Innovation through Intrapreneurship

A Management’s Perspective
Abhishek Ballabh
IT Professional
Pune, India
abhiinbsg@gmail.com
91- 9860790381
Abstract

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square
holes. The ones who see things differently… you can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they
change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push
the human race forward. While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because, the people, who
are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
- ―Here’s to the Crazy One’s‖
The Apple Creed - www.apple.com

In these tough economic times coupled with ever increasing rivalry from competitors, globalization and
technological changes, a number of firms are leveraging innovation to weather these storms.
One of the methodologies many companies are following is to unleash and tap the hidden entrepreneurial
spirit in its employees thereby fostering innovation. This is not easy as this defies the status quo in their
work and requires a complete paradigm shift in perspective i.e. from an employee to an entrepreneur.
These entrepreneurial waves within the organizations are referred to as “Intrapreneurship” a term coined
by author Gifford Pinchot in 1978.This enables the employees to carve out a niche , foster new ventures
and challenge the traditional way of doing things thereby suggesting improvements and optimized
solutions. This territory is not a novel idea but has ushered groundbreaking products and innovations in the
past. Apple’s Macintosh Project , 3M’s iconic Post-it Note and Sony’s PlayStation all are products of
pioneering intrapreneurial ventures.
This paper attempts to understand the following:

 Role of the Management discipline in order to foster innovation through intrapreneurship in IT

companies.
 The catalysts which trigger this paradigm shift in perspective i.e. from an employee to an entrepreneur.
 Challenges that are faced and a generic model to facilitate intrapreneurship within an organisation.

Generally there are two key factors behind the success of any Intrapreneurial Activity.

 Encouragement and support from the senior management.

 Reassurance that even if the ideas fail the intrapreneur will not lose his/her job or be “punished” in
other ways.

Hence a study of the Management perspective becomes very relevant in this context.

Innovation through Intrapreneurship – A Management’s Perspective 1

This paper also draws input from a case study at one of the largest financial institutions in the world. This
illustrates few intrapreneurial efforts which benefited organizations at large and at the same time evoked
sustainability.

This paper also discusses the:

 The problems source and specific challenges faced behind the effort.
 The value proposition and the generic lessons learnt.
 The benefits and their impact on creating a conducive environment for similar efforts.
 The common thread behind the efforts and what drove them.

This paper will be helpful for the managers trying to understand the Intrapreneurial Lifecycle within a
corporation along with generic points to inculcate a conducive and motivating environment for the same.
At the same time it will help individuals to introspect and develop a proactive approach towards
innovation in their work and re-define their activities in order to contribute in a broader sense.
Keywords—Innovation , Intrapreneurship , Management .

opportunity and are able to turn both to their

I. INTRODUCTION
“He that will not apply new remedies must expect
new evils: for time is the greatest innovator”
- Francis Bacon
Can intrapreneurship be an agent to foster innovation within
an organization? Why will an organization i.e. employees and
management would want to indulge into something that is
risky and at times breaks the conventional rules which have
been set to govern the organizational structure and hierarchy ,
moreover when it is delivering the desired results ?
Well let us take a look in depth and define the paradigm.
advantage.”
- Niccolo Machiavelli
We list few of the characteristic traits which define the
dynamics of an intrapreneural mindset
A. Initial Activities and Behaviour
There are some initial activities which describe the
behavioural traits and reflect on the psyche of an
intrapreneurial mindset.
 Opportunity recognition –

In the management context the best definition we came across  Visions of a new product or concept –
was by Prof Jack Raiton ( 2005 )
 Market Analysis & Exploration –
―Integration of entrepreneurial skills into a large
corporation’s strategic vision that nurtures a climate of  Procuring the Resource(s) –
radical or incremental innovation.‖
 Organizing & Implementation -
Management thinkers have emphasized the pivotal role the top
management has in creating an atmosphere wherein
employees are encouraged to experiment. According to them,
even if the top management wants to create an innovative and
intrapreneurial organization, there is a need for intrapreneurs
within the system who could execute the process of
intrapreneurial innovation.
Role of project managers is not only to foster an environment
for budding intrapreneurs but also embrace this spirit and see
it as an alternative in their management thought process.

