Public or Private by Genetics or Design? A Case Study of Organizational Design Decisions for New Public Ventures

Abstract

When a new enterprise is born, how can an entrepreneur or intrapreneur decide how public or private the new enterprise should be? Should the publicness or privateness of a new enterprise be based upon genetics, i.e. replicate the publicness of the parent organization, or decided by design? As differences between public and private firms are blurred, entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs need to consider how public or private their new enterprise will be. This case study illustrates the tendency to replicate the publicness of the parent firm, which may not provide the right source of funding, ownership, control or other structures, such as board membership. This article provides propositions and a methodology to guide four major public versus private organizational decisions and establishes a future research agenda.