Enabling Employee Entrepreneurship in Large Technology Firms

Managers of large technology firms are routinely expected to improve the performance of their development projects. This expectation arises because of the need for firm competitiveness and because externalization of technology development through outsourcing and acquisition is an alternative to internal product projects (Granstrand and Sjölander, 1990; tinyurl.com/mhtrv77). Improvements can take the form of increased revenue from project outcomes, reduced project development costs, or reduced time to market. Entrepreneurial orientation describes the extent to which a firm is able to capture new value in the marketplace beyond its existing products, services, and customers (Covin and Slevin, 1989: tinyurl.com/6drqgjk; Lumpkin and Dess, 1996: tinyurl.com/qxsxa57; Miller, 1983: tinyurl.com/cus88fa; Schillo, 2011: timreview.ca/article/497). Can increasing the entrepreneurial orientation of the project development organization within a firm provide the required improvement in development project performance? How can managers in large technology firms apply the concept of entrepreneurial orientation to improve their project development performance? And Managers of development projects in large technology firms face a dilemma. They operate under pressure to achieve predictable quality, cost, and schedule objectives but are also expected to encourage their employees to act entrepreneurially. Given the uncertain nature of the entrepreneurial process, these managers often cling to existing practices and values and consequently inhibit their employees’ ability to act entrepreneurially.