*3.2.6.2. Case study: Coca Cola*

Innovation thus has time and space to flourish, within an environment that has at least an eye

One of the biggest challenges to making this model work is finding the right team. Those who have risen up through the internal hierarchy will have done so because of their expertise in incremental performance improvement rather than disruptive innovation, and their corporatereceived wisdom may in fact be a liability in this context. Conversely, those more unconventional types that fancy themselves as "intrapreneurs" or "creovator" in the spirit of Martin Lukes [3] might be good at getting new thinking off the ground but struggle to achieve traction

A manufacturer in the automotive industry set up a semidetached innovation unit with the task of plotting the course toward an electric-based, multichannel, mobility-driven future that looked very different to the current business model and infrastructure. The team leaders were high-potential managers picked from the existing business. They were given 6 months to develop their plans, with the expectation of presenting challenging and expansive new initia-

Within a few months, it became clear that they had not escaped the gravitational pull of the mother ship. A more relaxed dress code could not prevent the building of new, insular siloes to match the old, insular siloes, and senior management soon reverted to type as "demanding, critical parents," firmly grounded in the performance cycle, and behaving as if their brief

The detached model creates a separate innovation/ventures/incubator unit that is free from most of the governance constraints of the main organization and is often led by a real entre-

The unit may be sited on the campus of a leading-edge university, or in an edgy part of town,

There are numerous permutations of these "open innovation" models, with the role of the main organization varying from the minimum (provider of seed capital) through a full com-

The detached model is likely to attract more ambitious and creative people and to create a flow of genuinely innovative ideas. The downside risks of "detachment" are a dilution of shareholding and control, and the risk of new business ideas that have a limited fit with the core.

Unilever is a multinational consumer goods firm with more than 400 brands focused on

Founded in 2002, Unilever Ventures is the venture capital and private equity arm of Unilever, investing in young, promising companies and accelerating their growth through access to

on migration of new ideas into the main business.

10 Marketing

because they are not taken seriously by their colleagues.

dalliance with innovative thinking had never happened.

preneur who might also be a shareholder in the new venture.

surrounded by an ambitious, creative, and mobile workforce.

Unilever's global ecosystem, assets, and expertise.

mercialization model (e.g., people, finance, brand, route to market).

tives for the main board to consider.

*3.2.6. Detached innovation*

*3.2.6.1. Case study: Unilever*

health and well-being.

Founded in 2007, Coca Cola set up the Venturing & Emerging Brands (VEB) team.

VEB wears four different hats. First, VEB focuses on the future, identifying longer-term consumer opportunities. Then, they put on a venture capital hat, which means deciding where to make investments. Third, VEB acts as an incubator, bringing brands to market—or to a wider market. Finally, in the integrator role, VEB aims to "graduate" successful brands out of VEB into Coca Cola's larger portfolio.

In the 10 years since VEB launched, the unit has either built or invested in 42 brands. Honest Tea is one of the top success stories. VEB recognized that health and wellness were a growing trend and understood that consumers were looking for drinks that would align with healthier lifestyles. With Coca Cola's help, the brand has expanded to more than 100,000 locations in the United States and debuted in Great Britain in 2016.
