Joakim Winborg and Gustav Hägg
In the literature there is limited knowledge about how to prepare students for a corporate entrepreneurial career. The purpose is therefore to develop a framework for…
Abstract
Purpose
In the literature there is limited knowledge about how to prepare students for a corporate entrepreneurial career. The purpose is therefore to develop a framework for understanding the role corporate development projects play in corporate entrepreneurship education, and to examine the potential role of the design of the project. The study defines a corporate development project as a project being part of an academic education to provide students with working experiences situated in an experiential learning process.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on work-integrated learning literature, the authors first develop a conceptual framework. Thereafter, they undertake a multiple case study using data from a Master's Program in Corporate Entrepreneurship. Starting from the conceptual framework, the authors employ deductive thematic analysis in order to analyze data and finally to develop an elaborated framework.
Findings
In the framework, the authors identify and label five categories of learning outcomes from the corporate development project. The framework helps understand the interplay between the different learning outcomes in students' learning process and shows how the design of the project shapes the learning process.
Practical implications
The framework can assist educators in designing and integrating the corporate development project as a key module within a corporate entrepreneurship academic program.
Originality/value
Based on the framework, the study develops the knowledge about the design of corporate entrepreneurship education. Future research should test the framework using data from other academic programs in corporate entrepreneurship.
Details
Keywords
Pia Ulvenblad, Eva Berggren and Joakim Winborg
The aim of this study is to test the assumption that ability to handle communication and liability of newness (LoN) is enhanced by academic entrepreneurship education and/or…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to test the assumption that ability to handle communication and liability of newness (LoN) is enhanced by academic entrepreneurship education and/or previous start‐up experience.
Design/methodology/approach
The data collection includes a questionnaire with a total sample of 392 responding entrepreneurs in Sweden. Statistical analyses are made between entrepreneurs with academic entrepreneurship education respectively previous start‐up experience.
Findings
The findings show that entrepreneurs with experience from entrepreneurship education report more developed communicative skills in the dimensions of openness as well as adaptation, whereas the dimension of other‐orientation is found to be learned by previous start‐up experience. When it comes to perceived problems related to LoN the differences between the groups were not as strong as assumed. However, the differences observed imply that also for handling LoN the authors identify a combined effect of possessing start‐up experience as well as experience from entrepreneurship education. Consequently, entrepreneurs with experience from both, show in total the most elaborated skills.
Practical implications
One way to improve future entrepreneurship educations is to make students more aware of the mutual profit in a business agreement and how to communicate this in a marketing situation. Another suggestion is to include starting business as a course work.
Originality/value
This study not only meets the call for actual outcome from entrepreneurship educations in terms of changed behaviour but also for interdisciplinary research in the entrepreneurship field in integrating leadership research with focus on communication.
Details
Keywords
Stephen Lippmann, Amy Davis and Howard E. Aldrich
Nations with high levels of economic inequality tend to have high rates of entrepreneurial activity. In this paper, we develop propositions about this relationship, based upon…
Abstract
Nations with high levels of economic inequality tend to have high rates of entrepreneurial activity. In this paper, we develop propositions about this relationship, based upon current research. Although we provide some descriptive analyses to support our propositions, our paper is not an empirical test but rather a theoretical exploration of new ideas related to this topic. We first define entrepreneurship at the individual and societal level and distinguish between entrepreneurship undertaken out of necessity and entrepreneurship that takes advantage of market opportunities. We then explore the roles that various causes of economic inequality play in increasing entrepreneurial activity, including economic development, state policies, foreign investment, sector shifts, labor market and employment characteristics, and class structures. The relationship between inequality and entrepreneurship poses a potentially disturbing message for countries with strong egalitarian norms and political and social policies that also wish to increase entrepreneurial activity. We conclude by noting the conditions under which entrepreneurship can be a source of upward social and economic mobility for individuals.