unfold. In Chapter 5, the influence of the shared beliefs concerning rewards for new business creation, personal risks from mistakes and failures, opportunity taboos, rule-bending, and irresponsible behavior are examined.