An assessment of corporate entrepreneurship in the gold mining industry

Abstract

The primary objective of the study is to determine the level of corporate entrepreneurship within higher level employees at Anglogold Ashanti (Mponeng mine) in order to make recommendations regarding the encouragement of an entrepreneurial climate. A comprehensive literature was conducted. In the literature review entrepreneurship, corporate entrepreneurship and an entrepreneurial climate were defined. The establishment if a climate of corporate entrepreneurship was found to be dependent on the presence of 13 important constructs. If proposed steps are followed to promote corporate entrepreneurship in an organisation, five identified success factors will improve as a result. A historic overview of the gold mining industry including Anglogold Ashanti (Mponeng mine) was given in chapter 3. Part of the Anglogold Ashanti strategy is ?innovation?, wanting to give all employees the opportunity to contribute to improvement by sharing their ideas within the organisation. A questionnaire was adapted to test for the presence of the 13 construct of the climate of corporate entrepreneurship which were identified and to verify current perceptions regarding the organisational success of the organisation among middle managers. Empirical research was conducted which was focusing on discussing the results obtained from the questionnaires. Basic demographic information of the respondents were dealt with first, after which the perceptions of the respondents with regard to the 13 construct measuring the entrepreneurial climate and the constructs measuring the perceived success of the organisation were discussed. Furthermore, the relationships were determined between demographic variables and the constructs measured in the questionnaire. Following the detail analysis of chapter 4, it was concluded that managers participating in the survey regarded the entrepreneurial climate in Anglogold Ashanti (Mponeng mine) as being average. Based on the findings of the empirical research and the insight gained in the literature review, recommendations were made on how to foster an entrepreneurial climate within Angolgold Ashanti (Mponeng mine).