Intrapreneurial Assessment

Over the past year, Outthinker Networks conducted a quantitative survey of around 500 mid-level managers and interviewed experts on the key defining characteristics of Haier’s RenDanHeYi model. Complete both assessments below to download a copy of your personalized results.

1✓ Organizational Profile

2✓ Entrepreneurial Intensity

Frequency

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement…Broadly speaking, people in my organization take innovative and/or entrepreneurial action more frequently than those in our competitors

Degree

The innovative and/or entrepreneurial action people take in our organization is generally of greater degree than that of our competition (i.e., it involves greater risk, is more innovative, and/or involves more proactive behavior, etc.)

Accumulator6

Accumulators introduce a large volume of innovations, but these innovators are relatively tactical (e.g., product enhancements that competitors can copy fairly quickly). They add new product features, process improvements, pricing adjustments, marketing changes, etc. yearly. If they accumulate these advances faster than the competition, they may outperform. But they likely remain only a year or two away from competitors catching up.

PVH
Hermes
Winnebago Industries

Advantage:

Speed of innovation and execution; constant flux of ideas and energized culture

Challenge:

Competitors follow close behind so their success depends on maintaining a rapid pace of innovation

Performer24

Performers are the most common types of companies in our study. They activate a rapid frequency of entrepreneurial activity that is a combination of both tactical and highly- innovative. They find a way to balance between core and new innovation activity. However, they do not commonly pursue market-creating, industry-transforming, or business model-transforming activities. They are radical innovators primarily within their sectors.

BMW
Louis Vuitton

Advantage:

Enjoy an extremely high intensity of entrepreneurial activity that is hard for competitors to keep up with

Challenge:

When changes in the marketplace demand more radical innovation, may remain myopically focused on core product rather than business-model

Revolutionary19

Revolutionary companies have been able to achieve high levels of entrepreneurial activity that are both tactical and innovative. They have activated entrepreneurial activity not only within silos or specific divisions, but broadly throughout the company. Revolutionaries are often seen as the ideal, but risk losing the upper hand if they don’t build solid foundation around their innovative culture.

Haier
Amazon

Advantage:

Innovative activity has evolved from a process to a cultural norm; often at the forefront of trends

Challenge:

Creating structures and norms that encourage consistency where consistency creates advantage (e.g., core processes supporting mature businesses)

Incremental5

With a moderate, but meaningful, level of entrepreneurial activity, that is primarily tactical in nature, incremental companies continually explore new tactical approaches. They seek to continually improve operational approaches, but likely are not in sectors that demand more radical innovation. While not groundbreaking in their innovation, competitive advantage is in their favor within their industry.

Marriott

Advantage:

Able to out-innovate peers that operate in stable sectors by introducing a consistent, even if slower, flow of tactical innovations

Challenge:

While they have a plethora of tactical innovations that could seed more radical business models, they may lack the skills, habits, or culture to take advantage of these opportunities

Dynamic20

Dynamic companies activate a range of entrepreneurial activity across high and low frequency, as well as high and low degree of innovativeness. Instead of centralizing that activity in the center of the matrix, they likely activate pockets of it utilizing an “ambidextrous” organizational model. Parts of the company are highly-entrepreneurial and agile, while others dedicated to core activities focus on greater operational consistency.

Mastercard
John Deere

Advantage:

They have likely solved the challenge that plagues many companies of enabling both operational and radical innovation

Challenge:

Maintaining the dynamic balance of operational and innovative leadership and developing talent that can cross between these two, very different, approaches

Sculptor15

Sculptors have found a balanced level of entrepreneurial activity and when people take entrepreneurial action, they tend to pursue bold innovations. Sculptors don’t always innovate, but when they do, they aim to go big. Likely, the majority of their revenue depends on maintaining consistency and operational improvement, but a significant portion of future revenue will come from new business models.

Microsoft

Advantage:

Found a way to balance both high and low levels of entrepreneurial activity, ideally unleashing such activity when and where it is needed

Challenge:

When a business needs new ideas, sculptors may look for radical, transformative ideas at the risk of building on more tactical operational improvements

Operator2

With low levels of entrepreneurial behavior, if an operator is successful, as many are, they create structural advantages. Their success depends on having preferential access to resources, high barriers to entry, high switching costs, or operating an industry that does not require or reward bold innovation. While low innovation is often detrimental, operators free up resources by focusing on initiatives that deliver a higher ROI.

Amtrak
GE

Advantage:

Have engineered structural competitive advantages that do not require significant innovation

Challenge:

Attracting top talent motivated by growth and innovation; the ability to adapt if market forces put their structural advantages at risk

Investigator5

Investigators for the most part do not encourage entrepreneurial activity, likely because their business strategy and sector do not require it. They enjoy structural advantages (barrier to entry, preferential access to resources, customer captivity, etc.). They occasionally employ teams exploring more radical innovations that do not challenge their core businesses but rather build on their unique advantages that complement the core.

Shell
AIG

Advantage:

While enjoying structural advantages, already investigating new leap-frog innovations that could eventually become significant value generators

Challenge:

Having built the muscle to innovate, but primarily applying these to new adjacent business opportunities, they may be missing the opportunities available by applying innovation abilities to their core businesses

Sporadic 4

Sporadic companies rarely pursue entrepreneurial opportunities, but when they do, they pursue transformative changes. Often, such companies are periodic transformers. They operate a business model, sometimes for decades, and then, when market forces change, transform into new types of businesses. This type of profile works well for organizations that operate in legacy industries with little threat sudden threats of disruption.

Ford
IBM
Wal-Mart

Advantage:

An ability to sense when market forces demand transformation and, hopefully, a track record of being able to transform

Challenge:

The risk of the innovation muscle atrophying; lacking strategic options to pivot to when transformation is demanded; the risk of missing the signals that its tie to transform

In these results, you can find how you score among four characteristics proven to drive entrepreneurial intensity (your percentile score):

Question 1/4: Our people feel they are treated more like intrapreneurs than employees

Question 2/4: We work in smaller independent units rather than larger traditional business units

Question 3/4: We “manage” teams through decentralized internal marketplaces rather than using centralized authority

Question 4/4: If a team is not happy with the service it’s getting from support services (e.g., HR, Finance, Legal, R&D) it can choose an alternative

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