The topic concerning intrapreneurs pursuing new ventures within established firms is underresearched, despite the booming literature on corporate venturing. We know little about whether intrapreneurs are especially competent, proactive, innovative, growth-oriented and risk takers – and how well they perform. These issues are addressed by comparing intrapreneurs with commoners and with entrepreneurs starting new firms, and also by comparing spin-off entrepreneurs starting a new firm based on an existing firm with independent entrepreneurs. Our comparisons use two data sets: our Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey of adults in Denmark with follow-up interviews of intrapreneurs, entrepreneurs and commoners, and our survey of newly established entrepreneurs in a typical county in Denmark. Comparisons reveal that intrapreneurs are more competent and growth-oriented than entrepreneurs. Likewise, spin-off entrepreneurs are more competent and growth-oriented than independent entrepreneurs, and spin-off firms quickly reach higher performance. These similarities and differences among intrapreneurs, spin-off entrepreneurs and independent entrepreneurs offer directions for a deeper understanding of both internal and external venturing.
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Bager et al. (2010) studied this question.