Corporate Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Abstract Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) as a concept has surfaced within the academic literature largely over the last four decades. The purpose of this article is to propose a CE conceptualization scheme that meaningfully reflects the complexity and heterogeneity of current thought on the nature of CE.Two empirical phenomena are herein proposed as constituting the domain of CE – namely, corporate venturing and strategic entrepreneurship. Corporate venturing occurs in three modes: internal corporate venturing, cooperative corporate venturing, and external corporate venturing. Having a clear understanding of the motives for corporate venturing is critical for effective venture management.There are two sets of motives that drive the practice of internal corporate venturing: leveraging (to exploit existing corporate competencies in new product or market arenas) and learning (to acquire new knowledge and skills that may be useful in existing product or market arenas). The forms of strategic entrepreneurship include strategic renewal, sustained regeneration, domain redefinition, organizational rejuvenation, and business model reconstruction.