Creating and Fostering Sustainable Intrapreneurship: A Conversation with David Gutierrez

Executive SummaryCapitalism was described by the renowned economist Joseph A. Schumpeter as a process of Creative Destruction (Schumpeter, 1942/2008: 83). Entrepreneurs who foster innovation were seen by him as a key element involved in creating new products and while at the same time destroying old products and services. However, Schumpeter suggested that by destroying entrepreneurism, capitalism would eventually self-destruct. This will happen as businesses get larger and tend to give less value to internally generated innovation - entrepreneurs will lose incentive to innovate as they become smothered in bureaucratic organizations. Bureau and committee work [will] tend to replace individual action. Rationalized and specialized office work will eventually blot out personality [and individual] ...vision (Schumpeter, 1942/2008: 133).Fortunately, Schumpeter's prediction regarding the death of entrepreneurship has not come to pass. Most large corporations have not only accepted the strategic importance of continual innovation but have also recognized that the fostering of individual vision is critical to this important internal process. From the corporate perspective, it is literally change or die - merely maintaining the status quo is not an option. All businesses must continue to innovate in order to remain competitive, and often this means diversifying into new areas, as well as upgrading existing products and services (Kanter, Ingols, Morgan & Seggerman, 1986:14). Therefore, the current question is how can large business organizations recognize and encourage entrepreneurs within the corporate hierarchy? Because the term entrepreneurship is often associated with innovative start-up businesses, the term intrapreneurship is here used to describe innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit as exercised within the large corporate environment. For intrapreneurship to thrive in today's global business environment, the strategic importance of creative thinking and acting must be effectively communicated and fostered at all levels of the organization.In the following interview, David Gutierrez shares his thoughts on the need for sustainable intrapreneurship. Gutierrez is the chief information officer for the Solutions Technology Partners Department at Assurant Solutions, an international provider of specialty insurance and financial products based in Atlanta, Georgia. Gutierrez has been involved in the field of information technology for more than 30 years. He is a businessman who is committed to using technology as a tool for supporting innovation and to seeking new and improved ways of doing business. Gutierrez fully believes that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well inside large corporations.The international arena is very familiar to Gutierrez. He was bora in Bogota, Colombia and worked with Young & Rubicam, Inc. where he was Systems Director for the southern hemisphere responsible for 32 countries. He then worked at Aetna International Inc., where he covered 15 countries in Latin America and Asia Pacific. Subsequently, at ING Insurance Americas, he was responsible for information systems implementations in six countries. In his current position he oversees Assurant Solutions' information technology needs in the US, Canada, Europe, China and Latin America: a total of 13 countries.Among his many awards and honors, Gutierrez received the 2005 CIO 100 Award for Boldness and Innovative Solutions sponsored by CIO Magazine. He was also named CIO of the Year in 2006 by the Latinos in Information Science and Technology Association. This award was given in recognition of his dedication to the community and to the development of IT among Latinos both within and outside the United States.Authors: In Corporate Venturing: Creating New Businesses Within the Firm, Zenas Block and Ian M acMillan indicated that corporate entrepreneurship initiatives are very risky and have a high failure rate. …

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