Entrepreneurship

ERAU MGMT 672

Planning and Execution of Strategy

Intrapreneurship

Name: Adrian Allen Date: 04 Oct 2011

Intrapreneurship describes the process of developing new products, services, and lines of business within an existing company. It is perhaps best understood as a form of internal entrepreneurship that takes place with the encouragement and support of management. An employee who takes responsibility for developing an innovative idea into a marketable product is known as an intrapreneur. Management consultants Gifford and Elizabeth Pinchot coined the term in 1976 and helped popularize the concept of intra-corporate entrepreneurship in their pioneering book Intrapreneuring: Why You Don't Have to Leave the Corporation to Become an Entrepreneur (1985).

One of the most commonly cited intrapreneurship success stories is 3M Corporation, which has a policy that allows employees to spend 15 percent of their working hours developing their own business or product ideas. This policy led to the creation of Post-It-Notes and other successful products by 3M employees. Experts recommend that business organizations create a culture that provides employees with both freedom and encouragement to develop new ideas. They emphasize that support for intrapreneurship must start with top executives and work its way down in the form of policies, programs, and reward systems.

Employees who succeed as intrapreneurs tend to possess many of the same talents and traits as traditional entrepreneurs as well as a commitment to the organization and its goals. Working within an existing company—rather than launching an independent start-up business—offers a number of advantages to such individuals. Access to the company's resources increases their chances of success, for example, while maintaining a salaried position provides them with added security in case of failure. Intrapreneurs...