Orchestrating Radical Innovation Through Corporate Entrepreneurship: What About the Little Ones?

In spite of a growing body of knowledge on corporate entrepreneurship as well as radical innovation, there is still a lack of knowledge on how entrepreneurial behavior and its effect on radical innovation relate to smaller organizations. Smaller organizations bear particular characteristics which differ from those of larger organizations, and such differences can be expected to have an influence on the use of corporate entrepreneurship and the creation of radical innovation. In the paper the central problem will be the clarification of the role that corporate entrepreneurship plays in the development and exploitation of radical innovations in established small organizations using the dimensions of innovativeness, pro-activeness, risk-taking, autonomy and competitive aggressiveness. Through the case studies it is illustrated how several of the characteristics connected with small firms entail significant reasons to make use of corporate entrepreneurship in radical innovation processes. Proactivity, risk-taking and autonomy were in particular significant elements of the approach applied by the case firms to orchestrate radical innovation processes.