Privatization and corporate entrepreneurship in telecommunication companies

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of privatization on corporate entrepreneurship in Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI). The study examines the five dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation including innovativeness, risk taking, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness and autonomy, before and after privatization.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a “descriptive-survey” method, the required data were collected from a sample of 32 senior and middle managers with over ten years of management and work experience, who were project team members for business transformation working in TCI before and after privatization.

Findings

The results show that after privatization, the company acts more entrepreneurially. The most considerable dimension is its aggressive competition through entering competitive markets and increasing risk taking to develop new services, products and processes.

Originality/value

Although many studies have been performed on privatization and entrepreneurship in the past, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the effect of privatization on every dimension of entrepreneurial orientation has not been investigated in a large company.

Citation

Zarei, B., Amanati, F. and Amanati, K. (2017), "Privatization and corporate entrepreneurship in telecommunication companies", Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 60-71. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEPP-05-2016-0019