Feyzbakhsk-Sadeghi-Shoraka.

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A Case Study of Intrapreneurship Obstacles:

The RAJA Passenger Train Company
Dr. S. Alireza Feyzbakhsh, Sharif University of Technology
Roshanak Sadeghi, ITCEN Consulting Engineers
Sara Shoraka, Raja Passenger Trains Company
ABSTRACT. In todays world, people, organizations and countries which have managed to foster successful
entrepreneurs and utilize technical science and technology are growing wealthier and more prosperous rather
steadily. Entrepreneurs establish new organizations independently while intrapreneurs create new structures
within an existing organization. In Iran, huge organizations, which play the most important roles in the countrys
economy, are often run by the government. The main purpose of this research is to study of some prinicipal
obstacles hindering intrapreneurial activities in Irans big organizations. For this purpose, Raja Passenger Trains
Company (Raja: I.R.I. Railways) is chosen and observed as an example. Intrapreneurship obstacles have been
extracted by using Kuratkos model.
The findings of this research show that in the organization under study, changes, modifications, innovations and
creative activities occur by chance and unsystematically rather than according to predefined organizational pro-
cedures. We first suggest that the key to reach an entrepreneurial organization is the formulation of strategies and
goal settings based on intrapreneurship. This could not be done without developing the essential insight around
various aspects of intrapreneurship for all managers.
SOMMAIRE. Dans le monde actuel les personnes, organismes et nations qui ont russi dans lentrepreneuriat et
qui utilisent la science applique et la technologie montrent une prosprit en croissance rgulire. Les entre-
preneurs tablissent de nouveaux organismes indpendamment, tandis que les intrapreneurs crent de nouvelles
structures lintrieur dun organisme en existence. En Iran dnormes organismes, qui jouent un rle des plus
importants dans lconomie du pays, sont souvent grs par le gouvernement. Le but principal de cette recherche
est dtudier quelques-uns des obstacles majeurs auxquels font face les organismes iraniens importants. La
compagnie de trains de voyageurs Raja a t choisie comme exemple, et les obstacles lintrapreneuriat ont t
relevs laide du modle de Kuratko.
Les rsultats montrent que dans lorganisme tudi les changements, les modifications, les innovations et les
activits cratrices prennent place au hasard et non systmatiquement, plutt que daprs des procdures
dorganisation prdfinies. Nous suggrons dabord que la formulation de stratgies et la dtermination
dobjectifs bases sur lintrepreneuriat sont essentielles lorganisation entrepreneuriale. Ceci ne peut tre
ralis que si les dirigeants comprennent les divers aspects de lintrapreneuriat.

Introduction
Today, scientists have reached the belief that technical science and technology wont
suffice as tools for achieving development and economic prosperity in the absence of
entrepreneurs and creative employees who take the risk of annihilating previous ineffi-
cient methods, to create more effective and more efficient innovative methods.
The word entrepreneurship comes from the French word entreprendre which
means to undertake. According to the definition in Websters science dictionary, an
entrepreneur is someone who commits to organize, manage and accept the risks of an eco-
nomic activity (Cochran, 1968). Joseph Schumpeter (1934) believed in entrepreneurship

Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship 21, no. 2 (2008): pp. 171180 171
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172 FEYZBAKHSH, SADEGHI AND SHORAKA

