127 research outputs found
Exploring Entrepreneurship Education Effectiveness at British Universities â An Application of the World CafĂ© Method
Universities have made significant investments in entrepreneurship programs for decades, but the scope, relevance and usefulness of entrepreneurship education are still questioned. This study aims to explore the meaning of effectiveness as it relates to entrepreneurship education in a grounded and holistic sense, recognizing both the range of stakeholders involved in the design, delivery and experience of entrepreneurship education and the underlying complexity of the issue at hand. Two World CafĂ© events, a method designed to elicit grounded knowledge, were organized to seek insights from a diverse range of stakeholders. Results confirm and illustrate the complex nature of effectiveness in entrepreneurship education. The purpose of specific educational initiatives, diverse audiencesâ expectations and contextual factors must be considered in any meaningful attempt at identifying effectiveness. Findings also revealed a consensus that effectiveness relates to creating a transformational process, which leads to a shift in attitudes towards entrepreneurship. This shift prepares students for careers that go beyond the launch of a new venture. The role of time lags in assessing effectiveness was also identified. We suggest an agenda for future research and practical implications
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How does entrepreneurship education affect employability? Insights from UK higher education
Purpose:
The purpose of this study is to examine the underexplored link between entrepreneurship education (EE) and graduate employability in the higher education (HE) sector in the United Kingdom (UK).
Design/methodology/approach:
The study draws on a thematic content analysis of semi-structured interviews with 45 professionals in UK HE, representing the âsupplyâ side of EE.
Findings:
The findings demonstrate a unidirectional link between EE and employability outcomes. This link is affected by societal, stakeholder-related, and teaching and learning-related factors.
Research limitations/implications:
Although the value of universitiesâ initiatives connecting EE and employability for economic development is emphasized, the study does not provide direct empirical evidence for this effect. Macroeconomic research is needed.
Practical implications:
EE and employability would benefit from knowledge exchange between universitiesâ stakeholders and a broader understanding of what constitutes a valuable graduate outcome.
Social implications:
The study reveals the benefits of EE on a micro level. Participation in EE supports the connection between individual investments in HE and employability.
Originality/value:
Based on human capital theory, many policymakers regard EE as a vehicle through which the relationship between investments in HE and career success on a micro level and economic growth on a macro level can be nurtured. Challenging this logic, the study highlights the potential of institutional theory to explain a contextualization of the link between EE and employability on a national level.Seedcorn funding from The Open Universityâs Scholarship Centre for Innovation in Online Legal and Business Education (SCiLAB)
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Burning the candle at both ends: how to balance potential profitability and brand protection when licensing brands
Purpose:
Drawing on transaction cost economics, the authors conceptualise brand licensing as a form of alliance. Its performance may be affected by a licenseeâs potential opportunism resulting from an imbalance of specific investments in brand-building prior to signing the licensing agreement. From the licensorâs perspective, brand licensing represents a trade-off between brand protection and additional revenues. This study aims to examine how this trade-off shapes licensorsâ evaluations of the attractiveness of brand licensing opportunities.
Design/methodology/approach:
In a vignette study, 121 brand licensing professionals evaluated the attractiveness of up to eight hypothetical brand licensing opportunities with different levels of risk and profitability.
Findings
From a licensorâs perspective, high brand quality and distribution risks decrease the attractiveness of a licensing opportunity, although the latter risks are more pronounced. High potential profitability has a positive and significant effect on attractiveness.
Research limitations/implications:
The risks outlined in this study refer to licensee behaviour. The licensor may also behave opportunistically. The authors encourage research designs that enable a dyadic evaluation of licensing opportunities because a comparison of a licensorâs and a licenseeâs assessments of the same scenario would be illuminating.
Practical implications:
The findings enable the development of an evaluation template that directs brand ownersâ attention to the risks and gains of brand licensing opportunities. It supports licensors in choosing the âbestâ opportunity.
