Lecture 1. Overview of Corporate Entrepreneurship
Corporate
Entrepreneurship
5 February 2024
Dr. Kevin Curran
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A little about me—Kevin Curran
• Assistant professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University
of Amsterdam.
• PhD Entrepreneurship and Organization Theory from Cass Business
School, 2018
• Postdoctoral research fellow University of Oxford 2017-2019
• Researcher of social and cultural change through entrepreneurship and
innovation.
• Cultural and social entrepreneurship
• Consultant to social enterprises, start-ups and think tanks for over 10
years.
• www.linkedin.com/in/kevinjcurran
Overview
Part 1: Introduction to the course
Part 2: External environment & Greiner’s 5 stages of growth
Part 3: Defining Corporate Entrepreneurship
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Introduction
Course is structured around weekly Lectures and Seminars
•
Course split up into two sections —
•
Week 1 to 3: Understanding the phenomenon of corporate entrepreneurship
•
Week 5 to 7: How is it implemented in practice
Final grade:
• 40% Continuous assessment
• 60% Final Exam
4
Seminars
Weekly seminars (assigned to project groups)
• Groups will be assigned this week in the seminar
• Seminars will have three sections.
1. 1 group connecting readings of the week to contemporary events, popular press articles, worklife
experiences etc.
2. 1 group discussing the Harvard case
3. All groups will work on a written reflection in their groups (see Assessment and testing).
Attendance is mandatory
Cases available for purchase through link in study guide & on Canvas
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Week
1
2
6
Topic
Introduction to corporate
entrepreneurship: team formation and
essay writing skills.
Building an entrepreneurial
orientation in an organization
Team
Readings
Team
Case
A
See week 2
B
3M: Profile of an
Innovating Company
3
The “intrapreneur”
C
See week 3
D
Nivea (a)
4
5
No class – reading week
Internal venturing
E
See week 5
F
Intrapreneurship at
DaVita HealthCare
Partners
6
External venturing
G
See week 6
H
Air-France KLM
7
Corporate entrepreneurship and social I
good
See week 7
J
Konica Minolta
Continuous assessment (40%)
1x 15-minute presentation (30%)
• 10 teams of 3 people (2 teams per session)
• A 15-minute presentation (with slides)
5x 1–2 page reflections (10%)
• Writing by same team as above (see syllabus)
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Examination
The end of term exam will account for 60% percent of your grade
• two essay style questions and 20 MCQs in an in person digital exam.
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Contact Policy
I will allot 10 minutes at the end of each seminar for questions and will be
available before and after the lecture for queries.
I request that you keep questions via email to a minimum. Questions via
email should be considered only after the following steps have been
followed—
• You searched the materials on canvas for the answer and it is not there.
• You asked a colleugue and they too did not know.
• You asked me at the allot time for questions in the seminar or after class.
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Part 2: External environment & Greiner’s
5 stages of growth
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Times are changing…
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Times are changing…
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Ever Changing Environment
Customers
Technology
Internal
• Fragmented markets
• Rising customer expectations
• Decreased attention spans
• New information management technologies
• New production and service
The Embattled
Corporation
External
• Delivery technologies
• New customer management technologies
Competitors
• Lead customers to entirely new market
spaces (e.g. Amazon & books)
• Quickly mimic (e.g. smartphones)
• More new firms in profitable
niches (e.g. dating apps)
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Legal, Regulatory and Ethical Standards
• Pressure to deliver results while behaving
responsibly
• Increasingly litigious environment
• Increasing regulatory restrictions
Greiner’s five phases of growth model
Adapted from
Greiner, (1998)
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Greiner’s five stages of growth model
Stage 1
Creativity
Stage 2
Direction
Stage 3
Autonomy
Stage 4
Coordination
Stage 5
Collaboration
Management Focus
Make &Sell
Efficiency of
operations
Expansion of
market
Consolidation of
organization
Problem solving &
innovation
Organization
Structure
Informal
Centralized &
Functional
Decentralized &
geographical
Line-staff &
product groups
Matrix of teams
Top Management
Style
Individualistic &
entrepreneurial
Directive
Delegative
Watchdog
Participative
Control System
Market results
Standards & cost
centers
Reports & profit
centers
Plans &
investment centers
Mutual goal setting
Management Reward
System
Ownership
Salary & merit
increases
Individual bonus
Profit sharing &
stock options
Team bonus
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How do you respond to changing environment as a large
company?
