Entrepreneurial Support System Research Articles

Development of university–industry partnership in Armenia: university perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate university–industry partnerships in Armenia from the viewpoint of universities. By doing so, it contributes to the existing literature on university–industry collaboration by identifying and addressing the specific challenges that impede the establishment of successful university–industry partnerships in Armenia and other post-Soviet countries.Design/methodology/approachA comprehensive literature review was conducted to examine the barriers, benefits and institutional, functional framework of collaboration. Additionally, this study used a survey methodology to gather data from faculty managing staff members at six Armenian higher educational institutions on various aspects of university–industry collaboration as well as the perceptions and experiences of the participants.FindingsThe results show that the effectiveness and applicability of the university–industry collaboration channels and institutional structures in six higher educational institutions are limited. Specifically, the channels that rely on academic entrepreneurship and innovation were found to be currently unviable. Moreover, the existence of spin-offs and start-ups is notably absent. Furthermore, limited access to funding and inadequate entrepreneurial support systems pose significant barriers to developing university–industry partnerships in Armenian reality.Originality/valueThis study represents a pioneering effort within the context of Armenian higher educational institutions, as it is the first time a survey has been organized to specifically investigate the topic of university–industry partnerships. Before this study, there was a lack of empirical research and data collection on this topic in Armenian higher education settings. Therefore, this research holds significant originality and contributes to filling the existing gap in knowledge regarding university–industry partnerships in Armenia. The research is shedding light on a previously unexplored area and providing a valuable contribution to the field of university–industry collaboration research in Armenia and other post-Soviet countries.

Unpacking the effect of institutional support on international corporate entrepreneurship in entrepreneurial support systems

Unpacking the effect of institutional support on international corporate entrepreneurship in entrepreneurial support systems

ON COLLEGE STUDENTS' ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND THE CONCEPTION OF ESTABLISHING SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR IT

More and more college students are going out of school to invest in the talent market. However, the current situation of College Students' entrepreneurship practice is worrying. A systematic support scheme is urgently needed to give necessary support and guidance to college students' entrepreneurial subjects. Based on the analysis of the current situation and existing problems of College Students' entrepreneurship, this paper attempts to build an entrepreneurial support system with contemporary college students as the core, based on the coordination of the society, universities and government, with the ultimate purpose of promoting the healthy and sustainable development of College Students' entrepreneurial activities, so as to promote the healthy and sustainable development of entrepreneurial activities.

Schumpeterian entrepreneurship: coveted by policymakers but impervious to top-down policymaking

Differentiating various types of entrepreneurs provides clues to the puzzle of why vertical or top-down policies often fail to create Schumpeterian entrepreneurship and the ecosystems where it thrives. Schumpeterian entrepreneurship is intrinsically contrarian, whereas public policy has a bias toward incremental innovation and replication of past success. If central planners knew what the next radical innovation would be, there would be no need for Schumpeterian entrepreneurs. Schumpeterian entrepreneurs create not only companies but also institutions in the entrepreneurial support system. These ever-evolving structures are too complex to design, and central planning instead reduces the space for organic institutional innovation.

Drivers of agripreneurial intentions among students attaining agricultural education in the Gambia

In many third-world countries, high unemployment severely threatens society's social and economic fabric. Countries like The Gambia, with a youthful and increasing population, are particularly hard hit. Agripreneurship has been identified as an alternative for promoting economic development through employment creation, food security, and poverty reduction. Based on Social Cognitive Career Theory, this study aims to assess the drivers of agripreneurial intentions of students pursuing agricultural education at the University of The Gambia. A total of 160 students participated in the online survey. Smart PLS3 software was used to analyze the data using partial least square-structural equation modeling. The findings revealed that agripreneurial attitude, perceived educational support, and social capital significantly impacted students' agripreneurial intentions. However, it was found that self-efficacy, perceived government support, and social norms had no impact on students' agripreneurial intentions. The research draws implications for academics and policymakers concerned with students' entrepreneurial ambitions, including adopting entrepreneurship education by combining cognitive and behavior-oriented instruction and creating an enabling environment for young entrepreneurs by combining a university entrepreneurial support system with external institutional assistance. However, the study was limited to agricultural students in the public university. It would be helpful if future researchers could compare the level of agripreneurial training offered by public and private institutions to gain more insight into shaping students' intentions of self-employment in agripreneurship

An Empiric Experience Implementing a Methodology to Improve the Entrepreneurial Support System: Creating Social Value Through Collaboration and Co-creation.

