Intrepreneurship

Introduction

For the past decades both the entrepreneurships and the management literature have brought an increased attention for the entrepreneurship within organizations that exist. This is known as corporate entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship. This is said to be a developing field. Intrapreneurship occurs when business reaches maturity when they feel that the businesses need to move their momentum from the initial entrepreneurship.

Climate of Intrapreneurship

Intrapreneurial climate in large firm necessary but it is not seen to be the sufficient as condition for the innovation. Three approaches are used conceptual approaches, leadership and organization cultural concepts and organizational structure and partial approaches. The three are approaches complementary.

Types of intrepreneurship

Autonomous business unit- This is a business unit established within the corporation to develop a new product or market.

Venture groups- These are formal organizations that are set up for the cultivation of new ventures.

Independent spin-offs- This vary in ownership from where the company sponsors individual intrapreneurs to set up their own companies to becoming wholly independence companies.

Differences between establishing a new venture and intrepreneurship

Whilst the entrepreneur has control of business, with responsibility for its management and its eventual success or failure, the intrapreneur must share control with top management. Any problems with the venture can result in top management taking ultimate control over its future, and thus intrapreneur will have to operate under managerial constraints that are not present in independent businesses.

Barriers to intrepreneurship

Large businesses mostly rely onto operating on a gut feeling for the market place, large amounts of data are collected before any major business decision is made. Any decisions that tend to be risky are often postponed until enough facts are gathered.

Most entrepreneurs are not attracted to large organizations; prefer the risks and adventures of small business. There are exceptional leaders who develop an intrapreneurial style of management within large organizations.

Some large organizations tend to discourage employment and advancements of entrepreneurial individuals. This possibly alienates important managers within the organization, especially if their career development depended upon conforming to the accepted structures and norms of the corporation.

The hierarchical nature is not a conductive to entrepreneurial behavior; the top layers of management, lowest level of the work force, this leads to many layers of approval between the potential intrapreneur and resources.

The nature of corporate culture itself, job descriptions rigid or stifle innovation. This are established procedures, reporting systems, lines of authority and control mechanisms of a traditional hierarchical organizations that are there to support the existing management structure, and not to promote creativity and innovation.

Short term profits are often used as success as they support company’s share price, thus attracting new investors. This leads to pressure to devise short term strategies Vs long term investments.

The planning procedures within large organizations can stifle entrepreneurship. As companies get bigger, the corporate environment requires more control and specific performance standards to exert that control.

Intrapreneurs have difficulty in retaining total ownership of the idea, from its development stage to its final marketing due to the functional nature of management within a large organization.

The flexibility to change the direction of projects may prove difficult if it impinges upon the activities of other departments within the company.

Creating a climate for entrepreneurship

These are changes and unstable market conditions that are caused by economic uncertainties. These are changes in attitudes towards a higher degree of individualism and independence, particularly among professionals and the middle classes who make up the middle and the upper management tiers of large corporations.

The higher rates of change, products and the market obsolescence, as the life cycles become shorter and the rate of process and technology change becomes faster, leading to a demand for higher rate of product development and thus the innovatory capabilities of that organization.

Who is an intrapreneurship

An intrapreneurship is an individual employment who is employed by an organization on payment which is based on the financial success of the category he is working under.

Conclusion

Intrapreneurships refer to an employee taking an initiative in an organization to bring something new for the business. Although it is related to corporate entrepreneurship, they differ in sense as corporate entrepreneurship is defined at the organizational level, which refers to a top-down process. Intrapreneurships relates to the individual level, which works bottom up, proactive work related initiatives of individual employees.

 

 

References

Jong, J & Wennekers, S (2008) Intrapreneurship: Conceptualizing entrepreneurial employee behavior, Scientific Analysis of Entrepreneurship and SMEs, pp 1-47.

Shukla, A (2009) What is Intrapreneurship?- Difference, Features and Examples of Intrapreneurship, paggu.com viewed on 6th May 2011

< http://www.paggu.com/entrepreneurship/what-is-intrapreneurship-difference-features-and-examples-of-intrapreneurs/>

Saetre, A (2001) INTRAPRENEURSHIP: An Exploratory Study of Select Norwegian Industries

Norwegian Research Council, viewed on 6th May 2011