What is Intrapreneurship? – Difference, Features and Examples of Intrapreneurs

By
Amitabh Shukla
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Entrepreneurship is the practice of embarking on a new business or reviving an existing business by pooling together a bunch of resources, to exploit newfound opportunities.

Intrapreneurship
What is Intrapreneurship?: Intrapreneurship is the practice of entrepreneurship by employees within an organization.

Difference between an entrepreneur and an intrapreneur

An entrepreneur takes a substantial risk in being the owner and operator of a business with expectations of financial profit and other rewards that the business may generate. On the contrary, an intrapreneur is an individual employed by an organization for remuneration, which is based on the financial success of the unit he is responsible for. Intrapreneurs share the same traits as entrepreneurs, such as conviction, zeal, and insight. As the intrapreneur continues to express his ideas vigorously, it will reveal the gap between the philosophy of the organization and the employee. If the organization supports him in pursuing his ideas, he succeeds. If not, he is likely to leave the organization and set up his own business.

Intrapreneurship vs Entrepreneurship Difference

Factors Intrapreneurship Entrepreneurship
Definition Intrapreneur is an entrepreneur who takes responsibility of building an idea into finished and profitable product with support from his employer. Entrepreneur is a person who sets up a business to make profit and is responsible for all risks involved in the process.
Dependence Dependent on employer Works Independently
Resources Is dependent on employer for resources Needs to mobilize the resources on his own from fundraising to hiring, planning, launching and marketing.
Funds Completely financed by the employer Needs to raise funds on his in the form of loans, from investors, family or friends
Work Primarily involved in top level tasks and has an access to large pool of people for execution of tasks from beginning Has to take care of all type of tasks
Decision making Collaborative decision Free to take decisions
Risks Medium to no risks Entrepreneurship is closely linked to risk-taking. Top risks Entrepreneurs face are career, mental health, personal finances, family etc.
End Notes Medium to low risks, low rewards Winner takes all

Example of entrepreneurship

A classic case of an entrepreneur is that of the founders of Adobe, John Warnock, and Charles Geschke. They both were employees of Xerox. As employees of Xerox, they were frustrated because their new product ideas were not encouraged. They quit Xerox in the early 1980s to begin their own business. Currently, Adobe has an annual turnover of over $3 billion.

Features of Intrapreneurship

Entrepreneurship involves innovation, the ability to take risk and creativity. An entrepreneur will be able to look at things in novel ways. He will have the capacity to take a calculated risk and to accept failure as a learning point. An intrapreneur thinks like an entrepreneur looking out for opportunities, which profit the organization. Intrapreneurship is a novel way of making organizations more profitable where imaginative employees entertain entrepreneurial thoughts. It is in the interest of an organization to encourage intrapreneurs. Intrapreneurship is a significant method for companies to reinvent themselves and improve performance.

In a recent study, researchers compared the elements related to entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial activity. The study found that among the 32,000 subjects who participated in it, five percent were engaged in the initial stages of a business startup, either on their own or within an organization. The study also found that human capital, such as education and experience, is connected more with entrepreneurship than with intrapreneurship. Another observation was that intrapreneurial startups were inclined to concentrate more on business-to-business products, while entrepreneurial startups were inclined towards consumer sales.

Another critical factor that led to the choice between entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship was age. The study found that people who launched their own companies were in their 30s and 40s. People from older and younger age groups were risk-averse or felt they have no opportunities, which makes them the ideal candidates if an organization is on the lookout for employees with new ideas that can be pursued.

Entrepreneurship appeals to people who possess natural traits that find startups arousing their interest. Intrapreneurs appear to be those who generally would not like to get entangled in startups but are tempted to do so for several reasons. Managers would do well to take employees who do not appear entrepreneurial but can turn out to be good intrapreneurial choices.

Examples of Intrapreneurs

A lot of companies are known for their efforts towards nurturing their in-house talents to promote innovation. The prominent among them is “Skunk Works” group at Lockheed Martin. This group formed in 1943 to build P-80 fighter jets. Kelly Johnson was the director of the project, a person who gave “14 rules of intrapreneurship”.

At “3M” employees could spend their 15% time working on the projects they like for the betterment of the company. On the initial success of the project, 3M even funds it for further development.

