Corporate entrepreneurship at an organisational level in the South African emerging market context

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.