The turbulent, rapidly changing knowledge economy has forced enterprises tobecome more entrepreneurial in order to capitalise on new opportunities and tocreate value. Previous research has shown the financial and non-financial benefits ofcorporate entrepreneurship (CE), but the implementation and management of CEremains problematic. Despite heightened awareness and interest by both scholarsand practitioners in studying and better understanding entrepreneurship within largeorganisations, CE is still regarded as an emerging field of inquiry. Furthermore,limited research has thus far been conducted on CE and entrepreneurial intensity(EI) in the South African context. A review of the CE literature revealed a researchgap that culminated in the following research question: How do the antecedents toCE influence the entrepreneurial intensity of firms active in e-business operating inSouth Africa?To address the research question stated above a literature review of antecedents toCE, and entrepreneurial intensity was conducted, and an empirical study wasexecuted. The literature review emphasised five salient internal antecedents to CE:management support for CE; autonomy of employees; rewards for CE; time andresource availability; and flexible organisational boundaries. The externalantecedents which influence CE were identified as munificent, opportunity-richenvironments, and hostile environments filled with threats. Other factors that alsoplay a role in influencing the level of entrepreneurship in enterprises are the type ofindustry, size and age of a company, managerial influence and the role of theindividual in the CE process. The level of entrepreneurship was defined asentrepreneurial intensity, a function of frequency and degree of entrepreneurship.To address the research problem, empirical cross-sectional telephone surveys wereconducted in two stages. The sample selected for the study was companies active ine-business operating in South Africa and aware of innovation practices. Two groupsof companies were identified, namely JSE companies and Information andCommunication Technology (ICT) companies. The key respondent targeted in JSEcompanies was the Information Technology (IT) Manager or the Chief Information Office (CIO), while the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or Sales Manager was the keyrespondent in ICT companies. The population consisted of 715 companies. Theresponse rate for first stage of the study was 44%, while the response rate was 20%for the second stage of the study. Measurement instruments were adapted,developed and revised where necessary to ensure the reliability and validity of thedata. The collected data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.The findings indicated that internal antecedents to CE have a significantly strongerinfluence on degree of entrepreneurship than munificent, external factors. Thisfinding underlines the important role managers can play in providing a supportiveclimate for CE. The prominent internal antecedents in this study were managementsupport for CE, autonomy of employees and rewards for CE. The findings alsoemphasised the importance of a positive, munificent business climate, as perceivedby managers inside the organisations. Furthermore, the findings suggested that themore frequently enterprises act entrepreneurially, the higher their degree ofentrepreneurship should be. Differences in EI, degree of entrepreneurship, internaland external antecedents were also discernable between JSE and ICT companies,with ICT companies showing higher levels of entrepreneurship than JSE companies.Moreover, the findings suggested that the size of a company did not influence EI, butthe age of companies showed a negative relationship with EI, degree ofentrepreneurship and the internal antecedents to CE. It appears that as companiesbecome older, their internal environments become less supportive of entrepreneurialbehaviour.The most important contribution of this study is the testing of CE-theories in theSouth African context. The managerial implications of the behavioural model testedin the study are that top and middle management could create a supportiveenvironment for CE, while munificent environments encourage entrepreneurialbehaviour. Measurement instruments have been developed, which may be used bymanagers, consultants and other researchers to measure these phenomena infuture. Furthermore, the findings suggest that there are country differentials withregard to CE, while opportunities for further research were also identified.
