Facts about Novozymes’ Growth Bubbles
On a global level, Novozymes has put together four teams of employees in growth bubbles which, within their own chosen business area, will concentrate on establishing a foothold in new markets for the use of enzymes. The growth bubbles are cross-organisational and includes members from Research & Development, Technical Service, Marketing and Sales. The four bubbles focus on the areas: Processed Food, Forest Products, Fats & Oil, and New Asian Applications.
Cross-functional collaboration
Cross-functional collaboration is nothing new in Novozymes R&D. For years, the majority of the work has taken place in cross-organisational projects.
But with the introduction of the growth bubbles the scope of cross-functional development projects have become even broader in so far as they also involve employees from production, sales and marketing. Unlike our traditional projects the employees involved may now concentrate 100% on their specific focus area during the life time of the bubble, i.e. until the project hopefully proves sustainable as a new business area, explains Ejnar Bech Jensen. He is member of the group closely monitoring the work of the bubbles.
The idea
The idea behind the establishment of the growth bubbles is to build up an actual business for product development in close dialogue with selected customers.
The great advantage is that we create focus while profiting from the combined insight which emerges from allowing people of very different professional background to bubble together. We get a dedicated team covering the entire business process from idea to successful marketing and sales. The participants improve their ability to cooperate with customers and understand their real needs. In the bubbles the team members develop a valuable competency in establishing partnership with customers and other external partners, an area in rapid growth.
Commitment and Energy
According to Ejnar Bech Jensen, the most positive surprise is the commitment and the energy demonstrated in the growth bubbles. Today we have incredibly motivated teams who are enthusiastic about what they do. They have an extensive liberty of action to reach their goals and work in general very independently. The highly visible results and the firm belief that they will succeed drive them. The advantage for the team members is that they become better team players having the will and the capability of evolvi ng a project in the right direction. Our great challenge is then to ensure that this empowerment may be converted into permanent personal development.
To Ejnar Bech Jensen, the bubble concept is particularly qualified for establishment of new activities. The monitoring group is very satisfied with the preliminary results of the four existing bubbles and has now started to identify new areas for growth bubbles planned to be launched during 2003.