Corporate entrepreneurship in Lebanon

Abstract

Skilled Lebanese are found all over the world succeeding in every endeavor, and providing benefits for their environment and community. However, the situation of the same talented people when operating inside Lebanon is different, and the performance and career path might be less advantageous than that they may attain abroad. Due to this fact, Brain-Drain syndrome has become a major dilemma for the Lebanese community which is constantly losing experienced and skilled talents to other Arab and western countries. Causes are related to job dissatisfaction as well as the unstable and expensive conditions of living inside Lebanon. The current research addresses Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE); a concept which is expected to improve the working conditions in Lebanon for both organizations and individuals. A survey questionnaire is distributed among employees, and middle-level and top managers from the Lebanese private sector to test the characteristics and preferences of the target audience and their reactions to the requirements and structures necessary to establish CE in this sector. Two research problems are addressed: the first is to assess the Lebanese employees‘ familiarity with the concept of CE; and, the second is to evaluate these employees‘ willingness to practice CE in Lebanon rather than abroad. Results and findings show that 80% of employees are ready to receive the adequate CE training if it is later translated into their daily work routine. Employees have a tendency for risk taking, which is a key factor for CE; when given the appropriate atmosphere and rewarding systems, employees prefer to implement CE in Lebanon rather than overseas, and feel that CE cannot be easily integrated into the Lebanese organizations due to the dominance of family owned enterprises. At the end, the paper provides recommendations to organizations for a continuous entrepreneurial process and talent retention.