II. DYNAMICS OF AN INTRAPRENEURIAL MINDSET

“Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand
that there is little difference between obstacle and

Innovation through Intrapreneurship – A Management’s Perspective 2

 Fig. 2 Pinchot’s 10 commands

III. INNOVATION COUPLED WITH INTRAPRENEURSHIP

“Innovation is the specific instrument of
entrepreneurship. The act that endows resources
with a new capacity to create wealth.”
- Peter F. Drucker
In the era of economic turmoil and volatile dynamics of the
market, organizations are stressing more on Cost-effective
solutions for a competitive advantage. In this context the idea
of Cost – effective innovation becomes relevant. Focusing and
delivering of entrepreneur spirit may have a great result and a
big number of innovations.

B. Mobilizing to create a Team

Intrapreneurial team means small group of people who works
together for producing product or service. Intrapreneurial team
creates things and learns together.

A good team must have these characteristics in order for a

Fig. 1 A gamut of Behavioural traits of an Intrapreneur
success run: -

There are few behavioural traits which emerge from the initial  Focus on surviving.
activities as described above –
 Continuity of relationship.
 Creativity -  Common objectives.

 Obstacle Mitigation –  Measurable objectives.

 Getting the Job Done -  Competence and dedicates team members.

 Taking Initiative -  Good communication, feedback.

 Bearing Uncertainty and Risk – Three key components are important in this implementation
aspect:-

 Ideas should be corresponding to the customers.

 Ideas should be corresponding to the company.

 Ideas should be corresponding to the intrapreneur.

The basics work of intrapreneur is to develop business vision

and to make them real. Vision has two parts. First is intuitive
finding of potential business model and the second one is
building the vision, often hard but crucial for business
planning. In business planning intuitive vision become plan
for action.

