DEVELOPING AN ENTREPRENEURIAL ORGANISATION; A DRIVE FOR NATION BUILDING
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Pinchot
(1984) 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”. The researcher is of the
opinion that such risk taking and innovation coupled with the profitability
accrued from it will make an intrapreneural organization a veritable for nation
building.
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. Such organizations can be
described as intrapreneurial organizations.
Intrapreneurial
organizations are known to be operated with practice of a corporate management
style that integrates risk-taking and innovation approaches, as well as the
reward and motivational techniques, that are more traditionally thought of as
being the province of entrepreneurship.
The
first written use of the terms ‘intrapreneur’, ‘intrapreneurial,’ 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
Intrapreneurial Success: A PR1ME Example. The American Heritage Dictionary of
the English Language included the term ‘intrapreneur’ in its 3rd 1992 Edition,
and also credited Pinchot as the originator of the concept.
Intrapreneurial
organization will bring about an era in which jobs were so many that employers
go to schools to recruit young graduate with a view of making good use of their
skills, potential and innovative capability to bring about productivity. This
will go a long way in reducing unemployment and contribute to the growth of the
organization. The Pinchotts (1985) refer to intrapreneur as someone who possesses
entrepreneurial skills and uses them within a company, instead of using them to
launch a business of his or her own. This will reduce the rate at which small
and medium scale companies crumble. The individual can make use of its skill
and innovation under an already established organization with a strong capital
base and higher level of technology. This can be a tool for nation building as
these intrapreneurial organizations will give job opportunities to unemployed
youths with skills and innovative capability who doesn’t have the capital and
the corporate experience to start a business of their own.
.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The
biggest concern for in an intrapreneurial organizations is dealing with the
“Corporate Immune System”. This expression means that corporate
organizational structures such as bureaucracy, hierarchy, rules etc. do not
support intrapreneurial culture and behaviour. Many companies struggle with
applying the concept of intrapreneurship into their daily routines due to high
levels of defined tasks and schedules that deter opportunities for serendipity
and for new ideas to be recognized. Kawasaki (2006) also highlights the lack of
rewards for entrepreneurial behaviour of employee in intrapreneurial
organizations as a demotivating factor to search for new ideas.
Failure,
or fear of failure, is another reason for organizations in developing countries
like Nigeria not becoming more intrapreneurial. Wladawsky-Berger (2010) found
that firms act to protect resources by avoiding risk and penalizing failure.
Due to the setback of entrepreneurial organizations in Nigeria, the researcher
is examining an intrapreneurial organization development as a tool to drive
nation building.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The
following are the objectives of this study:
1. To
examine the process of developing an intrapreneurial organization.
2. To
determine if intrapreneurial organization development can be used as a tool to
drive nation building.
3. To
identify the factors limiting the development of an intrapreneurial
organization.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What
is the process of developing an intrapreneurial organization?
2. Can
intrapreneurial organization development be used as a tool to drive nation
building?
3. What
are the factors limiting the development of an intrapreneurial organization?
1.5 HYPOTHESIS
HO:
Intrapreneurial organization development cannot be used as a tool to drive
nation building.
HA:
Intrapreneurial organization development can be used as a tool to drive nation
building.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The
following are the significance of this study:
1. The
outcome of this study will educate the general public especially young graduate
on the need to key into the scheme of intrapreneurship and get employed into
intrapreneurial organization to put into use their skills and innovations with
a view to gain corporate experience in order to become a future entrepreneurs.
2. The
findings from this study will form a useful guide for government to formulate
and implement policies that will encourage intrapreneurial organization to
reduce unemployment and produce better skilled youth that will contribute to
the growth of the nation.
3. This
research will be a contribution to the body of literature in the area of the
effect of personality trait on student’s academic performance, thereby
constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area.
1.7 SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This
study will cover the concept of intrapreneuship within the context of an
intrapreneurial organization to identify the merits and the demerits.
LIMITATION OF STUDY
Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the
efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature
or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire
and interview).
Time constraint– The researcher will
simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently
will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.
REFERENCES
Kawasaki,
G. (2006). How to Change the World: The Art of Intrapreneurship. [online]
Available at: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/01/the_art_of_intr.html.
Accessed 8 February 2015.
Koch,
C., 2014. Rise of the intrapreneur. Director Magazine. Available at: http://www.director.co.uk/the-rise-of-the-intrapreneur/#respond
[Accessed April 9, 2015].
Pinchot,
G. 1984. Who is the Intrapreneur? In: Intrapreneuring: Why You Don’t Have to
Leave the Corporation to Become an Entrepreneur. New York: Harper & Row.
pp. 28 – 48
Pinchot,
G. 1985. Who is the Intrapreneur? In: Intrapreneuring: Why You Don’t Have to
Leave the Corporation to Become an Entrepreneur. New York: Harper & Row.
pp. 28 – 48.
Wladawsky-Berger,
I. (2010). Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Large Companies. [online].
Available at: in http://blog.irvingwb.com/blog/2010/10/entrepreneurship-andinnovation-in-large-companies.html.
Accessed 25 February 2015.