The purpose of this research is to gain an understanding of the incidents, relationships and processes that support entrepreneurial students to become employees and entrepreneurs. Through a qualitative approach based on career history and projections written by the respondents, this study aims to shed light on the process of becoming an entrepreneur or employed by an entrepreneurial organization. Pedagogical and professional issues that may foster the development of these practices eventually leading to employment and entrepreneurial activities are posed.
This research paper focuses on the growth models of new business ventures and their applicability to a specific type of start-up, environmental technology-based growth company via a case study. Start-ups companies are a focal point of interest of this decade. Start-ups develop products and services in conditions of market and technological uncertainty and competitive volatility. Due to their crucial role in the net job creation there is a growing need and interest to understand, model and develop start-ups. One industry of high interest in regards of start-up activity is that of environmental technology business, as it is addressing needs for solving problems related to such global issues as pollution, waste management and need for renewable energy sources. However, there is a very limited amount of prior research focusing specifically to start-up companies in this field. E.g. the growth stage models of startup companies do not take in account the time dimensions caused by capital and regulatory demands that differentiate the development pace and stages of development of an environmental technology start-up from its peers in other industries. On the other hand, general research of environmental technology businesses often lacks the entrepreneurial and start-up focus, bundling efforts of new ventures in the field together with major projects by established companies. The aim of this paper is to provide a framework that helps understanding the growth process of new ventures in the aforementioned industry.In this case study, the authors assessed the suitability of models of growth dimensions, sources and obstacles proposed by earlier research and literature to a case company: a startup company providing environmental technology for global business-to-business markets. Via qualitative, interview-based data collection among the company stakeholder and external business experts and analysis of the obtained qualitative data the authors were able to draw conclusions regarding compatibility of the case to the earlier models of new venture growth. The results obtained shows that despite the common features between the case company´s growth trajectory and models proposed by earlier research, none of the stage models offers a full match. Based on the findings the authors propose a new, partly cyclical model of start-up growth for further elaboration.
Abstract"Growth" as a word carries a positive tone in it; human beings grow and mature, gaining new knowledge and resources, and so do companies. Growth, however, has never been for all. In competitive markets, some grow and others do not-or grow at slower pace than others. Furthermore, growth is a process that strains the capabilities and resources of an individual, company, and its acting entrepreneurs to their extreme. Growth means also learning and leaving behind something learned of possessed before. Growth disrupts the history and path of a single company and its entrepreneur. The text synthetizes the scattered literature in growth and entrepreneurship. A case study shows how growth is viewed in an entrepreneurial company. The author shows how companies can be categorized to different sub-segments based on their growth opportunities, urge to grow, and growth aspirations. The typical enablers and hindrances of growth hindrances get introduced. The chapter underlines that for some companies, growth is one of the strategic options, whereas to some, it is more of an internal and external obligation. Despite the existence of multiple stage-based models, growth is an individual path and no model should be taken in a law-like manner.
The question that motivates the present study is whether entrepreneurship educators confront the context where entrepreneurship education is implemented. Recent studies indicate that homogenisation of entrepreneurial methods has occurred over time promoting a monolithic conception of innovation-driven start-ups, often technological, as a prototype for entrepreneurial courses’ outcomes. Nonetheless, entrepreneurship does not only accommodate ambitious start-ups for growth but also small firms that significantly contribute to employability and social inclusion. Social problems are also tackled. Innovation needs to be translated to different disciplines and social contexts of populations instead of the mere proliferation of a few innovative firms’ cases in classrooms. Concurrently, rapid changes in the business environment (crises) ask for reflections regarding the content of entrepreneurship from both educators and students. Thus, context and adjustment to contexts is a timely concern for the future of entrepreneurship education and its inclusive character. Given the previous considerations, the present study seeks for quantitative evidence from worldwide entrepreneurship educators on whether they adjust, or do not adjust, their teaching to the context. Contexts included in this study pertain to: political, economical, sociological, ecological/environmental and legal. Adjustment to context was also investigated for different entrepreneurial teaching tasks, such as idea generation, innovation, strategy, team formation, fundraising, social responsibility and others. The results indicate that educators take into account the context to an extent but there is a rising consensus that entrepreneurial teaching needs to be more context-aware in the future. The more the educators consider context in their current teaching the more they are willing to modify their teaching to different contexts in the future. The results show that there is room for future research regarding context-aware entrepreneurship whilst some research directions are derived in the last part of the article. This is a first attempt to quantitatively examine evidence for the role of the context in entrepreneurial teaching in order to obtain insights for a more precise confrontation of learning needs and educators’ perspectives that could render entrepreneurship education more inclusive and efficient.
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