Client Challenge - USG, a 106-year-old Fortune 500 company was the creator of Sheetrock™ and remains North America’s largest manufacturer and marketer of gypsum-based products, including wall board, joint compounds, building plasters, cement board and industrial gypsum products. In 2003, a new growth strategy sought to create a more robust growth rate by creating new businesses that leveraged their core competencies and by recreating a culture of innovation throughout the organization that had eroded over time. Our challenge: Revitalize innovation while creating a portfolio of new businesses that leverage core competencies and can double future organic growth rates.
Collaborative Breakthrough - In 2003, USG partnered with the Creative Realities, inc., the Innovation Management Collaborative, to stimulate, manage, and implement their pursuit of New Business Ventures. Using proprietary, experiential, team-based tools and techniques Creative Realities guided the identification, development and launch of a portfolio of new business efforts as well as the creation and launch of USG’s new internal growth engine, the New Business Ventures Group.
Reality - In just 3 years of working with CRI USG has: a) created a long-term portfolio of new business ventures, b) launched four of them (in-market or pilot), c) created several more that are in business plan development, d) helped to establish a strong New Business Ventures Group, and e) created a number of new “centers of innovation” throughout the company. These efforts are already becoming major sources of the company’s future growth.