Open Innovation

11CI Example E: the Art of Pivot

The manager of CI E is no stranger to the corporate incubation world or this group. He has worked within the group for several years. He has had a very varied career route, alternating between positions which have been both practical and operational (within the business unit). This manager therefore has an in-depth knowledge of the mysteries of the group and company culture. This knowledge, as I will show you, has enabled this CI manager to implement managerial work appropriate to the environmental circumstances, and therefore he has been fully involved with the CI’s structural characteristics.

11.1. The corporate context of CI E

The company is a French industrial group, with an international footprint. This group operates around the same main core profession which comes in a variety of forms linked to an industrial rationale. According to CI E’s manager, the group has a lack of notoriety with the general public, but he states, “On the other hand, our shareholders have always eagerly held an exchange of views around innovation! Moreover, this explains why the group has reinvented itself several times through the means of technological innovations”. The observation formulated by the CI manager translates into an affirmation (in literature, a “hard fact”) which will in particular be of use within the problematization stage, that is, the reasons which legitimized the CI’s launch and existence, as well as its necessary interactions. In the following, ...