Intrapreneurship

Pinchot (1985) defined intrapreneurs as 'dreamers who do. Those who take hands-on responsibility for creating innovation of any kind, within a business'. In 1992, The American Heritage Dictionary acknowledged the popular use of a new word, intrapreneur, to mean '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'. Koch (2014) goes further, claiming that intrapreneurs are the 'secret weapon' of the business world. Based on these definitions, being an intrapreneur is considered to be beneficial for both intrapreneurs and large organizations. Companies support intrapreneurs with finance and access to corporate resources, while intrapreneurs create innovation for companies. The intrapreneur is not to be confused with the 'innerpreneur', a person who aims at personal fulfilment more than at economic gains when creating a business. The first written use of the terms ‘intrapreneur’, ‘intrapreneuring,’ and ‘intrapreneurship’ date from a paper written in 1978 by Gifford Pinchot III and Elizabeth Pinchot. Later the term was credited to Gifford Pinchot III by Norman Macrae in the April 17, 1982 issue of The Economist. The first formal academic case study of corporate entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship was published in June 1982, as a Master's in Management thesis, by Howard Edward Haller, on the intrapreneurial creation of PR1ME Leasing within PR1ME Computer Inc. (from 1977 to 1981). This academic research was later published as a case study by VDM Verlag as Intrapreneurship Success: A Prime Example.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language included the term 'intrapreneur' in its 3rd 1992 Edition, with Pinchot as the originator of the concept. The term 'intrapreneurship' was used in the popular media first in February 1985 by TIME magazine article 'Here Come the Intrapreneurs' and then the same year in another major popular publication was in a quote by Steve Jobs, Apple Computer’s Chairman, in an interview in the September 1985 Newsweek article, which quotes him as saying, 'The Macintosh team was what is commonly known as intrapreneurship; only a few years before the term was coined — a group of people going, in essence, back to the garage, but in a large company.' 'Intrapreneurship refers to employee initiatives in organizations to undertake something new, without being asked to do so.' Hence, the intrapreneur focuses on innovation and creativity, and transforms an idea into a profitable venture, while operating within the organizational environment. Thus, intrapreneurs are Inside entrepreneurs who follow the goal of the organization. Intrapreneurship is an example of motivation through job design, either formally or informally. (See also Corporate Social Entrepreneurship: intrapreneurship within the firm which is driven to produce social capital in addition to economic capital.)Employees, such as marketing executives or perhaps those engaged in a special project within a larger firm, are encouraged to behave as entrepreneurs, even though they have the resources, capabilities and security of the larger firm to draw upon. Capturing a little of the dynamic nature of entrepreneurial management (trying things until successful, learning from failures, attempting to conserve resources, etc.) adds to the potential of an otherwise static organization, without exposing those employees to the risks or accountability normally associated with entrepreneurial failure. Another characteristic of intrapreneurs is their courage and flexibility to think outside of the box, which allows them to work on ideas that may change strategic direction. Even though many managers are afraid of radical changes, they are often the only way to help companies grow. This is exemplified by Wipro in India, a small vegetable company that ended up being a software outsourcing powerhouse. Another example is Tony Hsieh of Zappos, who started as a commercial footwear vendor and became the CEO of Zappos, which has expanded into an online customer experience company. According to Pinchot, intrapreneurs are both employees and leaders of a large organizations that act similar to entrepreneurs in terms of e.g. self-motivation, creativity and pro-activity. Pinchot claims that while intrapreneurs must be leaders, they differ very much from managers. Strong leadership skills are needed to strengthen teams and to persuade others to follow and execute their ideas. Leadership skills are also important to support rapid decision making under uncertainty. Managers, on the contrary, consider more risks than uncertainty and often work within established patterns. Moreover, traditional managers get their authority from the above; intrapreneurs, by contrast, start without the recognition of the same degree of power. Intrapreneurs are able to search for opportunities and shape them into high-potential innovations through teamwork and with access to corporate resources. This assumes the right conditions of good leadership, communication and the appropriate environment to support creativity, these are essential for entrepreneurial outcomes to take place ). The win-win situation of intrapreneurial motivation leading to corporate benefits are considered idealistic by some. According to Smedley ), only a few companies know how to encourage intrapreneurs. Some examples are listed below. One of the most well-known examples of intrapreneurship is the 'Skunk Works' group at Lockheed Martin. The group was originally named after a reference in a cartoon, and was first brought together in 1943 to build the P-80 fighter jet. Because the project was to eventually become a part of the war effort, the project was internally protected and secretive. Kelly Johnson, later famous for Kelly's 14 rules of intrapreneurship, was the director of this group.