Emerging Issues in Corporate Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Four promising research avenues in corporate entrepreneurship are identified which have important implications for knowledge creation and exploitation as well as organizational learning. The discussion opens with a focus on how knowledge is created through four types of corporate entrepreneurship and their implications for organizational learning. The four types are sustained regeneration, organizational rejuvenation, strategic renewal, and domain redefinition. Mediated by two forms of organizational learning, these types lead to three forms of new knowledge that are used differently within the firm. The roles of leadership and social exchanges in the corporate entrepreneurship process are identified. These roles and information exchanges cross levels of management and promote the types of organizational learning required by the four types of corporate entrepreneurship. The interplay between corporate entrepreneurship and internationalization is discussed. A typology is proposed which that separates content from process-related studies in new ventures versus established companies. Finally, the outcomes of corporate entrepreneurship research is assessed considering the importance of social, human, and intellectual capital in creating competitive advantages and wealth in today's knowledge economy. The need to include multiple measures of economic and financial outcomes of corporate entrepreneurship initiatives and to include stakeholder perspective is stressed. Organizational learning theory is used throughout the discussion to emphasize the contributions of corporate entrepreneurship to knowledge creation and exploitation.(TNM)

Keywords: Competitive advantages, Corporate entrepreneurship, International expansion, Knowledge production, Leadership, Organizational learning, Research opportunities