Wells Fargo Insurance Company

What is entrepreneurship? While several may define the actual word as “the willingness to take risks and develop, organize and manage a business venture in a competitive global marketplace that is constantly evolving.”, an entrepreneur is often defined as someone that assumes the risk of starting their own business. However, there’s more to being an entrepreneur, or having entrepreneurial qualities, than just simply starting a business. Entrepreneurial actions and behaviors can occur is several different ways for already established and lucrative companies and organizations. “Entrepreneurial actions are any newly fashioned behaviors through which companies exploit opportunities others have not noticed or aggressively pursued. Novelty, in

is the nation’s fifth-largest insurance brokerage and part of Wells Fargo & Co. — and its affiliated companies have changed their name to Wells Fargo Insurance Services. Wells Fargo acquired Acordia, Inc. in May 2001.” Beginning in 1986, entrepreneurial actions were an essential part of Acordia’s overall business venture plans and heavily tied into how they operated their business on a day-to-day basis. As previously stated, “Entrepreneurship is especially important for firms facing rapid changes in industry and market structures, customers’ needs, technology, and societal values. Because Acordia faced all of these conditions as the 1980s were closing, using entrepreneurial actions to form and implement a corporate entrepreneurship strategy was appropriate. (Morris)” Through the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and form performance, Acordia was able to shift the cultural thinking of their own organization and achieve the maximum amount of R.O.I. (Return On Investment) of their innovative and forward-thinking ideals. Using common managerial tactics such as new-venture teams, incentive compensation, and market segmentation and the creation of consumer value, Acordia was able to inspire this entrepreneurial spirit in all of its employees. During this shift, Acordia’s upper management made a significant push to demonstrate their own good managerial qualities. They did this by engaging with their

There’s more to being an entrepreneur than just simply starting a business. Entrepreneurial actions and behaviors can occur is several different types ways for already established and lucrative companies and organizations. Through the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and form performance, Acordia was able to shift the cultural thinking of their own organization and maximize the R.O.I. (Return On Investment) of their innovative and forward-thinking ideals. Using common managerial tactics such as new-venture teams, incentive compensation, and market segmentation, Acordia was able to inspire the entrepreneurial spirit in all of its employees. When asked about the value of using a corporate entrepreneurial strategy, one Acordia company CEO had this to say: "We became an employer of empowered employees who look forward to change, new products, and a promising future.” At the heart of sustaining a company competitive edge and overall success is innovation. Innovation is not an important thing, it’s not number one on the list. Based on Kuratko, Ireland, and Hornsby’s analysis of Acordia’s corporate entrepreneurship practices I have concluded that innovation is oxygen – it’s the only