TY - JOUR
T1 - CORPORATE CHAMPIONS of EARLY-STAGE PROJECT PROPOSALS and the INSTITUTIONALISATION of ORGANISATIONAL INERTIA
AU - Bertels, Heidi M.J.
AU - Mithani, Murad
AU - Zhu, Siwei
AU - Koen, Peter A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 World Scientific Publishing Europe Ltd.
PY - 2020/4/1
Y1 - 2020/4/1
N2 - This study looks at the role of champions in the early stages of the product development process, when employees try to secure initial funding for project proposals. Project proposals that fail to receive funding never become part of the firm's project pipeline; hence, it is critical to understand the champion's role early on. Existing research on corporate champions is mostly focused on the later stages of the new product development process and has generally identified corporate champions as key to projects likely to face organisational resistance. However, several recent studies suggest that champions may prefer projects less likely to face organisational resistance. Using data from project proposals of executive MBA students across 78 large organisations, we find that champion support for the team is weaker for project proposals likely to evoke resistance and that such lower champion support further reduces the likelihood of high-resistance early-stage proposals to receive initial funding.
AB - This study looks at the role of champions in the early stages of the product development process, when employees try to secure initial funding for project proposals. Project proposals that fail to receive funding never become part of the firm's project pipeline; hence, it is critical to understand the champion's role early on. Existing research on corporate champions is mostly focused on the later stages of the new product development process and has generally identified corporate champions as key to projects likely to face organisational resistance. However, several recent studies suggest that champions may prefer projects less likely to face organisational resistance. Using data from project proposals of executive MBA students across 78 large organisations, we find that champion support for the team is weaker for project proposals likely to evoke resistance and that such lower champion support further reduces the likelihood of high-resistance early-stage proposals to receive initial funding.
KW - Champions
KW - corporate entrepreneurship
KW - front end of innovation
KW - fuzzy front end
KW - innovation
KW - intrapreneurship
KW - predevelopment
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U2 - 10.1142/S1363919620500280
DO - 10.1142/S1363919620500280
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85065405985
SN - 1363-9196
VL - 24
JO - International Journal of Innovation Management
JF - International Journal of Innovation Management
IS - 3
M1 - 2050028
ER -