Addressing Major Challenges Associated with Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Established Companies

Faced with continuous environmental disruption, firms increasingly acknowledge the importance of corporate entrepreneurship as a critical element for sustained competitive advantage in a global economy. Entrepreneurial companies are ones able to continuously leverage new opportunities for value creation. Yet, many organizations struggle with actual implementation of a strategy for entrepreneurship. A number of challenges must be addressed to maintain high levels of entrepreneurship within any organization. These include conceptualizing entrepreneurship, framing the innovation; developing the internal architecture; coordinating across managerial levels; nurturing entrepreneurs within, managing expectations regarding outcomes and failure; and imposing ethical standards. As research on corporate entrepreneurship has evolved, numerous observers have acknowledged the importance of leadership activities such as these. In this article, we discuss how these complex challenges can be addressed by corporate leaders.