Strategies for Fostering Local New Service Development Teams in CapGemini and the MINALOGIC Cluster in Grenoble

Abstract

In a world where innovation is seen as the source of progress and competitiveness, how does one innovate in a sustainable way? It is possible to consider this question in two different ways. The first way focuses on businesses and considers how these innovate. The second focuses on the industrial district or cluster and examines how the whole network of stakeholders who constitute the local “eco-system” innovates. There is no perfect superposition with regards to these two views, but rather an intersection. In this context, what is the nature of this convergence in interest and how can it be strengthened? This is the underlying question this chapter poses. Put simply, for any business, as for any district, the innovation equation can be expressed in the following way: resources – a “stockpile of technologies” and expertise – plus the ability to exploit these resources in order to transform them into innovative products and services, adding value for customers. This chapter deals with the second member of the equation: the ability to exploit the resources in question, in a context where the associated models of organization are undergoing rapid transformation. Actually, in companies – regardless of business type: large, small or emerging – and also in districts, new models of organization have appeared for the transformation of resources into innovative products and services. These require, for their part, the implementation of new strategies in order to strengthen their ability to innovate in a situation of increased competition, linked to the acceleration of globalization.

Appendices

Annex 1 The Grenoble District and Innovation

Grenoble’s development started in the 1870s, with an emphasis on hydraulic resources. With this came the development of machines and equipment, for the production, conversion, and supplying of electricity. As part of the resulting boom, industries which consumed large quantities of electricity established themselves in the region, such as the paper pulping industry. New technologies quickly find a market here and scientific and technical knowledge are oriented toward concrete applications.

The industrial development fed the development of universities, engineering and management schools, and research laboratories. In particular, this included the creation of the Grenoble center for nuclear studies, which has become the Grenoble CEA, which quickly acquired a high level of competence in nuclear physics.

Large international companies with a worldwide remit gave rise to economic development in the Grenoble basin. These include the energy giant Schneider Electric which has one of its major roots in the Grenoble company Merlin Gérin, Capgemini in the IT services sector, and STMicroelectronics in the microelectronics area through EFCIS, its first MOS activity/business. The setting up of these large industrial companies encouraged the emergence of numerous innovative SMEs.

Consequently, the Grenoble district gathers together all of the stakeholders likely to contribute to the innovation value chain in the high-tech industries, such as micro- and nanotechnology, biotechnology, and software development. Its potential in terms of the development of innovative products and services is one of the strong characteristics of the Grenoble district.

Annex 2 The Division of Key Roles Between Onshore and Offshore and the Abilities to Be Strengthened in the Capgemini Case (Source: Capgemini)

4.2.1 Division of Roles and Responsibilities in the Rightshore^TM Project

4.2.2 Synthesis of the Abilities to Be Strengthened in the Framework of the Rightshore^TM Model of Organization

Annex 3 A List of the Abilities Linked to Collaborative Project Management

Scientific/technological abilities:

• Mobilizing the best experts and bringing them to explore scientific bottlenecks.

• Compiling “BATs” and leading on monitoring technological and scientific development.

• Adopting a “systems” approach which allows for the comprehending of specific technology as a whole and integrating extremely diverse building blocks with complexity in their correlations and interfaces.

• Drawing up a development plan.

• Drawing up sturdy processes for developing technology in order to produce a robust prototype.

Industrial abilities:

• Defining technical specifications and feasible performance levels.

• Taking into account, from the development stage, the problematics of industrialization and maintenance – product methods, monitoring manufacture, equipment, security, environment, etc.

• Taking into account from the development stage, the industrial norms currently in force – medical norms, electrical, electromagnetic compatability, etc. – in order to design a product which is likely to pass qualification stages.

• Carrying out “patent” monitoring and developing an IP strategy.

• Anticipating production costs and levels of industrial performance that are attainable.

• Preparing specifications for the future experimental production line.

• Developing partnership with suppliers of raw materials and manufacturers.

Market abilities:

• Analyzing the competitive environment.

• Identifying potential customers and meeting with these to exchange on future applications.

• Envisaging all application possibilities and organizing these into a hierarchy.

• Anticipating the potential markets for these applications.

• Taking into account the question of “time to market.”

• Researching suppliers/partners for the future commercialization of products.

• Being integrated or integrating oneself into a “professional network.”

Management abilities:

• Creating the necessary conditions for the cohesion of the project team.

• Creating the necessary conditions to exert one’s leadership.

• Promoting the convergence of scientific, industrial, and marketing logic.

• Compiling the project workplan.

• Managing the project’s progress.

• Managing partners’ commitments fairly in terms of resources.

• Establishing strong communication links with the senior managers of partner companies, customers, support functions, and contractual entities.

Each of these abilities was the subject of an information form. Together, these forms constitute a competency framework.

Annex 4 A List of the Abilities Associated with the Exploitation of the Results of Collaborative Projects

Monitoring the environment:

• Conducting a strategic analysis of the environment.

• Conducting an analysis on the strengths/weaknesses of the SME’s technology.

• Acquiring the knowledge of state-of the-art techniques.

Learning of partnership:

• Analyzing the real motivations to bring in a project and the associated risks.

• Developing a true ability to share.

• Knowing how to identify the right partners.

Defending interests:

• Evaluating the level of protection of one’s know-how.

• Evaluating the risks and stakes of the intellectual property of one’s project.

• Negotiating effectively the agreement of the consortium.

Internal organization:

• Knowing how to anticipate potential funding problems.

• Anticipating a plan to gain further funding if necessary and putting together a fundraising bid.

• Identifying missing abilities and recruiting or training the right people to ensure the project succeeds.

Optimization of the project’s spin-offs:

• Putting to work the project team as quickly as possible.

• Adapting classic project management so as to keep creativity, and managing the risks and uncertainties peculiar to innovation.

• Anticipating the customer’s needs in emerging markets and/or the possible uses of a new technology.

Annex 5 The Project Team Between Business Unit and Resource Centers

The development of innovative products and services is carried out within the organizational framework of a business unit. In strategic analysis, in the way that this is typically practiced, the problem of the business unit lies in the development of a “distinctive” competence, in line with key success factors in the markets which it targets. The creation of a distinctive competence is imperative for the survival of the business unit and this imposes itself on the totality of the teams which constitute or contribute to the business unit. The development of innovative products and services comes up against the business unit’s distinctive competence and are decided, as a result, by the management of the business units.

The resources mobilized by the project team and the abilities put to work in order to transform these into value for the customer are, therefore, closely linked to this positioning. The resource centers will provide the resources needed by the project team. The term “resource” also extends to physical resources (technologies, equipment, etc.), human resources (knowledge, intelligence, networking, etc.), and organizational resources, based on which the project team can develop an innovative product and service. These resources centers gather together people sharing the same profession (test) or the same technological specialization (optoelectronic) or managerial area (sourcing). They can be formal or informal structures, which are internal or external to the company, which can be seen as a pool from which the project teams come to momentarily draw the resources that they need.

The alignment of the means (resources) and the ends (distinctive competence) is facilitated when the resource centers are within the company and when there is both proximity and a hierarchical dependence.

Now, the new models of organization lead the project teams to mobilize resources that are external to their company in two ways. On the one hand, a part of the tasks can be outsourced by having recourse to partners (suppliers, research laboratories, etc.). On the other hand, to fulfill tasks that are not outsourced, team members call on resources which do not belong to the business unit (for example, by having recourse to the knowledge of a community of experts via their personal networks).