Properties of balance: A pendulum effect in corporate entrepreneurship

Organizations tend to evolve in ways that are inherently resistant to entrepreneurship. Yet, entrepreneurship is instrumental for ensuring the long-term sustainability of any enterprise. The key to maintaining relatively high levels of entrepreneurship within a company lies in understanding the basic nature of the entrepreneurial experience, recognizing the inherent entrepreneurial potential of all employees, and creating work climates that allow employees to act on that potential. Five primary design elements are identified for facilitating such climates. Underlying these design elements is a set of seemingly conflicting properties. The challenge to companies is to achieve a balance between these properties whereby they are allowed to co-exist. Approaches to implementing this balance are addressed herein. (C) 2009 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. All rights reserved.