Mario Carrasco, cofundador de ThinkNow Research
Mario Carrasco, Partner at ThinkNow Research wrote an article on MediaPost in which he says that in a recent CMO Council study, 49% of those surveyed admitted they do not have a multicultural marketing initiative in place, even though a new fiscal year is in sight. “Corporate entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship can be a useful framework to help you secure that Hispanic or multicultural budget your company needs” he recommended. According to Carrasco, the corporate entrepreneurial spirit can be defined as Jeremy Dann, an expert on the topic does: “The practice of employing entrepreneurial skills and approaches within an organization. In addition, to achieve and sustain a true competitive advantage in today’s global business environment, companies must be faster, more creative, nimble, flexible and innovative. This is clearly applicable to the championing of Hispanic budgets within large organizations” he said. Carrasco gave some examples of corporate entrepreneurship tools that can be used. Among others, is a system of incentives and rewards for achievements in the implementation of multicultural marketing. Another is the use of organizational design to detect inefficacies, such as omitting a growing segment of the population as the Hispanic. Also, the use of “skunk works” (teams who are working outside a company on groundbreaking or strategically significant projects) that can provide the impetus for raising marketing initiatives, with measurable results. Alternatively, corporate research that could supply the requisite data to justify a slice of the budget pie. “Thinking like a corporate entrepreneur will likely engender a wealth of ideas on ways to use other tools, such as alliances and acquisitions, use of corporate venture capital, new venture groups, and open innovation, to further your efforts” he ended.