New business initiatives in a corporate context

Scaling new business initiatives, as a part of a Corporate Entrepreneurial effort, in order to thrive and survive, is diffi cult in practice. Exploring the literature domain of Corporate Entrepreneurship – the process whereby an individual or a group of individuals, in association with an existing organization, create a new organization or instigate renewal or innovation within that organization’ (Sharma & Chrisman, 1999) – and the process a new business initiative goes through, several process models are found and – in this research - are converted to an integrative model with a three-step approach: Discovery, Incubation, Acceleration. Prior research shows various antecedents known to infl uence CE as an outcome which can be structured in three main groups: structure, context and leadership. Each have several underlying determinants. Summarizing the structural antecedents, we have identifi ed organizational structure (differentiation, contextual or dual purpose), an entrepreneurial climate (use of rewards, comprehensive metrics and friendly management processes) and emphasized the role of support (top management- and organizational support). The most important factors found within the contextual theme are strategic management (scanning, opportunity recognition, uncertainty absorption), fl exibility (to change strategic planning) and team orientation (employee involvement). Lastly, the role of leadership, transformational leadership and vision is elaborated. Although we know that these antecedents infl uence the process of scaling new business, based on prior research we do not know when in the process they are most relevant. Our empirical study among two cases in a corporate organization, active in a hostile market, shows that various structure, context and leadership antecedents have played a role in the process to scaling new business. Structural determinants that have been found are structural differentiation, support and entrepreneurial climate. Contextual determinants are respectively market orientation, strategy & milestones and adaptability & responsibility. Last, leadership related determinants found are strategic vision, focus / risk-taking and change management & communication. We contributed to the fi eld of Corporate Entrepreneurship by presenting a tentative model that shows the importance of these antecedents and underlying determinants linked to the separate phases in the process of scaling a new business initiative in a corporate context. Finally, we conclude that the end-to-end process requires a systemic view. This means that there is no single ‘shortcut’ or ‘golden method’ that is going to ‘fast-forward’ a companies’ efforts, but an integrative approach, with a proper alignment of the management and organizational factors structure, context and leadership, with the right emphasis on these three components, at the right time in the process is the way to increase chances on making it work.