Title: Conjuring the entrepreneurial spirit in small and medium-sized enterprises: the influence of management on corporate entrepreneurship

Authors: Ralf Schmelter, Rene Mauer, Andreas Engelen, Malte Brettel

Addresses: RWTH Aachen University, WIN Chair, Templergraben 64, 52062 Aachen, Germany. ' RWTH Aachen University, WIN Chair, Templergraben 64, 52062 Aachen, Germany. ' RWTH Aachen University, WIN Chair, Templergraben 64, 52062 Aachen, Germany. ' RWTH Aachen University, WIN Chair, Templergraben 64, 52062 Aachen, Germany

Abstract: Corporate entrepreneurship is central to the ability of companies to remain competitive. Our study analyses the impact of management on corporate entrepreneurship. While some insights on managerial and organisational drivers of corporate entrepreneurship are provided in the literature, there is no integrative study that incorporates a comprehensive set of relevant antecedents. We analysed a cross-sectional data set of 214 German small and medium-sized enterprises in terms of their different management functions and their interrelationship to corporate entrepreneurship and found relevant drivers in almost all management functions. Some of our findings question earlier surveys – such as with regard to organisational functions – which lead to some interesting suggestions for further research. Overall findings suggest that managers have a set of levers with which to encourage corporate entrepreneurship, to strengthen their position in the market and to improve company performance.

Keywords: corporate entrepreneurship; management; entrepreneurial activity; entrepreneurial orientation; German SMEs; small and medium-sized enterprises; international venturing; entrepreneurial venturing; Germany.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEV.2010.034820

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 2010 Vol.2 No.2, pp.159 - 184

Received: 05 Mar 2009
Accepted: 03 Dec 2009
Published online: 23 Aug 2010 *

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