Article: Intrapreneurship and the Reinvention of the Corporation

Review: The article brings into light the challenge faced by Intrapreneurs in a company and then
talks about the qualities an intrapreneur need to have by giving analogy of “Yogis” and
“Commissar”. Companies may need intrapreneurship in their organizations, but they aren't set up
to nurture and reward it. Building an intrapreneurial culture is not about “creating” intrapreneurs-
they already exist within organizations, they just need to be discovered and encouraged. Here the
adaptability plays a critical role for a company which tries to be intrapreneur friendly.

According to Gifford Pinchott III, an intrapreneur is any of the 'dreamers who do!' The
intrapreneur is that unique individual who is both yogi and commissar. Yogis are good with
ideas, have vision and insights but usually have trouble staying on schedules and executing
plans. Contrarily, commissars lack a great deal of vision, but they can set goals, implement plans,
get the job done, and keep the corporation in the black at least in the short run. Seldom is an
abundance of both attributes found in a single person.

Challenges with nurturing creative and intrapreneurial mindsets:

1. One of the problems is tactical. Few corporations have any concept of how to compensate
creative employees. It can't be done with just money. Compensation is the major barrier to
intrapreneurship in modem corporations. Traditional reward systems in corporations are
designed for people who enjoy money, power, and status. These systems encourage safe,
conservative behavior. These things, however, are rarely strong motivators to intrapreneurs.

2. The second problem: intrapreneurs know the rules and break them effectively and henceforth
are often seen as pain in the neck. Intrapreneurs need freedom and a bit of autonomy to create,
not more responsibility in managing old ideas. If they become managers in mature, cash-cow
operations, they can create disaster by tinkering with something that is not broken.

How to overcome these challenges?

The question now arises is how companies can develop an intrepreneurial culture. Intrapreneurs
prefer action to extensive planning; nevertheless, they are calculated risk-takers who will assume
responsibility for envisioning the necessary product, market, and management strategies.
Because of this preference, the objectives of the intrapreneur can be aligned with the needs of the
company. Furthermore, intrapreneuring provides an innovator with a built-in stock of assets,
allowing the employee more time to implement the vision and less need to worry about securing
investment capital that is faced by entrepreneurs. The intrapreneurial process is similar to the
entrepreneurial process, with business plans and idea champions. Intrapreneuring also
distinctively involves a role for the in-house sponsor, one who will finesse the corporate politics
while the intrapreneur attends single-mindedly to making the idea a reality. Frequently, sponsors
are found among owners, CEOs and former intrapreneurs. Additionally, the need for appropriate
incentives, since few intrapreneurs are driven by a desire to accumulate massive wealth, is
discussed. The writer proposes a system of "intracapital," a commitment to provide a certain
amount of discretionary funds without an expiration date as a reward to in-house innovators.