Intrapreneurship in the time of Covid

Abstract

For individuals and firms, traditional sources of competitive advantage are being eroded. Competitive advantage today is not built upon product markets, but in upstream markets of expertise, with control of key intangible assets, alongside dynamic capabilities. Intrapreneurship is seen as an important method for organisations to simultaneously nurture existing business while developing new business creatively and strategically. Covid-19 restrictions have forced organisations to look to their ‘intangible capabilities’ to reassess and redeploy them for transformational, value-added outcomes. An underutilised ally is intrapreneurship, where individuals in an organisation break convention to create opportunities and revenue streams. An intrapreneurial culture can be the foundation of sustainable competitiveness for both firms and their business ecosystems, and even the communities they impact. This paper re-investigates intrapreneurship in this new Covid era as a source of new, sustainable opportunity and competitive advantage; in this time of Covid, a contextual orientation approach to intrapreneurship offers organisations new solutions guided by expertise within the firm. We find that now is the time to foster intrapreneurial processes to leverage internal strengths, resource access and expertis