Research Topics: Entrepreneurial Culture

Entrepreneurial Culture Case Study

Over the past years businessmen have observed changes in the structure and framework of businesses. Entrepreneurship became more popular for the past decades and the number of resources in search for opportunities is made accessible and greater. Moreover, financial capital is now available to most people. Aside from the material and financial resources, the human capital and public capital like infrastructures are important aspects for an entrepreneur. According to Welch (2003) over the last two decades forty countries were evaluated regarding their history and culture and its impact on entrepreneurship and the following hypotheses emerge: <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Entrepreneurship thrives in communities wherein the resources are moveable. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Entrepreneurship is bigger when successful individuals in the community reinvest their extra capital in programs of other members of the community.</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Entrepreneurship thrives in communities wherein the achievement of other members of the community is acknowledged rather than ridiculed. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Entrepreneurship is greater and more successful in communities that see change and transformation as positive rather than negative. </li> </ul> Major changes in the society have occurred in this world. Transformation in the financial and labour markets have made businesses more accessible to people. The most significant change is the emergence of globalisation wherein the flow of capital and labour across the borders in the world have helped products, ideas, and money disseminate throughout the international market, circulating in places wherein opportunity awaits.             This paper examines entrepreneurial culture and applies it in a large organisation. In addition, a discussion on the cases of Sir Ralph Halpern and the Burton Group plc and Jack Welch will be given.   Sir Ralph Halpern and the Burton Group plc             Burton Group plc is one of the oldest companies in Great Britain that specialises in clothing. It was established in the year 1904 by David Osinsky, and during pre-war and World War II the retail outlets of the company have increased to 595. However, when the Sir Montague Burton died in the year 1952, the company encountered a number of problems which contributed to its poor performance in the market. When the chief executive officer resigned, Sir Ralph Halpern took over; his main objective is to remove loss-making businesses. He introduced a unique organisational structure. During Halpern’s term as the chief executive officer of Burton Group plc the sales of the products grew up to £300 million, approximately £39 million pre-tax profits and a return capital employment of 16 per cent. After revitalising the organisation, Sir Ralph Halpern resigned. However, the organisation has again encountered problems and it entered a period of consolidation that involves downsizing employees and demerging of Debenhams.               In traditional economic literature entrepreneurship is viewed as a process wherein it must begin at the bottom and the people behind the business must work its way up. That is true in a number of companies such as the Burton Group plc wherein it started as a small retail store prior to World War II and become one of the biggest enterprising organisations. But despite of the success of the organisation it encountered problems after World War II. And upon obtaining the position of the chief executive officer of Burton Group plc Burton vowed to revitalise the company. The theory of intrapreneurship is the entrepreneurial process within the organisation wherein it basically perceives itself differently from the usual idea of entrepreneurship wherein innovation is done within the setting of an existing firm (Umana, 2002). In the case of Halpern and Burton plc, Sir Ralph Halpern utilised the theory effectively because he was able to transform the culture of the company, in addition, Halpern welcomed the idea of change in which it could lead to innovation within the organisation. Aside from the theory of intrapreneurship, enterprise culture was also extensively utilised by Sir Ralph Halpern. He was able to challenge the existing system and process within the organisation and come up with new solutions and ideas to problems in which it became beneficial to the whole organisation. On the basis of the case, the theories of intrapreneurship and enterprise culture should not be modified since it provides a significant view regarding change within an organisation wherein it is considered one of the keys to successful entrepreneurship. Burtons became a successful organisation upon utilisation of the two theories. However, it will become more successful if Burton’s was able to diversify its company and entered into new markets apart from clothing, since the theories talks about change and innovation. It will be a welcome change for the organisation if they are able to enter new products and services, as well as, markets. Entrepreneurial culture is developed by large organisations in order to bring loyalty among employees, as well as, sustaining the competitive advantage of the company. Entrepreneurial culture was established in Burton group plc but despite of that, the company have shown cracks after Halpern resigned as CEO. There are a number of reasons why cracks appeared, one is that the changes that the new CEO implemented within the company were ineffective, the senior managers have mismanaged the organisation and economic and political situation of the nation may also have an effect. If Halpern did not resign, there will be a big difference since he is the man behind the changes and innovation of the organisation; if problems and issues will emerge he knows how to manage it. Jack Welch: an activist CEO             Jack Welch is one of the most admired and respected CEOss in the world today. He retired last September 7, 2001 as the chief executive officer of General Electric. Under the chairmanship of Welch, General Electric became the largest and most successful companies in the world with total assets of 5 billion, and considered the World’s Most Respected Company during the years 1998, 1999, and 2000 by the Financial Times. In addition, General Electric has received the Fortune nomination as America’s most admired company during the years 1998-2001. Jack Welch was able to do that during his time as CEO of GE because he made the company informal through breaking the chain of command, communicating across the various departments of the company, and by treating its employees as if they worked for a challenging and high profile entrepreneur. Jack Welch has great belief on people and in order to tap the potential of the employees he would challenge the teams and set demanding targets and performances in order to sustain the organisation’s top ranking. He utilises rewards as a driving force for employees to perform well in their job.             Jack Welch considered that the management of General Electric is similar with that of the grocery store. And just like Pritchard, Welch regarded the view of the customers important, if the customer is not satisfied with the product, if the products and services are not good the company will most likely loose its customers. Pritchard and Welch managed their companies vividly and determine the small details of the company that could affect the whole organisation.             Jack Welch and Sir Ralph Halpern also possess similar characteristics as Chief Executive Officer. One of those similarities is both CEOs are not afraid of change. They even view change as an important aspect in the success of an organisation. And because of that these two CEOs were able to revitalise the companies and make it one of the most successful organisations not just in their respective countries but throughout the whole world.               Most of the time, the word culture is associated in the world of business, particularly among the entrepreneurial and corporate companies. Every organisation wants to establish a corporate culture in order to attract and retain employees that would contribute to the success of the company. Corporate culture is a very complex act because in order to have it an organisation must be able to balance a number of elements at every level within the company, particularly entrepreneurial companies, in which the management is developing its business at the same time its organisational culture. Corporate culture must be guided, cultivated and constantly checked and adapted to ensure that the culture you wanted to cultivate within the company will not go astray with your intentions. Coca-Cola Corporation             Initially, Coca-Cola was invented as a drug to cure for diseases such as headache, morphine, addiction, and impotence (Coca-Cola, 2007). It was invented by Dr, John Stith Pemberton on May 8, 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia. In the year 1887, Asa Griggs Candler acquired a stake in Pemberton’s company and incorporated it as the Coca-Cola Company.  Candler assertively advertise and market Coca-Cola product and during its 50th Anniversary Coca-Coal attained national status icon for the United States of America. During the World War II, it became a patriotic symbol because Coca-Cola provided the soldiers of the United States free drinks, added to the fact that it is the only company that was allowed to enter the front lines as technical officers. As the United States and its allies win in the World War II so did the Coca-Cols company. The company benefited from this advancement because they were able to set-up franchise in various countries. In the year 1985, due to the aggressive campaign of its rival Pepsi, the Coca-Cola Company reformulated the popular carbonated drinks to suit the preference of the consumers which is sweeter soda. However, the New Coke became a commercial failure which leads to the adverse reaction of the public. Protests from different sectors of the society emerged. Due to these events the company return the original formula and named it Coca-Cola Classic. Despite returning the original formula, the company still received accusations from different groups.             