Implementing the Corporate Entrepreneurial Dynamic: The Role of the Information System at the AEF

Abstract

Innovation and globalization are considered as the main two engines of economic performance . Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE), entrepreneurship within existing organizations, is a source of innovation and performance for businesses (Miller, 1997; Guth and Ginsberg, 1990; Hornsby and al., 1993 ; Zahra, 1993; Zahra and Covin, 1995 ; Barrett and Balloun, 2000 ; Antoncic and Hisrich, 2000 ; Ferreira, 2001). While existing conceptual models (Burgelman, 1983; Guth and Ginsberg, 1990; Covin and Slevin, 1991; Lumpkin and Dess, 1996 ; Flyod and Lane, 2000 ; Ferreira, 2001; Antoncic and Hisrich, 2001; Manimala, Jose and Thomas, 2005) broach various aspects of CE, they leave a number of organizational factors unaddressed. Consequently, a new conceptual model is suggested, which adds communication resources and the IT system to the factors already described in Ireland, Kuratko and Morris's (2006) model. These new factors were derived from a review of the literature and from on-site observations. We tested the model by comparing and contrasting the findings expressing in the literature with our on-site observations in AEF (goods and passengers company operating and maintaining the French rail network). So, our research question is: How to implement the CE dynamic within organizations in specific regard to the use of IT systems? The first part of the paper will present a review of the literature focusing on CE models and particularly on Ireland, Kuratko and Morris's model. In the second section, the methodology is outlined and the field study described. The third part of the paper sketches the results of the study and presents a discussion of its findings.