as the main motivating force in economical development and suggested that an entrepre-
neurs major role is innovation or, in other words, creating a new combination of avail-
able materials. He distinguished the advantage of managers and personnel who create new
jobs in an organization from the concept of entrepreneurship. He also introduced innova-
tion as the main characteristic of an entrepreneur and named the entrepreneurial process
Creative Destruction (Cochran, 1968). Quoting Jeffrey Timmons, entrepreneurship is
creating and forming of a valuable insight from nothing (Timmons, 1990).
Entrepreneurship can be studied from two main aspects: basic ENTREpreneurship or
the later-introduced INTRApreneurship. Entrepreneurship is the individual process when
one entrepreneur, by creating an economic enterprise, goes through all entrepreneurial
activities, from the idea to the presentation of its product. Some personality features which
distinguish an entrepreneur from others are: need for achievement, risk-taking propensi-
ty, desire for independence, locus of control, creation and innovation, self-confidence,
diligence, vision, leadership, opportunism, goal orientation, practicality, foresight, knowl-
edge of the product and market, ability to learn from mistakes, ability to influence others,
thoroughness, and positive response to challenges (Kent, Sexton and Vesper, 1982).
Regarding Intrapreneurship, in 1970, Collins and Moore were the first researchers
who noted the distinction between Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship. They stated
that Entrepreneurs establish new organizations independently while Intrapreneurs create
new structures inside an organization (Collins and Moore, 1970).
In 1973, Susbauer invented the word Intrapreneurship to describe entrepreneurship
inside organizations, which includes establishment of relatively independent units inside
the organization which allow the members of the organization to work with the same high
morale, freedom of acting, and commitment (Susbauer, 1973). In 1985, Pinchot invented
the word Intrapreneurship by merging the words Intra and Entrepreneurship and
defined an Intrapreneur as a person who performs the tasks of an entrepreneur inside big
organizations, including creating new units in the organization, presenting products, and
inventing new processes which lead companies to development and profitability (Pinchot,
1985).
To be successful, Intrapreneurship has to be carried out through strategic management.
Intrapreneurship has to be a complementary part of an organizations wide strategic plans
(Kuratko and Hodgetts, 2002). For this purpose, researchers have presented several mod-
els in which all essential activities and effective factors of the process are considered.
These include:
Cornewall and Perlmans Intrapreneurship model (Kuratko and Hodgetts, 2002) which
is based on a strategic management approach. Information gathered from the outside
and the inside environment of the organization marks the initiation of the
Intrapreneurship process. This information is necessary to evaluate strategic choices
and to choose the best strategic plan which is administered afterwards.
Echols and Necks Intrapreneurship model (Kuratko and Hodgetts, 2002) which tries
to conceptually examine effects of individuals entrepreneurial behaviors and entre-
preneurial organizational structure on the success of the entrepreneurship. In other
words, this model shows an organizations ability to exist in a dynamic environment
that is overwhelmed by innovation.
Thompsons entrepreneurship dimensions (Kuratko and Hodgetts, 2002). For imple-
menting entrepreneurship in organizations, Thompson considers five dimensions: hard
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A CASE STUDY OF INTRAPRENEURSHIP OBSTACLES 173

entrepreneurship, soft entrepreneurship, risk-taking, idea and plan presentation, and

innovation. Existence of all these dimensions is indispensable for entrepreneurial
organization.
Kuratkos Intrapreneurship model. In this model, the creation process of new entre-
preneurial business is the product of interaction between several factors. Also, a deci-
sion to initiate entrepreneurship in an organization is a result of interaction between
organizational attributes, individuals characteristics, and some catalysts (Kuratko and
Hodgetts, 2002). Kuratko believes that the concept of Intrapreneurship is similar to
that of entrepreneurship except that the former occurs in an organization which already
exists. Consequently, by building an entrepreneurial spirit inside the organizations
borders, the atmosphere is changed remarkably.
The primary concern of this research was to recognize the existing situations of Raja
Passenger Trains Company (which is a government-led organization). We reached the
conclusion that Kuratkos model corresponds better to Rajas conditions because it isnt a
very strategic organization and the environment in railway does not seem very dynamic.
What leads to the occurrence of an entrepreneurial activity includes three main factors
which were all factors studied in Kuratkos model.

A: Organizational
Characteristics
Management Support
Work Discretion
F: Resource
Rewards/Reinforcemen Availability
t
Time Availability
Organizational
Boundaries

D: Decision to Act E: Business/ Idea

B: Precipitating
Intrapreneurially Feasibility Implementation
Event Planning

C: Individual
Characteristics
Risk-Taking
Propensity G: Ability to
Desire for Autonomy Overcome Barriers
Need for
Achievement
Goal Orientation
Internal Locus of
Control

Figure 1. Kuratkos Intrapreneurship Model (Kuratko et al., 1993).

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174 FEYZBAKHSH, SADEGHI AND SHORAKA

