Firestarters: Igniting the new entrepreneurial organization(Financial Times Series)

In the past, managers put out fires. In the future, managers will light the fires of enterprise.   On the innovation frontier, ideas, talent and capital move in perpetual free-flow. They move where the money can be made – or will be made at some time in the future. But in traditional companies, ideas, talent and capital can ossify rather than multiply.   Despite the rise and fall of the dot.com sideshow, the days of the traditional corporate model – size, central control and no stake for the talented – look numbered when it   comes to creating and delivering value from new ventures. Business needs to get better at starting the fires of enterprise.   Firestarters examines the best of the start-up and corporate worlds to describe an organization where entrepreneurial zeal lives and where resources flow quickly and profitably to the best new ideas.   Firestarter organizations create entrepreneurialism through motivation and context. They work like this: New models: They explore new organizational models. They are not stuck in the past of military or mechanistic models. The empty organization: They realize that they need to be lean and efficient. They outsource. They focus on what they excel at. Launch and learn: They are adept at moving quickly with ideas, making them happen, now. Networked: They are networked, internally and externally. They continually seek out new network partners. Local area networks: And they network intimately with those in their geographic area. They turn neighborhoods into networks. Work with meaning: They provide values and meaning for all those who work with them. Entrepreneurial: In a word Firestarter Inc. glows with entrepreneurial purpose.

About the Author :
Stuart Crainer is author of The Management Century, The Ultimate Business Library, and a number of other books. His work appears in The Times and leading business magazines including Across the Board Strategy and Business and Business 2.0. Des Dearlove’s book credits include Architects of the Business Revolution (co-authored with Stephen Coomber) and The Ultimate Book of Business Thinking. He has edited the recruitment section of The Times and remains a frequent contributor to the newspaper. He writes for business publications including Across the Board, Internet Business and The Industry Standard. Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove are the founders of the media content, concepts and consultancy firm, Suntop Media, authors of Gravy Training, MBA Planet and Generation Entrepreneur, and the editors of the Financial Times Handbook of Management.

Review :
"Incubation is definitely one of the buzzwords around business schools these days. The idea is to provide logistic support and access to venture capital for especially promising business ideas.""Financial Times, 21 May 2000 ""Business incubators are becoming a boom industry...networked incubators represent a fundamentally new organizational model that is especially well suited for creating value and wealth in the new economy.""Harvard Business Review, September 2000 "