Conducting a corporate entrepreneurial health audit in South African short term insurance business

Abstract

Corporate entrepreneurship is recognised as a potentially viable means of promoting and sustaining competitiveness and transforming businesses and industries into opportunities for value creating innovation. The purpose of this study was to conduct a corporate entrepreneurial health audit in South African short-term insurance businesses to determine the levels of corporate entrepreneurial and innovative levels in South African short-term insurance businesses and how to address the gaps identified in an attempt to becoming more entrepreneurial. The research is designed as a formal study. The sample size was 1900. Data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire. The data was analysed following various techniques. The study contributes to the empirical studies in the field of corporate entrepreneurship and proves that internationally developed instruments can be applied in a South African context. It was found that South African short-term insurance businesses have a moderate to low entrepreneurial intensity. There are also statistical significant differences between the managers and employees in terms of their perception of corporate entrepreneurial and innovative levels. Gaps were identified that needs to be addressed by means of corporate entrepreneurial development programmes in order to become more entrepreneurial.