????佛里斯特?諾羅德對于創業可謂輕車熟路。在五年前，他創立了一個新的業務部門，為大公司設計計算機數據中心。當時諾羅德部門的裝備非常簡陋。有一次他們的團隊找不到尺子，只好臨時用紙幣來測量服務器機柜的長度。還有一位工程師在自己的車庫里制作了一個特別的機殼。還有一次，有一名員工只能用膠布來固定電源。

????諾羅德波可不是在為什么小型初創企業打工。他當時正在為大型計算機公司戴爾（DELL）效力，負責成立一個新的業務部門。戴爾公司（Dell）總裁邁克爾?戴爾給他發布了什么指令呢？28年前，邁克爾?戴爾在德克薩斯州立大學（University of Texas）他自己的宿舍里開辦了同名公司。邁克爾?戴爾要求諾羅德復制他的創業模式，用來運營數據中心的業務。

????戴爾公司曾經是全球首屈一指的個人電腦制造商。現在公司位居普惠（HPQ）和聯想之后，排名世界第三。在公司計算機業務方面，戴爾的競爭對手包括惠普、IBM（IBM）和甲骨文（ORCL），這些公司提供的是包括硬件、軟件和服務的更寬泛的產品組合。

????因此，戴爾公司也開始向新的業務領域推進，比如網絡安全、數據中心設計和管理等。公司高管容許這些業務部門的運作更具創新性，少一些官僚主義習氣，從而能夠讓公司回歸到創業的根本。戴爾個人及中小型企業部門總裁史蒂夫?菲利斯稱：“我們公司主要是因為制造計算機而為人所知，而現在我們要轉變為一家提供解決方案的公司。這種轉型在很多地方都需要創新。”

????戴爾采用的是放權的方式。現年46歲的諾羅德執掌的業務部門位于戴爾公司帕默南部園區，距離德克薩斯州圓石城的公司總部有八英里遠。他說，他已經得到許可，可以拒絕公司總部提供的某些“幫助”，比如絞盡腦汁編寫出來的產品發展綱要等等。諾羅德稱，創建一家公司“只需要一支能夠在餐巾紙上畫畫的蠟筆。”現在，該業務部門已經擁有大約500名員工（最開始只有10個人左右），年銷售額超過10億美元。與此類似，戴爾公司去年收購了系統管理服務商KACE，這個部門同樣擁有獨立的總部和管理層。

????并非所有內部創新的努力都能成功。戴爾公司曾有一支獨立管理的移動通信業務團隊，在去年智能手機業務失敗后宣布解散。斯坦福大學（University of Texas）教授巴巴?詩夫稱，實際上，很多大公司都試圖在公司內部營造初創企業的思維模式，但都不成功，因為大公司并不喜歡冒風險。

????但是對戴爾公司來說，重拾創業精神可能是打敗大型科技企業競爭對手的最佳方式。幸運的是，戴爾公司已經擁有像邁克爾?戴爾和佛里斯特?諾羅德這樣的楷模。

????譯者：李玫曉/汪皓

????Forrest Norrod knows all about running a scrappy operation: Five years ago, when he started a business to design computer data centers for big corporations, Norrod's outfit was so lean that his team used dollar bills to measure server racks when they couldn't find rulers. One engineer built a special chassis in his garage. Another time, an employee used duct tape to attach a power supply.

????But Norrod wasn't working for some little startup. He was launching a unit for Dell (DELL), the computing giant. His marching orders from CEO Michael Dell? To manage the data center business much the same way Dell did when he founded the eponymous computer maker in his University of Texas dorm room 28 years ago.

????Dell Inc., once the No. 1 PC maker in the world, now ranks third, behind Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Lenovo. In corporate computing Dell finds itself competing with HP, IBM (IBM), and Oracle (ORCL), which sell broader portfolios of hardware, software, and services.

????So as Dell pushes into new areas, such as cybersecurity and data center design and management, executives are allowing those businesses to operate more creatively and less bureaucratically -- returning the company to its entrepreneurial roots. "We're moving from a company that is predominantly known as a PC company to a solutions company," says Steve Felice, a Dell group president. "A lot of this transformation requires innovation."

????Dell is taking a hands-off approach: Norrod's unit is housed at Dell's Parmer South campus, eight miles from headquarters in Round Rock, Texas. The 46-year-old executive says he has permission to ignore some of the corporate office's "help," such as painstakingly crafted product guidelines. When you're building a company, Norrod says, "you need a crayon drawing on a napkin." Today the business boasts some 500 employees (up from about 10) and more than $1 billion in annual sales. Similarly, Dell last year acquired KACE, a systems-management firm that has separate headquarters and management.

????Not every internal innovation effort is a success: Dell's independently managed communications group disbanded last year after its smartphones flopped. And in fact, many big corporations fail when they try to infuse startup thinking because they are allergic to risk, says Baba Shiv, a professor at Stanford University.

????But for Dell, acting more like a startup may be the best way to outmaneuver bigger tech rivals. Luckily the company has role models like Michael Dell. And Forrest Norrod.