Innovation through Intrapreneurship – A Management’s Perspective 3

 Fig. 3 The operating structure of an Intrapreneur

Innovation through Intrapreneurship – A Management’s Perspective 4

Fig. 4 A paradigm between Innovation and Entrepreneurship
IV. MANAGEMENT AS AN INCUBATOR
"Good management is the art of making problems
so interesting and their solutions so constructive
that everyone wants to get to work and deal with
them."
- Paul Hawken
Innovation through Intrapreneurship – A Management’s Perspective
We list few of the traditional management practices , there
repercussions and recommended actions when it comes to
actions from the management.
The below stated points are subject to various interpretations,
the idea is to convey a generic message for the audience to
comprehend the point. No Intrapreneurial venture can foster
without management’s help and understanding, this is one
thumb rule which we have to remember.
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V. THE CASE STUDY AT A LEADING FINANCIAL FIRM
The Case of Automated & Managed Printer Services–
(2008-09)
It has been about 30 years since the term "paperless office"
appeared, based on the theory that technology would
eliminate the need for paper. But that utopian vision is a
long way from reality.
Paper consumption is one of the latent costs any
organization faces and with the coming of CSR and
Environmental Initiatives the mantra of Go Green is
growing exponentially across the corporate world.
Company was facing a similar problem as far its Print
mechanism was concerned and there was a rampant need
for a solution.
C. THE PROBLEM
The financial firm had over 26,000 printers, copiers and fax
machines in the UK, with many different makes, models,
configurations and drivers. This diversity was mostly
overlooked by management as it never posed a problem as
long as the localised needs were fulfilled.
However the problem started to appear intermittently on
various performance parameters and they were:
Services and Support
Innovation through Intrapreneurship – A Management’s Perspective
 Limited standards for support and poor knowledge of
critical devices .
 No standards for duplex, A3, colour, multi-function
and confidential printing.
 Poor maintenance, fleet management and contingency
arrangements.
 Poor device placement (sporadically placed at desks,
corridors..), sizing (too small, too big..) and sharing
(you can’t use my printer…) etc.
 No review of changing needs, using inherited devices
instead of what you really need.
 Different phone numbers, help desks, engineers and
service levels for print, copy and fax.
 Lack of specialist knowledge and support from with
few problems fixed at first call and delays waiting for
engineers.
Environmental
 No standards for environmental issues e.g. toner
cartridge recycling, power consumption and paper
reduction.
 Print and copy over 600 million sheets of paper each
year! - That is 195,000 trees!! (40k sheets = one
tonne = 13 trees – www.gnn.gov.uk)
 Over 42,000 print cartridges each year plus fax and
copier cartridges.
 Many of the devices are old and energy inefficient
adding to our CO2 emissions.
6
Costs
 No control over toner and ink costs including usage,
ordering and storage.
 All print costs are divided evenly irrespective of usage,
unfair to low print business and lack of support to high
print areas.
 No opportunity to business to understand and control
print volumes and costs.
 No communications and visibility on opportunities to
reduce printing.
In 2008 the management understood the gravity of the
situation and the savings (both in terms of cost and efforts)
and decided to brainstorm for a solution with the local IT
stakeholders.
D. THE SOLUTION
The idea behind this endeavour was not only to find
solutions to the above mentioned problems but also to
come up with the best possible optimal solution.
Improved Service
 A standard infrastructure supplied though the business
partner Hewlett Packard ( HP) the world experts on
print management services, to foster common service
levels and proactive monitoring, support and fleet
management.
 Contingency built in as standard with no device
becoming a single point of failure.
 A specialist help desk covering all print issues,
available through a centralised support number.
 New, modern devices with standard models,
configuration and drivers.
 Additional, specialist devices available at extra charge
allowing the full business cost to be understood. No
compromises forced by budget limits.
 Consumable ordering and dispatch automated.
 Consultancy service to assist with all future print
requirements and initiatives.
 Secure printing via security pass readers with double
sided printing, A3 and A4 on black and white devices
as standard.
 MI of who printed what, where and how much it costs
so usage could be effectively tracked.
E. THE BENEFITS QUANTIFIED
Reduced Environmental Impact
 Reduction in paper usage by an estimated 27%, that
equates to over 50,000 trees a year.
 Reduced CO2 emissions, the paper reduction alone
will save nearly 900,000kg a year.
Innovation through Intrapreneurship – A Management’s Perspective
 All toner and ink cartridges collected and the materials
recycled to EU guidelines.
 All devices to have a sleep mode, 90% reduction in
power when not operating.
 35% reduction in devices, with a much higher
percentage in non-branch sites.
 New devices use 21% less energy than previous
models. They generate less heat, less ozone and less
noise.
 All devices disposed of to the Waste from Electrical
and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) standards.
Reduced Costs
 Standard infrastructure costs (including copy and fax)
are covered by the desktop recharge with no increase
for 2007 and with reductions estimated for 2008
onwards.
 Specialist requirements charged to the relevant
business reducing the burden on other areas.
 All consumable costs measured and charged back to
the relevant business areas with usage details.
 Administration costs for consumable ordering, office
moves and similar service are reduced.
 Reduced paper costs to business areas.
The Managed Print Services (MPS) was ground breaking
collaboration between the business and the IT centres as
the later were given a free hand by the business to
implement the strategy.
F. THE CHALLENGES AND LESSONS
Change can be a very disruptive process and the MPS
epitomized this phrase. Various banking IT applications
interfaced directly with the printers, fax etc so impact was
profound. Once they were revamped a rattle testing was
inevitable across various bits and pieces of these
applications in order to ensure compatibility. This was a
big overhead and a critical decision which business had to
take.
Apart from this there were apprehensions from the various
Business Units which saw this change as breach of privacy
as this change would enable a successful tracking
mechanism / associate. Overall visibility would eliminate
localized control.
Finally it was DRIVEN BY THE BUSINESS AND
EXECUTED BY THE IT:
 IT was supposed to audit the existing print
environment at the Client’s site and include any
special requirements.
 Further they produced a design for the new devices
and their locations. Any specialist devices and their
costs were also included.
7
 Implement the design, test key elements as much as and getting the job done. It was the vision of the
possible to ensure the new environment meets your management and execution strategy of the IT which made
requirements. the vision a reality. The savings as per real time data
 Review the design after a suitable period to ensure mentioned above were phenomenal.
nothing was missed out. At the end of the day we were with a Better , Greener and
 The majority of implementations will be during Cheaper solution which fitted all.
normal working hours, but with minimal disruption to
the business.
 A short familiarisation training session with key VI. LIFECYCLE OF INTRAPRENEURSHIP – A HOLISTIC VIEW
members of staff.
 HP will provide Day +1 onsite support The lifecycle of Intrapreneurship is a generic step by step
 BAU- Bank Addressable Unit (first line of support for listings of the cycle of an Intrapreneurial journey. It should
the bank's end-users) involved. be considered as a generic guideline and adopted as per the
This MPS project was an in-house model which once specifics of the situation.
implemented was rolled out successfully across various
UK locations. This was a result of tremendous effort from
the various Business Units in liaison with their IT partners.
This Intrapreneurial effort also involved liaising with the
Third Party service providers like HP ( Hewlett Packard Co)

