Intrapreneurship as a competitive advantage to SMEs

Small and Medium enterprises are organizations characterized with creativity and constant innovation. This is due to the fact that they have to constantly re-engineer their products or services in order to remain relevant in the market.However, most of these organizations barely survive the first three years into their establishment and one of the major reasons is due to the fact that they do not have the mechanism to leverage internally generated ideas into products/ services that can be introduced to the market.

Introducing corporate intrapreneurship framework within the structures of SMEs is key not only for the survival purpose but for growth and market share development. It is paramount to note corporate entrepreneurship culture cannot sprout in a day rather it takes time,energy and dedication. This can be attributed to the fact that intrapreneurship calls for a change in mindset on the part both the organization and the employees.

In this article, I will elaborate how SMEs can leverage intrapreneurship from a concept to a source of sustainable competitive advantage;

Open up a dialogue : This will open avenues for people to share their reactions and feedback. You should be prepared for resistance from certain quarters due to previous experiences hence do not hope for 100% buy-ins.

Create a network of believers: tap into the buy-ins and identify individuals who can help in advocating for the ideas.

Take a community approach: give up control and let others run with it. At this point, it is vital to note that the organization must drive the process and take ownership of it. This is mainly due to the fact that you will need resource allocation such as time, human resource and financial resources.

Learn, Unlearn and Relearn: You can only construct a viable intrapreneurship process through constant learning. Do not worry if you don't get it right the first time as constant feedback will be needed at every stage of intrapreneurship.