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Corporate entrepreneurship as a company

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CASE STUDY between entrepreneurship research and
everyday business life, in 2008 Salem
Samhoud founded a chair in entrepre-
Corporate entrepreneurship as a company neurship at the University of Utrecht,
Hollands largest university, which is
philosophy: the case of &samhoud located only a few hundred metres away
from his office.
Salem Samhoud first and foremost
uses his publications (articles, magazines,
Sascha Kraus and Coen Rigtering books, movies) as well as PR to commu-
nicate his ideas and visions on society
and organizations to as wide a public as
possible. In 2006, he founded the social
Sascha Kraus is with the University of Liechtenstein and Utrecht University, initiative Visie21, which aims to
The Netherlands. He may be contacted at the Institute for Entrepreneurship, develop a future vision for the Nether-
University of Liechtenstein, Frst-Franz-Josef-Strasse, FL-9490 Vaduz, lands. For this purpose, intensive surveys
Liechtenstein. E-mail: sascha.kraus@wu.ac.at. Coen Rigtering is with the were conducted with 2,500 people. Each
School of Economics at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. E-mail: of the then 53 employees1 at &samhoud
j.p.c.rigtering@uu.nl. invested 5% of their working hours in
this project. Besides social projects such
as Visie21 that do not generate any
direct revenues, a fifth of the companys
profit is also donated to charity by the
The Case Study section of the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and socially committed entrepreneur.
Innovation serves two purposes. First, the case studies presented are con-
cerned with problematical issues that are pertinent to students of
entrepreneurship. Thus they constitute appropriate teaching and learning The company
vehicles on a variety of postgraduate and undergraduate programmes. Each
case study is accompanied by a set of guidelines for the use of tutors. Second, Company history
it is envisaged that those engaged in entrepreneurial activities will find the The company &samhoud will soon
cases both interesting and useful. celebrate its twentieth birthday. When
Salem Samhoud ran into his former
Abstract: &samhoud is an extraordinary, private, profit-based consultancy university colleague Kees Arends in
firm that focuses on an overall societal view and sees the economy as a 1989, both agreed that they were
subsystem of this societal view. Shaped by the visionary goals and ideas of unhappy with their first experiences of
the founder Salem Samhoud, &samhoud uses corporate entrepreneurship as working life. Salem Samhoud was at that
a strategic tool for increasing employee satisfaction and innovative capabili- time on the brink of bankruptcy after
trying to start up two medical centres,
ties in the firm. Once established, &samhoud became entrepreneurially
while Kees Arends had lost faith in
involved in society, bringing both entrepreneurial elements into society and
product markets. The two therefore
societal elements into the company. decided to move into the service market
Keywords: corporate entrepreneurship; entrepreneurship; innovation; and founded the company
intrapreneurship Arends&samhoud Dienstenmarketing.
Equipped only with a video camera,
the sole employees of the new company
boarded a bus and shot footage of how
The entrepreneur al, 2001). Following that, he worked as a rudely bus drivers interacted with the
marketing and sales specialist for three- customers: that is, the passengers. The
The founder of &samhoud, Salem and-a-half years, as well as for Unilever. management of the bus company was
Samhoud, grew up as the child of a single Education and access to up-to-date shocked when confronted with the
mother in the Dutch town of Apeldoorn. scientific knowledge are for Salem footage, and as a result gave the new
He paid for his economics studies Samhoud essential personal goals. Even entrepreneurs their first consulting
himself at the private and well known when his company was growing at contract. The company subsequently
Nyenrode Business Universiteit in the breakneck pace, taking him to his specialized in consulting services for
Netherlands by washing dishes. After personal limit, he continued to attend public transportation in the Netherlands.
successfully completing his degree, he seminars and courses at top universities Larger projects followed with Amster-
continued his academic career and such as Harvard, Stanford, MIT, the dams Schiphol Airport as well as other
obtained a postgraduate diploma at the London Business School, IESE and transportation companies. The company
University of Lyon in France (Mullick et INSEAD. Convinced of the symbiosis eventually leased office space in Utrecht,

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION Vol 11, No 3, 2010, pp 245249 245

Case study
a city of 300,000 inhabitants about 40
kilometres south of Amsterdam, and
hired its first employees. Dutch TV did a
report shortly thereafter on the company,
which was the first ever in the Nether-
lands to allow its employees to take short
power naps during working hours.
Success on the Dutch market moti-
vated the company towards its first
internationalization in 1996. An office
was opened in the USA, which did not
turn out to be profitable and was closed
only one year later. The location in the
Netherlands, however, continued to grow
and was structured into seven strategic
business units.
Founding member Kees Arends left the
company the following year. Salem took
the departure pragmatically, renaming the
company according to the formula of
Arends&samhoud Arends =
&samhoud. The & in the name allows
clients, employees and suppliers to put
their name before the companys name,
highlighting an open and cooperative
interaction in the consulting process.
