Absorption of the Successful Entrepeneur: Challenges and Complexities Leading to Further Achievement

Abstract:     
Entrepreneurs are potentially valuable resources for any organization seeking to gain competitive advantage, enter new markets, and/or develop new and innovative products and/or product lines. The absorption of an entrepreneur into another organization is considered to be a difficult or even impossible task. We seek to understand how entrepreneurs and their companies can be successfully absorbed into new organizations. A sample of 21 successful entrepreneurs were interviewed for this research. As the entrepreneurs’ companies were acquired and merged with the new organizations, what criteria allowed for the successful absorption of the entrepreneur? We seek to understand from their experiences those events resulting in their successful or unsuccessful inclusion. The study incorporates two perspectives. The first is that of the entrepreneur, obtained from the interviews. The literature review provides us with the perspective of the acquiring firm. Two significant findings emerge. Any successful manager may have the same skills and capabilities that allow entrepreneurs to be successful. The merger and acquisition process directly impacts the level of successful integration of the entrepreneur into the new organization. The research suggests that the successful absorption of the entrepreneur into the new firm can be accomplished with several key steps.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 21

Keywords: Absorption, entrepreneur, intrapreneurship, mergers and acquisitions, transitions

Accepted Paper Series