Jay Mitra

Making connections: innovation and collective learning in small businesses

Investigates the learning process in innovation and, in particular, the collective learning which underlines different types of innovation within the context of small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Argues that innovation is often the result of interaction of various subjects, technologies, people and organisations, and that it is the learning that is derived from such interaction which underpins innovative activity. SMEs are better able to innovate when they are part of clusters because it is through the networking process and the management of externalities (key elements in clustering) that they develop new products, processes and services.

Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training: Lessons from Eastern and Central Europe.

The social, economic and political systems of former communist countries have faced considerable changes since the late 1980s. Most countries in Eastern and Central Europe have undergone their own individual brand of transition from a centrally planned, command system to a more or less liberalized, Western-style market economy Many observers agree that in general there is still a great deal to be done to achieve the key goal of economic liberalization, but there is little agreement among academics as to what would constitute an effective and stabilizing transition in the region. In common with contemporary Western beliefs and attitudes, much of the new thinking and hopes for economic regeneration in Eastern and Central Europe have centred on entrepreneurship and small business development. In the early years of transition, the influx of international aid became a stumbling block to the establishment of the kind of support systems that had proved crucial for the survival and growth of small businesses in Western Europe. The demand for entrepreneurial skills and the deficiencies inherent in their new labour markets exposed post-communist economies to external shocks such as those caused by the termination of COMECON agreements and the Gulf War. The longitudinal research on which this paper is based was closely modelled on ongoing work by the authors, which involves an in-depth investigation of the ‘paradox of training’, the difference between attitude and practice, that exists in the small business sector of the UK economy. Following the results of a pilot study undertaken in the UK, the research was extended to include small business sectors across Eastern, Central and Western Europe.

Entrepreneurship and Learning: The Double Act in the Triple Helix

This paper examines the three concepts of learning, knowledge and innovation in the context of the triple relationship of government, industry and higher education, with particular reference to the UK. The authors argue that a consideration of the three concepts enables a proper understanding of entrepreneurship and its role in sustaining competitiveness for the wider economy and value in society. They conclude that entrepreneurship not only provides the spur for economic development but also shows the route forward to managing personal and organizational development in the new economy. It is through entrepreneurship, the authors suggest, that the fundamental requirements of learning, knowledge management and innovation can be effectively addressed.

The Hidden Enterprise of Bootlegging Cigarettes out of Greece: Two Schemes of Illegal Entrepreneurship

Abstract Cigarette smuggling in all its forms prevents the Greek state from collecting large amounts of taxes. The phenomenon has been largely neglected by the academic community and this is even more the case when it comes to bootlegging. This article is a presentation of the available evidence on two schemes of bootlegging cigarettes out of Greece. It explores the different entrepreneurial inputs of cigarette bootleggers, and the practices that resemble “normal” entrepreneurial activities, through two case studies. These inputs and practices shed some light on the environment in which unproductive economic activity takes place, offering researchers and policy makers insights into their manifestation.

Knowledge Creation and Human Capital for Development: The Role of Graduate Entrepreneurship.

Purpose – Tackling structural and emergent problems in the labour market, valorising skilled human capital (HC) for opportunity creation, economic development and growth, are some of the key drivers for graduate entrepreneurship. This paper aims to examine developments in Africa, focusing on the significance of improving human capital through graduate entrepreneurship to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approach – Based on a unique Education Partnerships in Africa (EPA) project the paper adopts a conceptual and exploratory approach to understand the institutional, cultural and economic dimensions of change and the specific role of graduate entrepreneurship education and training in enabling productive outcomes, using an illustrative case study of the project to develop the arguments.Findings – Knowledge creation lies at the heart of entrepreneurship development in developing economies such as Nigeria. Knowledge creation (KC) for entrepreneurship (E) is based on hu...

Consider Velasquez: Reflections on the Development of Entrepreneurship Programmes

This paper is concerned with ‘ways of seeing’ entrepreneurship. The study of entrepreneurship is compared to a painters study of his or her subject. The detail lies in the values and symbols, which inform the portrait or the landscape in which the entrepreneur evolves. The detail also informs the conceptualization and implementation of the programmes for a variety of audiences. The paper outlines some of the conceptual underpinnings for entrepreneurship programmes across the world, and how such programmes emerge in different contexts, especially within higher education institutions. The pursuit of entrepreneurship education poses certain challenges both for the higher education system and the student, and the author discusses these issues and how they have influenced the development of a postgraduate programme in entrepreneurship in his university.

The spatial determinants of entrepreneurship in the regions of England, 2000-2004

This paper examines the regional determinants of business start-up activity in the UK from 2000 to 2004. Spatial and sectoral variations in Value Added Tax (VAT) registration rates at the local authority district level are identified (with a specific focus on advanced services and manufacturing activities) and regressed against key variables relating to education, skills, income and local industrial structure. The study is unique in that it considers how the determinants of new venture creation vary between NUTS 1 UK regions – an approach that requires the simultaneous consideration of entrepreneurial activity at both the intra- and interregional scale. The main purpose of this multivariate approach is to construct a detailed picture of the structural components of new firm formation within different regions and, crucially, to draw out and elucidate the main implications of the empirical findings for effective strategic regional policy making.

Developing a culture for entrepreneurship in the East of England: the value of social and human capital

Most UK Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) have committed themselves to developing an Enterprise Strategy for their region. This commitment is mainly in response to the current Labour governments keenness to see enterprise and entrepreneurship at the centre of any economic development agenda. Pro-entrepreneurship policies have been embraced as a means of generating economic growth and diversity, ensuring competitive markets, helping the unemployed to create jobs for themselves, countering poverty and welfare dependency, encouraging labour market flexibility and drawing individuals out of informal economic activity. The regional dimension of economic regeneration has been influenced, in part, by increasing interest in the local ramifications of national innovation and entrepreneurship policies, and also by growing awareness of the local or regional phenomenon of enterprise creation and innovation. The authors examine the connection between R&D activities in universities and the creation of new businesses (in particular ICT firms), and especially the role that social capital plays in fostering these relationships or connections. Preliminary empirical analyses suggest the importance of university–high-tech industry social capital in generating technology based start-ups. The findings suggest a case for fostering ‘connectedness’ between research universities and high-technology firms in regions with interest in technology-based entrepreneurship.

Gender perspectives on university education and entrepreneurship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to direct attention to recent research on women’s entrepreneurship with a focus on university education. A literature review and a summary of authors’ selected papers provide both a context for and an introduction to the articles in this special issue. Design/methodology/approach – This introduction provides an overview of the literature on female entrepreneurship with specific reference to the context of university education. Searches on Web of Science and in this journal were conducted to provide a systematic overview of the area of research. This introductory article ends with a set of propositions for future research engagement. Findings – This paper finds that the quantum of past research endeavours remains limited despite the growing significance of the subject. This paper also finds that developing a focused approach that is based on a female ontology of entrepreneurship, and one that identifies specific contexts, and appropriate methodological considerations ...

Innovation performance in European regions: comparing manufacturing and services ICT subsectors

This paper investigates factors influencing regional innovation by contrasting high-tech manufacturing and knowledge intensive services. Based on regression analysis of European regions, we find the following consistent results for two separate years, 2001 and 2003: 1) High-tech manufacturing is relatively more significant than knowledge intensive services for regional innovation performance. 2) For high-tech manufacturing sector, local manufacturing employment is relatively more important than local RD while the service sector needs specific attention on R&D, which could boost the sectors innovativeness.