One year later, the first bestseller by
Frank van Empel and Salem Samhoud
was released. The book encourages the
readers to contemplate their goals in life
and how to achieve them. At the same
time, Salem Samhoud ventured a second
attempt at internationalization, opening
offices in Germany, Sweden and Spain,
the office in Barcelona being the only one
that survived. Salem Samhoud thus
decided first to confine the business model
of &samhoud to its core competency:
realizing breakthroughs by inspiring and
connecting people. Second, he would not
attempt any new internationalization
through opening new offices abroad, but
instead would take care of his interna-
tional customers working out of the two
existing offices. From the experiences of
&samhoud, Salem Samhoud released
another bestseller in 2003 (Plezier &
Prestatie), which was also translated into
German, Spanish and English (Samhoud
et al, 2005). A second edition appeared at
the end of 2007, along with a new book,
Kus de Visie Wakker [Kissing the Vision
Awake], which was nominated for the
Management Book of the Year award. In
2005, the company moved to a new and
larger office in a former city villa in
Utrecht, while the Spanish office moved
its location from Barcelona to the capital,
Madrid.
246
&samhoud achieved its greatest public
success to date on 25 August 2008 when
it was crowned as the Greatest Place to
Work in the Netherlands by the Finan-
cial Times. In an anonymous survey, no
less than 98% of the employees called
their company a great place to work
this is not just a job (Pride Award). The
essential values of the corporate culture
and vision are intensity, authenticity and
friendship. These are strengthened and
reaffirmed through regular seminars and
workshops (for example, management
training at the French management
training ground INSEAD or on the coast
of Spain), in which all company employ-
ees are invited to participate.
The companys business concept
&samhoud is a corporate consultant
concentrating on concept development,
strategy, leadership development and
changes in corporate culture. It can be
described as a professional service firm This leadership style motivates both
(PSF). Within the tertiary sector, PSFs
offer knowledge and consulting-based
services for private clients, companies
and government institutions.
The company, unique in more ways
than one, was founded 20 years ago with
the goal of realizing breakthroughs by
inspiring and connecting people. Salem
Samhoud puts it like this:
We achieve breakthroughs, inspira-
tion and connection. Breakthroughs
arise by making creative connections.
Breakthroughs are durable financial
results stemming from high employee
satisfaction and high customer
satisfaction. Breakthroughs come
about when people view the need for
change rationally (analyze/think/act)
and experience that need for them-
selves too (see/feel/change). High
class leadership, an inspiring vision
and a clear strategy, are key ingredi-
ents to realise (cultural) change in
organisations and people.
Although &samhoud is a private, profit-
based B2B company, it is not solely
limited to economic transactions. The
business model is based more on an
overall societal view and its subsystem of
the economy. After the establishment of
this self-conception, &samhoud became
entrepreneurially involved in society,
bringing both entrepreneurial elements
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION Vol 11, No 3
into society and societal elements into the
company. This effected a mutual
insemination of company and societal
development, and corresponded to Salem
Samhouds vision of working towards a
better society.
&samhouds company philosophy is
based on the value profit chain (Heskett,
2003), which was developed at the
Harvard Business School. The basic idea
is that when a company takes care of its
employees, they in turn will take care of
the customers. Happy customers will
then lead to good results for the com-
pany. This is measurable in relation to
growth or other success figures (such as
turnover or profit). A successful company
can then reinvest in its employees.
At &samhoud, the company philoso-
phy is implemented using a management
method in which an inspiring style of
work is combined with a disciplined
implementation and focused direction.
management and employees towards
corporate thinking and action that add up
to above-average financial results. Salem
Samhoud talks about the standard he
expects from his colleagues:
We do not want everyone to run his
own business but we do want everyone
to think businesswise; for the cus-
tomer, as well as for &samhoud. We
want everyone to develop an entrepre-
neurial spirit, to think like an
entrepreneur. Externally this means
identifying chances, developing
breakthrough knowledge, concepts for
customers and making a successful
and durable business. Internally this
means acting like it is your own
organisation, going the extra mile,
thinking about the future of &samhoud
and taking responsibility.
At &samhoud, it is clear that teamwork,
cooperation and shared responsibility,
along with an entrepreneurial spirit
inherent in all employees represent the
foundation for sustainable company
success. This results in the core compe-
tencies for successful companies that are
closely connected with the principles of
the value profit chain: (1) vision &
strategy, (2) culture & change, (3)
leadership & team, (4) fun & perform-
ance, (5) branding & clientship and (6)
internal branding.

