Abstract:
Corporate entrepreneurship is recognised as an important business practice as it
develops the entrepreneurial and innovative propensities of organisations. This is
particularly significant as an enabler for organisational strategy to assist
organisations through economic environments that are becoming increasingly
dynamic in the current 21st century corporate setting.
The aim of this study was to identify the existence of corporate entrepreneurship at
an organisational level in the South African emerging market context. The study
tested the perceptions of managers at a junior, middle, senior and executive
management level via a research survey testing entrepreneurial orientation and
corporate innovation. This allowed for the gathering of insights associated with the
entrepreneurial and innovative tendencies of organisations doing business within
South Africa.
The responses of 300 managers employed within organisations across a wide variety
of industries in South Africa were statistically analysed. The results revealed that
corporate entrepreneurship, through its antecedents of entrepreneurial orientation
and corporate innovation, is prevalent in the South African emerging market context.
However, the study also revealed that the extent to which corporate entrepreneurship
is recognised and practised within South Africa is moderated by the dimensional
traits that contribute to entrepreneurial orientation and corporate innovation.
This study was primarily relevant as it explored the arena of corporate
entrepreneurship within the South African emerging market context, in the indicated
absence of substantial research in the field.
