The current push for small firms to be “wired up to the digital marketplace” is evidenced by the number of initiatives targeting small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) to promote this activity. Like other governments worldwide, UK Online’s SME targets (together with the supporting DTI adoption ladder) exemplify the “conventional wisdom” view of a homogeneous small business sector, within which firms take an ordered, sequential progression on the route to Internet technology adoption. This approach is questioned by grounding the official rhetoric in the reality of organisational and operational complexity of this important sector of the UK economy. These initiatives are compared and contrasted with similar models of small firm development, most of which neglected to address the diverse nature of small firm needs. The authors recommend a more discriminant approach, focused upon factors such as firm size, age, managerial structure and information and communications technology adoption stages.

In this article, three established small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises provide qualitative case study evidence of the extent to which information communications technology can be embedded within a firm’s marketing strategy, from the earliest adoption stages to the integration of the Internet with key business functions. These case studies also provide insights into the innovative ways that can be used to reposition a firm, its marketing strategy, services and products, both within the national and the global marketplace. Established firms, in addition to new businesses and industries, could gain considerable competitive advantage from Internet usage, if they can achieve the right mix of managerial capacity and marketing focus in terms of image, brand and customer needs. Their human resource base could allow such firms to “reinvent” themselves, mainly by effectively accessing and embedding new knowledge. It emerged that organisational culture facilitates and supports the wider access and application of new knowledge through organisational learning mechanisms.

ApproachThe survey aimed to establish a complete picture of curricular and extra-curricular Enterprise & Enterpreneurship education. The survey uses a similar structure to the previous survey, enabling comparison to be made with enterprise provision over the 2006-2010 period, as well as with the 2008 European survey of entrepreneurship in HE (NIRAS, 2009). ResultsThe results provide a stocktake of enterprise education provision in participating HEIs and highlight the connections in institutional strategies between enterprise education, incubation/new venture support, graduate employability, innovation and academic enterprise. It reveals 'hotspots' and gaps in enterprise provision and offers 'benchmarks' for the sector. ImplicationsThe article offers a summary of the implications for the future development and sustainability of enterprise education in HE, in relation to policy, funding and other changes in the sector. It also considers these issues in relation to recommendations from professional educators and Government policy for future development of enterprise in HE and comments on the policy impact of this work. ValueThe timing of the survey, in May-July 2010, was important as it reflected the end of a period of over ten years of sustained investment in enterprise in Higher Education by the previous Labour Government in the UK, through a range of funding initiatives. As major public expenditure reductions in support for HE and enterprise activity followed, this represented the 'high water mark' of publicly funded enterprise activity in the HE sector, and raised the question of how enterprise education and support activities would become sustainable for the future. The report analyses existing provision, assesses its development over the 2006-2010 period, and provides conclusions and recommendations covering future policy, development, resourcing, and sustainability of enterprise and entrepreneurship provision in Higher Education.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review the progress made by UK higher education institutions (HEIs) to deliver the enterprise education agenda. The key areas for research included the type, content and delivery methods of graduate enterprise education being offered in the UK.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was e‐mailed to 123 HEIs in the UK, together with a brief introduction stating the purpose of the research. These were followed up by telephone calls to request responses.FindingsThe paper finds that provision of entrepreneurship education is varied, with both entrepreneurship and innovation courses on offer. Entrepreneurship education is most often offered at postgraduate level and on a part time basis. Overall, delivery methods proved to be more traditional than anticipated, with few instances of action learning or the use of technology to support learning. There were differences between pre‐ and post‐1992 HEIs, and little attention was given to topic areas evident in relevant UK policy initiatives.Research limitations/implicationsSupports entrepreneurship education, key capacities need to be addressed within HEIs, at senior and other levels, so that graduate enterprise embodies the entrepreneurial spirit and delivers the expected results of governmental focus and intervention.Originality/valueThis is one of the first surveys to explore how enterprise education is delivered within UK HEIs.

Luís Curral, (2015),"Prototype models of opportunity recognition and the decision to launch a new venture: Identifying the basic dimensions", If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to understand more about the conditions which foster certain women's resilience in science engineering and technology (SET) entrepreneurship. The research responds to the so-called "leaky pipeline", which sees progressively smaller numbers of women participating in SET at each developmental stage from training to employment, and asks why some women establish and grow their businesses while others are discouraged. Design/methodology/approach -In all, 15 female SET entrepreneurs, with businesses that had progressed beyond the initial start-up phase were selected from national databases. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews and documentary records over a six-month period and analysed using both manual and software-based thematic review. Responses were mapped to bring narratives to the forefront, and were compared using relevant literature on emerging gender topics. Findings -Findings suggest that female SET entrepreneurs undertake a continual process of adjustment to cope with the perceptual tendencies of visibility, contrast and assimilation (Kanter, 1993). They make frequent allowances and/or arrangements for their "unusual" status within the industry. In overcoming limited opportunities for women in traditional SET roles, participants perceived assimilation in terms of becoming an "honorary man", occasionally in attitude, but primarily via hard-earned proof of personal expertise. Originality/value -This research considers an under-researched group, dealing both with female entrepreneurship generally and women's involvement in the SET sector specifically, and demonstrates the complexity of responses to gendered business environments. Increased awareness of the issues facing women in SET is vital in beginning to address the leaky pipeline.