Corporate Entrepreneurship
Academic Year
2012‐2013
CEMS BLOCK SEMINAR: Take‐home examination
Corporate Entrepreneurship
Pauline GELDOF – CEMS Master 2
Introduction In today’s global economy, Corporate Entrepreneurship defined by Damanpour (1991) as the generation, development, and implementation of new ideas and behaviors by a company has become the only real source of competitive advantage for established organizations. Indeed, operating within an increasingly fast-moving environment, companies are forced to continually innovate and redefine the purpose and functioning of their organizations in order to survive. However, whereas most existing large firms recognize the importance of encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation within their organizations, individuals often face barriers in adopting entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviors. In this report, we will have a close look at these barriers by first identifying and describing them. Secondly, by emphasizing the most serious ones. And finally by making three suggestions about how to remove these barriers in organizations.
I.
Identifying the key obstacles to Corporate Entrepreneurship in established organizations
According to the course book “Corporate Innovation & Entrepreneurship”1, there are hundreds of factors within a company that can constrain entrepreneurship. In order to capture them all, the authors suggest general categories into which they can be grouped. These categories are the following: systems, structure, strategic direction, policies, people and culture. They have been established based on an extensive review of the literature on corporate innovation and entrepreneurship, surveys of hundreds of medium-sized and large industrial organizations, and indepth assessments of three Fortune 500 companies. In the following paragraphs, the different categories of obstacles will be explained in more details. Examples will be provided
2012‐2013
CEMS BLOCK SEMINAR: Take‐home examination
Corporate Entrepreneurship
Pauline GELDOF – CEMS Master 2
Introduction In today’s global economy, Corporate Entrepreneurship defined by Damanpour (1991) as the generation, development, and implementation of new ideas and behaviors by a company has become the only real source of competitive advantage for established organizations. Indeed, operating within an increasingly fast-moving environment, companies are forced to continually innovate and redefine the purpose and functioning of their organizations in order to survive. However, whereas most existing large firms recognize the importance of encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation within their organizations, individuals often face barriers in adopting entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviors. In this report, we will have a close look at these barriers by first identifying and describing them. Secondly, by emphasizing the most serious ones. And finally by making three suggestions about how to remove these barriers in organizations.
I.
Identifying the key obstacles to Corporate Entrepreneurship in established organizations
According to the course book “Corporate Innovation & Entrepreneurship”1, there are hundreds of factors within a company that can constrain entrepreneurship. In order to capture them all, the authors suggest general categories into which they can be grouped. These categories are the following: systems, structure, strategic direction, policies, people and culture. They have been established based on an extensive review of the literature on corporate innovation and entrepreneurship, surveys of hundreds of medium-sized and large industrial organizations, and indepth assessments of three Fortune 500 companies. In the following paragraphs, the different categories of obstacles will be explained in more details. Examples will be provided
Bibliography: CEMS block seminar lectures, Stockholm School of Economics, 2012. Hanks, S. H., McCarrey, L.R. 1993. “Beyond Survival: Reshaping Entrepreneurial Vision in Successful Growing Ventures”. Journal of Small Business Strategy. (spring):1-12. Kanter, R.S. 1984. “The Change Masters: Corporate Entrepreneurs at Work”. Great Britain. Kuratko, D.F., Ireland, R.D., and Hornsby, J.S. 2001. “The Power of Entrepreneurial Actions: Insights from Acordia, Inc.” Academy of Management Executive, 15(4):60-71. Kuratko, D.F., Morris, M.H., Covin, J.G. 2011. “Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship”. SouthWestern Cengage Learning. Third edition. Phan, P.H., Wright, M., Ucbasaran, W.L.. 2009. “Corporate entrepreneurship: Current research and future directions”. Journal of Business Venturing. Srivastava, A., Lee, H. 2005. “Predicting order and timing of new product moves: the role of top management in corporate entrepreneurship”. Journal of Business Venturing, 20:459-481.