Designing and sustaining an entrepreneurial role for the human resource function: strategic choice or competitive conditions? Evidence from engineering process plant contracting

Abstract

This paper provides a case study of a previously unresearched industry, Engineering Process Plant Contracting, it examines how a project management firm responded to heightened competitive pressures through a process of entrepreneurial innovation. A key component in this focused on the corporate human resource function as a full business partner in project management and its contribution to the “bottom line”, a clear recognition of its positive strategic significance. The evidence suggests that prevailing competitive conditions determine the nature and direction of HRM’s strategic integration with a firms entrepreneurial goals. Where cost reduction strategies prevail the function is likely to institutionalize entrepreneurial goals determined elsewhere. Where cost containment and the reduction of internal inefficiencies prevail a more positive integration between the function and the firms entrepreneurial goals is necessary.

Citation

Clark, I. (1998), "Designing and sustaining an entrepreneurial role for the human resource function: strategic choice or competitive conditions? Evidence from engineering process plant contracting", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 51-70. https://doi.org/10.1108/13552559810203984