Rather, using internships and mentor programs, experienced executives encourage and guide new employees to find something they re interested in and generate ideas. Some, like Gros s bandwidth trading, build on Lay s idea for new types of commodities markets. For instance, Enron has also developed markets where people buy and sell coal. Based on the real options theory, Enron last summer opened two gas-powered electric plants in Tennessee and Mississippi that run counter to most thinking. But Enron can let its cheap plants sit fallow when electricity demand is low, then turn them on whenever rates are high enough to make them profitable.
Some ideas simply spring from the fertile minds of employees.
David Cox, once in the company s graphics department, came up with an idea for a financial instrument that would guarantee paper users predictable prices. Lynda Clemmons figured out a way to let companies that have weather-related risks hedge their bets by selling that risk to someone else. Gros didn t just take advantage of Enron s innovative culture. He also got lucky. In 1997, Enron acquired a small Oregon utility, Portland General Electric, which was laying fiber-optic cable to build its own telecommunications network.