Summary of Research Findings

As a part of their efforts on digital transformation strategies, many businesses are amid the projects for innovating existing business models and generating digital-applied new business. On the other hand, to achieve these, there are some challenges to detect, train, and use those human resources that take on the responsibility. This research has considered and summarized a proposal on how to press ahead with new business from the aspect of recruitment and HR training based on the aptitudes of the personnel who plays the center role in new business launches.

As a research result, three phases are needed to promote a company-wide new business from the HR training aspect. The indicators for the phases are expressed by “Company-wide infiltration” in the vertical axis and the closeness in “Relationship between the teams of new business promotion and existing business” in the horizontal axis. The further the experience from phase 1 to 3 goes forward, as mentioned later in the Noteworthy Topics, the deeper the infiltration of new business projects becomes and the closer the relationship between the teams of new business promotion and existing business becomes.

There are three important factors to promote new business. First, in addition to the necessity of existing business enhancement and new business launches utilizing existing assets (including human resources), clear company-wide strategy and direction must be hammered out from the management on how to reform the company for the future.

Second, for a team to press ahead with new business, in-house commitment is necessary, together with the leadership of the management with budgetary authority. The commitment to unify the corporate directions is important for gaining understanding and creating a system to support the new business, while intensions and decisions to be made must be thoroughly known to the entire company.

Last, the system for new business promotion (offense) and the structure for safety net (protection) are indispensable. Upon securing the appropriate human resources for business launches, creating various systems are needed, such as an idea contest to collect and detect some ideas on business. Because new business is generally said as only three of a thousand cases can succeed, with all the rest failing. Establishing a safety net is considered to encourage those challengers with creative new ideas to take the initiative, not fearing the failure. Preparation of such systems enables company-wide business promotions, which does not only make new business to be in progress, but also propels enhancement of existing business and corporate reforms.

Noteworthy Topics

Three Phases for Training Personnel for Launching and Propelling New Business

The above figure, “Human Resource Training Phases for New Business Launches” shows three phases, i.e., launching, core personnel development, and autonomous decentralization, through which the new business grows to company-wide efforts.

Phase 1: Launching Phase:
In the launching phase, it is necessary to create a team that comprises mainly those who have an experience of having launched new business or of taken a part of it. Particularly in this initial phase of creating new business, where generation of new ideas and demonstrations or experiments are to be done, it is important for experienced personnel taking the lead and team members (employees) developing skills through the projects.

Phase 2: Core Personnel Development
This is the phase to focus on developing human resources that play central roles of new business launches. When selecting the target personnel, it is preferable to make clear of the aptitude, while taking account of past work experiences and expertise. As one of measures, there have been some companies having held idea contests geared to all employees.
Next, as a training for personnel (team members) selected, it is important for the new business promotion team to escort the personnel for each process from organizing business ideas, creating business planning, demonstrations or experiments, to brushing up on the plans, and commencement of the service, focusing on pragmatic methods.

Phase 3: Autonomous Decentralization
An autonomous and decentralized organization is an organization that acts voluntarily without any instructions or orders like a living organism. In this phase, the new business promotion team addresses to implement the ideas or to renovate business models by utilizing its own assets that are chiefly those core personnel who have been trained. This is expected to form an autonomous and decentralized system, in which the knowhow from experiences is to be inherited to the next candidate (employee) for leading another business launch.

As a result, while training human resources for the central role of new business launch, the new business promotion team is positioned to support some solutions against challenges or hammering out new measures when each department propels new business. It encourages the organization to have the management with budget authority to be at the top, enabling establishment of horizontally connected organizations with some tensions. Through the training of human resources for new business launches and propelling, it is considered that companies can build a system to press ahead with company-wide reforms and enhancement of existing business.

Research Outline