Entrepreneurship Within A Large Corporation example essay topic

Culture of Entrepreneurship Developing a culture of entrepreneurship within an organization can be a very important factor with the potential growth in an organization. There are many factors that can be accomplished by having a state of the art internal entrepreneur system established. One is obviously the development of new ideas. The new ideas that come along can be a turning point for the whole organization. If there is one good idea it could set the company apart from the competition drastically. As long as you constantly have new ideas coming in, and capitalize on the good ones; the company can stay on top for a very long time.

This also brings about another good point of ideas within the company. The more ideas that a company has coming in among employees creates competition among those employees and in return spark better ideas in the long run. This new idea of internal entrepreneurship has coined the term intrapreneur. An intrapreneur is defined as 'a person within a large corporation who takes direct responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable finished product through assertive risk-taking and innovation' (Nan Hawthorne, Intrapreneur, web). So why exactly besides the points illustrated above do we need more entrepreneurship within a large corporation?

From the stand point of a large corporation it is very difficult for the managers to properly see and diagnose the problems which may be affecting the well being of a company. Furthermore by the managers being way up on the corporate ladder they are in essence decentralized from the main problems which the more labor intensive workers face on an everyday basis (Gifford Pinchot & Elizabeth Pinchot, Intra-Corporate Entrepreneurship, web). Independent departments must also go. The goal of a large corporation should not be to have workers just doing whatever is asked of them. The large corporation should be mirrored after a free market entrepreneurship; where everyone has their own ideas and problem solves them together. This creates a more responsive and productive workforce where everyone is forced to become social within the office and in return generating more ideas (Gifford Pinchot & Elizabeth Pinchot, Intra-Corporate Entrepreneurship, web).

This idea of internal entrepreneurship has worked in the past. Throughout history the effect has been great. 'In Europe, for example, the growth of the cities in which merchants had some independence from the feudal lords brought about a climate of experimentation and then the Renaissance. The result of this social invention (or perhaps rediscovery) was a vast increase in wealth, knowledge, and a flowering of all areas of human endeavor" (Gifford Pinchot & Elizabeth Pinchot, Intra-Corporate Entrepreneurship, web). Establishing intra-corporation entrepreneurs (intrapreneur) shouldn't been too difficult if one is to follow these principles. The first principle is if an individual is to become an intrapreneur they must be willing to risk something of value during the time they are working on the project.

This risk can come in the form of time, finances, or whatever is negotiated. The risk serves the purpose of training the employee to take conviction and drive in their intrapreneur al ideas. It also "binds the corporation in an implied contract not to stop the intrapreneur for any reason other than poor performance. Finally, it helps other employees to rationalize the intrapreneur's extraordinary rewards". The second principle which is important is the fact that the rewards from the intraprenueral system must be shared between the corporation and the employee. The amount shared cannot always be pre negotiated.

And for this instance there must be a committee in place to buy the research from the employee or intraprenuer for a fraction of the amount that has pre-established value for the company. A third principle which would be helpful to the success of an inner-corporation entrepreneur is funding through the research and development department. If successful, one should be entitled to cash bonuses and funding through the research and development department. A model of this can be as follows; if a corporation makes a million of an idea and of that 100,000 is given back to the entrepreneur, 10,000 is given as a cash bonus, and 90,000 is used at the disposal for future ideas (Gifford Pinchot & Elizabeth Pinchot, Intra-Corporate Entrepreneurship, web).

As the system starts to become more established there will be a spree of new and eager intraprenuers. The system will be more innovative and promote new ideas within the company. Employees will start to take the initiative to become more vocal about problems and potential solutions within the company. The intra-corporation entrepreneur is a plus in many ways and should be implemented everywhere.