A Model of Corporate Entrepreneurship as a Strategic Adaptation Mechanism

Robert P. Garrett; Jeffrey G. Covin

doi:10.1016/S1074-7540(07)10002-7

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Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth

ISSN: 1074-7540
Series editor(s): Professor Jerome Katz and Professor Andrew C. Corbett

Subject Area: Enterprise and Innovation

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A Model of Corporate Entrepreneurship as a Strategic Adaptation Mechanism

Document Information:
Title:	A Model of Corporate Entrepreneurship as a Strategic Adaptation Mechanism
Author(s):	Robert P. Garrett, Jeffrey G. Covin
Volume:	10 Editor(s): G.T. Lumpkin, Jerome A. Katz ISBN: 978-0-7623-1429-4 eISBN: 978-1-84950-495-9
Citation:	Robert P. Garrett, Jeffrey G. Covin (2007), A Model of Corporate Entrepreneurship as a Strategic Adaptation Mechanism, in G.T. Lumpkin, Jerome A. Katz (ed.) Entrepreneurial Strategic Processes (Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth, Volume 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.9-31
DOI:	10.1016/S1074-7540(07)10002-7 (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Article type:	Chapter Item
Abstract:	In business environments characterized by intense competition, globalization, rapid technological diffusion, accelerated product life cycles, and evolving industry boundaries, the ability of firms to adapt effectively to their changing environments is a strategic imperative (Hitt, Keats, & DeMarie, 1998; Nadler & Tushman, 1999). The exhibition of strategic adaptability – the ability of a firm to alter its alignment with the environment through reactive and proactive behaviors (Evans, 1991) – is a function of the goodness-of-fit that exists between the capabilities of a firm and the demands imposed by its relevant industry context (Burgelman & Grove, 1996). When firm capabilities are well aligned with industry success factors, those capabilities constitute strategic assets for the firm, or resources that lead to the achievement of competitive success in that context (Amit & Schoemaker, 1993). The possession of strategic assets thus contributes to a state of adaptation, defined by Chakravarthy (1982) as a state in which an organization exhibits the capacity to survive the conditions of its changing environment. Because of the constantly shifting nature of the environment, a state of adaptation is not a permanent settling point for the organization, but rather a moving target for the organization as it attempts to remain “mapped on” to the exigencies of the environment.