Concepts of Intrapreneurship

 

An Intrapreneurship is the system wherein the principles of entrepreneurship are practiced within the boundaries of the firm. An intrapreneur is a person who takes on the responsibility to innovate new ideas, products and processes or any new invention within the organization.

An intrapreneur is the individual who thinks out of the box and possesses the leadership skills and does not fear from risk. Thus, an intrapreneur possesses the same traits as that of an entrepreneur.

The concept of an Intrapreneurship can be well understood in contrast to entrepreneurship.

1. Intrapreneurship is restorative in nature, i.e. an organization encourages the employees to practice the entrepreneurial principles to counter stagnation within the firm or transform the slow growth of the company into a high-growth. Whereas entrepreneurship is developmental in nature, i.e. an individual creates something that has never existed before, such as a new product, process or a new venture itself.

2. In intrapreneurship, the major challenges that individuals face are from the company’s culture. Sometimes, the corporate relationships and the mindsets of employees act as a hurdle in the path of an intrapreneur. Whereas, in the case of entrepreneurship, the market is the only enemy. An entrepreneur has to scrutinize the market conditions thoroughly to cross the hurdles coming in his way.

3. An intrapreneur has access to a firm's resources such as funds, manufacturing setups, marketing facilities, and other supporting activities to give shape to his dreams. Whereas an entrepreneur has to arrange his own resources such as own funds or the borrowed funds, manufacturing facilities, marketing facilities, etc.

4. An intrapreneur does not have the ownership of a new venture and is not even independent to take decisions, whereas an entrepreneur is the sole sole owner of the new venture established by him. Also, he is independent to take any decisions with respect to his setup.

Thus, an Intrapreneurship is a practice of creating the entrepreneurial environment within the organization, thereby enabling the employees to apply their entrepreneurial skills in the job roles; they are assigned to.

Entrepreneur	Intrapreneur
An entrepreneur is independent in his operations	An intraprenuer is dependent on the entrepreneur i.e. the owner.
An entrepreneur himself raises funds required for the enterprise.	The Intrapreneur does not raise funds.
Entrepreneurs bear the risk involved in the business.	An intrapreneur does not fully bear the risk involved in the enterprise.
An entrepreneur operates from outside.	On the contrary,an intrapreneur operates from within the organization itself.
An entrepreneur begins his business with a newly set up enterprise.	An intrapreneur sets up his enterprise after working for someone else’s organization.
As an entrepreneur establishes a new business, he does not possess any experience over the business.	An intrapreneur establishes his business after gathering experiences through working in the other organization.
Entrepreneurs may find it difficult to get resources	Intrapreneurs have their resources readily available to them.
Entrepreneurs are found anywhere their vision takes them.	Intrapreneurs work within the confines of an organization.
Entrepreneurs know the business on a macro scale.	Intrapreneurs are highly skilled and specialized.