Genesis Grant is another 3M intrapreneurial program that finances projects that might not end up getting funds through normal channels. Genesis Grant offers $85,000 to these innovators to carry forward their projects.

Robbie Bach, J Allard and team’s XBOX might not have been feasible without Microsoft’s money and infrastructure. The project required 100s of millions and quality talent to make the product.

Patrick Naughton was almost about to leave Sun Microsystem in 1995. He was going due to the apathy of the company towards the PC consumer market. He stayed back after management allowed him to create and head a team dedicated to creating a product. His team later was responsible for creating Java, which now runs over 3 billion mobile phones.

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42 COMMENTS

  1. Keep your good work on,i appretiat your articles there very good.am a studen t of business studies and ur help is needed any business related topic send to my email. Thanks bye

  2. Very kind of you. It has cleared all my doubts about entrepreneurship. Keep the spirit of sahring on your finger tips to build the world.
    Many thanks.

  4. it is quite a suprise cos ur work is good
    and it has helped mi in different fields
    of mi study am at st lawrence university uganda
    thanks
    yours the best
    KIZITO IVAN

  5. Thanks so much, there is always this confusion between these elements.People confuse an entrepreneur for and intrapreneur going through this i can see clearly the difference between this two. Keep the good work God Bless.

  7. Your article was very good and informative. I am little confused with this

    Example of intrapreneurship: A classic case of intrapreneurs is that of the founders of Adobe, John Warnock and Charles Geschke. They both were employees of Xerox. As employees of Xerox, they were frustrated because their new product ideas were not encouraged. They quit Xerox in the early 1980s to begin their own business. Currently, Adobe has an annual turnover of over $3 billion.

    Is it not Example of Entrepreneurship rather than Intrapreneurship.

    • This is showing the difference between an intrapreneur and entrepreneur, & how an intrapreneur becomes an entrepreneur.

  9. hey,thanks for your information about intraprenuership.it helps me a lot.if any other information regading entrepreneur send it to me on my email id

  13. thanks so much,am to be converted to academic staff in my institution.yaba college of technology.pls you can be sending related topic to me.i belief it will help me greatly in my work.

  14. Very useful info kept.. but would like u to put an indian company which has carried out intraprunership … for an example….

  15. Being a new student of entrepreneurial studies i truly appreciate your article on the differences between entr.. and intra….Keep posting more articles they realty are enlightened.

  16. Thank u thank u!…dis is an incredible information!wow!!..am contended!..send more of the topic to my mail..thanks! From novena university!

  21. thanks i ws so confuse b4 nw i well know that what is diff b/w both,i m student of business in pakistan.Lord kirshna bless u.

  25. i love your submissions to this topic, am a business administration student, pls i will appreciate it if u can keep me updated in any bus admin elated topics in my inbox or fb. thank you

  27. A good article at that. They are very helpful particularly in researching. I authored a book on Small Buziness Management few years ago and preparing for the review.
    Certainly I have found this page of yours very useful.
    My mail is open for more of this and any other useful tips.

    Regards

  28. Sir, i loved ur publication. Going by ur aticle sir, ” No Entrepreneur no Intrapreneur” that is to say one depend the other. Thank u.

  29. I am pursuing masters in Business administration at KIU-Uganda.As i was preparing for my exam, i landed on your article which has equipped me with more knowledge in the topic. thanks

  30. Please clarify this statement: Another important factor that led to the choice between entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship was age. The study found that people who launched their own companies were in their 30s and 40s. People from older and younger age groups were risk averse or felt they have no opportunities, which makes them the ideal candidates if an organization is on the look out for employees with new ideas that can be pursued.

    Are you saying that the 30s-40s age group category make better intrapreneurs?

  32. Thanks soooo much!!!! Now i understand about intrapreneurship and all that mumbo jumbo!! got me all frustrated at first!
    Really helped me out!!
    :)) Keep it up

  34. I am a student of masters in Business Administration.i was preparing to present a seminar to my fellow beings…your article has helped me in solving their queries ..thank you

  35. How greatful the article is. it has greatly exposed me to the meaning &differences btn entrepreneur and intrapreneur. Could u please update me with further related articles through ma mail. I am a student of PGD in Community Development -TICD Arusha TZ

  38. I was always confused between these two things BUT after your seeing your article I’m very happy .This information is very useful to me .

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