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How companies motivate entrepreneurial employees: the case of organizational spin-alongs

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Abstract

This paper investigates how high-profile employees with entrepreneurial abilities can be attracted, retained, and nurtured in order to foster companies’ corporate entrepreneurship through innovations. We find that the spin-along design provides entrepreneurial employees with a combination of flexibility and security (flexicurity), corporate management, and control. Based on five in-depth case studies within an innovative company, our results show that the organizational spin-along structure supports and enhances entrepreneurial employees’ motivation and leads to the attraction, nurturing, and retention of such employees. We also find that senior management has a critical leadership role in enabling such an organization design by balancing flexibility and security with control.

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Acknowledgments

We thank our interview informants for their time and insights, as well as the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their excellent comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Munich School of Management, Institute of Strategic Management, University of Munich (LMU), Ludwigstr. 28, 80539, Munich, Germany

    Patricia Klarner

  2. Munich School of Management, Institute for Information, Organisation and Management, University of Munich (LMU), Ludwigstr. 28, 80539, Munich, Germany

    Theresa Treffers & Arnold Picot

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  1. Patricia Klarner
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Correspondence to Patricia Klarner.

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Klarner, P., Treffers, T. & Picot, A. How companies motivate entrepreneurial employees: the case of organizational spin-alongs. J Bus Econ 83, 319–355 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11573-013-0657-5

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