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Introduction
This chapter provides an introduction to the study by way of giving a brief background and rationale for undertaking the study. The chapter presents the research problem and the objectives as well as importance or benefits of the study, followed by a list of the hypotheses to be tested and the techniques used for data analysis.
This brief overview to the study also indicates the concepts of interest in the study, the theoretical foundation for the research, the hypothesised model depicting the theoretical relationships as well as the independent and dependent variables, and the statistical techniques used for data analysis.
Finally the chapter provides an outline of the study on chapter by chapter basis, covering all the seven chapters.
The entrepreneurship phenomenon
Scholars have been pursuing several theoretical and empirical studies about entrepreneurship over the past decades (Özdemirci, 2011:612) and there has been growing interest in the field from different perspectives. However, there still is no consensus on the definition of entrepreneurship (Berglann, Moen, Røed & Skogstøm, 2011:180; Kusumsiri & Jayawardane, 2013:26).
Notwithstanding the fact that entrepreneurship tends to be dynamic and is intertwined with a complex set of overlapping constructs and perspectives (Kusumsiri & Jayawardane, 2013:26), scholars have tried to give an operational definition, taking into account its undeniable effect on the economy, which is the reason why the phenomenon has aroused significant interest. Various disciplines “ranging from social anthropology to organisational theory to mathematical economics” (Henrekson 2007:717) have all tried to define entrepreneurship.
On the other hand, the various definitions of entrepreneurship reveal the different important social realities (Davidsson (2004:4) and offer endless possibilities and meaning to different ventures (Kusumsiri & Jayawardane, 2013:26). In this respect, the field of entrepreneurship would benefit more if the focus were on exploiting these endless possibilities presented by the various definitions that look at the phenomenon from different but well justified contexts.
Basically the field of entrepreneurship studies the discovery and exploitation of opportunities (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000); this is done from the various perspectives of the many different disciplines involved (Henrekson, 2007; Naudé, 2011). According to Shane (2012:11), entrepreneurship “examines many outcomes other than business performance (e.g., entrepreneurship is concerned with how identification and exploitation of opportunities affect societal wealth and individual happiness). …and does not require the existence of firms, can occur before firms are established, exists in settings in which firms do not exist, and takes place at lower levels than the firm level of analysis”. Kuratko (2013:5) defines entrepreneurship as “a dynamic process of vision, change, and creation. It requires an application of energy and passion toward the creation and implementation of new ideas and creative solutions. Essential ingredients include the willingness to take calculated risks – in terms of time, equity, or career; the ability to formulate an effective venture team; the creative skills to marshal needed resources; the fundamental skill of building a solid business plan; and finally, the vision to recognise opportunity where others see chaos, contradiction, and confusion”. For the purposes of this study, entrepreneurship is defined as the process of identifying opportunities and innovatively engaging in creating, founding, adapting, and managing a growthoriented venture with a profit motive.
Corporate entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is not just an individual concept; it also qualifies as an institutional concept taking place inside established organisations (Özdemirci, 2011:612). Within the entrepreneurship domain, scholars are generally in agreement that entrepreneurship is a phenomenon that can take place in a variety of organisational contexts. Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) is a term used to describe entrepreneurial behaviour inside established mid-sized and large organisations, and centres on reenergising and enhancing the organisation’s ability to acquire innovative skills and capabilities, resulting in improved company performance, including the aspects relating to innovation (Chen, Tang, Jin, Xie & Li, 2014; Morris, Kuratko & Covin, 2011:11). It is the aggregation of an organisation’s “renewal and venturing efforts” (Chen et al., 2014).
According to Corbett, Covin, O’Connor and Tucci (2013:812), CE “seeks to renew” organisations “thereby facilitating their viability and competitiveness through the utilisation of various innovation-based initiatives”. Sharma and Chrisman (1999:18) have defined CE as “the process whereby an individual or group of individuals, in association with an existing organization, create a new organization or instigate renewal or innovation within that organization”. Dess and Lumpkin (2005:147) offer a similar definition, stating that CE serves the purpose of “creation and pursuit of new venture opportunities and strategic renewal”. The aspect of the phenomenon relating to the creation of new business within an established organisation is referred to as internal CE, while the aspect that relates to the creation and/or growth of business outside the parent organisation (including spin-offs, joint ventures, and venture capital initiatives) is referred to as external CE (Covin & Miles, 2007:183; Zahra, 1991:277).
