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A health audit for corporate entrepreneurship: innovation at all levels: part II

R. Duane Ireland (Holds the Foreman R. and Ruby S. Bennett Chair in Business in the Mays Business School, Texas A&M University. He also serves as Department Head of the School's Management Department. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Management and has received numerous awards for his research and teaching.)
Donald F. Kuratko (Jack M. Gill Chair of Entrepreneurship; Professor of Entrepreneurship and Executive Director of the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation; The Kelley School of Business, Indiana University – Bloomington. He has authored over 150 articles and 22 books on entrepreneurship and corporate entrepreneurship.)
Michael H. Morris (Holds the Witting Chair in Entrepreneurship at Syracuse University and serves as Chairman of the Department of Entrepreneurship. He has published four books and over 100 articles in academic journals. He received the Appel Prize for contributions to entrepreneurship and is a former Fulbright Scholar.)

Journal of Business Strategy

ISSN: 0275-6668

Publication date: 1 March 2006

Abstract

Purpose

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The purpose of this article is to introduce and discuss the “Entrepreneurial Health Audit”. This organizational tool is used to assess a firm's entrepreneurial intensity, diagnose organizational characteristics low in entrepreneurial intensity, and to create an understanding of the processes needed to foster a corporate entrepreneurship strategy as a means of improving organizational performance. This article is part two or a two‐part series.

Design/methodology/approach

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Based on the existing literature, case studies, and the authors' own research and experiences with a diverse mix of companies, the paper develops a three‐stage “Entrepreneurial Health Audit.” Top‐level managers can use this tool to determine their firm's ability to act entrepreneurially at a point in time.

Findings

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The paper describes how managers assess and improve their firm's entrepreneurial health. In the first stage, the “Entrepreneurial Intensity” instrument is used to measure the degree and frequency of entrepreneurship occurring within the firm. In the second stage, the “Corporate Entrepreneurship Climate Instrument” is used to identify why the firm has developed its current level of entrepreneurial intensity. Finally, the third stage of the “Entrepreneurial Health Audit” fosters commitment to a work environment supporting entrepreneurial behavior, thereby enhancing the degree and frequency of corporate entrepreneurship within the firm.

Research limitations/implications

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The paper raises a number of questions regarding how organizations stimulate entrepreneurial behavior and undertake organizational changes to facilitate these actions. It provides a tool top‐level managers can use across time continuously to increase their firm's ability to be entrepreneurial.

Practical implications

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The paper demonstrates to managers how to approach the concept of entrepreneurship within an established organization, including how to diagnose characteristics constraining the firm's entrepreneurial potential and how to build commitment encouraging entrepreneurial behaviors.

Originality/value

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The paper fills an existing void between researchers and practitioners in terms of how firms can take steps to transform their current entrepreneurial potential into the “ideal” characteristics studied in entrepreneurship research. It offers a unique organizational tool to use to assess an individual firm's potential to be entrepreneurial.

Keywords

Citation

Duane Ireland, R., Kuratko, D.F. and Morris, M.H. (2006), "A health audit for corporate entrepreneurship: innovation at all levels: part II", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 21-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/02756660610650019

Download as .RIS

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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