E-service innovations through corporate entrepreneurship

E-services markets are attractive for many global technology corporations. In these hyper-competitive markets, a large number of new business models are being developed. Although innovative e-services are constituting new entrepreneurial chances, global technology corporations have to react promptly in order to maintain their market positions. The aim of this paper is to investigate the possibilities of innovations at a business model level in the area of industrial e-services, and, based on this, to describe ways which could lead global technology corporations to a fast and systematic generation of such e-service business models in order to increase their international competitiveness. It can be assumed that a traditionally structured R&D division of a corporation, which is focused on technology innovations, is in most cases overtaxed with the generation of successful business model innovations. This is the reason why global technology corporations seek alternatives in order to be able to face the accelerating global innovation competition in e-service markets. Here the systematic application of different forms of corporate entrepreneurship and especially of corporate venturing is a possible solution. The author briefly portrays these new forms of corporate entrepreneurship as applied by global technology companies in order to keep pace with the fast e-service market evolution, and evaluates their chances and problems. This is then followed by recommendations for an optimised innovation management of e-service offers of global technology companies through the application of corporate entrepreneurship management principles.