Encouraging

Intrapreneurship
& Corporate Venturing

Lesson 7
 Intrapreneurship

Concerned with:
• How individuals may be encouraged to
act more entrepreneurially in a large
organisation
• Systems, structures & cultures that
inhibit entrepreneurship
• The character & personality of the
individual behaving in this way

Kanter (1982), Pinchot (1985)

 Intrapreneurs
• Goal orientated
• Ambitious
• Competitive
• Questioning
• Self motivated
• Dislike bureaucracy
• Comfortable with change
• Adept at politics
• Good at resolving conflict
• Able to work with others
 Motivating Intrapreneurs
Motivation is enhanced by:
•Autonomy
– Self direction
– Motivates/encourage to feel they “own” their
project.
•Purpose
– Purpose to work.
– E.g: Apple ( create products & services that
change the lives of people around the world)
•Mastery
– Become expertise in their field of area
 Encouraging Intrapreneurship

• High level sponsor

• Space to break the rules
• Slack to pursue project
• Motivation to pursue project
• A culture that ‘tolerates’
intrapreneurship
Encouraging Intrapreneurship to
lead corporate venturing
Factor Basic Intrapreneurial

Management Sponsors Commitment

support
Corp. venturing, x-
Structure Hierarchy functional teams,
external networks

Finance & Knowledge

Resources
materials resources

Promotion,
Reward Regular pay,
autonomy,
job security
recognition etc.

Risk Tolerance of No penalization

lower risk
Ten commandments of Intrapreneurship
1. Come to work prepared to be fired
2. Get round orders that stop your dream
3. Do anything, regardless of your job
description, to make your project work
4. Build a network of people to help
5. Build the best team – motivated & flexible
6. Work ‘underground’ as long as possible
7. Be loyal & truthful to your sponsor
8. It’s better to ask for forgiveness than
permission
9. Be true to your goals, but be realistic
10. Own the project & always persevere
 Corporate Venturing
Concerned with:
• The need for larger firms to manage
new, entrepreneurial businesses
separately from mainstream activity
• Investment by larger firms in
strategically important smaller firms
• Organisation structures needed to
encourage new businesses
• Management of disruptive technologies

Galbraith (1982), Burgelman (1983), Drucker (1985), Christensen (1997)

 Corporate Venturing

Key to success is good ‘strategic fit’:

• Strong relationship with core competencies
of venturing company - effective synergy
or

• Acquiring skills, technologies or customers

that compliment the strategic direction of
venturing company - effective knowledge
transfer
 Advantages of
Corporate Venturing

• Facilitates innovation and knowledge

import
• External sources of finance may be
easier to access
• Facilitates creation of semi-
autonomous units with their own
cultures, incentives and business
models
• Often involves highly motivated staff
 Disadvantages of
Corporate Venturing
• Requires investment, normally equity,
which can be risky
• Requires investment in venture
mechanisms that set up venture
management and networks that
search out, evaluate and generate deal
flows
• Investing company will not be in
complete control of innovation
Case study:

Zehra et al.
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CORPORATE VENTURING

EXAMPLE : AIR ASIA