The pursuit of opportunity
Posted by David Baggaley on 13 Nov 2009 | Tagged as: Manufacturing
Soeren Vonsild, head of engineering at Leeds dairy products manufacturer Arla, reckons that the structures and processes within large corporate organisations are fundamentally opposed to innovation and entrepreneurship. Speaking at yesterday’s MAS Manufacturing Convention at Rudding Park, he described entrepreneurs as quick to spot an opportunity opportunity and quick to commit; people for whom there’s a direct relation between getting things done and reward.
But in the corporate environment reward is tied to position in the hierarchy with little incentive to take risk and change the way things get done. No surprise therefore that large companies tend to grow by mergers and acquisition: “Entrepreneurs create business instead of buying it,” he said, observing that two thirds of new jobs are created by SMEs, not by big business.
So how do you encourage entrepreneurship – “the pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources you currently control” – in a company that employs the best part of 3,000 people, has dairies and depots across the UK and controls 25% of the British fresh milk market? The key to building a culture of enterprise, according to Vonsild is to create an opportunities network within the organisation and give people ownership and responsibility for implementing ideas.
In a big organisation, he reckons most effort usually goes into developing new products, whereas proportionally greater value can be created by innovation in business processes, production processes and delivery. As someone remarked later in the day, 70% of the value of a Rolls Royce engine comes after it has left the factory.
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