Entrepreneurship: The Ennobling of Labour? (original) (raw)

Entrepreneurism: A Philosophy and a Sensible Alternative for the Market Economy

Journal of International Business Studies, 2004

Create personal wealth; benefit society; and at the same time assure humanity's future existence: Is it possible? Often self-interest means stepping on or over others. In the name of wealth creation, aggregate value is frequently destroyed – e.g., the natural environment. The authors' stance is that enhancement of financial worth is commonly detrimental to the remainder of the planet. The Kaos find every indication to believe that, at present, economic activity is not sustainable. Rather than generating panic the book constructs a view of an entrepreneurially driven economic engine, one that is sustainable and has a conscience. Instead of throwing up their hands in resignation or defeat, the father and two sons offer a plausible means to arrive at a world where individual interests and those of the whole may be aligned. Certain to please the IB scholar, the book takes a worldwide view drawing on examples from both the have and have-not regions of the world. The book is aimed at those interested in entrepreneurship as well as the ecological environment. The book is suitable for student and teacher. I imagine that any number of the chapters would make good assigned readings for classroom discussion. Included at the close of each chapter are questions. While the pedagogical applications for these questions are clear, many would provide avenues for future research. Those whose research or teaching is in the area of ethics or business and society would surely find the book worthwhile. The book maintains a philosophical bent, while remaining mindful of reality (the market economy) and offers resolutions that are practical and well-informed. The authors deconstruct the existing economic fabric in order to generate something more wholesome. Providing a value-laden perspective, the authors do not avoid sensitive areas, but delineate societal strictures that should be bolstered. The book comments on and adds to management theory, arguing that management thought has stood still relative to advances in the tools and instruments now at the disposal of the administrator. Global competition and corporate governance are not seen as evils that must be undone, but channeled along boundaries set by the collective. Management practitioners have a bundle of technological marvels that lead to more efficient and thorough exploitation, not a better world as was initially envisioned. The authors' looming concern is that the privileged few will further deplete resources and destroy the natural environment. The book has a deep message, one that cannot be ignored: for humanity to prevail given finite resources, creative and innovative activities must be pursued. The authors' sincerity is unquestionable as they share their convictions. The prose never turns to preaching. The presentation of their philosophy is clever. While the purely capitalist actor abiding only by self interest, may not have an about face, most will certainly be affected. Data presented are convincing from a purely rational stance and the anecdotes are certain to stir one's emotions. Case stories are vivid – the irony of human smugglers seeking political asylum – and

Policy as Slogan: Re-Imagining the ‘Battle Cry’ for Entrepreneurship

2021

This persuasive paper discusses the integration of the Alberta Education slogan, “Engaged thinkers and Ethical citizens with an Entrepreneurial spirit” from a lens of critical analysis. Through a governmental structure of managed participation, the educational slogan reflects an intrusion of neo-liberal economic values onto the public education arena that serves to undermine education’s democratic nature. The final section of the paper suggests that educators could take a personal interest in the implementation of the slogan by defining the spirit of their students to ensure that more than economic values valued in educational settings. This paper should be interesting to policy-makers, academics, and school leaders involved in school and curriculum reform. Astrid Kendrick *

The Politics of Austerity and Entrepreneurialism: Reflections on the Role of Humanities

In this chapter, we analyze austerity and neoliberalism in Finnish higher education policy of the recent years. Our aim is to provide theoretical tools for understanding and assessing these developments critically, building mainly on the thinking of Hannah Arendt, seasoned with Foucauldian understanding of neoliberalism. Using these theoretical resources, we interpret austerity as a political move, working in alliance with other political choices made in higher education policies in the recent years. We draw from Arendt's analyses of imperialist capitalism to understand neoliberalism in terms of a set of administrative processes that function by presenting public goods according to an accumulative logic of private interests, effectively presenting the society as a constantly moving bio-socio-economic process. We use the Finnish case as illumination for the argument, and at the same time as a window to broader tendencies in European higher education. We point out how austerity imposed upon the universities is part of the same movement in which entrepreneurial skills and knowhow have almost completely replaced thinking and the quest for meaning. We further analyze the detrimental consequences of such tendencies for democratic life. They hamper with the very idea of political freedom by clinging to the image of an ongoing socio-economical process, which makes it impossible to imagine real novelty or a properly functioning public sphere in politics. They also compromise certain capacities required from democratic citizenry, such as willingness to look at the world as a shared space where different perspectives meet. Towards the end of the chaper, we ponder upon directions towards which – analytically as well as practically – we might move to look beyond the current austerity policies in higher education. Two further implications follow. First, a political critique of austerity needs to be able to question the whole ethico-political framework in which austerity makes sense, instead of simply opposing cuts. And second, single policy areas, such as higher education, must be seen together, building on an intersectional solidarity.

The entrepreneurship concept – a short introduction

DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), 2016

The article provides a historic description of how the entrepreneurship concept has developed and now through political initiatives is closing in on higher education. By providing different reference points the article shows that entrepreneurship is not bound to economics and business but instead display divergent meanings depending on context. The article discuss how governmental initiatives, following the policy development in EU and Sweden, has made entrepreneurship a highly contemporary issue for university staff but where the exact meaning of the term is obscured, leaving us unsure of the political agenda driving the implementation. What kind of change the ongoing promotion of entrepreneurship in higher education will lead to is thus still to be revealed where the ambiguity of the term together with connotations of success and progression makes it hard to resist. University staff is therefore encouraged to reading up on the concept, where the article provides a short introduction that might serve as a start.

Entrepreneurship as a Point of Departure for a Course in Pluralist Economic Principles

2005

Many commentators have pointed towards a downturn in the enrolment of students on economics degrees. Part of the explanation for this phenomenon is probably because business studies degrees meet students' requirements for practical understanding more closely. We suggest here that one of the problems with economics is that introductory principles courses adopt a 'theory-first' pedagogy. This means that students are asked to abandon any pre-formed notions/understanding about the nature of competition and accept the equilibrium model of perfect competition as the foundation of their future understanding. The downside of this approach is that: 'The everyday appearance of social life provides little in the way of verification for the student of basic economic ideas. The result is an analytical confusion that captivates the student more or less forever' Bernstein (2004: 33). By grounding introductory economics on the foundation stone of theories of entrepreneurship thi...

Lighting the Fires of Entrepreneurialism?

International Journal of Technology and Educational Marketing, 2011

Entrepreneurialism and entrepreneurial leadership are increasingly viewed as essential to improving the capability of organisations to innovate and improve performance. This article aims to refine the conceptual understanding of entrepreneurialism in the context of public education, drawing on data concerning constructions of meaning around entrepreneurialism in an inner city Academy in England. The authors highlight effects of power in forming the discourse and meanings around entrepreneurialism, the layers of meaning in these constructions, and the presence of both business entrepreneurialism and alternative groundings for entrepreneurialism. The article concludes by refining the typology of entrepreneurialism, placing it in the context of levels of meaning and suggesting three implications for schools and educational policy. The association the authors found of enterprise with relational motivations and with public and community-orientated aims suggests a general appetite exists ...

“Can Entrepreneurship be cultivated?”

on entrepreneurship. The objective of this paper is to share our experience with how entrepreneurship activities on campus can be organised: we offer a description of how we try to develop the entrepreneurial culture at Aalesund university college (AaUC) in Norway. The project has several stakeholders  such as students, local industry and various governmental institutions. We further elaborate on the lessons learned