Embracing innovation as strategy: the role ofnew business development in corporate renewal

Abstract

Large diversified companies do not have good track records in managing discontinuous change and in turning breakthrough innovations into long-term growth and profit engines. Their existing technological capabilities tend to facilitate cognitive inertia, path dependency and low levels of experimentation. However, some companies seem to find a dynamic balance between exploitation and exploration, between path creation and path dependence. We focus on how these established firms manage that continuous change process, and more specifically we seek to answer how corporate strategy, competence building and new business development interact in rejuvenating a company. Furthermore, we investigate how these concepts are at play on an operational level by looking at corporate practices in large companies that have a track record of succesful strategic rejuvenation.