Research Purpose
This research is done with the purpose of examining Intrapreneurship obstacles in
RAJA passenger Trains Company as a case study. In Iran, Huge organizations, which play
the most important roles in the countrys economy, are often run by the government. The
main purpose of this research is the studying of some principal obstacles hindering
intrapreneurial activities in Iranian big organizations. For this purpose, Raja Passenger
Trains Company2 is picked and observed as an example. Intrapreneurship obstacles have
been extracted using Kuratkos model.
About RAJA
Raja Passenger Trains Company, affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran Railway
Company, started its operation in passenger transportation in October 1996. The goal was
to improve passenger sections, including stations, fleets, services inside the trains, and tick-
et sales. At present, this company with 2,200 recruits transports more than 60,000 passen-
gers daily by its first- and second-class trains (sleeping cars, seat compartments and open
salons) over 7,414 kilometres of track; 520 travel agencies cooperate in selling the tickets.
Raja is the first company in Iran which has an organized online ticket-selling service.
Research Accomplishment Stages
To examine intrapreneurship obstacles, we had to examine the organization from dif-
ferent aspects. The first step was to achieve a general recognition on the organization.
The best way to fulfill this purpose is probably to collect and clarify managers and assis-
tant managers points of view toward their organization. For this purpose, a questionnaire
was designed with the aim of examining effective factors in Intrapreneurship and it was
distributed among managers and assistant managers. The results were then studied using
SPSS.11 Software and the existence of the above-mentioned factors was scored from 1 to
5 (5 shows full accordance with an entrepreneurial organization and 1 means no existing
accordance). The mean value of every factor was also calculated.
After having conducted the above-mentioned attitude poll, for the purpose of com-
pleting our recognition of the organization, several managers and assistant managers were
interviewed.
Having gained this general knowledge, the next step was to find idea producers and
creative employees in the organization. After several examinations, it was concluded that
it is possible to recognize these potential entrepreneurs through the suggestion system of
the organization. The selected employees were the ones who had proposed the largest
number of ideas to the suggestion systemideas which could lead to cost reduction, per-
formance improvement, or more customer satisfaction. After recognizing these individu-
als, and with the use of their contribution through interviews, Kuratkos model factors
were studied.
One of the signs of intrapreneurship in an organization is that new ideas are imple-
mented. One of the most important issues observed was why lots of ideas are never stud-
ied for implementation or even taken seriously. To get to know the obstacles on the way
of the implementation of an approved idea in an organization, we consulted idea makers,
inside the organization, with unimplemented ideas.
After several interviews, the possibility was considered that there might be potential
intrapreneurs who have many ideas in mind but have not yet had the chance to propose
them, perhaps due to the fact that the appropriate atmosphere for accepting ideas did not
exist or that the suggestion systems performance was too weak. Taking this into
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A CASE STUDY OF INTRAPRENEURSHIP OBSTACLES 175

consideration, the entrepreneurship universal test was distributed among specialists of

organizations. This test evaluated personality characteristics of entrepreneurs; each person
was given a score from 0 to 240 according to his/her answers:
Scores from 0 to 120: the person does not have the capacity to become an entrepre-
neur.
Scores from 120 to 160: the person is an intermediate choice, his/her weak points have
got to be recognized and, if possible, removed by training or appropriate organiza-
tional atmosphere.
Scores from 160 to 240: the person is probably a good choice for Intrapreneurship.
Employees with scores above 120 were chosen and their opinions about Kuratkos model
factors were asked. Finally, managers, assistant managers and specialists points of view
were gathered using the methods described above and studied and evaluated according to
Kuratkos model. Intrapreneurship obstacles were then extracted according to the factors
of this model. These obstacles are as follows.
Intrapreneurship Obstacles Achieved in Studied Organizations
Collection and classification of information according to Kuratkos model resulted in
finding the origin of these obstacles in the observed organization.
Organizational Characteristics
Management Support
Lack of consolidation in managers innovation policy: according to research, the man-
agers innovation policy has a major effect on the rate of ideas proposed by idea mak-
ers. Idea producers simply record their ideas personally and they dont present them to
the organization, because the managers reaction to their ideas has been probably inap-
propriate. In examining the background of innovative specialists, it was found in some
cases that after changing the unit manager, the rate of ideas by idea producers has
changed, too.
Managers inflexibility to changes: most experienced and probably older managers
who are used to management in fixed conditions, or mangers who have less risk-tak-
ing ability psychologically, show less flexibility to environmental changes. This is one
of the factors that lead to the killing of creativity in organization. Some organization
specialists spend too much time convincing the related manager to make probable
changes. In several cases, this leads to the elongation of the implementation time of an
idea or the discouragement of the person to implement his/her idea.
Employees unawareness of managers probable support: This unawareness leads to
ideas not being presented by employees and creativity not being transformed into
innovation. According to research, in a specific department, some of the specialists
who were aware of their managers support benefited from this opportunity, while on
the other hand the specialists who were not aware of their managers support did not.
Lack of a win-win culture: this is one of the reasons why some managers do not sup-
port their creative employees. For instance, many of the organizations innovators no
longer present their ideas in the organization because during past experiences they
were not involved in the implementation of their own idea, or perhaps the original idea
maker was totally ignored and his manager was credited for the idea.
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176 FEYZBAKHSH, SADEGHI AND SHORAKA

