An organization that encourages entrepreneurial behavior amongst its employees does so for a variety of reasons: it hopes to spur innovation amongst its employees; the resultant opportunities help in increasing revenues and profitability; teams that are entrepreneurial may have accelerated learning pursuing new initiatives, and may transmit some of it to other parts of the company; new career paths emerge for employees along with differentiation in products, processes or markets; there is a new energy in the organization, that keeps it from becoming slow or bureaucratic as the organization grows in size.
To rejuvenate the organization, and contribute to its growth, entrepreneurial initiatives must complement its existing products, or contribute to its competitive advantage. There is a high chance of that happening with initiatives from within the company’s own employees who are conversant with its products, customer needs, and future possibilities.
What kind of an organization is able to encourage its employees to discover and exploit opportunities, gives them the right amount of and timely backing, and helps them create wealth for themselves and the organization? Covin and Slevin (1991, A conceptual model of firm entrepreneurship as firm behaviour) have in their extensive research identified the three prime attributes of entrepreneurial organizations: innovativeness (or the ability to come up with creative solutions), risk taking (or being able to commit the sufficient and timely resources and managerial support in the face of uncertainties) and proactiveness (or taking initiative, removing obstacles, showing energy and being able to execute).
To succeed in their entrepreneurship strategy, organizations incentivize their employees in various ways. In India, the Mahindra Group is empowering employees to start ventures with organizational resources; it is incubating startups at a firm level; as well as allowing other employees to invest in these startups. All this makes sound business sense, as it keeps a young energetic entrepreneurial workforce within the organization, and not have them want to strike out on their own. As long as such employees get sufficient autonomy to realize their dreams, they would certainly welcome the organizational support. (http://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/startups/mahindra-group-plans-to-allow-staff-to-invest-in-its-startups-like-szenseye/48094013)