Intrapreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur, but as an employee within a large organization. An intrapreneur is an employee who thinks and acts as an entrepreneur within a section of the organization. The intrapreneur is independent, proactive, creative, and generates new ideas and innovations to the organization.
Hence, the intrapreneur takes direct responsibility and risks for turning a project or idea into a profitable finished product for the organization. The intrapreneur thinks like an entrepreneur looking for business opportunities to increase profits. It is in the best interest of an organization to encourage intrapreneurship.
An example would be a project manager of a large company who is given the authority to exercise independent entrepreneurial initiatives to develop and launch a new product for the organization, or to lead a subsidiary of the organization.
Companies such as 3M and Google are well known for promoting entrepreneurs and intrapreneurship. These companies encourage and supply resources for intrapreneurs to create and oversee projects of their own choice.
In conclusions, intrapreneurs are innovative employees of an organization who take medium risks being accountable to the owner of the business or the Board of Directors (BOD). They are rewarded with salary and additional remuneration depending on the success or failure of their projects. In case they are not successful, their failure is absorbed by the large organization they work for.
