COMMON SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENTREPRENEURS AND INTRAPRENEURS

An entrepreneur is a person who starts up a business, taking on the financial risk in the hope of making profits while an intrapreneur is a person who plays the role of an entrepreneur within an organization. An intrapreneur is the individual within the organization that takes on the duty of innovation in the corporate management.

While there are similar qualities between entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, there are also crucial differences between the both of them.

This post will educate you about the basic thing you need to know about an entrepreneur and an intrapreneur. Enjoy!

Similarities between Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs

They Both Have the Penchant for Innovation

Intrapreneurs regularly act as brainboxes for their organization hence the onus for innovative thinking usually lies on them – the same with an entrepreneur. The entrepreneur and the intrapreneur have to undergo the process of innovation, both entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs have to carry out market researches and come up with new ideas or products.

They Both Should Be Flexible

As an entrepreneur, being flexible is an indispensable quality, same also for an intrapreneur. Intrapreneurs are almost super staff such that they possess the ability to adapt to new conditions in and out of their working spaces, this ability boosts their capacity to be able to handle more stringent working conditions and come up with more creative ideas than regular staff.

They Both Possess Similar levels of Intelligence

For an intrapreneur, being curious is a necessity just like an entrepreneur. Just like having good people skills is important to an entrepreneur, it is likewise important to an intrapreneur. An intrapreneur requires levels of intelligence that can drive leadership, observation, team building, etc. just like an entrepreneur.

Having been able to describe the similarities, it is time to juxtapose between being an entrepreneur and being an intrapreneur.

Differences between Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs

Fundamental characteristics of both entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs are very similar however, there are critical differences that still exist them both.

Entrepreneurs Run Their Own Businesses While Intrapreneurs Work in Other Firms

This is a very crucial difference between entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. Their workplace setting is abstract, an entrepreneur is the owner of the business while an intrapreneur is an employee of the business who is given the capacity to exhibit entrepreneurial tendencies.

Entrepreneurs Take Risks, Intrapreneurs Do Not

It is the responsibility of an entrepreneur to take the risk in the business and also bear the brunt of the effect of the risks. For an intrapreneur, this is not the case. An intrapreneur is required to work only within the ambits of his job description. It is not an intrapreneur’s responsibility to take risks on behalf of his establishment.

Entrepreneurs Work with Their Own Resources, Intrapreneurs Work with Resources Provided by The Firm

Just like private investigators pool their own resource and work with materials they independently source, and government investigators have to work with government resources, this analogy applies when we juxtapose between entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. Entrepreneurs have to work based on their own resources, while intrapreneurs are privileged to a wealth of resources made available by their firm.

Entrepreneurs Approach Situations Based on Their Intuition, Intrapreneurs Sometimes Do Not

An entrepreneur is in total control over how he deals with situations in his business hence he/she has to be very intuitive. For an intrapreneur, he/she may have to deal with situations based on established guidelines for operations within the firm. In some unusual cases, the intrapreneurs may deal with the situation based on his/her intuition but this is not the general consensus approach to situations by an intrapreneur.

CONCLUSION

Fundamentally, the personality traits of an entrepreneur and an intrapreneur may be identical but the context in which they work is very different. Sometimes, an intrapreneur may start his/her own business and cross over to the entrepreneurial side, in some other cases, an entrepreneur may cross over to the other side and become an intrapreneur.