A Study of Corporate Entrepreneurship in a Department of Defense Organization

What determines if an organization has a corporate entrepreneurship (CE) environment? While being entrepreneurial in a private sector job usually means a greater market share or a higher profit margin; in a public research organization, CE must be measured in other ways. This thesis evaluates a Department of Defense (DoD) organization that performs basic research. Any organization that does government or nonprofit work must continually find new ways, methods, processes, or ideas to complete the mission. In this particular study, the mission is to continue to support the warfighter with limited and changing resources: to ensure the military can maintain dominance over the enemy combatant. How an organization encourages and supports new ideas or promotes CE is evaluated so that as funds become scarcer the work force becomes younger and global technology increases. Senior managers are aware of antecedents and outcomes that promote innovative behavior: these managers can properly allocate resources to encourage the desired behavior, ensuring our nation's preeminent combat power to keep America strong, safe, and free.