@article {766, title = {Enabling Employee Entrepreneurship in Large Technology Firms}, journal = {Technology Innovation Management Review}, volume = {4}, year = {2014}, month = {02/2014}, pages = {23-32}, publisher = {Talent First Network}, address = {Ottawa}, abstract = {Managers of development projects in large technology firms face a dilemma. They operate under pressure to achieve predictable quality, cost, and schedule objectives but are also expected to encourage their employees to act entrepreneurially. Given the uncertain nature of the entrepreneurial process, these managers often cling to existing practices and values and consequently inhibit their employees{\textquoteright} ability to act entrepreneurially. In this article, we examine the product development and entrepreneurship literature streams to identify the barriers that managers of development projects of large technology firms face in allowing employees to act entrepreneurially. We organize these barriers using the five components of entrepreneurial orientation: risk taking, proactiveness, innovativeness, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy. Then, building on the literature and our combined 40 years of experience managing development projects in large technology firms, we provide recommendations to managers on how to overcome these barriers. A better understanding of how to enable employees to act entrepreneurially will increase the entrepreneurial orientation of development projects in large technology firms. The relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and development project performance is expected to be curvilinear. Therefore, an increase in entrepreneurial orientation is expected to improve the performance of development projects up to a point after which it is expected to decrease it. This article will be particularly relevant to researchers interested in the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and project performance as well as managers in technology firms who want to achieve their operational milestones while maximizing the entrepreneurial value creation of their employees.}, keywords = {autonomy, competitive aggressiveness, corporate venturing, development projects, emancipation, employee entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial orientation, innovativeness, intrapraneurship, proactiveness, risk taking, value creation}, issn = {1927-0321}, doi = {http://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/766}, url = {http://timreview.ca/article/766}, author = {Walter Miron and David Hudson} }