Tapping into Digital Technologies in Corporate Entrepreneurship: an Exploratory Multiple Case Study

Corporate entrepreneurship and financial performance: The case of management leveraged buyouts

How do threshold firms sustain corporate entrepreneurship? The role of boards and absorptive capacity

Environment, corporate entrepreneurship, and financial performance: A taxonomic approach

Even companies with long history require change and innovation. However, the traditions and history accumulated by such companies can sometimes hinder change and innovation. This is why companies emphasize corporate entrepreneurship—to break away from existing businesses and familiar ways and pursue new challenges. Especially in large and old corporations, pursuing corporate entrepreneurship is more meaningful in terms of enhancing entrepreneurial orientation than in achieving financial performance. Corporate entrepreneurship is often narrowly understood as internal ventures or new business initiatives, but it should be viewed as inherent spirit or capability that enables a company to continuously capture and realize new opportunities. Therefore, this study focuses on examining the effect of various activities for realizing corporate entrepreneurship—such as internal ventures, R&D collaborations, and business model innovations—on entrepreneurial orientation within companies. Another point of this study is that the activities for realizing corporate entrepreneurship operate differently and influence entrepreneurial orientation through distinct pathways. This implies that managers need to select activities that are most effective for their company by considering limited managerial resources. Therefore, this paper argues that the activities of realizing corporate entrepreneurship should be selected by considering the actual strategy mode adopted by the firm. Because a firm's strategy mode functions as a benchmark for decision-making and execution among internal members, thereby reinforcing or weakening specific behaviors. Therefore, this study examines the moderating effect of the corporate strategy mode on the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship activities and entrepreneurial orientation. And aim to provide practical implications for managers who need to select activities for accumulating corporate entrepreneurship in their organization. To achieve this research objective, we used the data from the survey of 2021 Corporate Innovation Survey conducted by Science and Technology Policy Institute of Korea. The analysis revealed that the relationship between internal venturing and entrepreneurial orientation is positively moderated by the firm's strategy mode either exploration or exploitation. The impact of R&D collaboration on entrepreneurial orientation shows a positive moderating effect when the firm adopts an exploitative strategy mode. Finally, the effect of business model innovation on entrepreneurial orientation exhibits a moderating effect when the firm adopts an explorative strategy mode.

The accumulated knowledge about corporate entrepreneurship has provided a better understanding of its antecedents and consequences. Corporate entrepreneurship activities are strongly related to incremental or disruptive innovation processes. However, academic debates demand a novel conceptual framework to understand the gendered workforce’s contribution to corporate entrepreneurship initiatives worldwide. This study hypothesizes that a gendered workforce has similar capabilities (skills, ability to detect opportunities, and networks) to engage in corporate entrepreneurship. Therefore, any gender differences could be explained by the influence of country-level conditions (gender equality levels, culture, and social norms). We tested these hypotheses with a sample of 50,550 employees from 50 countries. Our results support these hypotheses extending the corporate entrepreneurship literature and provoking an interesting discussion to academics, managers, employees, and policymakers.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the current state of corporate entrepreneurship (CE) of emerging market firms (EMFs) and provide direction for future research on the topic. Design/methodology/approach The authors specifically review the recent literature between the years 2000 and 2019 on CE with the keywords “corporate entrepreneurship,” “emerging economies” and “emerging countries” published in the Australian Business Deans Council list journals. The authors review the existing literature about CE in emerging markets, summarize current achievements and present an agenda for future research. Findings Based on the review, the authors categorized the macro and micro contexts of CE and summarized the current articles on CE in emerging markets within each macro and micro context. The authors conclude that despite the abundance of research on CE that investigates the three prongs of CE in terms of innovation, strategic renewal and new venturing in developed market contexts, there is a scarcity of literature that focuses on CE in emerging markets from a holistic perspective. Originality/value While there is an abundance of literature review on CE in general in terms of the drivers of the construct, the contexts contributing to it and the outcomes, the reviews are lacking about CE specifically within the context of emerging markets. Emerging markets vary from developed markets institutionally, economically, culturally, socially and technologically. However, the questions of how these differences impact the CE activities, as it relates to innovation, venturing and strategic renewal in EMFs, and how these differences provide incentives or hinder the activities that contribute to CE remain mostly unanswered. This paper reviewed the research on CE and emerging market contexts from 2000 to present. It targets to provide a better understanding of the current achievement on this topic and what to be done in the future.

In a digital world increasingly characterized by new business opportunities and challenges driven by the proliferation of pervasive digital technologies, companies are more than ever called to act entrepreneurially. This scenario has raised important questions at the intersection of corporate entrepreneurship (CE) and digital technologies, as we currently lack a comprehensive understanding on the implications of digital technologies in CE strategy, related antecedents, processes, and outcomes. To fill this gap, our study takes stock of the extant literature on CE in the digital age. Through a review of 54 studies, we craft an integrative framework of CE in the digital age, articulated across six building blocks. Building on the proposed framework, we elaborate a research agenda for future research.

Operations management and corporate entrepreneurship: The moderating effect of operations control on the antecedents of corporate entrepreneurial activity in relation to innovation performance

One of the most critical gaps in the literature is the lack of empirical research pertaining to what attributes of the supplier influence the process improvement of the buyer, and the other is the lack of theoretical framework relating to how and why the buyer's process improvement is affected by the supplier selection factors. This study aims to fill these gaps and empirically explore the relationship between supplier selection and Business Process Improvement (BPI). The results indicate the supplier's Quality, Service, Organisation, Relationship and Cycle Time have relations to the buyer's Improvement Initiative and Customer Focus while the supplier's Cost, as an important selection factor, has no relation to the BPI factors. As an exploratory study, it also intends to refine issues, identify important variables, formulate more precise questions and generate hypotheses for further research.

