Contractor or Intrapreneur? What is the difference? Lesson 1

Entrepreneurs are risk takers who have settled on the challenge of creating their own business as a vehicle through which you can take a new product or service on the market. Although not all entrepreneurs are innovators, not a great deal of entrepreneurship is to develop an innovative product or service on the market.

Intrapreneurs have a different mentality. They can perform many acts like entrepreneurs, but they tend to do so without running the risk of personal finance. Intrapreneurs live within established organizations, and while their egos may be affected and even their career prospects may be affected if their intrapreneurial project does not work, they are unlikely to suffer the financial consequences that affect the entrepreneur, when the their company fails. Entrepreneurs lose homes, lose points intrapreneurs career development. However, if the points of career development are critical to you then it may be important.

Yet the world of organizational life requires both entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. Most commentators draw attention to the critical contribution small entrepreneurial firms are the economy and the community. Small businesses make up between 50 and 90% of companies of a nation and are the source of employment for the millions of people. Without the 'entrepreneur', which is driven, and willing to set up an independent joint venture, the world economy would essentially grind to a halt. However, we must also recognize that the larger organizations (which receive an unfair share of media attention) play an important role in providing employment, but also contribute to the development of society. The difficulty with larger organizations is that they find it difficult to capture the creativity of the majority of employees. The difficulty in many small businesses is that they find difficulty in transforming an innovative idea into a business that can survive and thrive.

The important thing for those of us whose work is all by fostering entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship is that we can appreciate the difference and recognize that the economic prosperity of a nation's cities, the region relies on the ability to support both. Larger organizations slowly but surely shrivel up a die if you do not adapt to changing times. And 'intrapreneurs within the organization who make things happen. Governments have a responsibility to create a climate in which entrepreneurs can thrive. Large organizations are responsible for creating the environment in which they can thrive intrapreneurs For this to work in both contexts, governments, regional development agencies and senior management teams of larger organizations who need to know how to create this support and the facilitating environment .......