Informal corporate venturing was developed by intrepreneurs, who were frustrated by the company bureaucracy. Two cases will be discussed in detail: 1) The Merlin-Gerin Foundry business, supported by the President, that failed after 20 years, and 2) The Toshiba laptop and notebook computers, an "underground" project vetoed twice by headquarters, that developed into a multi-billion dollar business.
Formal corporate venturing approaches by 3M (success) and Kodak (failure) are compared. A review of the rise and fall of Internal Venture Divisions and Corporate Venture Capital shows the fragility of these approaches. In conclusion, critical success factors, derived from the lessons learned, are presented.
This lecture is based on research and consulting by Prof. Abetti in France, Japan and the United States.
About the Speaker
Prior to Joining RPI in 1982, Dr Abetti had a distinguished 32-year career with General Electric Company, as advanced development engineer; manager of major innovative projects in extra-high-voltage transmission, data communication computers, and telephone switching systems; and manager of the Electrical and Information Advance Technology Laboratories. From 1973 to 1980, he was manager of General Electric's Europe Strategic Planning Operation. During that period, GE's sales in Europe, primarily of high-technology products, increased from $700 million to almost $3 billion.
In 1982, Dr Abetti became Professor of Management of Technology and Entrepreneurship in the School of Management of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY. From 1989 to 1992, he was Director of Rensselaer's Center for Entrepreneurship and New Technological Ventures.
Dr. Abetti has written two books and 150 technical and management papers in five languages. He is listed in American Men of Science, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the East and in Who's Who in Technology Today.
We are pleased to invite you and your colleagues to attend the talk. As there are limited number of seats available, please register for the talk via e-mail to Jolia Tan (nectal@nus.edu.sg) with the following information, by 10 February 2003. Please forward this invitation to your friends and colleagues who may be interested.
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