Furthermore, Kuratko and Hodgetts (2007:55) observe that CE encompasses three main aspects of the phenomenon, namely: (i) strategic renewal, which relates to organisational renewal involving major strategic and/or structural changes; (ii) innovation, which relates to the introduction of something new to the marketplace; and (iii) corporate venturing, which relates to corporate entrepreneurial efforts that lead to the creation of new businesses within the corporate business.
Recent conceptualisations of the phenomenon have in fact further expanded its scope (Corbett et al., 2013). For instance, Morris et al., (2011) and Phan, Wright, Ucbasaran and Tan (2009) suggest that the domain of CE is represented by two categories: corporate venturing and strategic entrepreneurship. CE includes entrepreneurial behaviour and orientation in established organisations (Urbano & Turró (2013).
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
1.1 Introduction
1.2 The entrepreneurship phenomenon
1.3 Corporate entrepreneurship
1.4 Sustainable corporate entrepreneurship .
1.5 Organisational antecedents for CE
1.6 Sustained company performance
1.7 Managers’ entrepreneurial actions for sustainable CE
1.8 External environment and sustainable CE .
1.9 Problem statement and justification for the study
1.10 Research objectives and focus
1.11 Importance/benefits of the study
1.11.1 What is known?
1.11.2 What is not known?
1.12 The hypothesised model for sustainable CE
1.13 Variable measurement .
1.13.1 Independent variable
1.13.2 Dependent variables
1.14 Hypotheses
1.15 Theoretical foundation for the researc
1.16 Statistical techniques used for data analysis
1.17 Outline of the study
1.18 Conclusio
CHAPTER 2: ENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Entrepreneurship definition and history
2.2.1 Operational definition of entrepreneurship
2.3 Entrepreneurs and their roles .
2.4 Approaches for describing entrepreneurship
2.4.1 The entrepreneurial schools-of-thought approach: the micro and macro
views
2.4.2 Process approaches to entrepreneurship .
2.5 Forms of entrepreneurship
2.5.1 Explorative and Exploitative Entrepreneurship
2.6 Entrepreneurship versus management
2.7 Entrepreneurship versus small business management
2.8 Entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation
2.9 The role of entrepreneurship in the economy and society
2.10 Factors affecting entrepreneurship development
CHAPTER 3: CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY AND
HYPOTHESES
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Corporate entrepreneurship definition
3.3 Conceptual models for corporate entrepreneurship
3.3.1 A strategic management perspective model by Guth and Ginsberg
(1990)
3.3.2 A model of predictors and financial outcomes of CE by Zahra (1991) .
3.3.3 Conceptual model of CE by Covin and Slevin (1991)
3.3.4 A revised conceptual model for CE by Zahra (1993b)
3.3.5 Conceptual model of entrepreneurial orientation by Lumpkin and Dess
(1996)
3.3.6 A model of strategic entrepreneurship by Ireland et al. (2003)
3.3.7 A model of sustained corporate entrepreneurship by Kuratko et al.
(2004)
3.3.8 A model of middle-level managers’ entrepreneurial behaviour by Kuratko
et al. (2005b)
3.4 Entrepreneurial orientation and Corporate Entrepreneurship
3.5 Forms of corporate entrepreneurship
3.6 Creativity and innovation in established organisations
3.7 Factors affecting Corporate Entrepreneurship
3.8 Arguments against corporate entrepreneurship .
3.9 Sustainable corporate entrepreneurship
3.10 Organisational antecedents and sustainable CE
3.11 Managers’ entrepreneurial actions for sustainable CE
3.12 External Environment and Sustainable CE …
3.13 Sustained Company Performance
3.14 Theoretical foundation for the research
3.15 Conclusion
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Research question for the study
4.3 Research objectives
4.4 Hypothesised model of sustainable corporate entrepreneurship
4.5 Variable measurement
4.6 Hypotheses teste
4.7 Research design
4.8 Developing the overall sustainable CE measurement instrument
4.9 Pre-testing Measurement Instrument
4.10 Sampling and Sample size
4.11 Data collection
4.12 Data analysis …..
4.13 Conclusion .
CHAPTER 5: MEASUREMENT AND STRUCTURAL MODEL FOR
SUSTAINABLE CORPOPRATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
CHAPTER 6: RESEARCH FINDINGS – NATURE AND FORM OF RESULTS
CHAPTER 7: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION,
RECOMMENDATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTION
REFERENCES
