Empirical investigation of Intrapreneurial Strategy within Manufacturing sectors in Melaka Malaysia

Al-Mansor Abu Said

Abstract
The primary purpose of this study was to explore a model that examines the relationships among the external environment, intrapreneurial strategy, organizational structure and firms’ performance of manufacturing sectors from the perspective of employees. The model indicated that employees of manufacturing firms’ perceive that their firms’ intrapreneurial strategy makes a highly positive contribution to firms’ performance. The external environment is perceived to have a negative impact on firm’s structures. There is negative linear relationship and negative correlation between Mechanistic-organic structure and Intrapreneurial Strategy. Employees also perceived that there is positive linear relationship and positive correlation between internal organizational characteristics and intrapreneurial strategy. The results are consistent with the expectation that the internal organizational characteristics will increase the implementation of Intrapreneurial Strategy.

The basic value of understanding intrepreneurial strategy is the prediction of certain firm outcomes. Intrapreneurial strategy proved to have a very significant impact on the firm’s performance from the perspective of employees. However, firms’ intrapreneurial strategy was not always perceived to guarantee firm performance success because of the negative impact of the external environment in the manufacturing industry on firm organizational structure. Furthermore, manufacturing firm employees perceived the firm’s structure in the industry was unlikely to contribute to the firm’s intrapreneurial strategy.

The result revealed that a high level of firms’ intrapreneurial strategy is perceived to correlate with a high level of their mechanistic-organic structure from the managers’ perceptions, as hypothesized. In other words, a high level of firms’ entrepreneurial strategy is perceived to correlate with their organic structure from the managers’ perceptions. This indicates that employees tend to perceive that high levels of free-flowing relationship, authority, and communication in the manufacturing firm system correlate with a high level of firms’ intrapreneurial strategy. Thus, it is expected for firms to make sure employees are highly motivated to stay involved throughout their intrapreneurial decision-making process.

Consistently from the hypotheses, firms’ external environment was perceived as a positive predictor of their intrapreneurial strategy. But, external environment was perceived as a negative predictor of mechanistic-organic structure firms’. In other words, employees perceive that high levels of firm’ external environmental change will impact their high levels of intrapreneurial strategy but do not impact the firms’ mechanistic-organic structure.

Also consistently from the hypotheses, firms’ internal organizational characteristic was perceived as a positive predictor of their intrapreneurial strategy. In other words, employees perceive that high levels of firm’ internal organizational characteristic for instant the management support change will impact their high levels of intrapreneurial strategy. However, managers acknowledge that high levels of firms’ intrapreneurial strategy impacted by organic structure can reap high levels of profitability with facets of negative impacts from the external environment in the manufacturing industry.