Corporate entrepreneurship orientation in Botswana : pursuing innovating opportunities

Abstract

This research dissertation presents a study which increases the understanding of how corporate firms in Botswana can develop and enhance entrepreneurial innovations and encourage entrepreneurial activity within their organisational boundaries. By so doing such organisations create an entrepreneurial oriented firm where pursuit for innovating opportunities thrive, thereby increasing their competitiveness as well as performance. This study aims to determine how such organisations culture a dynamic link between the pursuit of innovation and the essence of Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE) Orientation as a conduit to building the entrepreneurial organisation. Existing studies carried out in the area of entrepreneurship in Botswana mirror on the areas of financing entrepreneurial firms and types of ownership. A search conducted on internet sources, University of Botswana data base as well as literature journals revealed no evidence of CE studies in Botswana. Therefore, there exists a literature gap in the area of CE studies on Botswana which this study seeks to bridge. Models established by studies in the area of CE elsewhere are used instrumentally in this study. The study addresses the research problem by examining how existing firms in Botswana represent the concept of an entrepreneurial organisation within the sphere of corporate entrepreneurship. The intention is to identify and seek the knowledge, attitude and belief of the individual’s potential as corporate entrepreneurs, their ability to be innovative and how such innovation is brought to fruition in such settings. The study adopted a cross sectional, formal study approach using primary data sources. It targeted a sample of 100 individuals operating within the sample frame of a corporate organisation in Botswana which employs over 100 employees. A research instrument in form of a questionnaire was used to obtain data. Simple random sampling was employed. The resulting data set was analysed and presented by means of descriptive and quantitative statistics using SAS package software of the University of Pretoria. The study proves the inextricable link between CE orientation and the pursuit of innovation as a conduit to enhancing entrepreneurial activities in companies in Botswana. The findings however show that the level of innovation is affected by the perception of the innovation process comprising opportunity identification, generation and exploitation. The findings of the study helps large corporate companies in Botswana to appreciate and develop entrepreneurial organisations. In such organisations, Corporate Entrepreneurial Orientations are an essential base which leads to the pursuit of innovation within corporate borders. In essence, the corporate entrepreneurial activity inherent within corporate borders raises immunity against complacency and bureaucracy. It affords the organisation the impetus for coping with a variety of simulated strategies and options in the competitive arena in which the organisation finds itself. Breeding entrepreneurial activity within corporate borders also leads the organisation to new and innovative ways of responding to the windows of opportunities that enhances potential for growth as well as contributing to the organisations performance through maximising utilisation of the inherent internal capacities and deriving a strategic fit therefrom.