Journal of Strategic Change, Voi 4, 95-108 (1995)
Roman Lombriser
and Igor Ansoff
Background
A series of recent, dramatic and ominous
events raises fundamental questions about the
ultimate survival of large American firms.
These events were the dismissals of chief
executive officers (CEOs) in General Motors,
Digital, Tenneco, Compaq, IBM, Westinghouse
and American Express—firms which had been
models of success in the American economy.
In all of the above cases, the CEOs had foiled
to arrest progressive declines
competitiveness and profitability of their
firms. These declines raise two fundamental
questions: (1) what kind of behaviour by
How successful
intrapreneurs pilot
firms through the
turbulent 1990s
# ^ uccess in the turbulent 1990s
i 3 requires a new breed of general
managers called intrapreneurs.
# A successful intrapreneur combines
three talents and skills:
(1) an entrepreneur's ability to
creatively visualize new
strategies;
(2) an organizational architect's
skill in designing change-
seeking intemal capabilities;
and
(3) a charismatic leader's talent
for piloting changes through
resistance-laden organizations.
This article is based on an empirical
study of 30 top managers who
transformed their business firms.
business firms will optimize their profitability
in the 1990s and beyond? and (2) how should
the top managers manage to bring about this
behaviour?
During the past 10 years, answers to both of
these questions have been the subject of
extensive empirical studies in the Strategic
CEOs had failed to arrest
of progressive declines of
competitiveness and
profitability of their firms
96
Management Research Program at the US
International University in San Diego,
California.
The answer to the first question is being
published elsewhere.' The answer to the
second is the subject of this paper which
presents the results of an extensive study of
intrapreneurial behaviour by top managers in
30 business firms.
I>efinition of intrapreneur
In the turbulent environment of the 1990s,
business firms are frequently confronted with
major and surprising discontinuities in their
environment. To take advantage of these
discontinuities, firms must undergo
discontinuous transformation, both in their
external strategy and internal capability.
Typically, responsibility for managing such
transformation feUs on the CEO, strategic
business unit manager, or a divisional
manager, w^ho pilots the transformation
through the firm.
Increasingly such managers are called
intrapreneurs to distinguish them from the
entrepreneurs of the 19th century w^ho started
new firms and did not face the task of
transforming large resistance-laden
organizations—a task which confronts
intrapreneurs in the 1990s.
As described in this paper, an intrapreneur
is a manager charged with the bottom-line
responsibility for leading a firm through
creation and implementation of a novel
strategy.
'See Ansoff, H. I. and Sullivan, P. A. (1993). 'Optimizing
Profitability in Turbulent Environments: A Fonnula for
Strategic Success'. Long Range Planning Vol 26 No. 5
pp. 11-23.
^For a study of intrapreneurs' personality traits see Al-
Hadranny. 'General mani^ers' personality characteristics
and perceptions of environmental turbulence as related
to ratiotiality of strategic choice in small firms' (doctoral
thesis). San Diego, California: The US International
University, 1992. Available from University Microfilms
International.
R. Lombriser and I. Ansoff
A model of discontinuous
strategic change
Intrapreneurs can be studied in two ways: by
identifying their personality traits or by
studying their behaviour in the course of a
discontinuous strategic change. The study
reported in this article follows the second
approach. 2
The first step in the study was to identify the
sequence of events which an intrapreneur
must manage in the course of a discontinuous
strategic change. As shown in Exhibit I, these
events can be subdivided into three distinctive
phases: sensing, deciding and implementing.
During the first phase, a need or an
opportunity for a novel change is perceived;
a creative strategic plan is prepared during the
second phase; an implementation plan is
prepared and executed during the third phase.
Each phase consists of two parallel closely
interdependent activities: strategy
development, which culminates in launching
new products/services and/or entering
(abandoning) new (old) markets, and
capability development which creates the
organizational capability needed to support
the strategy development.
Success behaviours by
intrapreneurs
Using our management business experience
and business literature, for each phase of a
discontinuous change, we constructed two
extreme profiles of an intrapreneur's
behaviour during the strategy development
process: a most successful profile which we
expected to optimize the ultimate success of a
discontinuous change, and a least successful
profile which we expected to minimize its
success. A summary description of these
profiles is shown in Exhibit II.
Next, we constructed similar profiles of an
intrapreneur's behaviour in creating the
capability needed to support each phase of
strategy development. These profiles are
shown in Exhibit III.
Journal of Strategic Change, April 1995
Successful intrapreneurs and organization transformation 97

