Michelle Barnhart posted Jan 23, 2020 8:33 PM

Good Evening Class,

In this discussion, begin by introducing yourself to the class and explaining your background.

My name is Michelle and I live in New Hampshire with my husband, son and 2 huskies. I have worked in various leadership roles in manufacturing environments for a about 10 years now. I have been with my current company for 3 years. The first 2 years I was an Area Supervisor over all the Quality departments and for the past year I have been working as the Senior HR Analyst. I am extremely thankful to have been able to migrate into the HR profession as it had been my career goal. With SNHU I completed my Bachelors program with a focus in Organizational Leadership in late 2016. One year later I enrolled in the MBA program with a concentration on Human Resource Management. I ideally see myself obtaining my doctorates, growing in various HR roles and ultimately coming back to the SNHU platform to be an online teacher. Truthfully, I enjoy the online learning environment and do not see myself ever being able to stay away from it for long =)

Next, using your learning from MBA 515 and MBA 550, outline your views on the importance of new ideas and concepts by explaining how you will incorporate entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship into your business implementation plan. Then explain and justify how your own concept or idea fits within the context of entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship to create change.

During my MBA 515 I read an article written by David Williams about the essential traits of intrapreneurs. In his article for Forbes Williams wrote that; “an intrapreneur is essentially an individual who has learned to apply the fundamental principles of entrepreneurship to the roles they fill within a company” (Williams, 2013, Pa 2). Stating that for an intrapreneur, money and advancement is not what drives them, but instead it is the intriguing ideas that they germinate and grow within their minds that drive their desire to perform. He also states that intrapreneurs aren’t afraid to change course and do not fear failure, they know how to pivot. But most importantly intrapreneurs behave authentically and with integrity, they exhibit traits of confidence and humility.

New ideas and concepts are extremely important, and I often times stress that they do not need to be near genius level to be good. Anyone who can openly think of change can be an intra or entrepreneur. Take the example I found on TycoonStory as a reason to believe that all ideas can fall under the realm of intraprenueurship. At the Massachusetts Department of Correction, a guard suggested a change in the way the facilities stored their inmate photos. Instead of taking pictures with film and storing them the old-fashioned way, he suggested to use digital cameras and use a database for image storing. “The department has sixteen correctional facilities and in the first year of implementation alone it saved $56,000 dollars on film” (Tycoon, n.d., Pa 6).

This idea was not a sweeping innovation but it yielded the same powerful results as one that you would read as a cover story. Remember to not hold back from sharing your ideas and we all can be considered intrapreneurs. This is the basis for my business implementation plan. In my business plan I focus on GE Aviation and push for them to offer a new service opportunity. I propose GR Aviation explore a new service offering in the industry of Global Engineering Services. For my idea GE Aviation would take its already experienced highly skilled engineers, pair it with the company’s strong relationships with defense contractors and brand equity and begin to offer its suppliers and customers design and application engineering services. If companies are struggling to navigate the many aviation’s laws and regulations, GE Aviations new Engineering Services can help. Having a hard time catching up on your design request backlog, GE Aviation Engineering Services can help. Need a spark of freshness in your R&D lab, … you guessed it. GE Aviations new Engineering Services can help!

You see, it’s nothing earth shattering. But its change! It’s taking two amazing attributes GE Aviation already has and making it something to offer!

Thank you,
Michelle

TycoonStory (n.d.). 10 Inspiring Examples of Successful Intrapreneurship. Retrieved April 4, 2018 from:
www.tycoonstory.com/entrepreneur/10-inspiring-examples-successful-intrapreneurship/

Williams, D (October, 2013). Forbes The 4 Essential Traits of Intrapreneurs. Retrieved from:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkwilliams/2013/10/30/the-4-essential-traits-of-intrapreneurs/#46394b7251da

Dustin Seabolt posted Jan 24, 2020 5:21 PM

My name is Dustin Seabolt and I am closing in the end of my MBA program as I lack this course to be finished up (I cannot wait.) I am a Production Supervisor for a limestone mining surface operation and plan to use my MBA to advance in the industry. I graduated from West Virginia University in 2017 and have been pursuing my MBA in international business since late 2017.

New ideas are essential to keeping businesses fresh and evolving with rapid changes in today’s markets. Entrepreneurship is a vital part of business as it is the basis that competitive markets are created and makes change in business models essential. The heart of entrepreneurship is to make daily life less complicated for consumers and challenge the status quo in existing markets (Baijal, 2016).

Intrapreneurship can be classified as equally important as entrepreneurship as it allows employees within existing companies to keep their companies competitive with new businesses that are pushing the envelope with business models.

My business plan ties into intrapreneurship within McDonalds. My idea would create an app where customers could log loyalty points that could be used toward discounts or drawings for grand prizes. Each account within the app would be assigned a barcode that would keep track of their accounts points. This fits in with intrapreneurship as it is widening the horizons of McDonald’s existing business model to make it more competitive.

Baijal, R. (2016, January 20). 4 reasons why entrepreneurship is important. Retrieved January 24, 2020, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/269796

Replies

Reply 1: Michelle Barnhart

Hello Michelle, I admire your background, and I agree with you that new ideas are essential in the continuity of business operations. Your service on the GE Aviation Explore will be of significant help to the Global Engineering and the customers that will utilize it. The benefits of incorporating your service will smoothen customer experience, processes, and operations, as it expected in intrapreneurship (Zenovia, 2011). However, I would like to ask what category the service falls in. In my opinion, introducing this service seems like an intrapreneurship, as the GE Aviation already has the skills and well-equipped workforce to undertake the operation.

Reply 2: Dustin Seabolt

Hello Dustin, I agree with you on two significant aspects, one, I am eager to learn and acquire knowledge from this course just as you are. Secondly, a business that does not learn and exploit new ideas may remain uncompetitive in the industry, which can translate into losses and a decline in sales and revenue. Introducing the bonus application for McDonald’s customers is an exemplary idea, especially in the modern era of digitalization and e-commerce (Zenovia, 2011). I also agree with you that this is an intrapreneurship opportunity as it exists and will be incorporated within the company’s business models. Moreover, being from within, it should make the company’s operations leaner and expand the horizons of the company.

Reference

Zenovia, V. M. (2011). Entrepreneurship versus Intrapreneurship. Review of International Comparative Management , Vol, 12(5) pp: 971-976.