Job Authority
Lack of consolidation in managers policy in giving job authority to employees: in the
studied cases, methods of task accomplishment are precisely preset in many depart-
ments, and employees were not entitled to any comment on these methods or to set-
ting task priorities. This issue is a serious obstacle in the way of creativity inside an
organization.
Rewards and Encouragement
Lack of appreciation of team work and risk-taking according to the structure of the
suggestion system in observed organization: According to suggestion-system rules, no
reward is offered for an innovative employees born risk or his/her performance as an
entrepreneurial team member.
Inattention to organization members need for internal and intrinsic encouragements
according to intrapreneurial organization culture: according to personality features of
intrapreneurs, a feeling of worthiness and merit or independence and growth is the best
motivation for them. These profound feelings are not satisfied with monetary rewards.
Giving the rewards with delay: A reward has to be immediate and has to be given right
after the job is finished. If a reward, even though small, is given immediately, it will
encourage the person and improve his/her creativity. So the faster the encouragement
and reward system acts, the more effective it is. In most of the studied cases, such
rewards were paid after a significant delay. This diminishes the effect of the reward.
If the suggestion is proposed and implemented through the management, getting a
reward will depend on the managements policy: Since the implementation of an idea
is of primary importance to intrapreneurs, in many cases, due to the poor performance
of the suggestion system, intrapreneurs prefer to propose and implement their ideas
through management. In such cases and based on the managements policy, it is pos-
sible that no reward would be offered to the idea-maker.
Time Availability
Lack of a place for thinking in an employees time allocation: In intrapreneurial organ-
izations, all working time of organization members is not filled with their executive
tasks. In addition to their routine work, members spend a percentage of their time (like
15% in 3M Company) on merely thinking on new ideas without having to report to
anybody, or having to get permission, or being led by anybody. This was not the case
in Raja Company. There, intrapreneurs were mostly the capable members of the organ-
ization, who undergo more working pressure because of their abilities. Consequently,
they dont have the time to work on new ideas. This is also considered to be a major
obstacle for intrapreneurship in such companies.
Organizational Boundaries
Centralization: In the studied organizations, some departments were centralized, i.e.
decisions were made only in the high levels of the organization. This is, in most cases,
the reason why employees suggestions are lost in the organizational hierarchy and left
to be forgotten.
Too many rules for the implementation of an idea: If the implementation formalities
or the complexity of the process become too long, because of inappropriate rules, this
will cause a major setback for new ideas from being expressed openly.
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A CASE STUDY OF INTRAPRENEURSHIP OBSTACLES 177

Unavailability of information: One of the factors that slows down idea-making and the
consequent implementation of an intrapreneurial idea is unavailability of up-to-date
information to all employees. The noticeable problem was that everyone had to spend
a large part of his/her time and energy to achieve a small piece of information, or either
he/she could only achieve that piece of information only if he/she had relations out-
side the organization.
Lack of implementation or complete implementation in case of the idea makers
absence in the implementation process: Usually, ideas are implemented provided that
the idea producer is present in the implementation process. This is considered a weak-
ness, since the ideas of creative persons who dont have any role in executive tasks
would be stopped at the implementation stage. This is due to the fact that plan exe-
cuters do not have as much enthusiasm as the idea maker him/herself for the imple-
mentation or the project might undergo undesired changes because it isnt understood
perfectly. Actually, in RAJA, only the ideas that are presented in connection with the
idea-makers own department are likely to be fully implemented.
Employees are not placed in appropriate positions where they experience job satisfac-
tion: When an employees job environment is not appropriate, i.e. the person is not
placed in the right position according to his/her morale and abilities, his/her job satis-
faction would be undermined and he/she would get far from being a potential idea-
maker. Experiments conducted in these organizations show that by changing a per-
sons organizational position, his/her idea rate also changes.
Problems caused by the separation of the research and development unit from the
implementation unit: In our studied organization, there were two independent groups
for research activities: the research and development unit and the implementation unit.
The first group has three main responsibilities: detecting the problem, analyzing the
problem, and proposing different solutions. The second group has to choose the appro-
priate solution and implement it. Many parallel researches were done which wasted
lots of time, energy and budget, only because of poor communication between the two
units.
Not learning from past experiences (reasons for success or failure of a previous proj-
ect are not clear): Organizational learning is an organizations ability to learn from its
own or other organizations successful or unsuccessful past experiences.
Entrepreneurial organizations know very well that they must learn from their previous
experiences, particularly past failures. Only these organizations are able to predict
environmental requirements and equip themselves on time. The reasons for success or
failure of a project are not published in the observed organization of this research and
in most cases these reasons were left unidentified.
Sudden Event
Lack of the belief that every organization needs innovative ideas: The main reason
which makes an intrapreneurial activity come up in an organization is the organiza-
tions need for a change. In RAJA, there was a lot of space for creativity and innova-
tion. It seems that by detecting these opportunities, the initiation of these progressive
changes would become easier. If managers find the needs of each department, it would
be possible to elicit directed ideas.
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178 FEYZBAKHSH, SADEGHI AND SHORAKA

