Professional Associations and Barriers to Intrapreneurship and Entrepreneurship

This paper focuses on an entrepreneur in the Alaskan marine piloting industry who wanted to make changes to meet changing needs in the market, but faced obstacles from entrenched industry participants with established relationships with a powerful state-sanctioned board. This paper illustrates how professional associations working with and through the government can inhibit individual members from being innovative. This paper also reviews the literature pertinent to entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship. This should be of interest to those interested in the impact of organizational and other barriers to entrepreneurial activity, as well as those interested in the marine piloting industry.