Intrapreunership: Being an Entrepreneur Within Haulotte
But first, we should describe what it is. Intrapreneurship is a set of methods and processes used by a person to develop business ideas within their own company. As can be gleaned from its name, it is about being an internal entrepreneur. It seeks to foster an entrepreneurial spirit and approach within a company by creating versatile, flexible systems that are entrusted to specific managers leading to the development of projects.
Acting as a Start-Up to Handle a Challenge
Catherine Perrier, Innovation Purchaser, put herself forward to lead the first intrapreneurial project at Haulotte. We spoke to her about her experience: “It’s very different from the project model where the project lead supervises and coordinates the teams. For the intrapreneurial mode, you don’t stick to just what you initially know and when you set out the path, you are also a stakeholder in the progress made.”
It all begins with an idea. But whoever comes up with the idea does not always have the desire or opportunity to run with it. “Motivated people take up the baton. For this, you need to be passionate and love a challenge. You leave your comfort zone because you are taking on issues that you might not know much about. It’s important to have good support. The first step is the pitch. This lets you ask important questions of yourself on why management should believe in the concept. It’s a good way to build up skills!”
Catherine is leading an anchor sensor project for platform operators. The team around her all volunteered to work on this.
After answering the essential questions of “What need is there? For whom? What market?”, the original idea received funding to develop a proof of concept before moving into R&D. “We have now moved into the start-up mindset to launch production but we still need to refine our business model,” Catherine tell us. “To ensure the viability and demand for this innovation, the team will use the very first OPEN UP event at H3 to talk to major customers of the group this coming September 14 and 15.”
A View onto the Group’s Innovation and Values
This first intrapreneurial experience is proving to be promising and will serve as inspiration for new intrapreneurs! It will also feed into current reflections on how we organize our innovation process and how to get the most out of it.
Lastly, it gives Haulotte the chance to be more visible. Catherine’s team have taken an interest in what other industrial groups are doing. They have had opportunities to meet other intrapreneurs and share best practices. Catherine finished off telling us, “we visited the Michelin start-up incubator. It was a way to make Haulotte known and show that the Group is innovating.”
Further reading
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Refurbished machinery is here
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