Lorna Treanor

Entrepreneurship Education and Veterinary Medicine: Enhancing employable skills

Purpose – This paper has the purpose of exploring the potential for entrepreneurship education within veterinary medicine. It aims to examine some of the key themes in the entrepreneurship education literature, discuss the make‐up of the UK veterinary sector, consider veterinary curricula requirements and illustrate how entrepreneurship education can benefit veterinary students.Design/methodology/approach – The approach adopted by the authors includes a literature review, in‐depth discussion and the development of hypotheses for further study.Findings – Entrepreneurship education has the potential to make a valuable contribution to veterinary medicine curricula. This is due to the fact that the majority of veterinary graduates will work in or even own/co‐own a veterinary business (i.e. a small veterinary practice) at some point in their career. In this context, the authors illustrate how entrepreneurship education can enhance both employable and day one/year one skills. The high entry requirements for vet...

The gendering of entrepreneurship: theoretical and empirical insights

Purpose – This extended Editorial outlines the genesis and theoretical interests of the Gender and Enterprise Network from which this special issue of the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research emerged. In the call for papers, researchers were asked to employ existing gender theories to explore entrepreneurship. The theories and empirical insights presented in the five papers are summarised and compared. Key directions for future work are outlined. Design/methodology/approach – Articles in the special issue include cross-national studies, multi-level analyses drawing on qualitative and quantitative methods, longitudinal analysis and feminist research. The Editorial explores methodological challenges, including how to encourage cross-national collaboration, research the circumstances in which entrepreneurship is gender liberating and embed gender theory in research on male entrepreneurship. Findings – A comparison is made of the findings from the papers in this special issue, to draw...

Situating the Subject: Gender and Entrepreneurship in International Contexts

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer a perspective to further the understanding of gender entrepreneurship. This paper considers the situatedness of the gendered entrepreneur within diverse international contexts marked by different constitutions of gender identities and networks of power, both within the context of contributions within this special issue but also more broadly within the field of gender and entrepreneurship research.Design/methodology/approach – The authors adopt a feminist perspective and analyse the different framings of identity within gender and entrepreneurship literature and their contributions to our understandings of the concepts of both power and gendered identities.Findings – The paper finds that power and identity are configured in different contexts in ways that open arenas for future analysis.Originality/value – The paper highlights the importance of considering masculinities within gender and entrepreneurship research offering support for further analyses of entre...

Gender in campus incubation: evidence from Ireland

Purpose – Women entrepreneurs face gender‐specific barriers surrounding access to: networks of information, assistance, finance and investment funds, in addition to socio‐cultural barriers. Business incubation literature indicates the supports provided to tenant incubator companies (including: assistance from incubation managers, access to academic institutions and facilities and access to contact networks), generally increase survival rates and can accelerate growth in turnover, employment levels and export sales. Business incubators could, therefore, offer an ideal environment for women entrepreneurs to overcome many gender‐related barriers. The Irish Government has invested, via “Enterprise Ireland”, over €46 million in campus‐incubators but the gender composition of incubation tenants accessing this state funding has not been explored.Design/methodology/approach – A study of all “Enterprise Ireland” funded campus‐incubators in Ireland was undertaken between November 2006 and March 2007. A survey of 10...

The Veterinary Business Landscape: Contemporary Issues and Emerging Trends

The veterinary business landscape is extremely dynamic and highly competitive. Indeed, it is now widely recognised that managers within the broader veterinary industry need to be much more commercially aware than in the past, prompting the recognition of a significant skills gap in business and management (Lowe, 2009). This skills gap is recognised beyond the traditional practice management role, with some acknowledgement that managers in the veterinary science, diagnostics and genetics areas of the pharmaceutical, bio-science and pet food industries are experiencing similar difficulties. Recent literatures further platform the need for other veterinary professionals, such as advisors in government departments and those responsible for intensive livestock production units, to acquire business and management skills. Such trends, are not confined to the UK, rather, they would appear to be global phenomena.

Why aren't more veterinary practices owned or led by women?

The increasing proportion of women among the body of UK veterinary surgeons practicing clinical medicine has been consistently highlighted in RCVS surveys (RCVS 2006, 2010, 2014a). Despite women outnumbering men in clinical practice (57% v 43%) in 2014 (RCVS, 2014a) they do not own veterinary practices or hold practice partnerships or leadership positions in proportions that may be expected, even when adjusting for age and experience (RCVS, 2014b).

Chapter 2 Encouraging women's entrepreneurship in the sciences: Women in veterinary medicine

Purpose – The chapter aims to explore womens entrepreneurship in the sciences, specifically, veterinary medicine, and to highlight future potential. Methodology/approach – Following a review of the extant literature, the chapter employs a single case approach to explore the experiences of a woman academic entrepreneur in the field of veterinary medicine. Findings – The findings support the view that women are significantly under-represented in the sciences (SET/STEM) both as professionals and as entrepreneurs. The chapter also finds that, due to a relatively low number of veterinary professionals currently working in industry and/or commercialisable research areas, the sector offers significant potential for entrepreneurship, particularly among women veterinarians. Research limitations/implications – Despite providing rich and meaningful insights that enhance understanding, the single case approach limits the potential for generalising the findings. Practical implications – Given the significant increase in the number of women entering veterinary education in recent years, the chapter has important implications for how gender is considered in the promotion of entrepreneurship within veterinary medicine curricula. Social implications – In view of the imminent gender shift within the profession, the case discussed in this chapter serves as an important role model to encourage more women to engage in entrepreneurship. Originality/value of chapter – As one of the few studies offering insights on womens entrepreneurship in veterinary medicine, this chapter helps enhance our understanding of the field.