CPI CPI Corporate Entrepreneurship & Intrapreneurship 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is 'innovation theater' and why is it a risk in corporate entrepreneurship programs?
- Superficial innovation activities that signal effort without producing real outcomes (Correct answer)
- A performing arts investment strategy
- A budget category for innovation events
- A method for staging product launches
Correct answer: Superficial innovation activities that signal effort without producing real outcomes
Innovation theater describes visible but hollow activities—hackathons, labs, posters—that create the appearance of innovation without generating meaningful results.
Question 2: Which leadership behavior most strongly enables intrapreneurial culture in a US enterprise?
- Actively sponsoring innovation experiments and protecting intrapreneurs from organizational resistance (Correct answer)
- Strictly enforcing quarterly budget targets
- Centralizing all decision-making at the executive level
- Outsourcing all innovation to external consultants
Correct answer: Actively sponsoring innovation experiments and protecting intrapreneurs from organizational resistance
Senior leaders who visibly champion intrapreneurs, provide top cover, and shield them from bureaucratic resistance are critical enablers of internal venturing.
Question 3: What is a 'corporate venture capital (CVC)' unit primarily designed to do?
- Invest in external startups to gain strategic insights and financial returns (Correct answer)
- Manage employee retirement funds
- Handle mergers and acquisitions of large companies
- Administer the employee stock option program
Correct answer: Invest in external startups to gain strategic insights and financial returns
A CVC unit invests corporate funds into external startups to access emerging technologies, gain market intelligence, and generate financial returns alongside strategic alignment.
Question 4: What is the 'innovator's dilemma' as it applies to corporate entrepreneurship?
- Established companies focus on sustaining innovations for current customers, leaving disruptive opportunities to startups (Correct answer)
- Innovators must choose between patents and trade secrets
- The difficulty of hiring creative talent in large companies
- The legal risk of launching new products before regulatory approval
Correct answer: Established companies focus on sustaining innovations for current customers, leaving disruptive opportunities to startups
Christensen's innovator's dilemma explains why successful companies are naturally biased toward sustaining rather than disruptive innovation, creating strategic blind spots.
Question 5: Which governance mechanism ensures intrapreneurial projects receive timely resources and decisions?
- Innovation board or steering committee with executive authority (Correct answer)
- Annual budget cycle review only
- Departmental approval chains requiring consensus
- External auditor sign-off
Correct answer: Innovation board or steering committee with executive authority
An innovation board with executive authority can rapidly allocate funding, remove blockers, and make strategic pivots without waiting for annual budget cycles.
Question 6: What is 'spin-out' strategy in corporate entrepreneurship?
- Separating an internal innovation project into an independent company while the parent retains equity (Correct answer)
- Terminating a failed innovation project
- Outsourcing manufacturing to reduce costs
- Licensing technology to a competitor
Correct answer: Separating an internal innovation project into an independent company while the parent retains equity
A spin-out creates an independent entity from an internal venture so it can operate with startup agility while the parent company maintains an ownership stake.
CPI CPI Corporate Entrepreneurship & Intrapreneurship 2
What is 'innovation theater' and why is it a risk in corporate entrepreneurship programs?