The company philosophy also forms
the foundation for the consulting
approach applied by &samhoud. First,
the consultants obtain an overview of the
dynamics within a company and its
strategic direction. The consultants then
work together with the client to create a
balance between the rational (inherent
necessities) and emotional side (fun at
work). Here, gauging is an important
element in the consulting process: among
other things, gauging how leadership and
strategy are lived out in the client
company is surveyed; along with gauging
employee and customer satisfaction;
what kind of energy is effectively coming
from the corporate culture; how func-
tional the cooperation and/or task sharing
is in the company; and how well and
sustainably it achieves positive (finan-
cial) results. It can, in other words, be
seen to what extent the company differs
from the ideal company philosophy put
forth by &samhoud, from which
necessary changes can be identified and
concrete steps set in motion for them.
The customers
The first contract the company received
was with the Union of Dutch Regional
Transport Companies (see also Company
history). Salem Samhoud had the goal of
improving the not-so-positive public
opinion of regional public transportation.
He talks about his goals, his surprising
approach to work, unorthodox under-
standing of customer relations and the
turbulent development of the consulting
contract:
I wanted to definitively change
regional transport. I started by
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION Vol 11, No 3
Case study
interviewing customers: with a video Rijksmuseum; the Dutch Soccer Federa-
camera interviewing passengers on tion; the professional service firm
the buses. These I showed to the desk KPMG; and industrial firms such as
people, with the message: these are Akzo Nobel, McDonalds and SEAT.
your customers, did you know that?
Thereafter I trained the drivers the
people in the front line in customer The decision
service and their role within that.
Motivated by the resounding success on
Subsequently I carried out a market
the domestic market, &samhoud has
analysis and with that, harnessed all
made several attempts to establish itself
my energy to change the public
abroad. With the exception of the Spanish
transport market within the Nether-
location, these projects have not been a
lands. Once I delve into something I
success. Customers from foreign markets
like to have full insight into how that
are now taken care of by the Utrecht
market is put together; and as such I
office. Founder Salem Samhoud is less
knew the public transport market like
than satisfied with this situation. By the
the back of my hand. When I subse-
year 2015, he wants &samhoud to be the
quently advised VSN contrary to their
greatest company you can work for in at
wishes, they refused to pay the bill.
least five different countries. He also
From this I deduced if they were
wants to establish the breakthrough
unwilling to change by looking
philosophy in other markets. A strategy
outwards, they had to be changed
meeting of employees at the end of 2005
from the outside in. As such I
identified Germany, the UK and Oceania
introduced a competitor to the Dutch
(Australia and New Zealand) as new
regional transport market the
locations for international offices.
American company Vancom. This
affected my agency hugely. Arends
left and with him many colleagues, I Acknowledgments
also lost a big customer. But the
market changed. Funnily enough VSN The authors first and foremost would like
later changed its name to Connexxion to thank Salem Samhoud and Jeroen
. connection. Geelhoed for their contributions to this
business case study. Many thanks also to
Codrin Kruijne from Utrecht University
The most recognizable customers of
for his assistance with the interviews.
&samhoud are now banks and insurance
companies (for example, Rabobank,
AMB Generali, AEGON); government Note
offices (including five Dutch federal
1
ministries as well as a variety of munici- This number allows &samhoud to be
defined as a medium-sized enterprise
palities, boroughs and states); the Dutch
according to the official EU definition
Chamber of Commerce; the postal (European Commission, 2003) of small
service and railway system; the and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
See overleaf for Teaching Note
247
Case study
TEACHING NOTE
1. Learning outcomes
These include understanding the
meaning, importance and applicability of
corporate entrepreneurship; understand-
ing successful entrepreneurial behaviour;
and understanding the link between
society and business.
2. Learning objectives
In order to keep up their survival, growth
and success, enterprises need to be
innovative and creative (again) to be
successful in the long run. A strong
entrepreneurial orientation is seen as one
of the most promising ways out of these
situations (Kraus, 2009; Puhan and
Vogel, 2009). According to Ireland et al
(2001), entrepreneurial behaviour arises
through concentration on innovative,
proactive, and risk-taking behavior (p
51). Although entrepreneurial behaviour
is mostly associated with starting up new
ventures, it can also take place in large/
established organizations, where renewal,
innovation and the systematic discovery
and exploitation of new business
opportunities are major goals (Stevenson
and Jarillo, 1990; Salvato et al, 2009). An
enterprises activities either formal or
informal aimed at innovations and
market developments are called corpo-
rate entrepreneurship (CE) (Zahra, 1991;
Sharma and Chrisman, 1999).
This case is intended for graduate and
undergraduate courses in entrepreneur-
ship, strategic management or general
management. No specific background in
other subjects is required.
3. Teaching suggestion
The case can be used as an individual
exercise, or even better within small
group discussions. We expect the case to
suit a two-hour discussion, after theoreti-
cal introduction of the corporate
entrepreneurship concept (Morris et al,
2008).