Entrepreneurs are considered an important source of innovation, acting as agents of change in developed societies. For entrepreneurs to develop, entrepreneurial ecosystems are required. These environments are complex heterogeneous systems. However, the atomization of the subsystem of agencies and organisms supporting entrepreneurial activity can cause problems. To solve this governance problem, a social experiment was designed to test the value of a solution based on a technological platform. The methodology is based on a dynamic scheme, seeking the involvement and collaboration of all the stakeholders. This method uses a co-creative process inspired by design thinking. The theoretical framework included literature on entrepreneurial ecosystems and governance theory and took into account the need to involve all the stakeholders to improve the previous situation and achieve sustainable development goals. Based on the application and an ad-hoc methodology seeking the involvement and collaboration of all stakeholders, a social network supported by an ICT-based platform was formally created, contributing to alleviate the atomization problem and generating social value at the same time. This social experiment, carried out in the Spanish province of Biscay in the Basque Country, was a pilot test and could be extended to other entrepreneurial ecosystems with similar casuistic frameworks.

Risk of burnout in French entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 crisis

The COVID-19 crisis presents manifest threats for entrepreneurs since their business survival is often directly at stake given the alarming economic downturn. This existential threat, together with their crucial role in the economy, is the reason for the plethora of public financial support schemes being implemented throughout the entire world. However, support schemes for mental health are lacking. We aim to investigate, first, whether burnout levels have increased during the crisis and, second, whether burnout levels during the COVID-19 crisis depend on the threat of becoming ill, having to stay at home due to the lockdown, and/or having to file for bankruptcy due to the economic downturn. We do so using seven data sets of French entrepreneurs with a temporal comparison of averages and two data sets of French entrepreneurs with a cross-sectional analysis of individuals. Our findings show that indeed, the risks of burnout have increased during the pandemic and that the threat of bankruptcy is the dominant threat. As an increasing number of studies in the entrepreneurship literature indicate that entrepreneurs’ mental health influences their activities, as well as the growth and sustainability of their ventures, our study is important and timely in its contribution, as it takes a close look at the perception of burnout in general and more specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic.Plain English SummaryThe risk of burnout in French entrepreneurs has increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, which calls for not only financial support but also other forms of support. The COVID-19 pandemic presents many threats for entrepreneurs since their business survival is often directly at stake. These threats are not just financial but also related to health, such as the threat of burnout. The findings of our study show that for French entrepreneurs, the threat of burnout increased after the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. This finding raises the question whether this outcome is due to the threat to health, the effects of the lockdown, or the threat of bankruptcy. It appears that all three factors play important roles, although the financial threat is the dominant threat. These findings call for the extension of entrepreneurial support systems beyond the financial area by also involving an “entrepreneurship care” aspect, which includes telephone support, webinars, and mental help facilities.

An analysis of the entrepreneurial institutional ecosystems supporting the development of hybrid organizations: The development of cooperatives in the U.S.

Hybrid institutions share features common to other ideal type organizations, but serve as an important focus of innovation, often combining features of charity, public service, and business. Where they exist, hybrid organizations are abundant, playing crucial roles in the management and governance of public goods and common pool resources. This is particularly true in the cooperative business sector, the United States (U.S.) in particular. U.S. cooperatives comprise a significant share of the agriculture, electricity, telecom, and consumer finance sectors. Yet the entrepreneurial support systems catalyzing U.S. cooperatives remains under-studied. This paper undertakes two case studies to present widely divergent forms of entrepreneurship: the institutional entrepreneurial support system of the electric cooperative sector, and; the broker's entrepreneurial role in starting The Veterinary Cooperative in support of independent veterinary clinics. The cases find that with proper support systems and actors, hybrids can not only flourish, but also provide for significant impacts with their stakeholders, as well as the broader market context. This demonstrates a need for incorporating institutional diversity vis-à-vis hybrids in environmental management, as well as the provision of the support for their growth.

Rethinking the Design Principles of Support Systems for Deep Tech Ventures

Starting on the premise that the creation of deep tech ventures is a complex and multi-faceted process, we explore in this review essay important principles to consider when designing support systems to incubate or accelerate deep tech ventures. While many contemporary entrepreneurial support systems cater specifically to the creation of digital start-ups, we know little about the mechanisms that affect important outcomes like investor readiness and attractiveness in the context of deep-tech ventures, i.e. ventures that commercialize early-stage technological innovations and scientific breakthroughs. We summarize the current insight into key learning activities in such ventures and their relation to the lean startup-inspired model of support programs, which currently dominate entrepreneurial ecosystems. Building on recent empirical findings on typical learning activities in deep tech ventures and outcomes patterns, we derive two important design principles that will need to be considered when structuring venture support systems. Contrary to the dominant lean start accelerator model, we suggest that deep tech acceleration and incubation programs will want to consider a loose-coupling in two dimensions: (1) technology from customer problems, in order to build broader application portfolios, and (2) time from outcome milestones, i.e. allow for variation in pace. These insights offer an important starting point for the practice of designing venture support systems, fitted to the specific knowledge context of an entrepreneurial project.

