George Papageorgiou, Simona Mihai-Yiannaki, Myria Ioannou, Despina Varnava-Marouchou and Stelios Marneros
Entrepreneurship education should catch up with the current developments in today’s digitally interconnected and virtual world. As all forms of conducting business become digital…
Abstract
Entrepreneurship education should catch up with the current developments in today’s digitally interconnected and virtual world. As all forms of conducting business become digital, essentially entrepreneurship needs a new digital competence-based learning approach. This chapter proposes a Digital Communications competency profile that every modern entrepreneur should possess. The proposed profile incorporates digital marketing (DM) as it recognises the need for major changes in entrepreneurship educational programmes. The proposal is based on an extensive literature review, which reveals that future demand for competencies goes beyond basic traditional entrepreneurship skills to include digital communication. It is shown that future entrepreneurs should possess advanced communication skills, in DM, which includes social media marketing, digital marketing strategies, search engine optimisation, content marketing and E-mail marketing. These competencies would facilitate customer involvement and open innovation. As a result, via the process of co-creation creative ideas can be transformed into successful products and services. The modern entrepreneurship profile underlines the paramount role of digital communications skills, which should be incorporated in entrepreneurship educational programmes.
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Stelios Marneros and Paul Gibbs
The purpose of this paper, unprecedented in Cyprus in its scope and approach, is to investigate the importance level of the courses currently taught in hospitality programs of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper, unprecedented in Cyprus in its scope and approach, is to investigate the importance level of the courses currently taught in hospitality programs of the country, as perceived by industry professionals.
Design/methodology/approach
The research population included individuals currently holding full-time managerial positions in hotel establishments of Cyprus. In total, 500 questionnaires were administered to individuals working in 158 hotel establishments currently operating in the country. The surveys were personalized and addressed to each hotel’s general manager and two departmental heads. Descriptive and inferential statistics, namely frequencies, one-way analysis of variance with post-hoc multiple comparison test (Tukey honesty significant difference) and multiple regression analysis, were utilized to analyze the data and answer the formulated research questions.
Findings
For the purposes of the study, modules offered by local tertiary institutions fall into four broad categories: general education, languages, professional modules and business modules. Findings revealed that professional modules were ranked first, followed by business modules, languages and general education modules. The respondents’ gender, age, years of employment and functional area are the demographic characteristics that most significantly influence their perception regarding the importance of required competencies. Moreover, findings suggest that professional modules and languages are perceived by industry professionals as very important elements for career success in the hotel industry.
Originality/value
Findings of this study may assist industry stakeholders in re-structuring the hospitality management curriculum, in an attempt to provide a more realistic and pedagogically sound learning experience to students which reflects the modern realities of the profession. Moreover, new knowledge created may inspire academic scholars to further investigate this topic from an array of different perspectives.
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Paul Jones, Nikolaos Apostolopoulos, Alexandros Kakouris, Christopher Moon, Vanessa Ratten and Andreas Walmsley
Universities are increasingly looking at entrepreneurship as a way to bridge theory and practice. This is important in these challenging times when unexpected events and…
Abstract
Universities are increasingly looking at entrepreneurship as a way to bridge theory and practice. This is important in these challenging times when unexpected events and occurrences take place. It is becoming more important for universities to respond in an entrepreneurial manner to new trends to capitalise on learning and research opportunities. The aim of this chapter is to discuss how universities are acting in an entrepreneurial way by responding to educational and social challenges. This will help to understand fruitful new areas of teaching, research, service and engagement that can occur in a university setting based on entrepreneurial thinking.