Individual Characteristics
Intrapreneurs who are not trained to take advantage of opportunities: in the opinion
poll that was carried out in this research, 58.8% of specialists possessed the potential
for growing into intrapreneurs, but because of the lack of required training in this field
or inappropriate organizational conditions they never do.
Resource Availability
Not allocating a special budget for the purpose of implementing small, creative and
innovative experimental plans: entrepreneurial activities basically tend to consume
resources, so financial resources have to be ready and easily available. Not allocating
a particular budget for this purpose forces idea makers to spend too much time and
energy getting access to these resources.
The other cases related to Kuratkos model, such as decision to act intrapreneurially;
business/feasibility planning; and ability to overcome barriers, were also studied.
According to the results achieved, no remarkable obstacle was perceived since most of the
specialists were able to plan, overcome the obstacles, and implement their thoughts. But
the lack of knowledge on problem-solving, feasibility planning and business information
was obvious.
In Kuratkos model, the suggestion system of organizations is not studied as one of the
effective factors on Intrapreneurship. However, in RAJA, the suggestion system is the
most prominent core of idea making. This organizational structure was therefore studied
separately. The result of this study comes next.
Obstacles Concerning the Suggestion System
Inadequate publicity of the suggestion system in the organization: Newcomers to an
organization do not know enough about the suggestion system.
The suggestion system is not well instituted: In most of these organizations, right after
the establishment of the organization, this system started to hold training courses with
the purpose of distributing an idea-making spirit; but after a while these courses were
stopped and, because of the lack of environmental feedbacks, their activities gradual-
ly faded from the employees point of view.
Weak performance of the specialists who study the ideas: In the research done, most
of employees believed that the answer of the specialist refusing to accept their sug-
gestions was not convincing enough, and in most cases their suggestions were not
accepted by a specialist because they were not understood. The lack of trained spe-
cialists, who know how to study an idea, is one of the biggest obstacles in the way of
organizational creativity. Since the personnel do not get a convincing reason when
their ideas are refused, they stop presenting their ideas to the suggestion system.
Complex process of examining a suggestion keeps idea makers waiting too long to get
an answer from the suggestion system: Another one of the problems of suggestion sys-
tem is that an idea passes through many filters until it finally reaches a meeting. This
complex process of examining an idea limits the relation between idea maker and the
specialists who study the ideas. For this reason, the process of studying suggestions is
so slow that the presenter of the idea would give up his/her idea or else, if he/she
knows about his/her managers support, he/she would prefer to implement the idea
through management.
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A CASE STUDY OF INTRAPRENEURSHIP OBSTACLES 179

Incomplete execution of instructions: the study shows that the instructions of the
suggestion system are close to an entrepreneurial organization, but due to the lack of
continuous supervision on its executions and also the unawareness of staff about
related rules, the instructions are not fully executed.
Final Results
This studys findings show that in the organization under observation, changes, mod-
ifications, and innovative and creative activities occurred by chance and unsystematical-
ly rather than in the form of a predefined organizational process. Therefore, RAJA pas-
senger trains company could be classified in this category. In this case top managers for-
mulate and define entrepreneurial policies without considering organizational competitive
strategies. According to Theodore T. Herbert and Deborah Brazeal, organizations are cat-
egorized in four main categories in terms of their commitment level to entrepreneurship:
Intrapreneurial organizations with a high level of commitment;
Intrapreneurial organizations with a medium level of commitment;
Occasional intrapreneurial organizations with a low level of commitment;
Companies with intrapreneurial challenging without any commitment to entrepre-
neurial activities.
The organization studied in this research had a low level of commitment to intrapre-
neurship and seemed to fit best in category No. 4.
For the purpose of moving toward becoming an intrapreneurial organization, the inter-
nal environment of an organization has to be modified. Regarding all the conditions in this
organization, in order to increase their capacity for entrepreneurial activities they should
administer intrapreneurial activities with the assistance and support of the organizations
management. Therefore, this organization should not regard the suggestion systems
activities as the unique position for the flourishing of entrepreneurship; Intrapreneurship
should embrace all organization dimensions.
Finally, the very first step to reach an entrepreneurial organization is the formulation
of strategies and goal setting based on intrapreneurship. This could not be done without
developing the indispensable insight towards various aspects of intrapreneurship for the
managers.