SENSING DECIDING IMPLEMENTING

Strategy Development
SENSING THE
PROBLEM AND PLANNING THE EXECUTING
DEVELOPING THE PLANNING THE STRATEGY THE
INFORMATION STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION IMPLEMENTATION
PLANS
(WHAT ere the
opportunities) (WHAT lo do) (HOW to do It) (DOING K)

to tuppori to support to support

Capability Development
BUILDING ORGANIZATIONAL COMPETENCE

CREATING A CHANGE SUPPORTING CULTURE

ANTICIPATING AND MANAGING RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

Exhibit I. Model of entrepreneurial change.

Empirical study of actual At the end of the interview, each

success behaviours
The hypothesized behaviours shown in
Exhibits II and HI were transformed into a
questionnaire which w^as used in semi-
structured in-depth interviews with
intrapreneurs in 30 medium and large sized
Swiss firms. An illustrative list of the firms is
shown in Exhibit IV.
Each intrapreneur chose a recent major
discontinuous change which he piloted
through his firm and 'relived' the history of
the change together with the interviewer.
Among the discontinuous changes chosen
were diversification, international expansion,
creation of a new market, creation of a new
technology and a major reorganization of the
firm. After the interview, the responses given
by the managers were analysed and
categorized in order to create an average
leadership profile for each intrapreneur.
intrapreneur evaluated the overall success of
the transformation using three criteria: quality
of the strategy w^hich was developed, success
of the implementation process and overall
success of the change.
The intrapreneurs' average profiles were
then grouped into three categories shown on
the horizontal axis of Exhibit V, and a success
index (shown on the vertical scale) was
computed for each category. The results
strongly validate the most and the least
successful behaviours predicted in this study.
As Exhibit V shows, transformation projects
led by intrapreneurs with the most successful
profiles were twice as successful as projects
led by the least successful intrapreneurs.
In addition to verifying the hypotheses
about the intrapreneur's behaviour, the
interviews with the intrapreneurs yielded a
wealth of detailed insights into the manner in
which successful (and less successful)

foumal of Strategic Change, April 1995

98 R. Lombriser and I Ansoff

SEHSMG THREATS/
niOFH.EB oppofmiwrns PIANNINQ StTUtECV lll*Pl£MENTWaT>|E,PL«l,. ^ ^ ,

wi, -• • Proictively scans ttie • P a r t i c i p a t e s v •<". ••••' • Inmates implementation planning

SUCCESSFUL wivironmant (or waak analysis
signals of novel threats/ • Practises 'hands off' management
opportunities • Involves Implementors during project execution

• Triggers change ewiy on • Makes decisions using • Exercises detailed planning

InconiplBte Infonnation explicit Bstimata of rltk
• delegates both alrateglc and
• Seska conaensus. failing operating control over
consensus personalty Implementation
makes the decision and
'sails' the decision to his
team

LEAST • Triggers change after loas • Lets others perform • Personally plans implementation In
SUCCESSFUL of performance decision analysis dfltaK or

• Makes decisions using • Delegates all Implementation

Implicit risk ludgamenta pianning to others

• Makes final decisions • Exerts direct Influence during

alone or pro|ect execution

• only on absolute consensus • Exercises only operating control

by others

Exhibit U. Predicted intrapreneur's behaviour during strategy development.

about the future environment, while the less

successful intrapreneurs
actively seek novel
infonnation about the future
environment
intrapreneurs manage discontinuous changes in
medium and large-sized firms. We next present
this information, using direct quotationsfromthe
recorded interviews. A detailed check-ofif list for
managing discontinuous changes, based on these
insights, will be presented at the end of this paper.
Strategy development
Successfiil intrapreneurs play the key role in
developing a new strategy. They initiate a
proactive response, lead the entrepreneurial
decision process and maintain a 'helicopter
vision' over the implementation.
successful ones respond to information
which confirms their historical perception
of reality. 5
In successful cases it was the general
manager s personal and proactive scanning
activity that led him to identify potential
discontinuities in the environment. In less
successful cases general managers started
environmental scanning only after a formal
or informal change proposal had been made
to them by key employees, the corporate
office, board of directors, or an external
consultant.
One successful CEO described tbe way in
which he developed strategic information:
Actually I am just an information processor.
And as a result, I develop an intuition, but
one that has not come out randomly. I start
by perceiving new connections. Then I
project my thoughts into the world. I put

