The Technological Entrepreneur’s Playbook

CHAPTER 8

Managing Process

Managerial Dilemma

The key managerial issue facing a small technology start-up is usually that of ensuring access to resources, especially financial, as the project progresses from idea generation through to successful market launch (Chaston 2014). In large organizations, resource acquisition is a relatively unimportant matter. Instead the primary focus is on achieving an equitable balance between sustaining ongoing operations while concurrently providing adequate support for entrepreneurial activities. Sharma (1999) posited that this balancing act resulted in large firms facing the following dilemmas:

1. Managing all of the available ideas

2. Ensuring younger managerial staff has the capability to make commercially viable ...