With increase competition from various companies in the United States and the whole world and changing trends in beverages Coca-Cola is faced with a number of challenges. And because of that changes must be made in order to accommodate the evolving trends in the market. Transforming the organisation into an entrepreneurial one and change management are two things a new CEO must do in order to overcome the obstacles.             Coca-Cola is still one of the leading beverage companies in the United States and in the whole world, however with the trend of globalisation and emergence of new competitors in the market, the company is losing its competitive advantage. Changes in management and culture must be made in order to keep up with the trends.             And in order to do that, companies must leave the mechanistic perception of the organisation and start the process of changing the mental disposition into a holistic one that welcomes entrepreneurial activities throughout the company. According to Naisbitt (1994) the bigger the economy of the world, the smaller players become more powerful. It clearly indicates that the entrepreneur plays an important role in the global business environment nowadays. This trend has huge impacts not only in small players but also for large organisations such as Coca-Cola which is still stuck in the existing frameworks.             As the new chief executive officer of Coca-Cola, the organisation must be employee friendly. The company must be able to provide a comfortable and safe working environment that will unleash the full potential of an individual, as well as, enable him or her to grow and learn in the workplace. Employees must be treated as assets of the company and must be trusted and respected. The workers, particularly in marketing and research and development must do their assigned task and utilise the right skills in order to finish it. And in order to do that teamwork approach must be done because it is an efficient method of developing strong commitment and communication among managers and employees.               In order to achieve the desired changes within the organisation, change management must be done. Change, according to Davidson (2001) “change is the significant difference in what was before.” In business it means accomplishing tasks in a new format, following new directions, acquiring new technologies, new management procedures, acquisitions and merging and other important events in corporations. Change is an important aspect in the business world especially in technology and innovation, because nowadays technologies and products are coming together to achieve a common conclusion or objective.             But in changing the management and culture of the organisation a number of obstacles or barriers must be faced. One of the challenges is that some of the employees are not natural team players and their approach to their job is individualistic. Although, a number of employees are already familiar with teamwork, utilising it within the company is still new to them. Some of the employees resist the idea of changing the culture of the organisation to a more entrepreneurial one. And in order to overcome those obstacles the following must be done according to Lawton (2001): Treat people with respect- it is a common and simple law that human beings follow. It may sound simple but the underlying meaning of these words is very complicated because once trust or respect is broken issues within the company may arise. Employees must trust and respect their managers and likewise. Respect and trust is the fundamental basis for a competitive and sustainable entrepreneurial culture. Employees that resist changes must be respected by the management but not tolerated, they must explain to them the reasons why the company will undertake that measure in a civilised and respectful manner. Help Employees Stay Healthy- offering health insurance and health benefits will ensure the workers that the company is concerned regarding their health. Having sick leaves must also be given to them. Health compensations are just one of the benefits employees look in a company and if the organisation is providing good health packages employees will most likely accept changes within the organisation. Open Doors to Communication- develop an environment wherein the workers could interact and talk to each other. Managers must talk to employees regarding their concerns in the company. Aside from issues and concerns talking to employees makes it easier for the management to identify the individuals that are working hard and has the potential to rise to the top. If the employees and managers have an open communication it will be easier for the new chief executive officer to address the changes that he or she will make within the company. Build camaraderie- allow the employees as well as the managers to get to know each other through team building and meetings on a regular basis. Through these activities the employees and the managers could discuss openly the path of the company as well as new ideas for the company. An organisation that has a good camaraderie makes it easier for the employees to talk to.             It is very important for the new chief executive officer to instil in the mind of its subordinates the idea that resistance to changes will yield bigger losses and wider exposure to risks.             In nurturing and creating entrepreneurial culture among large organisations Luczkiw (2007) utilised Entreplexity Discipline as a tool. The Entreplexity Discipline according to Lucskiw integrates both theory and practice into a body of knowledge that determines entrepreneurial start-ups or on the edge of existing structures. The discipline has five pillars and these are: Structure- it refers to the parts of the system and their functions in association with one another. Through understanding the crucial elements of the parts it could be easily understood by the management the impact of actions and interactions within the organisation to the external environment. Through changing into an entrepreneurial culture, the organisation could exploit new opportunities in the external environments and create patterns that were not developed before. Entrepreneurial culture lets employees think out of the box and generate opportunities. Once the search for these opportunities is finished, the employees of the organisation could start to formulate ideas, it is through interaction with the external environment that an organisation could determine their markets wherein they could exploit it.  Systems- business is composed of organisational structure such as economic, social and political that interacts with one another in the national and international context. The systems in businesses are complex. And according to Waldorp (1992) the following are the properties related to complex systems. -it is composed of a network of numerous agents that act in parallel. -the agents in the various levels of organisation revise and rearrange themselves through rivalry and mutual accommodation. -these people anticipate and foretell the future through utilising internal models that are based on personal experiences. -they exploit special demands of products and services and develop new opportunities partners or competitors.             In the stage of developing and entrepreneurial culture within the company wherein the start up is dependent on the chaotic events or innovation surrounding the shift by the entrepreneur followed by an emphasis on order or management. People- the people are the ones that have the capability to transform existing structures and integrate systems within the company to help create a vision of the company for the future. An organisation that has entrepreneurial culture have self-determined people, this type of individuals are driven by the activities of the company rather than the rewards. According to Shaver (1991) an organisation that wants to have an entrepreneurial culture must believe in innovation and must be motivated enough to persist until the job is finished. The Process: Action and Interaction- through incorporating the first three pillars which are the structures, systems and persons an organisation is now ready to develop a vision for the future. According to Collin and Porras (as cited by Lucskiw) the vision has three major components and these are: Core beliefs and values- these are the basic principles that motivates employees and managers of an organisation it is the extension of an individual’s values and belief. Purpose- it is something that companies strive to achieve. Mission- it is the major goal that every individual in the company wants to attain. Strategy: Differentiation and Integration- through differentiation and integration each member of the organisation contributes to the success of the firm. In a business environment wherein companies deal with open systems traditional planning does not work. Differentiation and integration are more efficient in synthesizing learning and managers and leaders that utilised it emerged with renewed enthusiasm towards work and the challenges that it offers.             The global business environment is constantly changing and becomes more complex and chaotic as globalisation occurs. Having an entrepreneurial culture within the organisation develops people that have the ability to create and develop structures that will reflect their views. They will become agents of change wherein they will develop systems that have never been built before.   Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Entrepreneurial Culture Case Study

