ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors focus on the management of people within Siemens Fire Safety, and ask how do the formal and informal human resource management policies and practices shape the nature and extent of corporate entrepreneuring within Siemens Fire Safety? They explore the links between the Siemens people excellence initiative and the long-term orientation needed for corporate entrepreneuring, the capabilities measured and fostered under the Siemens Leadership Framework, and human resource management's (HRM) role in fostering ambidexterity and a tolerance for risk in entrepreneuring. Part of the Siemens people excellence initiative is the 'top talent program', whereby specific guidelines and processes are defined to identify and develop certain individuals towards executive positions. The Siemens Leadership Framework to some extent attempted a competence- or capability-based approach, but with poor support for corporate entrepreneuring. HRM takes on strategic significance by supporting the "accretion, coordination and exploitation of knowledge" within firms in a process Chadwick C. and Dabu A. called 'managerial entrepreneurship'.
