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Entrepreneurial Organizations
 Thierry Burger-Helmchen 

 Reference work entry

 905 Accesses
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Synonyms
Entrepreneurial firms

Key Concepts and Definition of Terms

Entrepreneurial organizations are structures that promote the emergence and development of
ideas from all members of the firm. To be functional, such an organization must have specific
features that allow alternative views to emerge. An entrepreneurial organization combines
several aspects of entrepreneurship and firm flexibility, namely, specific attention processes to
make it possible for junior and senior managers to attract the attention of the decision makers,
specific decision mechanisms (with adapted criteria, incentive, and remuneration schemes)
that explain the acceptance of ideas, and a flexible, agile structure to allow the
implementation. Entrepreneurial organizations differ from managerial organizations by their
structures and characteristics; they have a specific innovation model, decision/financial
model, selection process, human resource management and resources gathering, and
utilization scheme.

The...