Corporate entrepreneurship: teaching managers to be entrepreneurs

In good and bad economic times, innovation is a requisite for companies seeking to remain competitive especially in uncertain and turbulent times. Many organizations are increasingly looking to “corporate entrepreneurship” as a way of combating the lethargy and bureaucracy that often accompany size. But can mangers, who are expected to act like entrepreneurs really be trained to do so? The purpose of this study, then, was to determine whether large companies, through management education and action learning projects, could indeed turn mangers into corporate entrepreneurs. Four large organizations, that had embarked on formalized “corporate entrepreneurship” management development programs formed the basis for this field research. Results indicate that many managers can indeed be trained to act like entrepreneurs and that these actions can result in significant new value creation. However, companies who embark on corporate entrepreneurial development programs also need to be aware of the pitfalls and problems that can happen, when newly trained corporate entrepreneurs re‐enter the organization.