Laura Galloway

Entrepreneurship Education at University: A Driver in the Creation of High Growth Firms?.

There is, in the UK, increasing attention being paid to the potential of university education to facilitate high quality growth firms. While some commentators believe that this potential can be realised in the short term, many believe that only a long‐term view of the entrepreneurial potential of graduate entrepreneurship is feasible as new graduates lack the resources, skills and experience necessary for sustainability and growth of ventures. Like most university entrepreneurship “departments”, the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Strathclyde examines the profile of students and outcome of entrepreneurship electives in terms of student ambition and motivation. Using data from this exercise along with data from a study of 2,000 Strathclyde alumni, an impression of potentiality and actual outcome of entrepreneurship electives is possible.

The use of ICT in rural firms: a policy‐orientated literature review

Purpose – There is much evidence that information and communication technologies (ICTs) are drivers of economic growth. As a result, government is keen to promote ICT take‐up, particularly where there is economic development need. The rural economy in most countries is regarded as that which requires intervention in order to foster sustainability and development, and there have been many empirical studies of both the value and the use of ICTs in rural areas. These are, however, highly disparate, often being industry‐, country‐ and, indeed, type‐of‐technology‐specific. Aims to draw together the highly eclectic literature on the use of ICTs in rural small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in order to provide an overview of generic issues, relevant to policy.Design/methodology/approach – Comprises a literature review, based on academic, government and agency publications, and provides commentary on emergent issues, particularly those relating to policy recommendations.Findings – Finds that there is a lag in...

Enterprise skills for the economy

Purpose: In response to the emergence of anenterprise economy, government claims that building an enterprise culture isvital. Correspondingly, provision of entrepreneurship education in highereducation has expanded. The paper aims to assess the potential ofentrepreneurship education to develop skills, and of whether students perceivethem as having value within the modern economy. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws from a longitudinal,collaborative study of students of entrepreneurship in four universities. Usinga questionnaire-based methodology, the paper is based on responses from asample of 519 students. Results include that any increase in graduateentrepreneurship is most likely to be a long-term. Findings: Results also suggest that many students expect to work in new andsmall firms, and that skills developed by entrepreneurship education areapplicable to both waged employment and entrepreneurship. Accordingly,entrepreneurship education seems to have much potential to develop skillsappropriate for the enterprise economy. Research limitations/implications:The research is limited by itsquantitative nature. As the primary purpose is to evaluate attitudes toentrepreneurship and perceptions of the economic environment, further researchshould involve qualitative follow-up, in the form of focus groups and/orlongitudinal case studies. Originality/value: The value of the paper lies in the suggestion thatinvestment in entrepreneurship education is likely to have a positive impactwithin the economy. The long-term impact of an increase in awareness ofentrepreneurship; of the ability to start firms; and an increase in skillstransferable to waged employment within an enterprise-based economy, can not beunderestimated. (publishers abstract)

Can broadband access rescue the rural economy

Purpose – Government is promoting broadband for all, and specifically, is advocating business up‐take of broadband that affords high‐speed internet activity, to foster global competitiveness. Urban areas have economies of scale and the effect on price of concentration of demand. Rural areas do not, and potential broadband provision is thus problematic. The paper aims to study technology roll‐out in rural areas, and provide a commentary, based on empirical work, on the potential of demand for, and use of, the service.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws from secondary research sourced from academic papers, government and agency documents to evaluate rural broadband provision, and analyses the suitability of current “solutions”. It also draws together conclusions of various empirical and survey researches on the potential of uptake and business use of broadband.Findings – The paper questions whether broadband access in rural areas has the potential to contribute to economic development. It also ide...

ICT‐enabled collectivity as a positive rural business strategy

This paper examines the development of Internet‐based, virtual business forums and their potential for overcoming some of the difficulties faced by business owners in rural areas. Rural environments provide challenges for business owners due to limited local markets and limited access to resources. The paper examines the success of collective action by business owners in rural environments in Scotland to establish Internet‐based business forums that seek to meet such challenges. Using case study methodology, the paper finds variable experiences and proposes a model of the process of collective action.

