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failed to identify that national governments were unlikely to grant
operating licences which deprived them of regular income. In contrast,
Federal Express was well aware of the regulatory blocks. As a result,
the company lobbied central government extremely hard. Federal
Express succeeded initially in getting the weight thresholds for air taxi
services increased and subsequently in achieving the complete
deregulation of the entire air freight industry.

internal and external politics The world of politics has not

changed much since 1513, when Machiavelli claimed:

‘There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct or
more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a
new order of things. Innovation makes enemies of all those who prospered
under the old regime and only lukewarm support is forthcoming from all
those who would prosper under the new.’

It is most likely that you will be seeking to give life to your idea in just
such circumstances. Your idea will probably be competing in an
environment where its fit to corporate strategy is all-important, where
corporate strategy may change, the not-invented-here syndrome holds
sway, the culture is risk-averse, financial hurdle rates are extremely
aggressive, your initial sponsor has just left and so on.

The great and the good are not immune from the impact of this
phenomenon. Howard Schultz had to quit his job at Starbucks in order
to realise his own idea for coffee bars because the idea did not fit the
strategy adopted by the founding trio of Starbucks. Only when Schultz
bought the company did Starbucks adopt the coffee-bar formula for
which it is now famous.

H. Ross Perot, founder of global giant Electronic Data Systems (EDS),
was a salesman for IBM when he suggested that the company should
create a service organisation which would design, install and operate
electronic data-processing systems on a fixed-contract basis. Unable to
convince IBM senior management of the proposal’s fit with corporate
strategy, Perot left and established EDS with $1,000 of savings.

customers Generally attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, the adage

that ‘if you build a better mousetrap, then the world will beat a path to
your door’ is unfortunately incorrect. As earnest marketers have pointed
out, the adage does not take account of market awareness, customers’