Over the past years businessmen have observed changes in the structure and framework of businesses. Entrepreneurship becam...

How would you re create an Entrepreneurship Culture in an Organizations

Topic: How would you (re)-create an entrepreneurial culture in any large organisation in which you might be employed, either now or in the future?   Instruction: •        Read and discuss the two cases in chapter 12 of Kirby, D.A. (2003), Entrepreneurship. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill •        Sir Ralph Halpern and the Burton Group plc (pp. 305-308). •        Jack Welch: an “activist” CEO (pp. 318-320) •        Select  a suitable large organisation (one known not to be entrepreneurial) •        Private sector •        Public sector. •        Find out as much about it as you can. •        Write an action plan to turn it into an entrepreneurial organisation. (Think of yourself as either •        A new CEO brought in to do this or •        A consultant advising the CEO). •        To do this you will need to answer the following questions •        What sort of organisation do we have now? •        What sort of organisation do we want to create? •        What is  stopping us? •        What do we have to do to overcome the obstacles/barriers in order to achieve our objectives? •        Who should do what, when? •        Includes •        Executive summary •        Contents list •        Evaluation of what you have learned •        About intrapreneurship •        Entrepreneurial team working •        Change management •        Difference between theory and practice •        Etc. •          Recommend Reading   •        Burns, P (2005) Corporate Entrepreneurship: Building an Entrepreneurial Organisation. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. •        Elfring, T (2005) Corporate Entrepreneurship and Venturing. New York: Springer. •        Hamel, G. (2000), Leading the revolution> Boston: Harvard Business School Press. •        Katz, J. A. and Shepherd, D.A.(2004), Corporate Entrepreneurship. Kidlington: Elsevier Ltd. •        Kirby, D.A. (2003), Entrepreneurship. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill (especially chapters 9,11 & 12) •        Wickens, P. (1999) Energise your Enterprise. Basingstoke: MacMillan Press.   Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

How would you re create an Entrepreneurship Culture in an Organizations

Topic: How would you (re)-create an entrepreneurial culture in any large organisation in which you might be employed, either now or in th...

Entrepreneurial Commercialization of Knowledge ‘Enterpreneurial Venture’

