This paper examines intrapreneurship — the practice of developing new business ventures within an existing company — with a focus on Google as a case study. It defines intrapreneurship and distinguishes it from entrepreneurship, then applies a SWOT analysis to assess Google's capacity as an intrapreneurial incubator. The paper highlights Google's strengths, including its talented workforce, financial resources, and innovation-friendly culture, while acknowledging weaknesses such as the elimination of its 20% time policy. It also explores opportunities created by data-driven revenue models and threats such as opportunity cost and talent attrition. The launch of Gmail is used to illustrate how corporate resources amplify the impact of intrapreneurial ideas.
Intrapreneurship is the act of creating a new business venture within an established company. Typically, the intrapreneur is an employee who has an idea but, instead of leaving the company to pursue that opportunity, leverages company resources to develop it from within. This differs from a more traditional work model in which an employee creates something and the company is the sole beneficiary. Under the intrapreneurship model, the company establishes a structure by which both the company and the intrapreneur share the proceeds of the endeavor. While entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs share similar traits — particularly the ability to innovate and develop an idea from start to finish — they differ in their tolerance for risk. They may also differ in the nature of their projects, since an intrapreneur's idea is often too large to execute properly without corporate resources (Newlands, 2015).
Employees at Google have famously been given incentives to pursue intrapreneurial projects. In the past, they were allotted 20% of their working time to pursue their own ideas, many of which would naturally result in intrapreneurial activity (Ross, 2015). Even without that policy, there are many reasons to believe that a nearly endless supply of intrapreneurial opportunities could exist within Google. First, the company employs incredibly talented and intelligent people, many of whom fit the profile of a successful intrapreneur (Williams, 2013). Second, the company has tremendous financial resources. Third, there is a well-established history of intrapreneurship within Google. The baseline resources needed to foster intrapreneurial activity are clearly present, and the corporate culture — both at Google and across Silicon Valley more broadly — is highly favorable to both intrapreneurial and entrepreneurial pursuits.
For Google, the benefits of intrapreneurship are tangible and well-documented. Several of the company's most successful products have emerged directly from this type of activity. The Chrome browser and the Chromebook are two examples that have helped the company grow in terms of data collection and revenue. Gmail is another well-known example of an everyday Google product that originated from its intrapreneurship program (Trenchard, 2016). These examples demonstrate the significant commercial and strategic value that intrapreneurship can deliver when properly supported by a large organization.
"Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats assessed"
"Gmail launch illustrates corporate advantage over solo entrepreneurship"
All told, there is no shortage of intrapreneurial opportunities at Google. Given the company's history and its resources, there are likely several such initiatives underway at any given time. Google should be — and in many respects has been — a world leader in this type of activity, with numerous key products emerging from intrapreneurial programs. Despite recent changes to how it incentivizes internal innovation, Google remains one of the foremost practitioners of intrapreneurship, and there are few better companies in which to cultivate this mindset.
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