Re-Entrepreneuring: How Organizations Can Reignite Their Entrepreneurial Spirit

Re-entrepreneuring shows how organizations must re-invigorate entrepreneurial spirit at all levels to create new value and stay ahead in turbulent times. It has long been assumed that, in the development of any organization, the time for entrepreneurial activity is right at the beginning. Once an organization is established, qualities that were virtues in the organization’s start-up and early stages can become vices, and the entrepreneurial founders must cede control to professional managers who can nurture the fruits of their original vision more efficiently. One unintended consequence of this assumption is that large, established organizations tend to be entrepreneur-free zones. Entrepreneurial thinking is tacitly discouraged because it can create novelty, and novelty is a threat to established organizations with large market shares. Re-entrepreneuring argues that organizations must revive the entrepreneurial out-look of their founders in order to survive in today’s market. In an organization that encourages and nurtures an entrepreneurial outlook, everyone has the potential to unleash their inner entrepreneur and bring new and dynamic ways of thinking into their work environment. It has more to do with the ways of thinking encouraged by the organizational culture than by any inherent differences in talent or aptitude. The solution presented in this new book from ROLAND BERGER, edited by Charles-Edouard Bouée and Stefan Schaible, is piecemeal yet targeted ‘re-entrepreneuring’. With the help of international case studies and first-hand testimony from business leaders, the authors show how the entrepreneurial approach can be applied to any organization and at all levels, in order to spark innovation, remove operational obstacles and – ultimately – to create new value.

About the Author :
Charles-Edouard Bouée has been the CEO of Roland Berger since 2014 and is now in his second term. He is a seasoned expert in reorganization, post-merger projects and integration programs, as well as performance improvement, and specializes in disruptive innovation, new technologies and digital transformation. Prior to joining Roland Berger, Charles-Edouard worked as Vice President for an American strategy consultancy in Paris from 1997 to 2001, having started his career as an investment banker (M&A and corporate finance) at Société Générale in London. Besides a Master of Science from École Centrale de Paris (ECP), he holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Paris (Université Paris Sud XI). Charles-Edouard Bouée has lived and worked in five countries (France, UK, US, Germany, China). He has authored a number of groundbreaking books on modern management and China, such as China’s Management Revolution – Spirit, Land, Energy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and Light Footprint Management: Leadership in Times of Change (Bloomsbury, 2013). His books have been translated into a number of languages, including Chinese and Japanese. Stefan Schaible has been Deputy CEO of Roland Berger since 2014 and has served on the firm’s Executive Committee since 2013. Stefan is responsible for Germany and the Central European regions (Switzerland, Central & Eastern Europe and the CIS countries). From 2010 to 2013, he was a Member of the Supervisory Board of Roland Berger, most recently as Vice Chairman. Stefan specializes in advising the public sector and financial services industry, supporting major infrastructure projects and successfully managing largescale business transformation. He is a recognized expert on global trends such as the changing role of the state, sustainable development and digitization. He studied Chemistry and Law at the University of Konstanz in Germany. Stefan joined Roland Berger in 1997 and became a Partner in 2001. Schaible has been in charge of the company’s public sector consulting portfolio since 2004 and was the Head of the International Civil Economics, Energy & Infrastructure Competence Center until his appointment as Deputy CEO in 2014.

Review :
Easy to read . . . a practical guide for top managers on how to reinvent an existing business – not by pretending to be something different, but by building on the inherent strength of a company. A very timely and relevant publication for a topic that preoccupies many of us in a world of disruption. Bouée and Schaible manage to encapsulate the unique mystery of entrepreneurship . . . always its original spirit needs to be kept alive to challenge the status quo, the only way to propel organizations to greatness. This book demonstrates, through convincing methods and illustrative examples, how an organization can succeed by combining managerial discipline with audacious innovation.