Contact Information
For further information on this article contact:

Dr. S. Alireza Feyzbakhsh, Sharif University of Technology, Azadi Ave., Tehran, Iran

Phone/Fax: +98-21-66022757
E-mail: Alireza_feyz@sharif.edu
Roshanak_sadeghi@yahoo.com
Neghab_82@yahoo.com
http://sharif.edu/~alireza_feyz

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dr. Mohsen Poorseiyed Aghaee Managing Director of Raja
Passenger Trains Co., Dr. Saeed Mohamadzadeh Head of Railway Eng. Faculty of Iranian
University of Science and Technology, the Sharif University of Technology Entrepreneur Center and
the Tehran University Entrepreneur Center, for their assistance.
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180 FEYZBAKHSH, SADEGHI AND SHORAKA

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Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
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Kuratko, Donald F. and Richard M. Hodgetts. 2002. Entrepreneurship: A Contemporary Approach. New York:
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Contributors
OLIVIER BASSO is affiliated with the Singleton Institute, Brussels.
NATASA DEUTINGER is Assistant Professor at the Department for Entrepreneurship and
Innovation Management, Salzburg University of Applied Sciences. Her research interests:
Corporate Entrepreneurship and Promotion of Innovativeness at SMEs, Entrepreneurial
Education.
DAL DIDIA is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics, Finance and General
Business at Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi. The authors research interests
include sustainable development and the environment, small business development, entre-
preneurship and economic development.
ALAIN FAYOLLE Professor at EM Lyon, CERAG (Universit Pierre Mends France of
Grenoble) and Visiting Professor, Solvay Business School, Brussels.
S. ALIREZA FEYZBAKHSH is Assistant Professor at Sharif University of Technology, Tehran,
Iran.
RAINER HARMS is Assistant Head of the Department of Innovation Management and
Entrepreneurship, University of Klagenfurt. His research interests: Entrepreneurship,
Growth Firms, and Innovation Management.
THOMAS LEGRAIN is President of TL Conseil, Paris.
KURT MATZLER is Institute and Department Chair of the International Management
Institute, Johannes Kepler University Linz. His research interests include Global Strategic
Management, Knowledge Management, Market Orientation and Innovativeness.
DR. ANDY PENALUNA is Programme Director of the BA (Hons) Design for Advertising
Programme at Swansea Institute. His experience as a design practitioner and consultant,
together with extensive alumni networking, triggered his research interests into the peda-
gogical parallels between design and entrepreneurship education.
KATHRYN PENALUNA (MBA) is the Enterprise Manager at Swansea Institute and also works
as an Associate Lecturer across a range of faculties. As a business practitioner whose ini-
tial entrepreneurship educators role was in the faculty of Art and Design, Kathryns pri-
mary research considers interdisciplinary enabling strategies that develop the entrepre-
neurial capacity of students, alumni and staff.
ROSHANAK SADEGHI is Project Controller, ITCEN Consulting Engineers, Tehran, Iran.
ERICH SCHWARZ is Head of Department of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship,
University of Klagenfurt. His research interests: Innovation Management, Customer
Integration in New Product Development Processes, Entrepreneurship.
SARA SHORAKA is Suggestion System Administrator, Raja Passenger Trains Company,
Tehran, Iran.
NICHAYA SUNTORNPITHUG is an Assistant Professor at Indiana University Purdue
University Fort Wayne. Her current research interests include: Interactivity and Internet
Commerce, Electronic Commerce and Human-Computer Interaction, Online Consumer
Behavior, Innovation Adoption and Diffusion, Entrepreneurship, and Service Quality.

251
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