Teaching enterprise in vocational disciplines: reflecting on positive experience

Business skills, particularly in the areas of science, engineering and technology (SET) and small firm development are becoming increasingly important. The vocational skills student learns can be augmented by an understanding of how business operates as well as an appreciation that enterprise skills can be applied within an organisation i.e. acting as an “intrapreneur”. Universities prepare students for many of the “professions” such as medicine, engineering, law and accountancy. Many other disciplines such as healthcare, social sciences and the sciences also require a professional attitude to be adopted. However, new graduates generally begin their post‐university career in a form of apprenticeship where their professional skills are developed, often via a pre‐registration period before achieving, for example, for engineers, chartered status. After that stage is reached, and with a few years work experience, they may move on to form practices or partnerships of their own. Based on the principle that business skills development, particularly in the SET disciplines, is likely to have a positive impact on the competitiveness of existing SET organisations, as well as encourage the creation of new, innovative knowledge firms, this paper aims to document the experience of introducing and embedding entrepreneurship education into vocational disciplines at Heriot‐Watt University, with a key objective being to provide a model which other institutions may find useful.

Evolution, financial management and learning in the small firm

There is an assumption that inadequate financial management practices are contributors to turbulence in the small firm sector; yet there have been few investigations into the factors that influence an owner‐manager’s approach and the processes involved in the evolution of strategy and associated learning in this area. Previous studies have adopted a comparative static approach that is survey‐based; we argue that these studies can only give limited insights. We adopt a comparative case study methodology to develop an evolutionary process view of financial management in small firms. Despite the increased attention paid to owner‐managers in the small firms sector, we know comparatively little about the process of financial management and how small firms learn and adjust strategy and decision‐making in this area. In this paper, we attempt to shed some light on the process issues within small firms from qualitative evidence collected as part of a programme of case study research with entrepreneurs and owner‐managers. We discuss case evidence and focus on how owner‐managers reach financial management decisions, how they learn and adjust behaviour within the entrepreneurship process.

Attitudes to growth and experience of growth among Scottish SMEs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify factors associated with business success, measured through employment growth, in a sample of rural Scottish businesses.Design/methodology/approach – The use of telephone interviews was used to construct a dataset based on the outcome of 399 interviews. These covered the motivations for starting the business, and current ambitions for the business, as well as background information on the history of the business, personal characteristics of the owner and reasons for choosing a rural location for the business. Data are analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques.Findings – It was found that the most important determinants of employment growth were the development of national and international markets and recent acquisition of control of the business. A pattern of ownership in which many businesses passed from one owner to another was also found. We did not find that owners who had moved to the area were able to generate more rapid...

Microbrewing and entrepreneurship: The origins, development and integration of real ale breweries in the UK

This paper reports on an exploratory two-stage study of microbreweries in the UK. The first stage comprises an analysis of data from the Small Independent Breweries Association to offer an aggregate picture of the sector. The second stage reports on a qualitative study of the experiences of 14 microbreweries. The findings from the fieldwork show that the UK microbrewing sector is growing, that competitiveness within the brewing establishment is based on artisan manufacture, provenance and diversity rather than price, and that the sector is contestable but operates as a competitive fringe within the greater industry. The study illustrates that microbreweries can contribute to local economies and that, because of the innovation, diversity and growth in the sector, entrepreneurship is in evidence. While saturation seems a threat, the evidence presented here suggests that UK microbrewing is a healthy sector, with the prospect of ongoing growth and contribution.

Learning to Labour: An Evaluation of Internships and Employability in the ICT Sector

The employability of graduates is often reduced to lists of de-contextualised skills that graduates may or may not have and which may or may not translate to prized graduate positions. Recently, internships have become the way in which graduates acquire and demonstrate work-readiness to potential employers. This article examines a particular type of internship in the ICT sector, namely placements incorporated in degree education. The findings suggest that while internships can enhance employability and indeed be a mechanism for accessing permanent jobs, more often, instead of ‘learning to labour’, interns are expected to be productive workers. A mini labour market operates at the undergraduate level that advantages those already possessed of the required soft skills. The emphasis on soft skills signals a shift in the nature of ICT work with attendant implications for education of workers in this sector, revealed by anchoring employability to particular labour process(es).