Authors in previous studies pointed out that the professional competences of managers overlap with the competences and skills that are attributed to entrepreneurs. The goal of this study is to analyze the correlation between the actual market demand for competences to develop new businesses and the competence of training and development by higher education institutions (HEIs) and business supporting institutions (BSIs). The research question is “Are the entrepreneurial competences demanded by the domestic markets in Finland, Latvia and The Netherlands aligned with the entrepreneurship educational and business supporting policies?” As a research methodology, we chose focus groups and semi-structured interviews conducted for start-up entrepreneurs, HEIs, and BSIs as methods for data gathering. An importance–performance analysis (IPA) was applied as the method for data analysis. As the main research results, the authors identified that ethical and sustainable thinking as well financial and economic literacy were considered to be the least important competences, while motivation and perseverance were commonly ranked as highly important by entrepreneurs in all the countries studied. Entrepreneurship education policy in The Netherlands is fully harmonized with market demand. Entrepreneurship development activities in Finland also meet the market’s needs, however HEIs and BSIs could develop self-awareness and self-efficacy as well as cope with uncertainty, ambiguity and risk competences. The major disagreement was detected between entrepreneurs’ expectations and entrepreneurship education activities conducted by HEIs and BSIs in Latvia. This research implication fills the gap in knowledge about the entrepreneurial competences developed by HEIs and BSIs and were demanded (considered as important) by the market in the researched countries. Further, we developed the entrepreneurship training methodology for transdisciplinary students to enhance entrepreneurial competence dissemination and development across education programs and beyond.
PurposeThe present study has been designed with the aim to determine whether there are differences in individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) between students, doing their major in business studies and the ones whose areas of study are science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).Design/methodology/approachThe theoretical research methods comprise the review of secondary sources to build a sound theoretical framework for the research activities. The empirical research method is a survey in Latvia and Poland applying non-parametric inferential statistical methods as well as linear regression analysis to investigate which factors and components contribute to EO orientation development among different groups of students, and, thus, verify the research hypotheses.FindingsThe yielded research results demonstrate that there are significant differences between business and STEM students when they analyze their IEO. It turned out that STEM students obtain significantly lower scores for risk-taking and innovation but higher for proactiveness. Additionally, it was detected that the chosen field of study affects students’ perception of educational support, thus, influencing their innovation, proactiveness, and risk propensity characteristics.Research limitations/implicationsIn this research, the authors focused on exploring IEO among business and STEM students in Latvia and Poland, hence the findings cannot be one-to-one applied to other countries.Practical implicationsThe topicality of the theme is determined by the fact that changes in external environment require higher educational institutions (HEIs) in Latvia and Poland to foster their entrepreneurial ecosystems and re-master study programs both for business and STEM students as well as conduct projects that include students, academic staff, and business representatives – the transformation is necessary to create positive attitude towards entrepreneurship among the students and help them to consider entrepreneurial career path later.Originality/valueFactors and components which contribute to IEO development among different groups of students are under-researched in the Baltic countries, experiencing systemic transformation. The authors believe that universities can use the analysis of their students’ IEO to allocate their resources in a better way, adjust curricula to the real needs of students and facilitate entrepreneurship.
The aim of the research is to analyse manager’s competence groups, a manager role in modern enter-prise and clarify what competences are required for managers in knowledge intensive business service (KIBS) organizations. Authors assumed that natural changes in the external environment lead to ap-pearance and development of new managerial activities and competences or manifestation of a cer-tain set of competencies. Previous researchers reveal that new context of teams that are diversified in terms of locations, disciplines and social groups require managers to act differently. Other researchers emphasize acceleration of technological novelties and presence of new organizational forms such as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) also creates new operational processes and managerial activi-ties. Business society and labor market expect a professional who acts in different roles of entrepre-neur, leader, and manager simultaneously. The authors conducted literature overview and identified ten leading competencies that are necessary for a manager in KIBS.
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) develop students’ knowledge and skills that shape competences contributing to the development of their potential and sustainable employability. The Thesis addresses the problem whether the competences which are developed in business education institutions match the needs and interests of all stakeholders, including labour market and students. Individual entrepreneurial orientation index and a methodology of assessment of business education improvement have been designed. The tested methodology helps to assess whether the business education institution’s performance meets its stakeholders’ requirements.
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