Factors that promote corporate entrepreneurship within the First Rand Bank

Abstract

The environment in which a business operates is not static. Intensifying global competition and rapid technological progress put pressure on business to change. Better quality and service are no longer enough to give a competitive advantage. This can be achieved by entrepreneurial organisations. Through corporate entrepreneurship, an organisation can improve its competitive standing. This research aims to identify the factors that promote corporate entrepreneurship in First Rand Bank. The Corporate Entrepreneurship Assessment Instrument (CEAI) developed by Hornsby, Kuratko and Zahra (2002) was used to measure corporate entrepreneurship (CE). The instrument contains 48 Likert-style questions that were believed to assess a firm’s internal entrepreneurial environment. Data were gathered from 186 respondents representing the three divisions of a large bank.The results showed that although corporate entrepreneurship exists in First Rand Bank, it is not supported by a clear strategy. Employees do not have time to engage meaningfully in CE. New and young employees in particular do not believe CE is promoted to the same extent as those employees that have been in the organisation longer.