Characteristics of Intrapreneurs in Scale-Intensive Service Firms

• Authors: Hydle Katja Maria , Aas Tor Helge , Breunig Karl Joachim
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This empirical paper explores the work of employees in charge of service innovation when firms develop and launch new scale-intensive services by addressing two re- search questions: i) How do employees responsible for service innovation work? and ii) what are the related managerial implications when developing and launching new scale-intensive services? To this end, 21 qualitative, in-depth interviews were con- ducted with employees in five large scale-intensive service firms. The findings suggest that the involvement of internal professionals is an asset when new scale-intensive services are developed, and that internal professionals act as intrapreneurs when they are involved in the development of radically new scale-intensive services. This paper integrates understanding from the innovation management literature with knowledge of professionals from extant literature on professional service firms since we find that professionals in scale-intensive firms act as intrapreneurs. Thus, this pa- per extends the theory on determinants of innovation in scale-intensive service firms, blending insights from both findings and theory.

Keywords

EN

innovation management; service innovation; scale-intensive services; intrapreneurship

• Publisher: Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedze i Naukę "Cognitione" / Wyższa Szkoła Biznesu – National-Louis University
• Journal: Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 89-118

Contributors

author

Hydle Katja Maria

• Senior research scientist at the International Research Institute of Stavanger

author

Aas Tor Helge

• Associate Professor at Department of Management, School of Business and Law, University of Agder, Norway

author

Breunig Karl Joachim

• Associate Professor at the School of Business, Oslo and Akershus University College