MY VIEW ON INTRAPRENEURSHIP.

Hey Blogger Buddies! How has your week been? I'm always happy to share my acquired knowledge with you, and this week is no exception. I hope you've been enjoying my blog? During the week (on Tuesday to be precise), we learnt about individual(s) called intrapreneurs. They are involved in corporate entrepreneurship.
Corporate entrepreneurship (intrapreneurship) is a process whereby individual(s) in an organisation, without been instructed to do so, create new ideas or inventions geared towards improving the status quo of the organization and of themselves, and to make profit.

GREAT INTRAPRENEURS

                                                                                            

 
                                                                                                      

I.    Digital light processing technology.  

       Intrapreneur: Larry Hornbeck,

       Company: Texas Instruments (TI)
       Year Launched: 1996
 

  Larry Hornbeck and his team worked in TI using tiny mirrors to redirect photons, and in the process invented the Digital Micro mirror Device (DMD) in 1987. The device was initially used to print out airline tickets however the government’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency made a research in high definition video and awarded TI and other manufacturers a multi-million dollar contract to work on the issue. With Hornbeck leading the group, TI executives started an internal venture called, Imaging Venture Project. Hornbeck discovered that DMD technology could actually reduce the size and cost of the video projectors, which were at that time weighing 40 to 50 pounds and cost $15,000 to $18,000. Soon the digital light processor became popular and helped in changing the movie theatre business, and allowed Texas Instruments to compete in HDTV market. Hornbeck was given an award for outstanding achievement in engineering development in 1998. (Jake)

II.    “Post-it” notes.

Intrapreneur: Spencer Silver and Art Frey
Company: 3M
Year Launched: 1980
The ‘bottlelegging’ policy allows employees to use some of their office time to be innovative and this was how Spencer, a 3M scientist, was able to invent the ‘Post-it’ in 1968. At first, he was not sure of how to use it, and only gave seminars on the advantages of his idea (the adhesive) to his co-workers. After five years, his colleague, Art Frey noticed that his bookmarks were always falling from his hymn book during choir practice he then recalled Spencer’s seminars, hence the post-it was conceived and is now widely used in homes and offices. (Jake)  

If you still cannot distinguish between entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, then the points below might be of help to you: 

a)    Entrepreneurship involves one individual creating ideas and working on them, while Intrapreneurship may involve more than one individual’s innovation.
b)    The entrepreneuer does not collaborate with any organisation, while intrapreneurship is done in collaboration with the established organization where the innovator(s) work.
c)    In entrepreneurship, the profit made is solely owned by the entrepreneur, while in intrapreneurship, the profit is jointly owned by the individual(s) and the organization.
d)    Entrepreneurs make their own decisions, while in intrapreneurship the innovator(s) have to seek the opinion of the management before implementing their idea.
e)    In entrepreneurship, the individual sponsors his/her business, while in intrapreneurship, the proposed plan is sponsored by the company.
f)    An individual may have to leave his/her current work place to become an entrepreneur, however, an employee(s) does not have to leave his/her current work place in order to be an intrapreneur; unless the proposed plan is not agreed with by the organization, in which case he/she may decide to set up his/her own business and thus becomes an entrepreneur