Today’s Undergraduate Students … Tomorrow’s Entrepreneurs? (original) (raw)

It is often said that owning a small business is part of the American Dream. Collectively, U.S. small businesses represent an estimated 99 percent of all employers (U.S. Small Business Administration, 2002). Interest in creating and owning a small business has never been greater than it is today: new business formation in the U.S. has broken successive records for the last few years, growing at a rate of between two and nine percent and totaling over one-half million annually.

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Trends in Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship Education in the United States

Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 1991

The critical importance of small business management and entrepreneurship in determining the future of the economic and social well-being of the United States is generally accepted by leading experts in government and business. While there clearly is a boom in entrepreneurial enterprise throughout the nation, the extent of the growth in the educational services supporting this effort is at best only partially known through prior studies, such as those of Vesper (1985). This paper reports the results of three surveys on the development of courses, academic programs, seminars, and workshops in small business management and entrepreneurship in the U.S. The survey results point to a dramatic change in the number of colleges and universities that are now offering small business management and entrepreneurship courses and programs and in the quantity and scope of the courses offered within schools.

Student readiness to start their own business

Micro firms are more important in Poland than in other European Union (EU) member states because Polish micro firms represent a larger share of the total number of Polish fi rms and contribute more to total turnover and gross value added than EU micro fi rms. Polish students exhibit substantial interest in starting their own businesses. This paper presents the results of a study examining the entrepreneurial attitudes of 458 students. The goal of the study was to identify relationships between academic majors and academic programme and the extent to which students were ready to start their own business. The analysis revealed that although the choice of academic major did not in fl uence student readiness to start a business, there was an association between academic programme and student readiness to start their own business. Respondent gender influenced the extent to which students were prepared to start their own business due to gender differences in access to business start-up financing.

Are You an Entrepreneur? A Study of Fresh-man and Senior Level Students at a Private University 1

2002

What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur? Are you an entrepreneur? Is there a magic formula, a perfect combination attributes that can be used to predict success? A great deal has been done to explore these issues and while we do not have a magic formula, we do know that there are key characteristics of entrepreneurs. This paper investigates the relationship between the key characteristics of entrepreneurs and the demographic profiles of freshman and senior level students enrolled in the business programs at a selected private university. Comparisons were made between freshmen and seniors of a private university in order to determine whether the business students have entrepreneurial characteristics. The research findings will be useful for private higher institutions to develop the entrepreneurial development program with a focus on methods of teaching, resources and the strategy to increase the capability of students in becoming entrepreneurs after completing their studies.

Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management: Can We Afford to Neglect Them in the Twenty-first Century Business School?

British Journal of Management, 1996

This article reviews the case for business schools becoming more seriously involved in teaching and research in the field of entrepreneurship and small business. It begins by reviewing some of the global pressures that underpin the need for management schools to devote more serious attention to these phenomena. It then argues the central case for a clear conceptual stance to be taken on the relationship between small business and entrepreneurship as a basis for core programme and pedagogical design. It finally reviews the key issues of change that will confront business schools wishing to move into this area under the three headings of: involvement with the community; teaching and research; and organization design.

Small Business Entrepreneurships In The United States

Journal of Applied Business Research (JABR), 2011

A small business entrepreneur is defined as an individual who establishes and manages a business for the principal purpose of profit and growth. Small businesses constitute an increasingly large proportion of businesses generally in the United States economy. They account for 39 per cent of the United States gross national product and create two out of every three new jobs in our economy. Seven important prerequisites are identified as being necessary for successfully operating a small business. These include adequate financing, qualified personnel, efficient operation and production, marketing and sales, customer service, information management and administration. One of the most significant contributors to failure of a small business relates to acquisition of adequate capital. Small Business Administration (SBA) was established by Federal Government in 1953 to provide low interest loans to small business borrowers that would not otherwise have access to credit. However, there is s...

Entrepreneurship Education: Attitudes Across Campus

The Journal of Education for Business, 2009

The authors investigated student and faculty attitudes toward entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education. The authors collected data from 317 students and 87 faculty members at a comprehensive 4-year university to examine students' level of interest in entrepreneurial education, perceptions of motivations and barriers to startup businesses, and occupational aspirations. Student and faculty respondents represented a variety of disciplines in and outside colleges of business. Key findings follow: (a) Student and faculty views on entrepreneurship often differ dramatically, particularly in terms of students' occupational aspirations; (b) interest among nonbusiness students suggests a significant opportunity to formally expand entrepreneurship-related education beyond the business school; and (c) in contrast to previous researchers, the authors identified no significant differences between male and female students regarding interest in entrepreneurship.

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