The Perceived Influences of Managerial Activities on Intrapreneurship: A Case Study at IBM

Abstract: Title: The Perceived Influences of Managerial Activities on Intrapreneurship: A Case Study at IBM Submission Date: 20th of May, 2016 Course: BUSN49: Degree Project, 15 ECTS, Spring 2016 Authors: Laura Reichartz & Lea Weinert Supervisor: Mats Benner Keywords: Intrapreneurship, Innovation, Sense-making, Management Systems Purpose We aim to unravel employees' understanding and perception of the managerial influences on intrapreneurship and which potential barriers they identify among mostly uncontrolled initiatives and formalized programs. From a theoretical perspective, our project aims to gain new insights into how managerial activities impact employees and their intrapreneurial behavior at IBM. Research Questions 1. How do employees understand the influence of formalized activities (ifundIT, Intrapreneurship@IBM, etc.) on intrapreneurship? 2. How do employees understand the influence of open activities (an enabling culture, Connections, etc.) on intrapreneurship? 3. What are the perceived tensions of the intrapreneurship process of IBM? Method A research based on qualitative, hermeneutic methodology. Empirical material was collected with the help of nine interviews at our case company IBM. Interviews of semi-structured nature and aimed to explore the employees understanding and perceptions. Secondary data was collected with the help of literature and company internal data, available on the employees' platform IBMConnections. Findings Participants of this study do not dierentiate between open and formalized activities but rather highlight the importance of the combination of both. We found that intrapreneurs are largely intrinsicilly driven to innovate but also need the support of both an enabling culture and formalized programs that provide, e.g. funding. Participants further mentioned tensions such as a missing link between corporate orientation and actual implementation. Contribution We contribute to intrapreneurship literature by providing a deeper and more holistic picture of how employees are influenced by both open and formalized activities that management may engage in. Our main focus was that intrapreneurs need a combination of both supporting elements, where culture forms the basis and programs need to be ingrained.