An important and timely contribution to the field of corporate venturing.

Pekka Ala-Pietila, President, Nokia

By taking this book to heart, those involved in business creation can significantly enhancetheir chances of success and avoid costly mistakes. It provides a wealth of guidance on howto go about renewal in a flexible, measured manner.

Erik Vollebregt, CEO, Shell Technology Ventures

Offers a new perspective on the age-old problem of generating growth inside well-establishedcompanies. Through detailed examples, it provides a clear set of guidelines that companiescan follow if they want to manage their new business creation activities more effectively.

Laura Tyson, Dean, London Business SchoolFormerly Chairman, President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors, 1993-1995

The central message of this book is that to grow successfully, a company needs ultimatelyto create a culture and capability that supports the process of business creation.Inventuring provides a wealth of detail on how to do this.

Sir Peter Davis, CEO, Sainsbury's

Rich with ideas and examples, Buckland, Hatcher and Birkinshaw have served up a practical,readable aid for managers.

Andrew Campbell, Director, Ashridge Strategic Management Centre UK

A useful tool for evaluating whether venturing will create value for your organizationand offers useful advice on how to get started.

Heino von Prondzynski, Head of Roche DiagnosticsMember of the Executive Committee of F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd

Experience has taught me that the best time to be investingin new business ventures is at the low-point of the market.Valuations are low, and the resources you need are in plentifulsupply. This book will tell you how to build your company'sventuring capability so that you are prepared for the next boom.

John Taysom, Founding and Managing Partner, RVC Europe Ltd

What do Virgin Atlantic, Heathrow Express,the Ericsson mobile phone, Tesco.com andEgg, the online bank, all have in common?

They are all successful new businesses created withinexisting companies.

New business creation can be the most powerfulwealth-creating tool in the modern firm's armoury.When used effectively, it can enable a company toreinvent its core business and extend its strategicassets. But it is difficult to get right. Companiesroutinely invest heavily in business creationinitiatives which subsequently fail to deliversignificant organic growth.

Following extensive research across Europe, NorthAmerica and the Far East, Buckland, Hatcher andBirkinshaw argue that the trick to successful businesscreation lies in a firm's ability to:

intergrate a business creation capability acrossit's operation

combine small-company attributes such as agility andcreativity with a risk-tolerant, long-term approach

Inventuring shows why business creation should beat the top of a company's strategic agenda and howto organize and manage it alongside other businessdevelopment techniques. It demonstrates how to builda business creation capability from scratch and howto embed it within everyday practices so that itbecomes routine.

The book provides a step-by-step guide to generatingand turning ideas into commercially viable enterpriseswhile avoiding the many pitfalls. It will help you todetermine which ideas to run with, how to developand launch them, and how to extract the best valuefor corporate growth.