Entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs are two necessary pillars of business and the economy. They are influential people having the potential to change the trends, direction, and give a new shape to businesses.
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In this article, I will mainly Explain the difference between entrepreneur and intrapreneur because the terms intrapreneur and entrepreneur are used interchangeably sometimes.
Intrapreneurs are a new brand of entrepreneurs they share some similar traits but they are not the same.
The one thing that plays a major difference is that intrapreneur work as an employee. Entrepreneurs are the leaders of the market they discover new grounds for business. while intrapreneurs sustained the companies and organizations.
But before proceeding towards their differences, I would like to make a proper start of my topic by defining entrepreneur vs intrapreneur, just to avoid any confusion that could happen in the long run.
What is the definition of an Entrepreneur?
An entrepreneur is said to be the person who designs and establishes a new business from an idea that is never practiced before. An entrepreneur is a person who plays an intuitive role in a new business venture.
Entrepreneurs come up with something new to offer. They are involved in research-based innovative activities and initiates new concepts of business.
What is the definition of an Intrapreneur?
An intrapreneur is an organizational employee working as an entrepreneur under the rules and boundaries of the organization. An intrapreneur is a person who plays a restorative role in an organization or company.
Intrapreneur leads a team like an entrepreneur and has the responsibility of the product or division of the company.
Major Differences between entrepreneur and intrapreneur:
Now let’s dissect the topic and answer the question about Explain the Difference Between Entrepreneur and Intrapreneur?
Organizational Status:
An entrepreneur is a person who is the owner of an organization, business or enterprise. Entrepreneur work for the success and expansion of his own business.
An intrapreneur is an employee of an organization working as an entrepreneur in the boundaries of the organization. Intrapreneurs have some autonomy granted by the organization.
Ambition:
The ambition of an entrepreneur is to attain a financial hike, autonomy to satisfy his thirst for business innovation and create a positive change in society. In a nutshell, an entrepreneur wants to be an influencer.
On the other hand, an intrapreneur has the aim to boost the earning capacity and competitive strength of the organization. Intrapreneur mainly focuses on the market value and profit of the organization or company.
Main Objective:
The main objective of an entrepreneur is to create something new that will have economic as well as social benefits. They fulfill the demands and needs of society with their innovative approaches in the business.
Whereas the main objective of an intrapreneur is to increase the efficiency and productivity of the organization he/she is working for. Intrapreneur also plays an important role in improving the business capacity of the organization.
Risk Taker:
An entrepreneur faces all kinds of risks like legal laws, loss, failure, and damage, etc in pursuing his idea. If any catastrophe (damage) happens he is responsible for his actions and bears all the troubles as he is a risk-taker.
Whereas an intrapreneur faces lesser risk as compared to an entrepreneur. The company and organization bear all the risks for an intrapreneur. All financial losses and failures are faced by the company or organization.
Resources Used:
An entrepreneur is a person who manages resources for himself. He uses his goods and tools for starting and establishing his business. Entrepreneurs usually start working from a small setup and hence use their resources.
Whereas an intrapreneur has a benefit here. He has no headache for business operations because all the resources are provided by the performing company or organization.
All the tools and resources he needs to perform his work are the responsibilities of the organization.
Enterprise Building:
An entrepreneur establishes a new enterprise. He takes starts from a new, small business, and then through his abilities and innovation, he expands it into an enterprise.
On the other hand, an intrapreneur is a person who works for an already well-established enterprise or organization.
Profit:
An entrepreneur gets all the fruitful rewards and benefits of his business. All the profit directly goes to the entrepreneur because he is the only one who has suffered hardships in taking his business from 0 to a higher level.
On the other hand, an intrapreneur gets his/her usual salary and is often paid with some bonus or incentives occasionally.
Fundraising:
An entrepreneur is responsible for fundraising and collecting investment for his business venture. All these activities are the responsibilities of an entrepreneur.
On the other hand, an intrapreneur does not bear the burden of capital raising. All these fundraising and investment activities are done by the organization for the intrapreneur.
Decision Making:
An entrepreneur directly decides on his business venture. He does not need approval from other people involved in his business. He is the boss and the business operates under his decisions.
He can take suggestions from the people involved in the company but he by himself can take all decisions.
On the other hand, an intrapreneur can not take direct decisions in the business deal. He has to inform the higher authorities of the organization before taking any decision that means he can not take decisions but can only provide a company with some suitable suggestions.
Skill:
An entrepreneur is usually multi-functional and has multiple skills which mean he has skills in his respective domain as well as enough knowledge about business management and business operations.
“You can read more about on skills and functions of an entrepreneur on my Blog”
On the other hand, an intrapreneur is the one who is only responsible for his competency and efficiency of skills in his respective domain.
He has to do nothing with business management and business operations. An intrapreneur is only answerable for the position he is appointed.
Conclusion:
We explained some of the key differences between an entrepreneur and an intrapreneur. Both are having significant importance in the business sector.
According to the latest surveys, there are 583 million Entrepreneurs in the world. They play an important role in the development of an economy and the development of the world by introducing new approaches for improvement and creating more opportunities for employment.
If you want to read more about the importance and benefits of entrepreneurship in economic development, click here.
Whereas intrapreneurs play an important role in sustaining companies and organizations. Without intrapreneurship, a company’s life span is reduced dramatically. This means intrapreneurship is important for companies and industries to grow in the changing world.
I will be sharing more about entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship in my upcoming articles.
Do share also give feedback about “Explain the Difference Between Entrepreneur and Intrapreneur” in the comment box. If you any queries feel free to contact me.
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