Phase I: sensing threats/opportunities

Scanning the environment
result confirms Daniel Isenberg's findings (1984).
Our study has shown that the most successful 'How senior managers think', HBR\ November-
intrapreneurs actively seek novel information December I

Journal of Strategic Change, April 1995

Successful intrapreneurs and organization transformation 99

: REWARDS AMD MAN*GEIiBrroi

H.",.,' D€VEtOPMENT, BlHLOtNQ ' ' MconjVES RESSTAHCETI
> TO »IAMQE M
MOSi • Provider • i'ersoiially - Anitcipatee
SUCCESSFUL participants' charismatic communicatas rewards/ and monitors
skills In leadership change to change Incentives for resistance
discontinuous participants —creativtty
change • Develops —sntrspreneurial • Minimizes
manag*'nBnt climate • Personally risk tailing resistance
congeniai for communicates
• Introduces discontinuous benefits and • Toierates • Usespowrar
change creative change impact of change creative failure when
supporting to the rest of the necessary
structures/ organisation
systems
• Relies heavily on
intormai
communication

LEAST • Lets participants • Lets the cilmate • Communicates to • Use* rewards • Reacts to
SUCCESSFUL learn through evotve his superiors snd Incentives resistance
trial and fsllurs peers based on
historical • Heeltates to
• Uses axlstlng • Maintains secrecy performance use
structures/ about the change necessary
systems projects • Punishes power
failures
• Relies on written
communication

Exhibit m. Predicted intrapreneur's behaviour during oi^anizational capability building.

together some people whom I expect to he ahout the future environment, to open up
capahle of discussing the implications of the our mentality for the future. I strongly
perceived environmental changes. I tell helieve that the initial trigger has to come
them my ideas and give them a hackground from the general manager.
for my thoughts. I do this to get a feeling
A CEO who led hisfirmthrough a successful
diversification mentioned that this continuous
environmental scanning activity helped him to
overcome his 'strategic myopia' (i.e. rejection
ILLUSTRATIVE UST OF RRMS of novel information):
WRTICIRATING IN RESEARCH:
Initially I reject this novel information. Then
• Asea Brown Boveri, ABB Schweiz (CEO) I travel around, ohserve the environment,
• Bank Leu AG (SBU manager) develop specific information ahout the
• Baer Weichkaserei AG (CEO) market, the competitors, etc. After a while,
• Bucher Holding (CEO) I start to enjoy it, because I have spent so
• BiJhler AG (SBU manager) much time thinking about it. I start to lose
• Credit Suisse/CS Holding (CEO) my initial anxiety.
• Elco-Looser Holding AG (CEO)
• GebriJder Sulzer AG (former CEO)
• HIIti AG (SBU-manager)
• Hoffmann-La Roche AG (SBU manager) successful intrapreneurs
• Kambly SA (CEO) convert threats into
• Mikron AG (CEO) opportunities
• SFS Stadler (CEO)
• SIka Rnanz AG (CEO)
• Sprecher+Schuh AG (CEO)
• WInterthur-Versicherungen (SBU manager)
Searching for opportunities
The most successftil intrapreneurs search for
Exhibit IV. opportunities and try to convert threats into

Journal of Strategic Change, April 1995

too R. Lombriser and I. Ansoff

<
Very 5 4.70
successful

Successful 4 3.82

Moderately
successful 2.36 HI
Less than ^
successful

Jnsuccessful 1
I.east successful Intermediate
profie profile successful
profile

INTRAPRENEURS LEADERSHIP PROFILE

Exhibit V. Success of entrepreneurial change.

