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Corporate entrepreneurship as knowledge creation and conversion: the role of entrepreneurial hubs

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  • Shaker Zahra

Abstract

Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) is an important means for inducing innovation, revitalizing organizations, and enhancing productivity. It is also the source of new knowledge that allows companies to create capabilities to enter new markets and achieve growth. This article highlights key findings from a 25-year-long stream of research, conducted in several countries, that shows how CE creates knowledge and the variety of knowledge that emerges from different CE activities. It also explains the role of entrepreneurial hubs in capturing, accumulating, converting and translating, and integrating this knowledge, enabling companies to build new revenue streams. The role of these hubs is pervasive, calling for engaged management and creativity in building linkages within and across the different units of an organization. Knowledge, the foundation of competitive superiority, is clearly one of the most important products of CE in today’s dynamic global markets. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

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  • Shaker Zahra, 2015. "Corporate entrepreneurship as knowledge creation and conversion: the role of entrepreneurial hubs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 727-735, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:44:y:2015:i:4:p:727-735
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-015-9650-4
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    9. Shaker A. Zahra & Anders P. Nielsen & William C. Bogner, 1999. "Corporate Entrepreneurship, Knowledge, and Competence Development," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 23(3), pages 169-189, April.
    10. Zahra, Shaker A., 1993. "Environment, corporate entrepreneurship, and financial performance: A taxonomic approach," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 319-340, July.
    11. Zahra, Shaker A., 1991. "Predictors and financial outcomes of corporate entrepreneurship: An exploratory study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 259-285, July.
    12. Volker Mahnke & Markus Venzin & Shaker A. Zahra, 2007. "Governing Entrepreneurial Opportunity Recognition in MNEs: Aligning Interests and Cognition Under Uncertainty," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(7), pages 1278-1298, November.
    13. Zahra, Shaker A. & Covin, Jeffrey G., 1995. "Contextual influences on the corporate entrepreneurship-performance relationship: A longitudinal analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 43-58, January.
    14. Shaker A. Zahra & Harry J. Sapienza & Per Davidsson, 2006. "Entrepreneurship and Dynamic Capabilities: A Review, Model and Research Agenda," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 917-955, June.
    15. S. A. Zahra & K. Randerson & A. Fayolle, 2013. "Corporate Entrepreneurship: Where are we? Where can we go from here?," Post-Print halshs-01061372, HAL.
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    3. Pontus Braunerhjelm & Martin Andersson & Johan Eklund, 2022. "Pioneering Entrepreneurship Research: How, by Whom, and When," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 18(2), pages 75-158, March.
    4. Manuel Castriotta & Michela Loi & Elona Marku & Ludovica Moi, 2021. "Disentangling the corporate entrepreneurship construct: conceptualizing through co-words," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(4), pages 2821-2863, April.
    5. Amann, Marie & Granström, Gabriel & Frishammar, Johan & Elfsberg, Jenny, 2022. "Mitigating not-invented-here and not-sold-here problems: The role of corporate innovation hubs," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    6. Águeda Gil-López & Unai Arzubiaga & Elena San Román & Alfredo Massis, 2022. "The Visible Hand of corporate entrepreneurship in state-owned enterprises: a longitudinal study of the Spanish National Postal Operator," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 1033-1071, September.
    7. Cayetano Medina Molina & Domingo Ribeiro Soriano & Cristina Blanco González-Tejero, 2023. "Multi-level corporate entrepreneurship in SMEs: an intra-metropolitan analysis," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(7), pages 2185-2213, October.
    8. David, Audretsch & Donald, Kuratko & Albert, Link, 2015. "Making Sense of the Elusive Paradigm of Entrepreneurship," UNCG Economics Working Papers 15-4, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics.
    9. Runping Guo & Xingqun Lv & Yuan Wang & Peggy E. Chaudhry & Sohail S. Chaudhry, 2020. "Decision‐making logics and high‐tech entrepreneurial opportunity identification: The mediating role of strategic knowledge integration," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 719-733, July.
    10. Colin Donaldson, 2021. "Culture in the entrepreneurial ecosystem: a conceptual framing," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 289-319, March.
    11. Janice Byrne & Frédéric Delmar & Alain Fayolle & Wadid Lamine, 2016. "Training corporate entrepreneurs: an action learning approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 479-506, August.
    12. Randa El Bedawy, 2018. "Supportive Drivers of Organizational Knowledge Management: A Case Study from Egypt," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(6), pages 183-183, April.
    13. Mohammad Zarei, 2017. "Entrepreneurial Tournaments: Towards Disclosing the Rivalry Process Among Corporate Entrepreneurs," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 13(2), pages 33-57.
    14. Khaled Saleh Al Omoush & Raed M. Al-Qirem & Zaid M. Al Hawatmah, 2018. "The degree of e-business entrepreneurship and long-term sustainability: an institutional perspective," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 29-56, February.
    15. Kamal Sakhdari & J. Henri Burgers, 2018. "The moderating role of entrepreneurial management in the relationship between absorptive capacity and corporate entrepreneurship: an attention-based view," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 927-950, December.
    16. Wissal Ben Arfi & Lubica Hikkerova, 2021. "Corporate entrepreneurship, product innovation, and knowledge conversion: the role of digital platforms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1191-1204, February.
    17. Yu-Sheng Kao & Kazumitsu Nawata & Chi-Yo Huang, 2019. "Systemic Functions Evaluation based Technological Innovation System for the Sustainability of IoT in the Manufacturing Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-34, April.
    18. Covin, Jeffrey G. & Garrett, Robert P. & Kuratko, Donald F. & Shepherd, Dean A., 2020. "Short leash or long leash? Parenting style, initial strategic clarity, and the development of venture learning proficiency," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(4).
    19. Maame Afua Boatemaa & Kwaku Oppong Asante & Collins Badu Agyemang, 2019. "The Moderating Role of Psychological Flexibility in the Relationship Between Organizational Commitment, Workaholism, Job Security, and Corporate Entrepreneurship Among Information Technology Workers i," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(3), pages 21582440198, August.
    20. Khaled Saleh Al Omoush & Raed M. Al-Qirem & Zaid M. Al Hawatmah, 0. "The degree of e-business entrepreneurship and long-term sustainability: an institutional perspective," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-28.
    21. Patrick M. Kreiser & Donald F. Kuratko & Jeffrey G. Covin & R. Duane Ireland & Jeffrey S. Hornsby, 2021. "Corporate entrepreneurship strategy: extending our knowledge boundaries through configuration theory," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 739-758, February.
    22. Brian J. Bergman & Jeffery S. McMullen, 2022. "Helping Entrepreneurs Help Themselves: A Review and Relational Research Agenda on Entrepreneurial Support Organizations," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(3), pages 688-728, May.
    23. Vanacker, Tom & Zahra, Shaker A. & Holmes, R. Michael, 2021. "Corporate entrepreneurship, country institutions and firm financial performance," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(3).
    24. Maria Urbaniec & Agnieszka Żur, 2021. "Business model innovation in corporate entrepreneurship: exploratory insights from corporate accelerators," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 865-888, June.
    25. David Audretsch, 2015. "Shaker A. Zahra: pioneering entrepreneurship scholar," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 721-725, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate entrepreneurship; Knowledge creation; Knowledge conversion; Knowledge integration; Entrepreneurial hubs; L26;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

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