**1. Introduction**

In general, there is now increasing competition in markets on a global scale. In order to be competitive, organizations must innovate to respond quickly to market needs. Currently, when the topic of innovation is addressed, there are several pertinent questions that many SME managers ask, such as: Why are not all organizations entrepreneurial? Why are not all

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entrepreneurship initiatives successful? Why the success formulas do not apply equally in all organizations? What does it mean by culture of innovation?

Although in thermodynamics, there are very well-defined equations and rules that allow to explain the conditions necessary for a given element to exist "to survive" in the solid state, in the gaseous state or in the liquid state, it has been difficult to evaluate the real relevance of

The Need to Develop a Corporate Culture of Innovation in a Globalization Context

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.81266

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This work aims at contributing to better understand the culture role to explain the production and exchange of knowledge in terms of capacity for creating new ideas, products/services,

This work is organized as follows. Section 2 provides the background needed to understand the culture role in promoting innovation processes. Section 3 discusses the development of a culture to support corporate entrepreneurship. Section 4 provides some concluding remarks.

Globalization requires companies to create new products and businesses faster and better than their competitors. This calls for, on the one hand, highly efficient operating processes (although in themselves they do not ensure the competitiveness of companies) and, on the other hand, an

Innovators (acting at product level) and entrepreneurs (acting at the level of the business) should have an organizational structure that favors innovation even without waiting for the verification of the appropriate culture. The innovation process itself is one of the best ways to perfect the company's innovation culture. The "organizational structure" consists of the modus operandi of the company based on operational configurations influenced by the organizational climate. The "operational configurations" translate cross-functional teams consisting of several knowledge specialists according to the specificity of the tasks. By "organizational climate," we mean working conditions that foster personal autonomy and respon-

In the next steps, we first examine the culture of the company, then identify the characteristics of the innovation culture, and finally see how the culture of support for corporate entrepre-

Each organization has its own culture. "Organizational culture" is similar to the personality of individuals, that is, it is an intangible, always-present fundamental characteristic that provides a meaning, a direction, and a basis for individual action. "Culture" lies in shared values, beliefs, and expectations, and in the norms seized as a part of the work in the company over time.

As much as the personality influences the behavior of the individual, the shared culture exerts a predominance in the pattern of activities, opinions, and action within the company. Company culture influences how employees and managers surface problems, serve consumers, deal with suppliers, respond to competitors, and conduct current and future activities [3].

organizational culture that allows the implementation of new operational methods.

organizational culture in innovation processes.

**2. Promoting innovation through the culture**

sibility by influencing individual motivation.

neurship is developed.

**2.1. What is the company culture?**

and processes.

The term "innovation" means the development of anything new from its initial idea to becoming viable in the marketplace.

However, in a global market and according to some authors [1, 2], it is possible to identify three distinct types of economic environment in relation to the level of competitiveness between organizations: markets "blue ocean," "red ocean," and "purple ocean." Using a metaphor from thermodynamics field, an analogy might be established between the phase diagram (showing the conditions necessary for the existence of the various states: solid, liquid, and gaseous as a function of the pressure and temperature conditions) and the possible admissible levels of entrepreneurial culture associated with each market to not jeopardize the survival of an organization depending on the value of the opportunities and threats, as illustrated in **Figure 1**.

The markets called "blue ocean," stable environment, correspond to the solid phase where the number of competitors is reduced and, in some situations, could be null. In this favorable environment, which is characterized by the ease of accessing many opportunities in contrast to the reduced number of threats, the development of an innovation culture is not a concern of top management which leads to the proliferation of a conservative culture that acts as a barrier to the promotion of innovation activities.

As opposed to the "blue ocean" market, we have the markets called "red ocean," context of crisis, which corresponds to the "gaseous" state where the level of competition is extremely high. In this adverse context, the opportunities are scarce and the threats abound. In this context, the role of the entrepreneur in launching new businesses from inside the company is crucial. This phenomenon is called "corporate entrepreneurship" and differs from "entrepreneurship." "Entrepreneurship" refers to new businesses created from the root or developed outside (or separate) from an existing business.

As an intermediate state, between the "blue ocean" market and the "red ocean" market, there are markets "purple ocean," unstable context, that corresponds to the liquid state. This market is characterized by the fact that coexists with two distinct situations: business opportunities where competition is virtually nonexistent or null and business opportunities where competition is fierce.

**Figure 1.** Diagram of phases versus diagram of market states.

Although in thermodynamics, there are very well-defined equations and rules that allow to explain the conditions necessary for a given element to exist "to survive" in the solid state, in the gaseous state or in the liquid state, it has been difficult to evaluate the real relevance of organizational culture in innovation processes.

This work aims at contributing to better understand the culture role to explain the production and exchange of knowledge in terms of capacity for creating new ideas, products/services, and processes.

This work is organized as follows. Section 2 provides the background needed to understand the culture role in promoting innovation processes. Section 3 discusses the development of a culture to support corporate entrepreneurship. Section 4 provides some concluding remarks.