Opportunities while less successful vague. Less successful intrapreneurs trigger

intrapreneurs react to threats.
One successful CEO treated the emergence
of a new technology as an opportunity, even
though it was developed outside the firm and
threatened to make obsolete the firm's
technology. By acquiring the new technology
very early, he was able to create a competitive
advantage over his complacent competitors. A
less successful CEO in a similar situation
perceived a new technology as a threat only
after it began to impact the firm's profits.
One of the most successful managers
explained how, by starting early, he changed
what normally would be considered a threat
into an opportunity:
At that time we decided to stop the
production of these products, even though
the country's regulations had not yet
banned their production. This was at a
time when more than half of our income
depended on that business. It was
something incredible! But basically we had
two choices: to march in the rear and follow
everybody else, or do it first and establish a
leadership position which would give us a
competitive advantage.
the response while a threat impacts the firm.
According to a successful intrapreneur:
At the time we initiated that response we
lacked any definite information and were
not sure whether the new technology,
which we did not have, would succeed.
But the potential risk was very high. I knew
that if it comes, it will come big. And it
really came big! For some of our
competitors w^ho started to respond only
after the signals had become strong it was
disastrous; they went bankrupt.
Phase 2: planning strategy
Mobilizing energy and expertise
Successful intrapreneurs involve the following
personnel in planning the new strategy:
(1) those who will be important and
responsible for the strategy
implementation; and
(2) those who have relevant expertise to
contribute to the strategy decision
analysis.

The less successful intrapreneurs plan the

Initiating response new strategy either with only the top
Successful intrapreneurs trigger their firm's management team or by themselves.
response while the signals are still weak and Before planning a new strategy, a highly
the shape of threats/opportunities are still successful CEO of a medium-sized high

Journal of Strategic Change, April 1995

Successful intrapreneurs and organization transformation
technology company personally made up a
questionnaire in order to get feedback on how
his people perceived the firm, its business, the
senior management and its products. He next
formed small teams and charged them with
analysing economic, social, technological and
ecological future trends in the environment.
Next the CEO had a workshop at which the
teams presented their findings and were
reorganized into four new groups charged
with developing strategies for responding to
the environmental challenges. Finally, the
groups' findings were summarized into the
firm's mission statement.
The CEO of this firm attributed the main
reason for the success of a transformational
change to his involvement of all the people
from different functions and hierarchy levels.
Another CEO summarized the importance
of involving the relevant people in the
decision analysis:
The purpose of involving so many people in
the strategic planning exercise was not only
to formulate the best possible strategy by
getting all the necessary input, but also to
lift all people to the same level of
understanding and to energize them.
Making the final strategy decision
In making the final strategy choice, a
successful intrapreneur first tries to reach a
consensus within the planning team on a
decision which, in his judgement, is the
optimal course of action. Failing to reach a
consensus, the intrapreneur personally makes
the decision and, if necessary, uses his power
to assure its acceptance. Frequently, this
results in replacement of the planning team
members who persist in resisting the optimum
decision.
The less successful intrapreneurs either
await and accept the team's absolute
consensus, or make the decision alone and
use power to force it on the organization.
A CEO, who successfully turned around his
firm, described the final decision process in
these words. successfully underwent a major reorganization
Journal of Strategic Change, April 1995
101
Successful intrapreneurs base
their decisions on explicit
estimates of the risks
involved
First I had to convince all members of the
team to agree on this. This was a very
difficult task, and finally we had something
like a 'consensus\ But I really had to put a
lot of pressure on those who just didn't
want to get it. It was something like a
combination of order and search for
consensus. I did it like this. First I tried to
reach consensus with the key people on
whom I had to rely for success of the
change. The others, who were important
but replaceable, were just given the order if
they did not get it.
In such a case it is extremely important
that (a) you personally are convinced about
the new strategy (b) you can convince your
key people, and (c) you don't wait for those
who are hesitant. We always had people
who said 'it's impossible, it won't work,
nobody has done this before'.
Coping with risk, uncertainty and ignorance
Introducing a discontinuous change typically
calls for decisions based on high risk,
uncertainty and a high level of ignorance
about the future. Successful intrapreneurs base
their decisions on explicit estimates of the
risks involved.
In making such decisions they obtain risk
estimates from all managers who have relevant
knowledge and expertise. Moreover, whenever
possible they take risk-reducing actions.
They also use explicit risk management as a
tool for developing a strategic mentality within
the firm. As one manager put it:
Scenarios should be used to prepare
yourself mentally for the future, but for
God's sake not to extrapolate.
A CEO of a large engineering firm which
102
underscored the importance of making an
explicit risk estimate:
It was an incredibly risky decision. Of
course, we developed best and worst
scenarios. This is an extremely important
estimate to make. The worst scenario would
have been that we go under.
First, we assessed the nature of the risks
involved, then we estimated what would
happen if the risks occurred, and then we
initiated actions for each risk factor to
minimize the probability that it would
occur. For example, to reduce the risk of
losing important know how, we made long-
term contracts with our keypersonnel. In
return we paid them well. We had many of
these risk reducing actions.
When ignorance about the future is high,
some successful intrapreneurs use a gradual
commitment strategy. A CEO of a medium-
sized manufacturing firm which undertook a
major diversification described the level of Phase 3: maintaining a 'helicopter view'
ignorance as follows: over implementation
The ignorance involved was very high. We
did not know which direction our newly
developed technology was going. The
market was diffuse. We didn't even know
whom to talk to and who the customers
interested in the new technology would be.
I had an equation with the two unknown
variables: a new market and a new
technology.
This CEO successfully coped with this high
ignorance by deliberately choosing a step-by-
step strategy which kept the firm's options
open as long as possible and made corrections
in the strategy as more information became
available. This was done using the following
steps:
(a) making minor investments in several
markets to test their potential;
(b) using this strategic learning experience
to gradually invest in the most promising
markets; and
R. Lombriser and 1 Ansoff
(c) choosing niches that are know-how
intensive to make it difficult for
competitors to imitate.
Less successful intrapreneurs typically faOed
to make explicit estimates of risk. One such
manager introduced several major
technological changes within his firm
without performing any explicit risk
estimates. He called his approach 'purely
intuitive and pragmatic'. As the result the
firm was forced to make many strategy
corrections, which cost several million
dollars.
To summarize, successful intrapreneurs
cope with risk and uncertainty in one of two
ways: they either make an explicit risk
estimate and use risk-reducing actions or, if
not enough information about the
environment is available, they choose a
progressive learning step-by-step strategy.
Planning implementation
Successful intrapreneurs initiate and monitor
the planning process but leave preparation of
the plan to others. Less successful
intrapreneurs either delegate all planning
responsibility or personally plan the
implementation. One successful strategic
business unit (SBU) manager who turned
around a large manufacturing company
explained his role in planning as follows:
I was the coach who made sure that the
necessary projects were planned and
carried out. But I did not get involved in
the actual planning of these activities for
two reasons. First, I did not want to
demotivate my line managers by involving
myself too directly in the implementation
phase. Second, by initiating the projects
rather than planning them in detail I wanted
to set the focus on the right activities and
make sure we're heading in the right
direction.
Journal of Strategic Change, April 1995
Successful intrapreneurs and organization transformation 103

