The management of new ideas: An entrepreneur's perspective

Abstract

Entrepreneurship and innovation are complex processes. This study provides a unique, bottom-up perspective of innovation and entrepreneurship in a large, public sector organization--the DOD. The study describes the experiences of an entrepreneur and his team in trying to move a new idea from its initiation to its implementation within a large, change-resistant organization. The analysis probed two case study observations: 1) the entrepreneur and his team managed the idea's core identity and kept it constant throughout, and 2) the entrepreneur and his team managed the stakeholder acceptance by varying the narratives used to describe and gain acceptance of the idea as it was moved through the innovation process. The text analysis procedures employed in the quantitative analysis provide empirical support to the case observations about the communication of the idea over time. In addition to the two propositions generated in the study, this research explores the management of new ideas at a micro, rather than aggregate, level and challenges the prevailing view of idea management in the innovation literature. Finally, the study's exploration of the intersection and dynamics of innovation and entrepreneurship provides a framework for future research on innovation and entrepreneurship.