Knowledge production as a function of the individual institution's idea of a university

Imenda, S. N.

doi:10.4314/sajhe.v20i2.25571

Cited by 4 publications

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“…Such direct engagement reflects the belief that the central mission of universities is to advance and transmit knowledge. This, according to Imenda (2006), is a clear break from the traditional higher education approach of maintaining a community of scholars engaging critically with the conventional wisdom of the day towards a market-oriented strategy which seeks to fulfil the needs of the marketplace. In this new context, entrepreneurship becomes essential for all South African HEIs.…”

Section: Technological Transfermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While some involved in this debate are of the opinion that academic entrepreneurship may benefit the overall academic mission, others believe that it may come at the expense of the research university and its traditional contribution to economic growth (Jaffe et al, 2007). This latter view is largely attributable to the fact that the debate about academic entrepreneurship focuses on commercialization as a component of the mission of HEIs and as representing higher education's commitment to national economic development (Imenda, 2006). Van Staden (2006), by contrast, strongly opposes the equating of entrepreneurialism in universities with commercialization and instead proposes the adoption of an 'entrepreneurial university' approach, in which academic criteria -disciplinary excellence and interdisciplinary cooperation, coordination and integration -continue to predominate over financial matters.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Academic Entrepreneurship in South African HEIs

Grundling¹,

Steynberg²

2008

Industry and Higher Education

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This article first identifies the principal forces that impact on and shape entrepreneurially-oriented higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa, and then analyses the degree to which those institutions have succeeded in becoming entrepreneurial. The results reveal that South Africa's HEIs are still in the initial phases of entrepreneurial development. This is attributable largely to factors particular to a developing country in a social transformational phase and faced with restricted social and economic capital.

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Section: Technological Transfermentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Academic Entrepreneurship in South African HEIs

Grundling¹,

Steynberg²

2008

Industry and Higher Education

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“…Whilst this debate centers primarily on the "commercialization" aspect of higher education and the utility value thereof to achieve a country's economic goals (Imenda, 2006), Van Staden (2006) cautioned against equating entrepreneurialism in universities with commercialization and proposed that a more holistic perspective is required when analyzing an entrepreneurial university in which academic criteria dominate financial matters i.e. finance should follow academic matters and not vice versa.…”

Section: 1mentioning

confidence: 99%

Proceedings of the 16th Annual High Technology Small Firms Conference and Doctoral Workshop 2008

2008

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It is well known that ventures in emerging markets are confronted with uncertainty (on the level of the technology as well as the market) complicating the upfront identification of viable business models.Market signals and technical tests may afterwards reveal information that was unknown or uncertain at the outset. As a results, most initial selections of business models by new businesses are re(de)fined later on. This observation directs our attention to the question how new ventures in emerging industries characterized by uncertainty approach the issue of business model development, a topic which has received limited attention in the literature so far.In a first part of the paper, we outline the theoretical background of our research with respect to business models and their development in circumstances of uncertainty. We find that (a) previous entrepreneurship research has demonstrated that -under uncertainty -ventures either commit to a specific business model, or adapt it by making stepwise, sequential changes, (b) these identified approaches of ventures to business model development are less numerous than what can be expected based on literature outside the entrepreneurship scope, and (c) there is no clarity in entrepreneurship literature about the appropriateness of causation/planning versus effectuation/action for business model development under uncertainty.Given that we want to explore how new ventures in emerging industries characterised by uncertainty approach business model development, we adopt an in-depth case study approach. We retrospectively study and analyze five new ventures. The main selection criterion is that they were all initially confronted with uncertainty regarding their business model. Based on event analysis of these five case studies, we identify different patterns in the way ventures develop their business model. Our most important finding is that commitment and sequential experimentation are not the only development patterns. More specifically, we identify a third approaches to business model development, namely simultaneous experimentation with a range of business models. We see that ventures initially develop a portfolio of business model experiments. Over time, they filter out the most promising ones, until they arrive at a viable business model.Firstly, this finding adds to the existing literature on approaches to business model development (which -as explained above -only distinguishes between two approaches, namely commitment and sequential experimentation). We explain in detail how simultaneous experimentation with a range of business models differs from these two approaches. Secondly, since simultaneous experimentation with a range of business models is very successful for the ventures in our study, this also challenges traditional investment models pushing ventures to focus on the development of one single business model. Thirdly, whereas existing literature juxtaposes experimentation and planning, our case studies show that these are not necessarily opposites. The ventu...

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“…Research has long been central to the role of a university as a space of knowledge production (see for example Castells, 2001;Leathwood & Read, 2013;Imenda, 2006;Badat, 2009). However, this focus on the research role of the university has never been as central as it is today in the so called 'knowledge economy' when universities are seen as playing a pivotal role in the provision of a skilled labour force for innovation and technology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The contradictory conceptions of research in Historically Black Universities

Muthama

McKenna

2017

PiE

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Research is conceptualised in multiple and contradictory ways within and across Historically Black Universities (HBUs) with consequences for knowledge production. Under the apartheid regime, research was deliberately underdeveloped in such institutions and this continues to have an impact. We argue that if HBUs are to move from the constraints of the past into the possibilities of the future, there is a need for a thorough understanding both of how research is currently conceptualised, and of the consequences of such conceptions for research output. We used a critical discourse analysis of interviews, documents and survey data from seven HBUs to identify the dominant discourses about the purposes of research. The findings are four dominant conceptions of research that sometimes contradict each other across and within the HBUs. These are research as integral to academic identity; research for social justice; research as an economic driver and research as an instrumentalist requirement for job security, promotion and incentives. These conceptions seemed to emerge in part because of the history of the institutions and create both constraining and enabling effects on research production.

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Knowledge production as a function of the individual institution's idea of a university

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Academic Entrepreneurship in South African HEIs

Academic Entrepreneurship in South African HEIs

Proceedings of the 16th Annual High Technology Small Firms Conference and Doctoral Workshop 2008

The contradictory conceptions of research in Historically Black Universities

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