Guiding implementation I personally look out the window, at the

Successful intrapreneurs practise 'hands ofF
management by maintaining what one
manager called a 'helicopter view' of the
implementation phase. The more
discontinuous and drastic the change the
more they used the hands off approach.
environment. I visit fairs, look around what
the competition is doing, what is going on
in the scientific community, etc. I do this to
confirm or disprove my opinions and fears. I
am alert all the time; my radar is turned on
continuously!

I did not get involved in issue resolution. I This CEO also involves his executive team in
always tried to maintain the overview, the the strategic control process:
big picture. My task was to set priorities, so
that people who didn't see the forest for the As part of our strategic management, we
trees would concentrate on the important have a three-day seminar each year. We go
things. to a remote place out there in the green,
without taking any documents with us; only
our heads, some paper and pencils and a
Dual implementation control fliivchart. Nothing else. We discuss what is
Successful intrapreneurs control the process happening out there in the environment,
of strategic change in two complementary how we are doing with our strategy, what
ways: else we could or should do, etc. The talk is
very long and unstructured.
(1) they exercise operating control Thus I force the team constantly to take a
management over attainment of goals look at the future. The result of this is a
and budgets of the strategic document in which we summarize our
transformation projects perceptions of the trends and
(2) in addition they exercise strategic control developments we expect in the next five
over projects by periodically challenging years.
the continuing validity of the basic
strategy of the discontinuous change To increase the effectiveness of strategic
and modifying the strategy if necessary. control, several intrapreneurs sought advice of
external experts. One CEO called this outside
Less successful intrapreneurs typically help his periodical medical check-up' which
exercise only the operating control over the enabled him to open up his eyes to the future.
past performance of the projects.
Unlike operations control, which is based
on 'hard' historical numbers, strategic control
is forced to rely on uncertain estimates about
Capability development
the future. As one successful intrapreneur So far we have described the behaviour of
explained: intrapreneurs in guiding strategy development,
Strategic control, if done properly, is very which terminates in launching new products/
difficult because it is hard to quantify. It services and/or entering new maricets. We next
requires softer and more external data. You turn attention to the intrapreneurs' role in the
need a lot of 'Fingerspitzengefuhl'(tingling development of the management capability
of the fingertips). which is necessary to support and optimize the
strategy development.
This means that strategic control is as much an Successful intrapreneurs proactively and
entrepreneurial risk decision process as the systematically manage the capability
original choice of strategy. The CEO of a development transformation process. They
successful large high-technology firm transform organizational culture, realign the
explained how he used strategic control: power structure and develop new skills.

