Open Innovation

8CI Example B: Money doesn’t make you happy

The manager of the corporate incubator CI B has been involved in the group for several years. Moreover, he founded a start-up before joining the group, and the digital world is highly familiar to him. His understanding of this dual large group/start-up environment is far from anecdotal. Indeed, at first sight, this offers our interviewee an aptitude and a management expertise for a CI structure that straddles two worlds. However, we will see in this section that in spite of these resources and professional assets, which are useful for deciphering the two worlds, the CI manager still encounters significant difficulties in implementation.

You must be aware that for this manager, “the prime objective of a large group is to increase both turnover and innovation”. This aspect informs us of one of the incubator manager’s beliefs. This belief has certain similarities to a background element, which serves as a basis for examining the subject. How should a CI be operated? The analysis that follows highlights how this belief influences motivation, recruitment and mobilization approaches managed by the CI B manager as part of his managerial work.

8.1. The corporate context of CI B

The group, made up of a multitude of subsidiaries, is a French multispecialism company with influence at the international level. It occupies a leading position in several of its specialisms, but is subject to exceedingly harsh competition.

We immediately note that ...