Innovation through Intrapreneurship – A Management’s Perspective 8

Innovation through Intrapreneurship – A Management’s Perspective 9

VII. CONCLUSION
In order to survive and succeed in today’s chaotic times
organizations need to device strategies which are
competitive and unconventional. One of the steps towards
that is to create an innovative and intrapreneurial
organization in the long journey and persevere with the
philosophy. The idea is to utilize the most important asset
of the firm i.e. its people and leverage from it.
If this stream of thought is integrated in the business
thinking of the organization the people will imbibe it
naturally. The biggest threat to these ventures is the change
in mindset, it requires a shift from an employer to an
intrapreneur or at least creation of an environment where
people dare to come up with ideas and have the vision to
make it a reality. Management has a critical role to play
here and this has been emphasized earlier in this paper.
Without their critical support success is remote.
Intrapreneurs are the torchbearers of innovative spirit and
not only they dare to dream , lead , improvise but inspire
others to do the same. As Nelson Mandela once said “And
Innovation through Intrapreneurship – A Management’s Perspective
as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other
people permission to do the same….”
In a knowledge driven economy harnessing the full
potential of your employees is the key. The knowledge is
with every individual, management provides a platform,
organizations provide a medium and belief in your vision is
the catalyst.
This results in self inspired and self motivated employees
who come each day with fire in their belly and always aim
to add value and look for optimal solutions. Innovation is
in the ethos of the firm. This can be the greatest asset for an
organization in today’s times.
VIII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
There author would especially like to thank Chris M Pugh
for his expert guidance and feeds on the MPS Project , and
Santosh Velayudhan & Rajesh Bhatia for their patience to
review the abstract and manuscript thereby providing her
expert opinion on the same.
10
Finally, the author salutes the works of Peter F. Drucker
whose management principles have been the starting point
of his understanding of the discipline.
IX. REFERENCES
Pinchot, G (1985). Intrapreneuring: Why You Don’t have
to Leave the Corporation to Become an Entrepreneur, New
York: Harper and Row.

Covin, J O and Miles, M P (1999). “Corporate Piramal, Gita; Bartlett, Christopher A and Ghoshal,
Entrepreneurship and the Pursuit of Competitive Sumantra (2000). Managing Radical Change: What Indian
Advantage,” Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 23(3), Companies Must Do to Become World Class, New Delhi:
47-63. Viking Studio Books (Penguin Books India).

Guth, W D and Ginsberg, A (1990). “Guest Editor’s

Introduction: Corporate Entrepreneurship,” Strategic
Management Journal, 11(4), 5-15.

Hamel, Gary (2002). Leading the Revolution, Revised

Edition, Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School
Press.

Kaplan, Robert S and Norton, David P (2001). The

Strategy- Focused Organization: How Balanced Scorecard
Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment,
Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press.

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