Students should be asked to read the
case in advance. They should prepare
answers to the assignment questions
individually or in small groups in the first
30 minutes. Afterwards, the instructor
248
can solicit responses to the questions,
using the board to record students
opinions and focus the discussion.
4. Assignment questions
The case discussion will help students in
understanding the link between entrepre-
neurship, which is most commonly
associated with new ventures and start-
ups, and enterprise growth, as well as the
necessity for a growing enterprise
continuously to question its business
model and to adapt to environmental
changes by entrepreneurial and innova-
tive behaviour. The following
instructions/questions will stimulate
students reflections and can be used as a
guide for discussion:
(a) Describe &samhouds company
philosophy and consulting approach.
(b) Create a slogan for &samhoud that
communicates this approach to
consulting.
(c) To what extent is corporate entrepre-
neurship lived out at &samhoud?
(d) How can the financing of a chair for
entrepreneurship at the University of
Utrecht pay off for &samhoud?
What do you think the motivations
are for this activity?
(e) Why have all but one attempt by
&samhoud to establish permanent
international locations failed?
5. Discussion and analysis
Question (a)
In his first project with the Union of
Dutch Regional Transport Companies,
Salem Samhoud laid the foundations for
a company philosophy. Here, the goal of
the consulting projects is not so much to
find solutions for a customer, but rather
to solve problems for society. This means
that the consulting approach is not
entirely directed at fulfilling customer
wishes. In a greater sense, &samhoud
seeks collective, overall, comprehensive
solutions for problems that are brought to
the company by customers. The economy
is seen as a subsystem of society and is
expected to derive its own objectives
from societal objectives. This approach to
problem solving is maintained even when
the activities of &samhoud directly
contradict the customers interests. This
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION Vol 11, No 3
was made especially clear when Salem
Samhoud introduced a competitor of the
Union of Dutch Regional Transport
Companies into their market in order to
break through stale and antiquated
business behaviour by activating a new
competitive environment.
Question (b)
Be creative. Any connection to break-
throughs would be strongly desired.
Question (c)
With its unconventional consulting
approach, &samhoud regularly exposes
itself to the danger that its customers will
not agree with the strategic direction of a
consulting project and refuse to pay for
the service. Employees at &samhoud are
responsible for individual projects and
therefore have to practise well balanced
stakeholder management. On the one
hand, they are obligated to the vision of
Salem Samhoud that requires them to
find solutions that are beneficial to
society. On the other hand, they must
give their attention to finding a solution
to the problems presented to them by the
customer. These standards often stand in
contrast to one another. Meeting this
challenge requires entrepreneurial
thinking (Kraus, 2009). Only flexible,
self-accountable, opportunity-oriented
employees who act as independent
entrepreneurs can take productive
advantage of the tension that results from
the dialectic objectives of &samhoud.
Incongruent standards and the dilemmas
that result from them for individual
employees are the motor of perpetual
rejuvenation at &samhoud. Against the
background of extreme complexity, a
company must set as high a level as
possible of security in the remaining
realms of its relationship with its
employees (Kraus, 2009). This occurs
through building friendly relations and a
tight organization.
Question (d)
From a strictly monetary viewpoint, no
direct return on investment can be
expected. Nevertheless, in terms of
marketing, the company can use the
information as well as its connection to
the university to the extent that the
companys consulting services could be
regarded as backed by the current state of

academic research. The newly appointed
professor can be used for guest speeches;
projects can be carried out together with
the university; and the best graduates can
be recruited for either intern- or
traineeships, etc.
Question (e)
Internationalization is a highly complex
process that is accompanied by a great
deal of uncertainty. Particularly in a
company with an amorphous strategy that
thrives off contrasts, additional complex-
ity can be worked through only with
difficulty. Although organizations that
wish to encourage innovation could be
content to create an environment in which
employees feel free to experiment with
ideas, neither the company philosophy nor
the consulting process derived from it can
be implemented seamlessly by newly
recruited employees (Tunstall et al, 2009).
In addition, the ruling spirit in the
company is strongly nourished by the
person of Salem Samhoud. Geographical
distance tends to be damaging in com-
pany-centred corporate cultures (Barkema
et al, 1996). Furthermore, cultural factors
could hamper the conveyance of
&samhouds principles from the central
location to new international offices.
6. Brief note about current
developments at &samhoud
&samhoud continues to grow in
revenues, profits, number of clients and
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION Vol 11, No 3
View publication stats
employees in the midst of the financial
crisis of 2009. In October 2009,
&samhoud organized the Entre-
preneurial Week in Utrecht,
highlighting their relations with both
business and society with different
subjects such as young entrepreneur-
ship, female entrepreneurship, social
entrepreneurship, corporate entrepre-
neurship and scientific research in
entrepreneurship.
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