PurposeThis paper seeks to explore approaches to consumer‐driven optimization of package design utilizing a novel modified conjoint analysis approach. The approach allows for dynamic creation and testing of a large number of design prototypes with consumers and finds optimal solutions on an aggregated, segmented (pattern‐based latent mindset segmentation) and individual basis.Design/methodology/approachThe approach extends the consumer insights‐driven process, Rule Developing Experimentation (RDE), introduced by the authors (AG and HM) and developed in cooperation with Wharton School of Business (University of Pennsylvania), to graphical concepts.FindingsDisciplined experimentation based on individual permuted experimental designs produces more targeted package designs with higher appeal to the consumers. The proposed steps describe fast, parsimonious and actionable process of application of RDE to package optimization, which provides valuable input for designers about consumer preferences.Practical implicationsThe paper demonstrates that consumer research could and should be a central part not only at the final stages of the package design but at the initial stage as well. The steps of fitting the research into the package design process are shown providing a parsimonious way to include consumers in the early stages of package design.Originality/valueThe approach could help the marketers efficiently create better packages that consumers like and which will help marketers to differentiate their respective products from the competition.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to map the current situation of entrepreneurship education in higher education institutions (HEIs) of 22 European transition economy countries. Design/methodology/approach -The approach taken was an internet survey and analysis covering 774 HEIs of the region. Findings -In 332 institutions, entrepreneurship-oriented courses, modules or curricula are offered. Croatia and Slovenia are the leading countries in terms of the coverage of teaching entrepreneurship in universities and colleges, followed by the Baltic countries and the Czech and Slovak Republics. The highest entrepreneurship orientation is found in new and private universities and colleges. In a majority of schools, the theory of entrepreneurship is taught but practice-oriented training in entrepreneurship is rather limited. The current number of centres of entrepreneurship in the region is small, and the research-oriented model of entrepreneurship education is used in three to five institutions only. Practical implications -The paper provides a useful source of information for entrepreneurship education researchers, developers and education policy makers. Originality/value -The paper maps the HEIs entrepreneurship teaching in post-communist European countries.

The importance of evaluating the outcomes of entrepreneurship education (EE) has been widely acknowledged, but how to approach the evaluation and what models and measures to use are still subjected to academic debate. In this article, the authors present an application of the European Competence Framework (ECF) – the knowledge–skills–attitude triad that stems from Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. A survey of self-assessed entrepreneurial competences acquired in entrepreneurship education courses was carried out in five Estonian higher education institutions (HEIs). An exploratory factor analysis based on the sample of 249 respondents confirmed the empirical viability of the ECF for evaluating the outcomes of EE, while also indicating a wide spectrum of these outcomes. Knowledge about entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial skills and a range of affective outcomes was perceived to be stronger by those students who had higher aspirations to become entrepreneurs before entering the HEIs.

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Abstract:The paper presents an approach to analyzing food packages based on the eye-tracking analysis of consumers exposed to experimentally designed prototypes of packages based on Rule Developing Experimentation methodology. In addition, the paper analyses emotional reactions to conceptual packages (the respondent had a choice among seven alternatives, including one 'non-emotion' response). The combined approach allows the researcher and the designer to control the stimuli, presenting known combinations to the respondent leading to the discovery of existing links between what the researcher can do to the stimulus by means of a systematic design, how the eye tracks these changes, and what type of response the participant in a study might make (e.g., interest, statement of emotion). The paper explores this new interlinked approach working with a popular product, wine in a box.