Corning Incorporated, a
company reputed for its
long-standing commitment to
innovation and technological
prowess, was established by
Amory Houghton Sr. in 1851
and was renamed Corning Glass
Works in 1875. Corning was
one of the fi rst companies in
the United States to establish
its own corporate research
centre, in 1908, to fuel further
innovation within the company.
Manufacturing commercially
feasible light bulbs for Thomas
Edison in 1879, inventing heatresistant
glass and the much
famed 'ribbon machine', making
affordable TV picture tubes, are
just some of the major inventions
that came out of the famous
Corning Labs.
In the 1990s
telecommunications became
Corning's golden egg. As a
manufacturer of optical fi bre,
it rode the wave of the mobile
phone and Internet. But when
the telecoms bubble burst,
Corning nearly did too. Its sales
plummeted from $5 billion to
$1.6 billion in 2002!
As part of its rebuilding
effort, Corning revamped its
research effort, with a view to
diversifying its product portfolio.
An outsider from Dupont, Dr
Miller, was brought in to head
S&T (Science and Technology,
the name of Corning's research
and development wing). Miller
created a new department,
called Strategic Growth with
the following mission: "In
partnership with research, fuel
the strategic renewal of Corning
Incorporated by identifying
and developing new, profi table,
large ($0.5 billion) business
opportunities." In other words,
Strategic Growth was made
responsible for internal corporate
venturing (ICV).