Journal of Strategic Change, April 1995

104
Successful intrapreneurs
develop and share a new
exciting vision of the future
systems and structures, which are needed to
assure effectiveness of the strategy. They
anticipate and manage resistance to change
which typically accompanies organizational
transformations.
The less successful intrapreneurs typically
do not anticipate the needs to transform the
capability, nor the organizational resistance to
change, and react to organizational
disfunctions as they arise.
Implanting an exciting vision
of the future
Successful intrapreneurs develop and share a
new exciting vision of the f\iture. Less successful
intrapreneurs usually do not use vision as a
management tool. As one SBU manager of a
large manufacturing firm explained:
We needed an exciting vision. This was the
power we needed in our firm: the power of
envisioning how^ the company is going to
develop in the future. I implanted this vision
in my people, through continuous
communication. Until some of the people
actually got excited. Communication here is
only useful if people get excited about the
future.
So what did I say? First I told them what
the future was going to look like. But then I
had to show them how they could get there.
The difficult thing about it is to develop
people who not only understand the vision
but who can tell you what this vision means
in concrete steps for the next year; to have
people who know exactly what they have
to do tomorrow morning to fulfil the vision.
Communicating the vision
In implanting the vision into the firm,
successful intrapreneurs rely on informal and
R. Lombriser and L Ansoff
continual communication. Less successful
intrapreneurs use formal commutiication to
those who need to know*. A successful
intrapreneur explained:
I am always walking around and talking; I
am always getting together with my people.
They all know me well. For implementing
our strategy, this has the advantage that my
people never have to produce big drawings
and plans; I can see the stuff directly. And
that's why we are fast andfiexible.Thus, we
can decide quickly and gain an advantage.
Similarly another manager said:
Pepper, not paper! It's not the big are going
to beat the small' but 'the fast are going to
beat the slow'. If I produce too much paper
I won't be able to push the change through
the firm.
Another CEO said:
Communication of the strategy became a
never ending process for me.
Building a shared model of success
As firms do business in their environment,
they encounter successes and failures. Over
titne, accumulation of these experiences forms
a shared belief about 'things that work' and
'things that do not'. We call this shared belief
within the firm the 'model of success.
Successful intrapreneurs build, and share
with others, a new model of success, which is
made necessary by the discontinuous change.
Less successful intrapreneurs rely on the firm's
historical success model.
One CEO of a firm which faced an increased
rate of tehnological changes described how he
instilled a new model of success:
During the last couple of years, I started to
introduce change as a recurring theme in
our firm. Change had to become the end,
not just the means. Thus we make sure that
we continuously develop ourselves. I try to
imprint my ideas and intentions in the finn
Journal of Strategic Change, April 1995
Successful intrapreneurs and organization transformation
in such a way that my people develop a
corwciousness about change and the
environment.
I do this through much informal
communication and use of analogies. I use
practical examples to explain how and why
we should behave in a certain manner that
is in accordance with our company
philosophy.
Another CEO of a major corporation took
the entire management team to a major think-
tank organization. There, over a period of five
days, 20 professors and industry experts gave
presentations about relevant topics. He
explained the objective of this exercise:
I wanted to trigger a change in the mentality
within the executive team about the future
of our business. This was very crucial
because I perceived major changes in tbe
future of our busines environment. I wanted
the team to hear it from respected experts
on the field, not just from me.
Several top intrapreneurs also engaged their
managers in group problem solving (often
moderated by an external consultant) in
which they discussed the implications of and
possible responses to the new reality.
In contrast to the examples above, several
less successful top intrapreneurs failed to build
a new shared success model and, as a result,
encountered active resistance to chaise from
the organization.
Developing and hiring qualified
managers
Successful intrapreneurs used two
complementary approaches in building the
transformation project team:
(1) selecting and training managers who had
the appropriate mind set and skills;
(2) hiring new personnel whenever a encourage entrepreneurial risk taking, and do
sufficient number of such managers not punish failures which could not have been
could not be identified within the firm. foreseen. Less successful intrapreneurs tend to
As one successful intrapreneur put it:
Journal of Strategic Change, April 1995
105
I said: the critical factor will be the people,
with the right quality, quantity, culture and
language. Never before in the history of our
company had we provided so much
training.
Several successful intrapreneurs personally
trained their staff in strategic management
concepts. For example, one CEO went
through Michael Porter's Competitive
Strategy with his executive team.
Many of the successful intrapreneurs played
a major role in searching for and selecting key
people from outside. The CEO of a
manufacturing firm said:
I concentrated on bringing in the right
people. One major key employee had to
come from the auto industry because we
did not have the knowledge within our
existing personnel. I personally searched for
this person. I travelled to Frankfurt fourteen
times and conducted 40 to 50 interviews!
Less successful intrapreneurs tended to rely
on existing personnel. Several of them
admitted that they should have acquired key
people from outside instead of relying on the
existing staff. Some others who did bring in
new people stated that they should have done
this much earlier in the change process. As
one SBU manager explained:
We should have searched for the
engineering specialist much sooner from
outside our firm. But we tried to find an
internal solution first. This was wrong.
Rewarding entrepreneurial behaviour
and risk taking
Successful intrapreneurs reward and
discourage entrepreneurial risk taking and
continue to use historical reward systems.
106 R. Lombriser and I.