Network–based resource capital such as political capital, social capital, and reputational capital are critical in providing firms with special access to various resources and legitimacy in emerging markets. However, how these generic nonmarket forms of capital are transformed into value–adding, industry–specific, and firm–specific uses, which subsequently enhance firm competitiveness, remained unanswered. Adopting a dynamic capability approach, this paper posits that corporate entrepreneurship performs a unique role of resource capital configuration and transformation in emerging market firms by continuously renewing firm competences so that congruence with the changing environment can be achieved. Building on this conceptualization, we argue that the positive effects of network–based resource capital on firm performance are channeled through the resource configuration process given by various corporate entrepreneurial activities such as product and organizational innovations as well as new venturing. Empirical evidence of the proposed mediation model is obtained from a survey of established firms in China.

Corporate entrepreneurial activities need to be aligned extensively with a company’s strategy. This study offers a systems approach to linking a company’s strategy with corporate entrepreneurship through IDEF0 modelling. The IDEF0 model provides the framework from which enabling and controlling mechanisms are derived. The objective of the investigation is to identify areas within the organisational structure of a company (both vertical and horizontal) where the enabling mechanisms of corporate entrepreneurial actions are prevalent and areas where they are lacking. The research also aims to identify areas where the controlling mechanisms of corporate entrepreneurial actions might be lacking or overbearing. The results show that the engineering support department had a higher proclivity for corporate entrepreneurial activities, while the projects department had a lower proclivity for corporate entrepreneurship. The results also show that the higher the position of a person in the company hierarchy, the higher the proclivity for corporate entrepreneurship.

Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) is of utmost importance for organizational development and yet, the literature is scarce in reflecting how CE is taught in entrepreneurship education. In this chapter, we focus on leading case studies on CE and analyze them according to a behavioral (discovery, evaluation legitimation and exploitation) and hierarchical (top, middle and operating roles) aspects. With this analysis we conclude that case studies are a preferred way for entrepreneurship educators to promote experiential learning in the classroom about CE. At the same time, we motivate educators to increasingly focus on the identification of the key actions being taken within CE as well as of where the responsibility of such actions typically falls within organizational roles. We contribute to further our knowledge about CE in entrepreneurship education and reflect the varying CE activities, actors, and behaviors.

PurposeDerived from work conducted on the topics of Lean‐thinking and Lean‐Kaizensome management practices or techniques, such as the 5Ss, have recently become important in this research. The reason for this is that more and more of the companies that apply Lean‐thinking and Lean‐Kaizenare using the 5Ss as an essential step in their implementation. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the implementation of the 5Ss in multinational organisations in Mexico empirically, in order to analyse and compare them against the respective theoretical frameworks. The research question that governs the study is: “How are the 5Ss implemented in an organisational context such as that of a multinational company in Mexico?”Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory multiple case study was conducted. Three multinational companies, which have been established in Mexico for at least 20 years, were selected. Two of these companies were from the automotive sector (suppliers) and the third was a company manufacturing hygiene and cleaning products. Four methods were used to gather data: direct observation, participative observation, documentary analysis, and semi‐structured interviews.FindingsBased on cross analysis findings, a group of reasons was found for applying the 5Ss in the multinational organisations analysed, along with a group of drivers and inhibitors responsible for enhancing or blocking the successful implementation of the 5Ss. Finally, a conceptual framework was also established, based on the results of comparing theory and fieldwork: this provides a glimpse into the relationship of the 5Ss with other improvement programmes, known as Lean‐thinking or Lean‐Kaizen, in the organisations analysed. In particular, the framework show the importance betweendo(way: philosophy) andjyutsu(techniques) during the implantation process of 5Ss.Practical implicationsDerived to describe three case studies on how to implement the 5Ss within a programme or model for the Lean‐thinking or Lean‐Kaizenapproach, it may prove to be of value to practitioners and managers involved in the field. Similarly, a section on managerial implications has also been included.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the limited existing literature on the 5Ss through research that seeks to understand how this technique is implemented in a context of multinational organisations, particularly emphasising the main drivers and inhibitors that enhance or block it during the implementation process. It also includes a theoretical framework that can demonstrate the relationship of the 5Ss with the Lean‐thinking and Lean‐Kaizenprogrammes in this context: In particular for Latin America and Mexico, where virtually no academic studies of this type have been conducted.

Corporate entrepreneurship is an important tool for creating and keeping competitive advantage. In the past decades, the interest of researchers in corporate entrepreneurship increased. Nevertheless, little has been written on the corporate entrepreneurship – product innovation nexus. It is a known fact that product innovations may create new markets and corresponding competitive advantages for firms. This review aims to reconcile corporate entrepreneurship with product innovation. The purpose of this review is therefore to provide an integrated framework of product innovation and corporate entrepreneurship based on recent findings. The results have both theoretical and practical implications.

Purpose – This paper aims to analyze the insertion of the environmental dimension in the operations strategy of three automotive manufacturers belonging Sao Paulo’s ABC region, and how it can impact the operations field’s competitive performance. Design/methodology/approach – Descriptive, exploratory multiple case study. Findings – There is an alignment between companies with regard to the performance indicators of the environmental dimension and to competitive priorities. We observed concern as to the social aspect of sustainability. Companies are designing socially fair production systems, in which work safety and occupational health are seen as strategic factors that contribute to competitive performance in the field of operations. Originality/value – One theoretical contribution is the proposal of a conceptual model that aims to fill a gap in literature concerning the lack of alignment between the operations strategy and environmental management, which can, in turn, hinder or even underestimate the understanding of the role of the operations field in the quest for competitive advantage.