Entrepreneurial Commercialization of Knowledge eCourier Entrepreneurial Venture   Emergence of new knowledge resulted from a publicly financed, scientific problem solving. Eventually, the generation of this new knowledge is not primarily for application purposes or for any guided interest.  However, such there are new knowledge which usually carries some commercial business potential. Evidently, national capabilities in exploiting these opportunities of new knowledge differ from each other. As explained by  (1990), “these differences have been found to be a source of competitive advantages in global markets.” New production technologies and products drive the process of economic growth and allow innovation to be appropriated. Generally, entrepreneurship requires suitable sources of knowledge. Particularly, these are sources which enable access to, and the exploitation of new knowledge. Therefore, the transfer of knowledge from academic research to commercial production and marketing activities is an essential part of the entrepreneurial activities in which organizations must considered. However, it is also important for the organization to consider and recognize the constraints of operations in which the entrepreneurial process may be affected. Entrepreneurship always faces obstacles such as barriers to entrepreneurial entry, lack of qualified resources, and/or organizational rigidities. Depending on entrepreneurial skills, some of these can be overcome, some cannot. Difficulties like these vary with the institutional and political conditions in the different national economies. According to  (2001), these difficulties can impede the entrepreneurial commercialization of new technologies just as much as they can impede any other entrepreneurial activity. Moreover, in knowledge-based entrepreneurship there are additional obstacles which resulted from the peculiarities of scientific knowledge and its mode of transfer. According to (2003), in the attempt to overcome these obstacles, the commercialization of new technologies is been shaped.   Knowledge, as distinguish by  (1967), has two types namely: the tacit or implicit and encoded or explicit knowledge. According to (1967), encoded or explicit knowledge is in the form of written information. It is accessible to commercial users as long as their training allows them to understand context and content. On the other hand, tacit or implicit knowledge is acquired by experience on the job, for example, scientific tacit knowledge is acquired by conducting scientific research (1967). This knowledge is difficult and impossible to encode and therefore has to be carried in embodied form. In addition, technological and disciplinary fields differ with respect to what form of knowledge is relevant for commercial applications and also the actual organization of the knowledge transfer. The service of scientifically trained personnel is necessary to achieve the passing on of the information. Information transfer can cost the business venture much unless the entrepreneur itself has the knowledge of the technology and is being applied to his business.  and  (2002) concluded that this fact may explain why the transfer and commercial exploitation of technological knowledge indeed tends to be a matter of either small entrepreneurial start-up firms or large, incumbent firms. New knowledge is created during a scientific research by which this knowledge can be useful in commercial production and marketing activities. Once the scientific knowledge is then created as a business opportunity, that knowledge is now needed to be pass on to create business opportunity. Transfer is usually entrepreneurial process. For example, in starting up a business that is technology oriented, the knowledge of a scientist is essential in the transfer of academic science knowledge to the commercial sphere.   Some cases of knowledge transfer are accomplished by the entrepreneur who embodies the necessary technological knowledge in person. However, in large, incumbent firm, technological expertise that is directly related to the capabilities of the organization which already exists has to selectively be acquired on the labor market. This is done through the expansion of the research and development staff which is a specialized organizational unit a firm of large scale operation ( 1993; 1997). The two contrasting forms of firm organization represent very different stages of organizational development (2001; 2000). They therefore have different strengths, face different problems, and pursue different entrepreneurial strategies in exploiting knowledge-based business opportunities. In the case of the scientist or the engineer which has acquire the knowledge of the technology or the new knowledge and realize the commercialization value of the knowledge can exploit the knowledge they embody in order to realize innovative production processes or products. If successful, start-up firms find their niche in the markets or perhaps even a growing niche or market. Improvements and diversifications in the firm’s processes or product may sooner or later become feasible. A continued transfer of new technological knowledge would then be useful or even necessary to keep up with competitors. Thus, if run by former scientists can keep up with technological developments and in exploiting new commercial opportunities even comparatively small business ventures. This is because transfer of knowledge is easy and do not cost much for the company. In contrary to a scientist as an entrepreneur who can exploit his own embodied knowledge and capabilities on the latest technology on processes and products, large firms have to find ways to acquire and absorb the most current technological knowledge. In addition with the nature of large firms to be differentiated, spotting technological opportunities requires considerable coordination efforts. It is essential for these firms to have coordination between the various people in charge of conceiving of new business opportunities, of deciding about them, and of actually organizing the internal resources. New technological knowledge has to be appropriate with the firm‘s specific knowledge, capabilities, and routines that have been accumulated in the past. Moreover, as a consequence, the adjustment of business conceptions is needed and has to be mastered.     How eCourier start?               eCourier is the only courier company worldwide to employ an intelligent, automated dispatch solution. eCourier was developed with the help of the leading minds and research laboratories and logistics and computing. With eCourier’s propriety technology platform, middlemen are being removed and the service limitations that the conventional operators encumber are removed.               , CEO of eCourier, founded the company in response to frustration with unreliable courier services while working in the shipping industry. Inspired by the lack of innovation within conventional courier operations, Allason felt that combining cutting-edge technology with a customer-oriented business philosophy would revolutionize the courier industry.             According to Allason, he started looking at the market of courier when he was still a student when he ordered a present for a friend and did not arrive that it ruined his surprise. He became furious with the shoddy service and the fact that the courier firm could not tell where his order was.             In his curiosity, he tried to work out why the couriers are so unreliable.  felt there was an important gap in the market due to the lack of information between the couriers and their controllers. He and Bregman, a fellow student he met in the US, analyzed how UK courier companies worked and discovered a highly fragmented sector with obsolescent supply chains creating insuperable barriers to growth. According to , “Traditional courier companies are based on a human sequence of telephonists, coordinators, controllers, customers and couriers. Because of high information costs, one controller can oversee a fleet of only 20 to 30 couriers meaning if the company is to grow it must operate several separate fleets.” This rules out big efficiencies and economies of scale. In fact, according to him, the greater the number of customers the less efficient the company becomes. Expansion costs much. However, eCourier has expanded from fixed-costs based which have expanded traffic with no limitations. They have concluded that, “there was not so much gap in the market as a gaping hole to be filled using the best technology.” However, in their search for a technology, the entrepreneurs face their first problem. The technology is still not available in that time. So they have to contact logistics experts about the possibilities and cost of creating the software. There has a possibility of creating the software however it cited prices of millions and a timescale of several years.  