Entrepreneurial learning

and workforce development

Implementing SME Policy Tools Capacity Building Seminar

Trento Italy 25-28 October 2011

Outline

SKILLS FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP

• Concept

• Delivery framework – example university

TRAINING, LEARNING AND INNOVATION

• Concepts

• Results from a firm survey in the Western Balkans

Skills and competences for entrepreneurship

• Concepts

• University entrepreneurship support

• Common findings from ongoing research in OECD member and non-member countries

The Learning Journey:

From developing entrepreneurial attitudes to promoting

skills and competences for successful entrepreneurship

4

5

Skills and Competences for entrepreneurship

(Man et al. 2002)

OECD LEED

assessment framework

Strategy

Financial and human resources

Support infrastructure

Entrepreneurship education

Start-up support

Evaluation

Principles of good practice - Strategy

1. Promoting entrepreneurship (technology transfer and venture creation) is a strategic objective for university management.

2. There are clear incentives and rewards for staff, who actively support entrepreneurship.

3. Recruitment and career development take into account prior entrepreneurial activities of staff as well as actual engagement in entrepreneurship support.

Questions - Strategy

1. Mentioning of entrepreneurship support activities and results in your Annual Report and since when

2. „Number of Clicks‟

3. Whether and how staff (profs, researchers, admin) are rewarded for engaging in entrepreneurship support (set of Qs)

4. Consideration of prior private sector experience in recruitment

5. Consideration of engagement in entrepreneurship support for promotions (KPI)

Common findings from cross-country

research (1/3)

Need for top-management support

• Clear links to core missions (education & research)

• Student-friendly advertisement of support: website, Twitter, Facebook etc.

• Removal of administrative barriers (openness to Alumni)

• Strategic allocation of resources

• Functional incentives and rewards (time & royalties & connections), learning, training and exchange opportunities for staff

Common findings from cross-country

research (1/3)

Content and organisation of EE

• Curricular integration, interdisciplinary courses , clear links with start-up support

• Dedicated research – competences and skills (pedagogies) local development (opportunity creation)

• Evaluation (2-fold objective)

• Organise EE in a dynamic way – involve entrepreneurs, engage students, alumni

Common findings from cross-country

research (1/3)

Provision of start-up support

• Relevance of university internal incubation space for team-start-ups, and EE-start-up links as well as tech transfer

• University as ‚magnet„ for VC and Bas, also in regions economically lacking behind

• Role of university in wider local entrepreneurship support systems (LIS)

Training, learning and innovation

• Concepts

• Key issues

• Firm survey results in the Western Balkans

Concepts

• Absorptive capacity (Cohen and Levinthal 1990 and Lane, Koka and Pathak 2006 ):

– Crucial importance of new (often firm external) knowledge for innovation

“...firm‟s ability to utilise externally held knowledge through 3 sequential processes:

1. recognizing and understanding potentially valuable new knowledge outside the firm through exploratory learning

2. assimilating valuable new knowledge through transformative learning

3. using the assimilated knowledge to create new knowledge and commercial outputs through exploitative learning …”

Absorptive capacity and firm-level

learning processes

Explorative learning

Transformative learning

Exploitative learning

Growing evidence of ….

Relevance of strategic human resource management practices on firm-level innovation activity:

– Employee training

– Incentives and rewards

– Workplace environment (including decision-making)

– Internal communication and information flows

Direct link (?) between the entrepreneur‟s predisposition to learn (and prior learning experience) and learning outcomes and firm-level innovation activity

The role of public policy

Public policy

Accreditation

Easy access

Campaigns

Vouchers, …

Training providers

Co-design

In-firm and on-the job training, …

Firms

School, univ collaborations

Strategic HRM, …

• We’ve asked 224 firms in the Western Balkans …

About their business priorities…

74%

68%

48%

65%

48%

65%

48%

62%

26%

31%

52%

34%

52%

34%

47%

38%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Expanding the general market for products and services?

Knowing your customers better?

Increasing production?

Diversifying your products and or services?

Changing the internal organisation of your firm?

Training and hiring staff?

Expanding in-house research and development activities?

Buying new technology (eg. machinery, production …

Yes

No

What happened in the last 12 months?

35%

35%

32%

28%

46%

33%

45%

45%

17%

7%

7%

6%

1%

25%

16%

20%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Total number of staff employed in your firm

Total number of new employees 24 and under working for the

first time

Number of staff with university degree

Number of employees who received some form of professional training

Increased

Kept the same

Reduced

DK

Does your firm provide professional

training for your employees?

• Half of the firms (88) collaborated with local training providers and found this useful.

79%

19%

2%

Yes

No

DK

Is your firm in contact with schools and

University faculties in your municipality

or region?

45%

54%

1%

Yes

No

DK

With which education providers are you

in contact?

30%

26%

36%

8% General secondary schools

Technical schools

University

Other

What has been the purpose of these

contacts...?

20%

40%

15%

25%

Groups of students and teachers visit the firm for educational purposes

Firm offers internships to students

Firm recruits graduates from these schools

Other

• Questions?

• Thank you!

• Andrea-rosalinde.hofer@oecd.org