Manufacturing regeneration through corporate entrepreneurship: Middle managers and organizational innovation

To investigate the role played by corporate entrepreneurs in the strategic renewal of mature manufacturing companies.

A case study approach is adopted as a means of identifying links between corporate entrepreneurship and social capital. Data are drawn from a three‐year study which incorporates formal and informal interviews with 15 members of a pseudonymous company management team.

The study extends understanding of limits between corporate entrepreneurship and social capital in three ways: corporate entrepreneurs (CEs) can exploit “structural holes” for the benefit of the organisation rather than for career advancement; newcomers are more effective than insiders in overcoming the relational inertia caused by lack of external links; the bridging actions of CEs are important for linking internal activities as well as for accessing external knowledge.

The case is used, in combination with earlier contributions to the literature, as a basis for reconceptualizing the process of corporate entrepreneurship.