The next step was an extensive, global search for a developer, after being told that the system could be built for more than £4million. They have identified an American academic as the person who could build their business-defining technology by the name of Dr. Cynthia Barnhard, transport guru at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. When  and  identified her, they bombarded her with gift baskets while she was on holiday vacation in Hawaii until she agreed to help them. Dr.  enlisted the help of two Italian universities to design and build the system which has made  team to travel to Italy to sign contracts. According to , the limitation at a conventional firm is the number of people that a booking has to pass through before reaching the courier. He explains that an operator takes the details and passes them to a controller. The controller then has to work out whom to give the delivery to and then actually give it. This all happens by radio or mobile phone which is labor-intensive and based on little accurate information. If the customer wants to know where their package is, the information has to pass down that human chain then back up again. eCourier set out to develop technology that would connect customers with couriers directly and minimize the impact of the middle man. This technology development resulted to a unique technology platform called AIBA – Advanced Information Based Allocation System. AIBA knows where all the eCouriers are, and it knows what they are carrying, where they are heading and how fast they are moving. This information is combined with the latest traffic and weather reports. The computer also compares the journey with previous patterns, allowing it to calculate the impact of a busy streets and the weather. It then uses this information to predict a travel time for the collection and delivery and allocates each new delivery to the most appropriate courier. The whole process takes milliseconds. The company which is based in east London has turned over £1.5million in the first full year of trading and landed big accounts. According to  (2006), after two years of trials and £5million in private investment, , 25, and , 26, are confident their eCourier venture will conquer wherever it operates in the UK’s £1billion market. In their first month, September 2004, they completed 25 deliveries and charged £1000. Now, the company manages 80 couriers within London and this is growing by the week (2006). As well as business success, eCourier is achieving widespread recognition. On the anniversary of its first year of operation the business received a raft of awards from the likes of The Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport, the Department of Trade and Industry and the British Computer Society. Customers and mailroom managers alike are impressed with eCourier. In the past year a host of high-profile businesses have converted to what is arguably the country’s fastest-growing courier business. ‘eCourier has certainly made a big difference to us’, comments   Despatch Manager for Harrods in Knightsbridge. According to him, they book on line and a few minutes later the courier turns up. Currently the company of Reardon use eCourier throughout the day, mostly to deliver items for their customers. He also commented that booking on line is faster and more efficient, and it has definitely reduced their courier costs.’       Analysis   Porter’s Five forces             In the analysis of the courier industry, eCourier is assessed using the Porter’s five forces mode. Firstly, competition in the specific industry is weak since eCourier is first in the technology and if other would implement the same technology, they would be way up to some years behind. Threat of the new entrants is also assessed as weak since they would also be way behind the eCourier and a new enterprise would have a difficulty in establishing a parallel business as with eCourier and it would be hard to compete with an already establish and recognized eCourier.             The threat also for substitutes is assessed as also weak since substitutes for these services is not yet known. The bargaining power of the suppliers is assessed to be strong since the company is using the latest technology which technology suppliers are offering. The bargaining power of the buyers also is assessed to be strong since the customers usually have no incentive to be loyal.                                             Figure 2: Porter’s Five Forces Model SWOT Analysis Strengths Ø  High-Tech Courier Delivery eCourier utilizes the latest GPS technology to revolutionize same day and overnight courier services across London and the UK.   Ø  satellite based tracking system and artificial intelligence With this technology customers can track their package second-by-second from dispatch to delivery online whether it’s a same day or overnight booking, across London or anywhere in the UK which gives customers more convenience and less cost.   Ø  eCourier is faster than the competition With the company’s fleet of motorcycles, small and large vans coupled with patented software algorithms they have the ability to match incoming jobs to the most appropriate vehicle in fleet, based on some factors which includes traffic and weather conditions, available drivers, vehicle type and others. Ø  Instant proof of delivery As soon as our courier has delivered parcel on same day or overnight services customers receive an instant signed proof of delivery by email, SMS or fax which gives also the customers more convenience. Ø  Competitive and committed staff The company also has its competitive and committed staff which has even used their vehicles in the first days of their operations in delivering the orders of their customers. Ø  Reliable service Customers and mailroom managers alike are impressed with eCourier. Evidently, in the past year a host of high-profile businesses have converted to what is arguably the country’s fastest-growing courier business. As evidence, , Despatch Manager for Harrods in Knightsbridge, commented that eCourier has certainly made a good turn out for their operations. According to him they book on line and a few minutes later the courier turns up. In addition, he said booking on line is faster and more efficient, and it has definitely reduced their courier costs. Moreover, eCourier takes 85 per cent of bookings on line while its nearest rival takes about five per cent. According to , for clients sending them hundreds of deliveries each day, costs are cut significantly and faster and more reliable services is provided. The mailroom manager at one investment bank in particular says eCourier save him and his team three hours a day because his staff never need to phone up to check the status of a delivery. Ø  Competitive pricing The average eCourier delivery charges from £5 to £15, so competitive pricing is added to the benefits of accuracy and efficiency (2006).   Weaknesses Ø  GPS limitation The company has a routing system which reports the location of the available couriers and which customers can view where their orders are at.  Each of the drivers of eCourier’s has its palmtop computers issued by the company with the global positioning system (GPS) in which delivery locations and delivery status is recorded every 10 seconds. However, GPS has limitations as it is difficult to get a signal especially at London in which signals usually do not reach a good signal from seven or eight satellites. In addition, signal is also interfered by the tall buildings of the city and the technology has its weakness on getting signal indoors and when it is undercover. This becomes a barrier in the reporting and mapping of the couriers locations. Moreover, there is also a problem on accuracy of their system in which could even incur a delay of 5 minutes in the network.  Opportunities Ø  Expansion to Manchester and Coventry With the rapid growth of eCourier, opportunities of expansion are viable for the company with the current position of the company in the marketplace. Ø  Enduring commercial advantages to eCourier’s operations that help explain why it has found raising investment relatively easy. Threat Ø  Rise in oils prices With the nature of courier industry, eCourier depends on mobility. Oil prices increase becomes a threat to them since it would incur them additional costs. Ø  Environmental legislation on gas emission on road transport       PEST Analysis UK’s express and courier services are of a great significance in the growth and efficiency of the economy of the country.  Faster and more efficient delivery services are essential for UK business especially with UK’s geographical position which is far from Europe’s continental center and with businesses dealing with international trade. Even though global economy has slowed down, the express and courier industry in UK had still maintained a steady growth rate and market turnover over the years. In addition, since the express logistics services has been outperformed by the courier services in the growth of turnover, express and courier services demand has grown rapidly especially with the industries in services and manufacturing. Thus, the success of the courier industry is strongly affected with these industries’ economic performance. With technology advancement and the growth of e-commerce usage which is combined with the commitment of express and courier sector in information technology investment, the effects of global slowdown has not affect the industry much. This is also the industry has offered more value to their services and has retained its most valuable customers even in times of the economic slowdown.  Increase in the Internet retail selling has also increase the demand of courier services with the increase demand of home deliveries. In addition, the industry has also boosted with the increase for air courier services for developing countries. However, problems with the increased costs of air freight also arise with the increased security measures that air courier have imposed. In connection with these, express and courier sector has preferred to do on the road services than in air freight. However, there are also barriers which arise with the on the road carrier. With the government more concern on the environment, an environmental legislation has been imposed. This gives additional cost for the road based courier and express sector. However, growth of the express and courier industry is likely to be steady with the growth of UK economy. In the continuous growth of internet shopping courier industry would most likely to be benefited since there would also be an increase in home deliveries. However, along with these opportunities are threats with the problems of government legislation and security on the UK’s road based and in the air based courier industry. In addition, the government has also have currently introduced environmental legislation for road-based couriers which would costs courier industry with additional expenses.                       Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Entrepreneurial Commercialization of Knowledge ‘Enterpreneurial Venture’

Entrepreneurial Commercialization of Knowledge eCourier Entrepreneurial Venture Emergence of new knowledge resulted from a publicly ...

HK entrepreneur

HK entrepreneur

Social Entrepreneurial Idea

Social Entrepreneurial Idea             Creating a business where profits transform into reinvesting and not for personal gain is truly hard to achieve and probably make your co-leagues raise their eyebrow in this kind of philosophy. The main purpose of creating such business evolves in different aspects and became the foundation of the business’s vision. Most of them consider the objectives of helping the community through the additional labor, reducing environmental problems, or additional tax for the particular area which is truly favorable in the concerned municipality.  A social business is one which aims to be financially self-sufficient, if not profitable, in its pursuit of a social, ethical or environmental goal. Social Businesses seek to profit from acts that generate social improvements and serve a broader human development purpose. A key attribute of social businesses is that an increase in revenue corresponds to an incremental social enhancement. The social mission will permeate the culture and structure of the organization and the dual bottom lines – social and economic will be in equal standing with the firm pursuing long term maximization of both [1]. According to Professor , a Bangladeshi banker and economist through his book Creating a World without Poverty – Social Business and the Future of Capitalism; he defines what a social business is and what it is not. It boils down to the following requirements[2]: 1.      Social objectives: it needs to have positive social objectives (help comes from the altruistic social services that the business provides to the poor): e.g. health, education, poverty, environment or climate urgency. 2.      Non-profit distribution: investors may not, after having had their investments paid back, take profits out of the enterprise as dividends. A business may also be classed as a social business if is owned by the poor, and therefore the profits directly work to achieve the social objectives of the business, hence this third category. 3.      Community ownership: it needs to be owned by the poor or disadvantaged (dividends and financial growth return to the poor where their fiscal situations are helped bringing them out of poverty): e.g. women, young people or long-term unemployed. In United Kingdom (UK), the social enterprise or social business in other form are very popular. The demand of the customers for such products and services delivered are very high and being patronized. The support from the upper class is not depleting and over-whelming. This might be the reason why Prof.  want to apply this kind of philosophy. It grown popular to the developed countries, and tracking to the economic capacity of the under-developing countries (mostly in Asia) is not yet adopted. Some well known social enterprises include John Lewis (a department store owned by a private company), Welsh Water (Glas Cymru), Cafédirect (alternative trading organization), The Eden Project (biggest tourist attraction for greenhouses), Divine Chocolate (Kuapa Kokoo), The Big Issue, the Co-operative Group, Duchy Originals, the London Symphony Orchestra and Jamie Oliver’s Restaurant – 15[3]. Three common characteristics of social enterprises as defined by Social Enterprise London are: 1.      Enterprise orientation: They are directly involved in producing goods or providing services to a market. They seek to be viable trading organisations, with an operating surplus. 2.      Social Aims: They have explicit social aims such as job creation, training or the provision of local services. They have ethical values including a commitment to local capacity building, and they are accountable to their members and the wider community for their social environmental and economic impact. 3.      Social ownership: They are autonomous organizations with governance and ownership structures based on participation by stakeholder groups (users or clients, local community groups etc.) or by trustees. Profits are distributed as profit sharing to stakeholders or used for the benefit of the community. The social business is not a bad idea, having the thoughts and philosophy in making profit for the benefit of the society. It is a great challenge indeed, especially in a type of country that really needs improvement. The only problem that can be arisen from the objective is: “Can the company holds or sustains the needs for the society?” If the organization is willing to plunge into the risk and can achieve the required demand of the insatiable community, then they must take the opportunity. Most of the business with this kind of vision, succeeds in due time. The business should always think of what could be the impact of this kind of philosophy both in the enterprise and the community they were servicing. There is always advantages and disadvantages in any kind of decision but weigh it right and the business will surely attain what it really wants.   Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Social Entrepreneurial Idea

Social Entrepreneurial Idea Creating a business where profits transform into reinvesting and not for personal gain is truly...

There has been a proliferation of entrepreneurship courses taught in the education system at all levels (by higher education institutions)- advocating that entrepreneurs can be trained, and not born