One successful CEO described how he used

rewards to stimulate the necessary strategy Successful intrapreneurs
activity: anticipate resistance to
I introduced an incentive system that transformational changes
motivated people to pursue goals which and seek to reduce it
did not contribute directly to current
profits. For example, if certain milestones
were met, it was taken into consideration in mission statement on the wall or sending
the appraisal of the managers, even though out memos.
no immediate profits were made.
This way I could protect the strategic
Overcoming resistance to change
work from a more immediate concern with
day-to-day operations. Successful intrapreneurs anticipate resistance
to transformational cbanges and seek to
And another SBU manager said: reduce it through the combination of
measures described above: implanting a new
We could no longer have people with a vision, shared model of success, rewards for
mentality of the 1960s. We changed our entrepreneurship, exemplary behaviour.
communication and responsibility system to However, they expect residual resistance to
encourage more risk-taking. Before, people change and apply power to eliminate it:
just shoved their problems up the ladder. If
the boss decided, I was covered'. We The diversification also required a renewal
changed this. Now those above have the of our personnel. The resisting people had
right to veto, but if they don t say anything, to leave or be placed in non-management
it means a 'go'. In other words, you can positions where they could not exert any
proceed until somebody above says 'stop'. influence. I was brutal with some members
This was very painful to those who were of the executive team. If they did not
used to the old system. understand it, they had to leave.

And a CEO said: By contrast, less successful intrapreneurs

w^ere reluctant to replace key people who
One of the most difficult tasks was to represented major resistance points. One SBU
eliminate the fears of my people. I wanted manager complained that one of his
them to know that they can make mistakes! departments still had the old mentality
because its department head continued to
resist the change. He admitted:

The next time I would be less

Exemplary behaviour
Successful intrapreneurs serve as role models.
A successful general manager underscored the
importance of setting examples:
It was very important to show directly to as
many people as possible how strongly the
executive team was committed to the new
strategy. Our personal commitment and
examplary behaviour was much more
important than putting a nice looking
compromising and fire people who do not
play correctly much sooner!
Redesigning organizational structure
Successful intrapreneurs design and implant
new structures for handling discontinuous
changes within their organization. Less
successful intrapreneurs tend to use the
historical structure of tbe firm. The CEO of a
high technology firm explained:

Journal of Strategic Change, April 1995

Successful intrapreneurs and organization transformation
I had to introduce a flexible structure in
order to deal with an increasingly
technology driven environment. Through
this change we arrived at a totally different
way of ot^anizing and structuring our
processes. This drastically changed our
mentality and way of cooperation.
I started to put together new teams all the
time. These teams were goal-oriented and
not organized by hierachy levels or
functions. This introduced a certain amount
of uneasiness into the firm, but at the same
time resulted in highly effective teams.
The projects normally are limited in time.
This way we don't have a clear and firm
structure. In the beginning this resulted in
some heavy resentment by the people who
could not adjust to this new way of thinking.
But now they got used to it. My experience
with this 'unstructured structure' has been
very encouraging so far.
Several successful intrapreneurs also
restructured the top executive team and
changed the power structure within. As one
CEO explained:
I increased the capacity from 8 to 13
corporate officers, each an expert in his
field. 1 restructured according to functions.
Before, everyone thought that each senior
manager has to be an allrounder, and that
their selection had to be based on seniority.
I changed that. I built a structure in which
each executive was responsible for one
function only. He had to be the expert in
that particular field. This also meant that
some of them had to accept drastic losses in
power and prestige.
Introducing an intrapreneurial strategic
planning system
Successful intrapreneurs installed and used an
intrapreneurial strategic planning system. Less
successful intrapreneurs relied on their
historical planning systems based on
extrapolation of past successes. As one CEO
explained:
Journal of Strategic Change, April 1995
107
THE SUCCESSFUL INTRAPRENEUR:
1. Sensing the environment
• Proactively scans the environment for weak signals of
novel threats/opportunities
• Inftiates early response on incomplete infomnation
2. Planning strategy
Participates in planning
Involves experts and future implementors
Cuts across levels of hierarchy
Bases decisions on explicit risk estimates
Takes risk-reducing measures
When Ignorance is high, uses gradual step-by-step
commitments
• Seeks consensus, but personally makes the final
decision
3. Implementing
• Initiates and monitors implementation
• Delegates detailed planning to others
• Manages by exception, uses a 'helicopter view'
• Exercises both strategic and operations control
Exhibit VI. Check-off list for strategy development.
THE SUCCESSFUL INTRAPRENEUR:
1. ImplanMng a vi»lon of the tuture
• Creates an exciting vision of the firm's future
• Communicates the vision to others through both formal
and informal channels
• Communicates the benefits and impact of change
2. Building a new model ot success
• Builds a new model of future success
• Shares the model with others
3. Developing and hiring qualified managers
• Selects and trains managers; hires when managers
lack growth potential
4. Rewards and Incentives
• Uses rewards which encourage change, creativity and
risk taking
• Does not punish creative failures
5. Role model behaviour
• Behaves as he wants others to behave
6. Structure and planning system
• Creates a dynamic flexible structure
• Installs entrepreneurial strategic planning
Exhibit vn. Check-off list for capability development.
108
I introduced strategic planning into the firm.
I prefer to call it strategic planning' rather
than 'long range planning. In long range
planning, e.g. for a five-year plan, you
simply program the computer with 6%
growth. This is nonsense!
The job of the executive team in strategic
planning is to detect future turbulences in
the environment. Then we have to ask
ourselves: can we keep our strategy or do
we have to change? If we have to change:
are our people capable of doing it and do
we have the necessary systems to support
them? I orchestrate this process.
A successful CEO of a medium-sized
manufacturing firm described the advantage
of the newly installed strategic planning
system:
The greatest benefit of the new strategic
planning system is that today we are much
better structured in the way we respond to
the environment. Through the new strategic
orientation we are forced to think in a much
more holistic way!
Summary
As the preceding pages have shown, success
in the turbulent 1990s requires a new breed of
general managers called intrapreneiars. A
CCC 1057-9265/95/020095-14
©1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
R. Lombriser and J. Ansojf
successful intrapreneur combines three
talents and skills:
(1) an entrepreneur's ability to creatively
visualize strategies which will succeed
in the future;
(2) an organizational architect's skill in
designing change seeking organizations;
and
(3) a charasmatic leader's talent for piloting
discontinuous changes through change-
resisting organizations. Thus, it is not an
exaggeration to call the intrapreneur the
business renaissance manager ofthe 21st
century.
The many facets of a successful
intrapreneurs behaviour were empirically
validated by the study reported in this paper
and described in detail on the preceding
pages. They are summarized in Exhibits VI
and VII which present a check-off list of a
successful intrapreneur s behaviour. These
exhibits can be used in: i
(1) selection of general managers for
intrapreneurial assigrmients;
(2) selecting and developing managers for the
job of an intrapreneur; and
(3) diagnosing and controlling an
intrapreneur's behaviour during a
discontinuous strategic change.
Journal of Strategic Change, April 1995