Rethinking Quality and Relevance of University Education in Kenya

Many stakeholders have expressed concern about the many graduates from Kenyan universities who after qualifying, not only fail to get jobs but also fail to venture into alternative forms of engagement to earn their livelihood, a scenario that raises question as to the quality and relevance of University education they got. The concerns being raised calls for rethinking of the quality and relevance of university education in Kenya. This study, therefore, sought to investigate the propensity of university education in Kenya to inculcate entrepreneurial culture in graduates. The theory of planned behaviour formed the theoretical foundation of the study. The study adopted a triangular design approach where views relating to entrepreneurial culture were sought from final year students from one public and one private university. The study targeted 3146 final year students drawn from University of Kabianga, (2272) and Kabarak University (874). From this, a sample of 614 students proportionately distributed among the two universities was drawn. Entrepreneurial environment was found to be more or less the same in both private and public universities recording moderate score. However, public university scored slightly higher. In conclusion, there is no significant difference in the levels of preference for entrepreneurship when comparison is made between public and private universities in Kenya. Arising from the current finding, the study recommends provision of better entrepreneurial support system.

Impacts of promoting sustainable entrepreneurship in generic business plan competitions

Entrepreneurs and start-ups are key actors in implementing environmental innovation and new approaches in cleaner production. Therefore, the integration of sustainability considerations in early phases of a new venture is important. Insights on how this can be effectively implemented in start-up support systems are scarce and represent a research gap. Business plan competitions (BPCs) constitute an important element in entrepreneurial support systems, and are a powerful force in driving entrepreneurial activity. Up till now, it is unclear whether BPCs can actually influence the sustainability orientation of participating entrepreneurs and the sustainability performance of their ventures. The purpose of this work is to clarify whether the integration of sustainability goals and considerations into generic BPCs has an impact on the business activities of participating entrepreneurs and start-up teams. For our investigation we conducted a survey of the more than 1000 participants in the Business Plan Wettbewerb Berlin Brandenburg, which is the oldest and biggest generic business plan competition in Germany. For the analysis we use a structural equation model and apply the partial-least-squares method. Findings reveal that the promotion of sustainability in generic BPCs have an impact on the integration of sustainability in start-up business activity. Thus, from a sustainability point of view it makes sense to explicitly integrate sustainability into the concrete support offerings of generic BPCs. Our research contributes to cleaner production research by providing new insights on context factors in early (seed and start-up) phases of a new venture.

From green entrepreneurial intentions to green entrepreneurial behaviors: the role of university entrepreneurial support and external institutional support

Green entrepreneurship is playing an increasing role in ecological environmental protection. Based on existing literature, this study aims to develop a hypothesis model of green entrepreneurship behavior (GEBs) for the purpose of investigating the GEBs of university graduates. In order to accomplish this, this study intends to use the structural equation model to examine the hypothesis model based on 586 university graduates from two selected universities in China. The results reveal that green entrepreneurial intentions (GEIs) have a direct positive effect on GEBs and that the university entrepreneurial support coupled with external institutional support are indeed key intermediary variables that play important roles in turning GEIs into GEBs. Therefore, we can draw some implications for researchers and policy makers alike that are concerned with students’ GEBs, namely, implementing green entrepreneurship education with the integration of cognitive-and behavior-oriented education, fostering an enablement environment for green entrepreneurship with the integration of university entrepreneurial support system and external institutional support system.

Talking Your Way into Entrepreneurial Support: An Analysis of Satisfaction Drivers in Entrepreneur Mutual Aid Groups

The role of organized peer networks in entrepreneurial support systems has been surprisingly neglected in the literature, despite their undisputed effectiveness in numerous areas outside the entrepreneurship realm. This study explores the efficacy of mutual aid groups for entrepreneurial support, as theoretically distinct from other group‐based mechanisms (such as peer group mentoring and many to one group mentoring). Drawing from respondent data of small, local mutual aid groups within the global entrepreneurship support organization (2,869 responses from members of 540 groups worldwide), we investigate the factors determining the entrepreneurs' satisfaction with the entrepreneur mutual aid groups. Understanding the antecedents of members' subjective satisfaction with the group serves an essential first step toward developing the models explaining the objective effectiveness of these organizations (e.g., performance, survival, and growth), in that the former is an essential, necessary condition for continuing participation in the voluntary mutual aid groups. Our analysis reveals that group climate and leadership are important drivers of group satisfaction.

