From Softimage to Microsoft and Then to Inno-Centre: Pierre Nelis and Entrepreneurial Facilitation
ISBN: 978-1-83797-013-1, eISBN: 978-1-83797-012-4
Publication date: 13 December 2023
Abstract
Pierre Nelis joined a small group of artists working for a creative entrepreneur who had invented software to produce movies. He brought a great deal of marketing expertise to a team of technology creators, and it was this that ultimately allowed the firm to sell its software to movie industry leaders throughout the world. The firm – Softimage – was bought by Microsoft, which hired Pierre Nelis to oversee the integration process, and later to develop new communications products. Nelis has an outstanding ability to identify the elements needed by a firm to become more effective, and this led him to set up a one-of-a-kind external facilitation programme that went on to become a model for many business growth support organizations throughout the world, but especially in North America and Europe.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
Pierre Nelis was a frequent speaker in the entrepreneurship courses given by one of the authors at HEC Montréal in the early 2000s. A lot of the information used in this case was gathered from his stimulating discussions with students.
An initial case study was produced following a long interview conducted by the authors on 12 May 2004: Piffault, J. and L. J. Filion (2007) Pierre Nelis: Facilitator. WACRA, Twenty-fourth International Conference, Instituto Technológico de Monterrey, Campus de Guadalajara, Zapopán, Jalisco, México, July. Published in the Conference proceedings. Also published in: International Journal of Case Method Research & Application (IJCRA): Issue 4, 2007, Electronic Journal: WACRA website (www.wacra.org). NB The co-authors of both cases are Joëlle Piffault-Hafsi and Louis Jacques Filion.
This case includes parts of this early version. However, other sections are based mostly on a three-hour interview conducted with the authors on 3 December 2018. This case study was completed in 2020 and includes most of the material from the previous case study written in 2007.
Citation
Hafsi, J. and Filion, L.J. (2023), "From Softimage to Microsoft and Then to Inno-Centre: Pierre Nelis and Entrepreneurial Facilitation", Agents of Innovation, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 111-139. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83797-012-420231004
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2024 Joëlle Hafsi and Louis Jacques Filion. Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited