An integrating model of autonomy in corporate entrepreneurship

This research in progress paper elucidates the multidimensional phenomenon of autonomy which determines the success of teams developing a new business in small and medium-sized high-tech firms. In a previous inductive study we had revealed that this phenomenon is described through four autonomy dimensions: functional autonomy, decision autonomy, structural autonomy and strategic autonomy. In this paper we operationalize these dimensions on the basis of empirical findings discussed in literature and integrate the operationalized autonomy dimensions into a theoretical model. Thereby the paper contributes to theory because autonomy as a multidimensional phenomenon is not well understood in corporate entrepreneurship and respective models are barely available. In practice, the challenge is to establish a level of autonomy that enables business development teams to experiment in market interaction and at the same time enables the supervising manager to keep control over the new business. Our model describes criteria that facilitate managers to balance the level of autonomy in this manner.