Leveraging Effectual Means through Business Plan Competition Participation

Abstract

<jats:p> This paper explores whether the business plan competition (BPC), as a classically causational mechanism for extracurricular entrepreneurship education, can facilitate the development of the means that underpin an effectual approach to new venture creation. In-depth, open-ended qualitative interviews were conducted with participants in a regional university-based extracurricular BPC before, immediately after and six months after the competition. The BPC was found to facilitate the means that could be used to adopt an effectual approach. The competition afforded valuable networking opportunities and collaborative contacts with regard to ‘who they know’; and it enhanced ‘what they know’ through enabling the acquisition, development and application of key competencies. Participants were able to gain and project a confident sense of ‘who they are’ in terms of their venture, changing their perception of the venture from a student project to a credible and viable business prospect. There were strong indications that these acquired means endured in the six months following participation. The implication is that education in which a business plan is dominant need not automatically impede the promotion of an effectual approach. </jats:p>

Rethinking competition-based entrepreneurship education in higher education institutions

“…Elements which typically tend to accompany business plan creation within a BPC programme, such as training, mentoring, feedback, networking, pitching and PR opportunities, further enhance the potential for participants to gain from the competition experience (Hegarty 2006;Russell, Atchison and Brooks 2008;Watson, McGowan and Smith 2015;Watson 2019). Providing scope for participants to learn from each other and other competition stakeholders, as well as develop their social networks (McGowan and Cooper, 2008;Roldan et al, 2005).…”

Do the Winners Really Take It all? Exploring Entrepreneurial Learning in Start-Up Competitions

“…However, universities and politicians in other countries quickly adopted them to target and support entrepreneurs (Lundström & Stevenson, 2005). While SUCs are often associated with entrepreneurship in higher education (Lundström & Stevenson, 2005; Russell et al, 2008; Watson et al, 2015), more recent overviews show a broad range of competition types outside of universities, often held by public organizations or as cooperative efforts between public and private organizations (Passaro et al, 2017; Schwartz et al, 2013). The goal behind SUCs is to increase awareness of entrepreneurial opportunities and entrepreneurship as a career path (Lundström & Stevenson, 2005), or more generally to increase the quality and quantity of entrepreneurship.…”

“…A policy instrument that has gained popularity as a learning environment for entrepreneurs is start-up competitions (SUCs) (Passaro et al, 2017; Russell et al, 2008; Stolz, 2020; Watson et al, 2015). Rooted in business plan competitions at U.S. universities in the 1970s (Katz, 2003), SUCs have spread outside of universities and internationally quickly.…”

“…While the primary goal of SUCs is to provide evaluation and feedback regarding the business (or idea), they may also offer additional coaching and training sessions, as well as opportunities to pitch and network (Schwartz et al, 2013; Stolz, 2020). A rich body of research examines the learning processes that occur during participation in SUCs (Foo et al, 2005; Russell et al, 2008; Watson et al, 2015; 2018; Wen & Chen, 2007). However, the results are ambiguous.…”

Entrepreneurship education from a Croatian medical student's perspective

“…This method gives students the chance to enjoy learning and gives them a specific goal to achieve. Students are motivated through competition and they learn more, improve their self-confidence, and trust in their entrepreneurial skills (Bell and Bell, 2016;Grimley et al, 2011;Karns, 2005;Watson et al, 2015).…”