Rethinking the Quality and Relevance of University Education in Kenya from Entrepreneurial Perspective

Many stakeholders have expressed concern about the many graduates from Kenyan universities who after qualifying, not only fail to get jobs but also fail to venture into alternative forms of engagement to earn their livelihood, a scenario that raises question as to the quality and relevance of University education they got. The concerns being raised calls for rethinking of the quality and relevance of university education in Kenya. This study, therefore, sought to investigate the propensity of university education in Kenya to inculcate entrepreneurial culture in graduates. The theory of planned behavior formed the theoretical foundation of the study. The study adopted a triangular design approach where views relating to entrepreneurial culture were sought from final year students from one public and one private university. The study targeted 3146 final year students drawn from University of Kabianga, (2272) and Kabarak University (874). From this, a sample of 614 students proportionately distributed among the two universities was drawn. Entrepreneurial environment was found to be more or less the same in both private and public universities recording moderate score. However, public university scored slightly higher. In conclusion, there is no significant difference in the levels of preference for entrepreneurship when comparison is made between public and private universities in Kenya. Arising from the current finding, the study recommends provision of better entrepreneurial support system. It will be preemptive to conclude that University education in Kenyan universities nature entrepreneurial culture Keywords: Entrepreneurial culture, Quality, relevance, University education DOI : 10.7176/JEP/10-9-03 Publication date :March 31 st 2019

The Effects of Entrepreneurship on the Entrepreneurial Intention of University Students: Focusing on the Mediating Effects of Entrepreneurship Education Satisfaction and the Moderating Effects of Entrepreneurial Support System

The Effects of Entrepreneurship on the Entrepreneurial Intention of University Students: Focusing on the Mediating Effects of Entrepreneurship Education Satisfaction and the Moderating Effects of Entrepreneurial Support System

A Review of College Student Entrepreneurial Support System

At present, college students are faced with the "three low" phenomenon, namely low entrepreneurial rate, low success rate and low technical content in starting up a business. The key to improve the entrepreneurship level of college students is to optimize and improve the entrepreneurial support system. This paper, which takes the college students' entrepreneurial support system as the research object, summarizes and analyzes the previous research literature, identifies and studies the multiple elements in the college students' entrepreneurial support system, and explores the impact of each role in college students’ entrepreneurial support system, so as to have an overview on the current college students entrepreneurial support system.

A Study on Influence of Entrepreneur Behavior Characteristics on Business Performance According to the Entrepreneurial Support System

A Study on Influence of Entrepreneur Behavior Characteristics on Business Performance According to the Entrepreneurial Support System

International Comparison of Entrepreneurial Support System: Focused on Entrepreneurship Policy and Entrepreneurship Index

International Comparison of Entrepreneurial Support System: Focused on Entrepreneurship Policy and Entrepreneurship Index

Entrepreneurial support systems: role of the Czech accelerator

The role of institutional context in affecting entrepreneurship and innovation has received scant attention. This paper examines the effect of one such institutional structure, the Czech Accelerator program, in developing entrepreneurial activity and innovation in Czech participating firms. Using a questionnaire and follow up interviews with participants, interviews with Czech Accelerator program and archival data sources, this study provides evidence to the facilitative role of an accelerator on the front end of innovation in firms participating with the accelerator's program. However, the data does not provide any evidence of growth in revenues, growth in sales, or securing venture funding by firms participating in the accelerator's program. These findings have implications for policymakers and business leaders in the Czech Republic and other middle-income economies to support their innovation and entrepreneurial activity.

Entrepreneurial support systems: role of the Czech accelerator

The role of institutional context in affecting entrepreneurship and innovation has received scant attention. This paper examines the effect of one such institutional structure, the Czech Accelerator program, in developing entrepreneurial activity and innovation in Czech participating firms. Using a questionnaire and follow up interviews with participants, interviews with Czech Accelerator program and archival data sources, this study provides evidence to the facilitative role of an accelerator on the front end of innovation in firms participating with the accelerator's program. However, the data does not provide any evidence of growth in revenues, growth in sales, or securing venture funding by firms participating in the accelerator's program. These findings have implications for policymakers and business leaders in the Czech Republic and other middle-income economies to support their innovation and entrepreneurial activity.