Intrapreneurs Must Reference World Authorities To Build Proposals

Jatin Desai — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 14:22:00 GMT

Intrapreneurs are the purple horse in the room. They are working as entrepreneurs within a larger enterprise. Gifford Pinchot III coined the term Intrapreneur to describe them. They want to innovate. Often, corporate culture limits or prevents their ability to succeed.

Business Cases and Proposals Need Research

When I teach intrapreneurs to certify them in the DeSai body of knowledge they learn to create a business case. To turn that case into a full-blown, well researched proposal the intrapreneur needs to reference credible worldwide authorities.

My Favorite Sources

20 of my favorite sources are shown below. These sources are universal. They can be used by for profits and non-profits, large companies as well as small ones. Good luck and may “the force be with you” during your research process.

1	Worldmapper Project Provides cartograms – maps where countries are resized according to a range of economic, social, demographic and resources criteria

2	World Trade Organization Trade statistics, trade news, economic research and publications

3	World Economic Forum Research on wide range of issues related to its agenda; also organizes Davos summit annually dealing with global issues

4	World Bank Economic and financial statistics, including commodity prices

5	Wikipedia Open-source based online encyclopaedia, which is a good first lead for information on many topics BUT always check references and data wherever possible

6	US Bureau of Labor Statistics Research and statistics on all aspects of the labor market in the US, plus international comparisons

7	United Nations Data and reports relevant for many trends including economics, demographics, Millennium Development Goals

8	Strategy & Business Surveys, articles, publications on a range of business topics, on both the Booz site and Strategy & Business site

9	RAND Corporation Research areas include security, international affairs, science & technology, health, infrastructure

10	PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) Consulting/Accounting firm offering research/publications on range of business topics

11	Org. for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) Publications and statistics on economic and social issues, including macroeconomics, trade, education, science, innovation

12	McKinsey Quarterly Surveys, articles, publications on a range of business topics

13	McKinsey Surveys, articles, publications on a range of business topics

14	International Labour Organization (ILO) Information and news on international labour standards and human rights; provides international labor statistics and research

15	IMF Range of time series data on GDP growth, inflation, unemployment, payments balances, exports, imports, external debt, capital flows, commodity prices, more and other economic and financial indicators

16	IMD Research, articles and information on critical business topics and issues; and home of the World COmpetitiveness Center

17	IBM Range of research, particularly related to technology industry

18	European Commission Eurostat Publications and statistics on economic and social issues, including macroeconomics, trade, education, science, innovation

19	CIA World Factbook offers basic but useful country information; other reports cover security related matters e.g. fuel use

20	Boston Consulting Group Surveys, articles, publications on a range of business topics

The Takeaway

Excellent research sources help an Intrapreneur change an idea from “I know I am correct” to “of course our company must adopt your proposal.”

It is your turn. Share your wisdom. Please comment below.

What are your indispensible research sources?
What techniques help you best prepare a persuasive proposal for higher management?
What is the relationship between the perceived risk of the opportunity and the length of the proposal you submit?