Merger & Acquisitions
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Innovations
Think and discuss
Why do large organizations engage in M&A?
What are some potential issues in developing new innovations in a large
organization?
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Part 3: defining corporate entrepreneurship
What is Entrepreneurship?
•
•
•
•
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Entrepreneurship involves a process
Entrepreneurs create value where there was none before
Entrepreneurs put resources together in a unique way
Entrepreneurship is opportunity-driven behavior
What is entrepreneurship?
“Entrepreneurship is the process of creating value by bringing together a
unique combination of resources to exploit an opportunity.” Stevenson &
Jarillo-Mossi, (1986, p. 10)
The Entrepreneurial Context is never defined; thus, entrepreneurship can
occur in:
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• Start-up ventures
• Large conglomerates
• Small firms
• Non-profit organizations
• Mid-sized companies
• Public sector agencies
Management Versus Entrepreneurship
“Management is the process of setting objectives and coordinating resources,
including people, in order to attain them.”
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Management Versus Entrepreneurship
Managers focus more on the current
situation and how to improve
efficiency and effectiveness
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Entrepreneurs focus less on the
current situation and more on what
can be
Management Versus Entrepreneurship
The Manager
• Planner
• Visionary
• Strategist
• Opportunity-seeker
• Organizer
• Creator
• Staffer
• Innovator
• Motivator
• Budgeter
The Entrepreneurial
Manager
• Calculated Risk-taker
• Resource Leverager
• Evaluator
• Change Agent
• Coordinator
• Active and Adaptive
Concept Implementer
• Supervisor
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The Entrepreneur
What is Corporate Entrepreneurship?
“Corporate entrepreneurship is a term used to describe entrepreneurial behavior inside
established mid-sized and large organizations.” (Kuratko et al., 2015)
Other popular related terms:
• Organizational entrepreneurship
• Intrapreneurship
• Corporate venturing
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How Corporate Entrepreneurship Differs
Corporate entrepreneurs face three major challenges linked to the need for interorganizational political skills:
1. Achieving credibility or legitimacy for the concept and the entrepreneurial team
2. Obtaining resources
3. Overcoming inertia and resistance
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How Corporate Entrepreneurship Differs
Corporate entrepreneurs remain in the corporate environment rather than starting their own
ventures for three main reasons:
• The size of the resource base that they can tap into
• The potential to operate on a fairly significant scope and scale fairly quickly
• The security they enjoy when operating in an existing company
Organizational politics is one of the main reasons corporate entrepreneurs leave the
company.
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Where to Find Entrepreneurship within a Company
7 Ways in Which Entrepreneurship is Manifested in Established Companies
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1.
Traditional R&D
2.
Ad Hoc Venture Teams
3.
New Venture Divisions or Groups
4.
Champions and the Mainstream thought
5.
Acquisitions
6.
Outsourcing
7.
Hybrid Forms
How Corporate Entrepreneurship Differs
Similarities between start-up and corporate entrepreneurship
Both involve opportunity recognition and definition
Both require a unique business concept that takes the form of a product, service or process
Both are driven by an individual champion who works with a team to bring the concept to fruition
Both require balancing act: vision with managerial skill; passion with pragmatism; and proactiveness with patience
Both involve concepts that are most vulnerable in the formative stage, and that require adaptation over time
Both entail a window of opportunity within which the concept can be successfully capitalized upon
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How Corporate Entrepreneurship Differs
Similarities between start-up and corporate entrepreneurship (2)
Both are predicated on value creation and accountability to a customer
Both find the entrepreneur encountering resistance and obstacles, necessitating both perseverance and an ability to
formulate innovative solutions
Both find the entrepreneur needing to develop creative strategies for leveraging resources
Both involve significant ambiguity
Both entail risk and require risk management strategies
Both require harvesting strategies
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To conclude…
Overall external strategy
Sounds broad Kevin?
Yes, it is but covers three
important aspects for developed
organizations.
Organizational structure and
processes
Individuals in the
organization
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