Middle Managers as Internal Corporate Entrepreneurs: An Unfolding Agenda

Recent trends in organizations and the findings of the entrepreneurship literature suggest that middle managers, including MS/OR practitioners, need to function as internal corporate entrepreneurs. To survive and to succeed in changing organizations, middle managers need to think and to act as intrapreneurs. I hypothesize that as the structure of organizations becomes more amorphous, middle managers who exhibit intrapreneurial behavior perform more successfully than those who exhibit traditional behavior. Implications for middle managers and MS/OR practitioners are (1) to be more creative and innovative; (2) to constantly improve and extend their range of skills, and (3) to link their effort to the strategic objectives of customers.