Increasing organisational performance through entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship and organisational performance. There is a growing amount of evidence to show that entrepreneurial qualities can boost the performance of any organisation or service, which has given rise to the idea of the intrapreneur or an individual with entrepreneurial attributes who is employed and embedded in an organisation, rather than running their own business. As a result an increasing amount of research effort is focusing on exactly what it is that makes a difference for organisations….

• Entrepreneurship
• Entrepreneurship attributes 
• The three dimensions of entrepreneurship
  • Entrepreneurial orientation
  • Entrepreneurial competencies
  • Entrepreneurial leadership
• Entrepreneurial leadership does not increase performance
• A lack of entrepreneurial leadership
• Conclusion
• Reference

Entrepreneurship

Essentially, entrepreneurship is the process of creating value from, often hidden, opportunities. This value can be in any form and is essentially seen as an innovative and creative process. In market oriented organisations entrepreneurial behaviours are the critical success factors that develop an organisation’s competitive advantage.

Entrepreneurship attributes 

Recent research has found that entrepreneurship comprises more than a single dimension of attributes. Indeed, the current thinking is that there are three distinct dimensions which, when brought together, create the ideal foundation for entrepreneurial activities.

The three dimensions of entrepreneurship

1. Entrepreneurial orientation which is made up of
   1. innovation
   2. proactive orientation
   3. risk-taking
2. Entrepreneurial competencies which include:
   1. sporting opportunities
   2. creativity
   3. vision
   4. valuing ideas
   5. ethical and sustainable thinking
   6. self-awareness
   7. self efficacy
   8. motivation perseverance
   9. mobilising resources
   10. financial and economic literacy
   11. mobilising others
   12. taking the initiative
   13. planning and management
   14. dealing with uncertainty, ambiguity and risk
   15. working with others
   16. learning through experience.
3. Entrepreneurial leadership. Entrepreneurial leadership has many of the attributes of transformational leadership however it also includes high levels of innovation and creativity. Entrepreneurial leadership has two dimensions:
   1. creative
   2. operational

This triad has been found to underpin the most successful entrepreneurial endeavours.

Entrepreneurial leadership does not increase performance

The study found that entrepreneurial leadership can only contribute to an organisation’s performance if both an entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial competencies exist within the organisation. In other words, entrepreneurial leadership on its own does not enhance an organisation’s performance and requires the presence of an entrepreneurial orientation within the organisation which includes:

1. competitiveness
2. creativity and innovation
3. an orientation towards risk-taking and experimentation
4. a preference for autonomy.

Secondly, entrepreneurial leadership can only increase an organisational performance if the organisation contains people with entrepreneurial competencies, as well as an entrepreneurial orientation.

A lack of entrepreneurial leadership

The study also discovered that, where individuals within an organisation have an entrepreneurship orientation and entrepreneurial competencies, but there is a lack of entrepreneurial leadership or transformational leadership, then it is highly unlikely that the two elements of entrepreneurial orientation and competencies increase an organisation’s performance on their own.

Conclusion

This useful study highlights the need for all three dimensions of the entrepreneurship triad to exist within the organisation before entrepreneurial behaviours can increase an organisation’s performance.

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