Entrepreneurship Education and Research outside North America

Abstract

Many developing countries have been forced by growing budget deficits and mounting foreign debt burdens to find ways to reduce the size of the public sector or at least to arrest further growth. Thus the public sector can no longer be expected to provide employment for a large portion of new graduates as has traditionally been the case. Privatization of inefficient and over-staffed public enterprises is often one element of many countries’ efforts to reduce public spending, and in the process substantial retrenchment must occur. This adds to the unemployment problem, at least in the short and medium term. In their efforts to restructure and reduce the public sector, many governments are turning to the private sector to generate increasing employment and to provide many of the services previously provided by government. The private sector is recognized as the main engine of growth. The capacity of modern, large-scale industry to employ the growing number of labor force entrants is restricted, however, because of limited size and capital-intensive production methods. Thus, the private small enterprise sector is seen both as having the greatest potential for creating substantial employment at lower levels of investment and as providing a seedbed for enterpreneurial talent and a testing place for new industries. The U.S. and Europe are not the only places in the world where entrepreneurship is recognized as playing a major role in economic development. Even former communist countries are focusing a great amount of effort on fostering entrepreneurship. Following the government initiatives, universities are not only offering courses, but are also conducting a growing amount of both practical and theoretical research on entrepreneurship issues. As entrepreneurs and small business research conferences become even more “international” in attendance and issues, there will be fewer differences between different regions of the world from an academic perspective.

Social Networks and Business Success

“…However, most of the markets for capital goods, as well as for consumer durables and items for daily use, are still dominated by import or by nonindigenous national producers, and many small-scale entrepreneurs in Tanzania still complain about the lack of market opportunities (Trulsson 1997). Several recent studies on factors behind entrepreneurial success tend to place more emphasis on access to information than access to capital through banks and credit schemes (Awasthi and Sebastian 1996;Brockhaus 1991;Kristiansen 2002). The individual entrepreneur has a chance to enact his or her business context and thereby create different "opportunity sets" (Leibenstein 1968) within the same objective environment.…”

The Origins of Self‐Employment in Ethno‐cultural Communities: Distinguishing Between Orthodox Entrepreneurship and Reactionary Enterprise

“…Becker (1956) noted that some societies consider business an unholy occupation, and therefore in those societies, foreigners are required to be the entrepreneurs. Brockhaus (1991) stated that "the culture of Egypt is such that a very weak private enterprise system exists except in the formal sector" (p. 81). Peterson (1988) described Norwegian culture as another example of a culture which discourages entrepreneurship, and in several cultures, entrepreneurship appears to be lacking.…”

The Need for International Intellectual Entrepreneurs and How Business Schools Can Help

“…In today's knowledge world, with the realization that international intellectual entrepreneurship is required for economic growth and more employment, entrepreneurship programs and course work has become a higher education growth segment in the EU and USA (Brockhaus, 1992;Hisrish, 1988;Timmons et al, 1985). The discussion of entrepreneurs being born or whether they can be trained has no end but the need for larger numbers of international intellectual entrepreneurs is recognized.…”