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  • Winter 2022
  • Article
  • MIT Sloan Management Review

Leading Disruption in a Legacy Business: A Compelling Growth Ambition Is a Critical Enabler for New Ventures

By: Andy Binns, Michael Tushman and Charles O'Reilly
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Abstract

Leading innovation in established corporations is difficult. Active inertia and dynamic conservatism are real. Still, leaders can drive disruptive ventures from inside large corporations. These leaders ideate, incubate, and scale innovations, much as an entrepreneur does. However, innovating inside an existing corporation is different in important ways from conventional entrepreneurship. These leaders need an enabling context that authorizes and encourages them. Strategic ambition provides an emotionally engaging aspiration that creates a logical bridge between the past and the future. It answers the “why” question that tells nascent corporate explorers that it’s OK to risk taking the business into the unknown. And it provides the context for corporate explorers to ideate and incubate innovation and new business models.

Keywords

Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Management; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Model

Citation

Binns, Andy, Michael Tushman, and Charles O'Reilly. "Leading Disruption in a Legacy Business: A Compelling Growth Ambition Is a Critical Enabler for New Ventures." MIT Sloan Management Review 63, no. 2 (Winter 2022).
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About The Author

Michael L. Tushman

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

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    Corporate Explorer: How Corporations Beat Startups at the Innovation Game

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More from the Authors
  • Reimagining Enel: Enabling Sustainable Progress By: Michael L. Tushman and Kerry Herman
  • Corporate Explorer: How Corporations Beat Startups at the Innovation Game By: Andrew Binns, Charles A. O'Reilly III and Michael Tushman
  • The Translucent Hand of Managed Ecosystems: Engaging Communities for Value Creation and Capture By: Elizabeth J. Altman, Frank Nagle and Michael Tushman
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