Introduction   Businesses all over the globe is not possible and cannot effectively function in terms of production, manufacturing and distribution without success into the areas of entrepreneurship and exemplar entrepreneurs having great minds and ideas upon handling business stature and overall nature, for instance about business operation integration from determining entrepreneurial spirit visible by entrepreneurs who have had undergone rigorous education and training to achieve leadership dominance and other business traits necessary for keeping business on top. There can be reality situations with regards to ‘proliferation of entrepreneurship courses’ from within academic institutions as noted by several proponents such as, Charney and Libecap (2000); Katz (2003); Kuratko (2003); Solomon et al (2002), knowing that the focus on entrepreneurship education has presented significant challenges for teachers and professors to create curricula and methods that meet or surpass student expectations. Students who enroll in entrepreneurship courses seek avenues to express latent creativity and innovativeness. There discusses of such institution offering entrepreneurship course in particular, adopting research information of Boston College and some interview of entrepreneur will be addressed noting that he is trained entrepreneur and not just born to be one.     Discussion – The Evaluation Adopting a brief background on the study, “one of first courses in entrepreneurship was being offered at Harvard Business School in 1947 and in 1953, as Peter Drucker taught of another at New York University (Brockhaus, 2001), and for many years now, there is presence of proliferation of entrepreneurship courses (Vesper and Gartner, 1998), as it should be taught and learn, for which training and education are being known. Thus, for example, in United Kingdom entrepreneurship courses are being intended to encourage students to start business during graduation (Brown, 1990; Kirby, 2003). Moreover, some higher education offices have intended to develop enterprising teaching environments where students developed and applied a range of personal transferable skills. True, that “entrepreneurs does improve lifestyle norms from within a Nation’s revenues and in order to be successful into training courses, business training program have to be relevant in ways and implies to functional entrepreneurial skills and aptitudes. The education towards entrepreneurship, assumes basic grounds for SME’ business for example, to lead and be global leader in recognizing strong market positions, the creation of courses is determined by higher education institutions, one example information point out to “higher education institutions throughout Britain and North America that increasingly offer courses in entrepreneurship as part of their mainstream graduate provision (Morris et al., 2001; Ibrahim and Soufani, 2002; Adcroft et al. 2004; Klappa, 2004). Aside, there is growth in Master’s level provision of entrepreneurship programs has been especially pronounced (Davies et al., 2002; Brush et al., 2003) and nowadays, Business centered universities now offer entire undergraduate degrees under ‘entrepreneurship’ and ‘business enterprise’ (Kolvereid and Moen, 1997; Adcroft et al., 2004). There was plethora of factors has been suggested to explain the proliferation of entrepreneurship education in many countries, and Singapore is one region adopting entrepreneurship courses, there espoused the proposition that entrepreneurial qualities can be developed through the education system (Gibb, 2002; Klappa, 2004). Despite the proliferation of entrepreneurship degrees and units that has occurred over the last quarter century, little is known about the perceptions of the nature of entrepreneurship held by the academic staff who actually teach the subject.   Furthermore, some of the teacher views of entrepreneurship ways are important because they have the potential to affect the ways in which entrepreneurship is taught to students. Entrepreneurship, according to Morris et al. (2001, p. 41) is “opportunity-driven business behavior”. Thus, Morris et al. (2001, p. 41) continued, effective entrepreneurs “are those who are adept at recognizing patterns or forces that combine to form opportunities”, and that Basu (2004), suggested that entrepreneurs often had aspirations different to those of other people. The training approaches to entrepreneurship education impose qualities of entrepreneur operating with intuition and limited information under acute time pressure” (Henderson and Robertson, 1999, p. 238), that entrepreneurial education should try to “inculcate the necessary attitudes, values and psychological sets” of the successful entrepreneur (Curran and Stanworth, 1989, p. 13), and develop appropriate personal attributes, the willingness to take risks, determination and self-direction (Engelen, 2002; Gibb, 2002; Deamer and Earle, 2004). Henceforth, because education is part of life experience the entrepreneurship education can enhance an individual’s capacities for innovative behavior, creativity, flexibility, self-direction and the ability to respond to widely different situations (Collinson and Quinn, 2002; Shook et al., 2003; Llewellyn and Wilson, 2003; Walton, 2003).   According to Shepherd and Douglas (1997 p. 332), “the essence of entrepreneurship is the ability to envision and chart a course for a new business venture by combining information from the functional disciplines and from the external environment in the context of the extraordinary uncertainty and ambiguity which faces a new business venture. There manifests itself in creative strategies, innovative tactics, uncanny perception of trends and market mood changes, courageous leadership when the way forward is not obvious and so on. What we teach in our entrepreneurship classes should serve to instill and enhance these abilities”.     Moreover, “Babson College’s defines entrepreneurship as ‘a way of thinking and acting that is opportunity obsessed, holistic in approach and leadership balanced…regardless of the resources currently available and acting on opportunity for the purpose of wealth creation in the private, public and global sectors’, as there is a dearth of definitions, characteristics, competencies and behaviors that many believe describe the entrepreneur.  Is it any wonder then, that the teaching of entrepreneurship education is fragmented with no general agreement established on whom or what are entrepreneurs or entrepreneurship?” (Quoted from, Solomon in, USASBE White Paper Series) There is rapid growth in entrepreneurship courses offers some credibility for the assumption that skills relevant to successful entrepreneurship can be taught (Solomon and Fernald, 1991). From the study of entrepreneurial program graduates, Clark, et al, (1984) found evidence to suggest that the teaching of entrepreneurial and small business management skills aided new venture creation and success.  A survey of 100 chief executives in entrepreneurial firms found that respondents believed that “while personality traits are difficult to influence, the vast majority of knowledge required by entrepreneurs can be taught” (Hood and Young, 1993).  Ideally, the term “entrepreneurship” incurs a process for such opportunity identity and such innovation is being created as needs to be properly managed. Then, some of its notion has held certain modern ways of determining relations that can be found in such employment valuation in associating certain business formulation as noted from academic processes and stature (Scase, 1995). Furthermore, entrepreneurship education realized by several institutions can possibly be equated with ways of the people in their conquering of the future and be able to respond and to act upon the process. Then, some of the education points does exercise ample judgment in selecting useful training courses from within curriculum demands as notably effective for the entrepreneurs to have ideal values and personality formation as deemed imperative in executing effective business operations and innovation towards the delivery of entrepreneurial service to customers, as valuable part of the business cycle. The interview integrates that success pays a lot of training and education to achieve entrepreneurial leadership over others and that the attainment involves hard work and determination, so entrepreneurs are not merely born to be effective business people but also because they have received education recognition and training. For example, the interview to such entrepreneur is one good example of the assumption (read below for some part of the interview process may indicate that everything is with perseverance of the entrepreneur, Louis V Gerstner Jr. – IBM CEO)  Gerstner mentioned that, “IBM had decided as to whether IBM was going to become some loose confederation of niche companies, competing at the piece-parts level of the industry, or whether hold IBM together and make the depth and breadth of products, services and skills competitive advantage. The entrepreneur had the strong opinion that there was need for someone to play the role of integrator in order to do more than deliver neat technology and bring that technology to customers as an integrated solution to business issue. The latter is an outcome of great education and training the entrepreneur had received as he further said, “with the industry shifting to computing model based around global networks, our customers are placing an even greater premium on integration and “customers want to know that technologies work together, that what they invest in today will work with what they invest in tomorrow” (quoted from, Porter, 2007).  Indeed, the entrepreneur is someone with vision who spots opportunity and is minded to act on it and start something as found in diverse walks of life, requiring someone with good idea to set out and obtain better resources to make things happen as there implies the enterprising behavior of the entrepreneur as there can be replication of something that had existed that can be typical of starting small business turned into effective entrepreneurial spirit. The entrepreneurial attitude and behavior is probably one output of effective entrepreneurship training as well as application of teaching entrepreneurship from the realization of higher education, see below for an example of the latter.  Entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviour include: (adopted from, McClelland, 2002) -       the motivation to achieve and compete -       taking ownership and being accountable -       making independent and self-directed decisions -       being open to new information, people, practices -       being able to tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty -       creative and flexible thinking, problem-solving and decision making -       the ability to see and capture opportunities -       awareness of the risks attached to choices and actions -       the capacity to manage and ultimately reduce risks -       persistence and determination in the face of challenge or lack of immediate reward -       considering, discussing and formulating a vision -       the capacity to make an impact Generally, if entrepreneurial education qualities can be fostered within individuals, there imply support and enhance effort of training for the entrepreneurs of the business, such as SME centered, as important to view  some academic preferences and training competencies into the challenge of known courses from the changing environment that require flexible education patterns foe entrepreneurship substance. The entrepreneurs show tough decision process as a product of effective training they are a part of as ideal for initiative applicability and performance creativity. They imply learning and change and they can be manifest in a whole variety of different ways. They enable organizations to meet the demands of turbulent modern environments and to harness the potential of new technologies. Therefore, successful entrepreneurship education will bring about successful entrepreneur too as for instance, there is presuming of effective people relationships and one presence of ideal style of leadership. Conclusion and Recommendation Therefore, entrepreneurship education and training will produce trained entrepreneurs and not born ones, the trained ones does dominate the business arena as the “entrepreneurs start ventures, generally on a small scale; others claim that entrepreneurs focus on controlling their destiny that they are creative and innovative, and still others talk about entrepreneurs as individuals dealing with ambiguity, marshalling resources, creating teams and generating wealth, as the entrepreneurs are mostly involved with growth and high growth ventures”. Aside, one should examine growth strategies that include franchising to expand markets and grow the business.  We need to examine the process of entrepreneurship as more than that just a single act.  We need to devote considerable time and subject coverage to both entrepreneurial intentions and opportunity recognition. The successful entrepreneurs seemingly have mastered the ability to marshal and direct various resources toward an accomplishing a set of defined goals. For recommendation, some of ‘entrepreneurship centered educators will have to devote teaching time on business marketing as well as innovative reports and comprehensive business planning.  One should consider integrating concepts and theories presented in the fine arts, drama and the engineering department.  Create an entrepreneurial environment in the classroom.  Some educators based the entire grade on the successful implementation of a business, idea, concept or process.  Then, entrepreneurship education and training courses assumes the role of educators upon ensuring that, the disseminated intelligence and evaluation criteria will be employed into the business classroom, as consistent with effective phenomenon surrounding crucial entrepreneurial processes.    REFERENCE Adcroft, A., Wills, R., Dhaliwal, S. (2004), “Missing the point? Management education and entrepreneurship”, Management Decision, Vol. 42 No.3, pp.512-21. Basu, A. (2004), “Entrepreneurial aspirations among family business owners: an analysis of ethnic business owners in the UK”, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Vol. 10 No.1/2, pp.12-33.  Brockhaus, R.H. (2001) Foreword. In R.H.Brockhaus, G.E.Hills, H.Klandt and H.P. Welsch (Eds), Entrepreneurship Education: A global view. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.  Brown, R. (1990) Encouraging Enterprise. Journal of Small Business Management, 28,4, 71-77.  Charney, A. & G Libecap. (2000). Impact of Entrepreneurship Education. Insights: A Kauffman Research Series. Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. Clark. B. W., Davis, C. H. & Harnish, V. C. (1984).  Do courses in entrepreneurship aid in new venture creation?  Journal of Small Business Management, 2, 26-31. Collinson, E., Quinn, L. (2002), “The impact of collaboration between industry and academia on SME growth”, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 18 No.3/4, pp.415-35. Curran, J., Stanworth, J. (1989), “Education and training for enterprise: some problems of classification, evaluation, policy and research”, International Small Business Journal, Vol. 7 No.2, pp.11-22. Davies, J., Hides, M., Powell, J. (2002), “Defining the development needs of entrepreneurs of SMEs”, Education+Training, Vol. 44 No.8/9, pp.406-13. Deamer, I., Earle, L. (2004), “Searching for entrepreneurship”, Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 36 No.3, pp.99-103. Engelen, E. (2002), “How innovative are Dutch immigrant entrepreneurs? Constructing a framework of assessment”, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Vol. 8 No.1/2, pp.69-92. Gibb, A. (2002), “In pursuit of a new ‘enterprise’ and ‘entrepreneurship’ paradigm for learning: creative destruction, new values, new ways of doing things and new combinations of knowledge”, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 4 No.3, pp.233-70. Henderson, R., Robertson, M. (1999), “Who wants to be an entrepreneur? Young adult attitudes to entrepreneurship as a career”, Education+Training, Vol. 41 No.5, pp.236-45. Hood, J. N. and J. E. Young (1993). “Entrepreneurship’s requisite areas of development:  A survey of top executives and successful entrepreneurial firms.” Journal of Business Venturing 8: 115-135. Ibrahim, A., Soufani, K. (2002), “Entrepreneurship education and training in Canada: a critical assessment”, Education+Training, Vol. 44 No.8/9, pp.421-30. Jack, S., Anderson, A. (1999), “Entrepreneurship education within the enterprise culture: producing reflective practitioners”, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Vol. 5 No.3, pp.110-25. Katz, J.A. 2003.  The Chronology and Intellectual Trajectory of American Entrepreneurship Education.  Journal of Business Venturing  18(2) 283-300 Kuratko, D. F. (2003). Entrepreneurship education:  Emerging trends and challenges for the 21st Century, U.S. Association of Small Business  & Entrepreneurship. Klappa, R. (2004), “Government goals and entrepreneurship education”, Education+Training, Vol. 46 No.3, pp.127-38. Kirby, D.A. (2003), Entrepreneurship Education: can business schools meet the challenge? In Genesca, E. D.Urbano, J.L.Capelleras, C. Guallarte, J. Verges (Eds), Entrepreneurship: Homage to Professor J.M.Veciana Verges. Barcelona: Manuals Economia,  Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona      Kolvereid, L., Moen, O. (1997), “Entrepreneurship among business graduates: does a major in entrepreneurship make a difference?”, Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 21 No.4, pp.154-60. Llewellyn, D., Wilson, K. (2003), “The controversial role of personality traits in entrepreneurial psychology”, Education+Training, Vol. 45 No.6, pp.341-5. McClelland, D.C. (2002), “Entrepreneurial behaviour”, in Shane, S. (Eds),The Foundations of Entrepreneurship, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham Morris, M., Kuratko, D., Schindehutte, M. (2001), “Towards integration: understanding integration through frameworks”, International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Vol. 2 No.1, pp.35-49 Porter, P. (2007), “For IBM, it’s time to execute – IBM CEO Louis V Gerstner Jr – Company Business and Marketing – Interview”. Software Magazine. July 15, 1997. FindArticles.com. 07 Oct. 2007 “For IBM, it’s time to execute – IBM CEO Louis V Gerstner Jr – Company Business and Marketing – Interview”) Scase, R. (1995) ‘Employment Relations in Small Firms’, in P. Edwards (ed.),Industrial Relations: Theory and Practice in Britain. Oxford: Blackwell. Shepherd, D. A. and E. J. Douglas (1997). Is management education developing, or killing, the entrepreneurial spirit? United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Conference, San Francisco, CA Shook, C., Priem, R., McGee, J. (2003), “Venture creation and the enterprising individual: a review and synthesis”, Journal of Management, Vol. 29 No.3, pp.379-400. Solomon, G. T., S. Duffy, et al. (2002). “The state of entrepreneurship education in the United States:  A nationwide survey and analysis.” International Journal of Entrepreneurship Education 1(1): 65-86. Solomon, G. T., & Fernald, L. W., Jr. (1991). Trends in small business management and entrepreneurship education in the United States. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 15(3), 25-40. Vesper, K., and W. Gartner (1998), University Entrepreneurship Programs Worldwide. Los Angeles: The University of South Carolina. Walton, A. (2003), “The impact of interpersonal factors on creativity”, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Vol. 9 No.4, pp.146-62.     Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

There has been a proliferation of entrepreneurship courses taught in the education system at all levels (by higher education institutions)- advocating that entrepreneurs can be trained, and not born

Introduction Businesses all over the globe is not possible and cannot effectively function in terms of production, manufacturing ...