Originality/value:
This study identifies risks emanating from a licenseeâs potential opportunism from a licensorâs perspective. It juxtaposes these risks with the potential profitability of brand licensing opportunities. It is thus one of the first studies to address a licensorâs decision-making trade-offs in a large-scale empirical setting
An Axiomatic Setup for Algorithmic Homological Algebra and an Alternative Approach to Localization
In this paper we develop an axiomatic setup for algorithmic homological
algebra of Abelian categories. This is done by exhibiting all existential
quantifiers entering the definition of an Abelian category, which for the sake
of computability need to be turned into constructive ones. We do this
explicitly for the often-studied example Abelian category of finitely presented
modules over a so-called computable ring , i.e., a ring with an explicit
algorithm to solve one-sided (in)homogeneous linear systems over . For a
finitely generated maximal ideal in a commutative ring we
show how solving (in)homogeneous linear systems over can be
reduced to solving associated systems over . Hence, the computability of
implies that of . As a corollary we obtain the computability
of the category of finitely presented -modules as an Abelian
category, without the need of a Mora-like algorithm. The reduction also yields,
as a by-product, a complexity estimation for the ideal membership problem over
local polynomial rings. Finally, in the case of localized polynomial rings we
demonstrate the computational advantage of our homologically motivated
alternative approach in comparison to an existing implementation of Mora's
algorithm.Comment: Fixed a typo in the proof of Lemma 4.3 spotted by Sebastian Posu
The global field of multi-family offices: An institutionalist perspective
We apply the notion of the organisational field to internationally operating multi-family offices. These organisations specialise on the preservation of enterprising and geographically dispersed familiesâ fortunes. They provide their services across generations and countries. Based on secondary data of Bloombergâs Top 50 Family Offices, we show that they constitute a global organisational field that comprises two clusters of homogeneity. Clients may decide between two different configurations of activities, depending on their preferences regarding asset management, resource management, family management, and service architecture. The findings also reveal that multi-family offices make relatively similar value propositions all over the world. The distinctiveness of the clusters within the field is not driven by the embeddedness of the multi-family offices in different national environments or their various degrees of international experience. Rather, it is weakly affected by two out of four possible value propositions, namely the exclusiveness and the transparency of services
Bias in the journal impact factor
The ISI journal impact factor (JIF) is based on a sample that may represent
half the whole-of-life citations to some journals, but a small fraction (<10%)
of the citations accruing to other journals. This disproportionate sampling
means that the JIF provides a misleading indication of the true impact of
journals, biased in favour of journals that have a rapid rather than a
prolonged impact. Many journals exhibit a consistent pattern of citation
accrual from year to year, so it may be possible to adjust the JIF to provide a
more reliable indication of a journal's impact.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures; one reference correcte
Resonant Structure of and Decays
The resonant structure of the four pion final state in the decay is analyzed using 4.27 million pairs
collected by the CLEO II experiment. We search for second class currents in the
decay using spin-parity analysis and establish an
upper limit on the non-vector current contribution. The mass and width of the
resonance are extracted from a fit to the
spectral function. A partial wave analysis of the resonant structure of the
decay is performed; the spectral decomposition of
the four pion system is dominated by the and final
states.Comment: 34 pages postscript, also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN
Study of 3-prong Hadronic Decays with Charged Kaons
Using a sample of 4.7/fb integrated luminosity accumulated with the CLEO-II
detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR), we have measured the
branching fractions of the tau lepton into and relative to and relative to . The relative branching fractions are: (5.16+-0.20+-0.50)*,
(1.52+-0.14+-0.29)*, (2.54+-0.44+-0.39)* and at 95%
C.L., respectively. Coupled with additional experimental information, we use
our results to extract information on the structure of three-prong tau decays
to charged kaons.Comment: 16 pages postscript file also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN
Effectiveness of screening preschool children for amblyopia: a systematic review
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Amblyopia and amblyogenic factors like strabismus and refractive errors are the most common vision disorders in children. Although different studies suggest that preschool vision screening is associated with a reduced prevalence rate of amblyopia, the value of these programmes is the subject of a continuing scientific and health policy discussion. Therefore, this systematic review focuses on the question of whether screening for amblyopia in children up to the age of six years leads to better vision outcomes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Ten bibliographic databases were searched for randomised controlled trials, non-randomised controlled trials and cohort studies with no limitations to a specific year of publication and language. The searches were supplemented by handsearching the bibliographies of included studies and reviews to identify articles not captured through our main search strategy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Five studies met the inclusion criteria. Of these, three studies suggested that screening is associated with an absolute reduction in the prevalence of amblyopia between 0.9% and 1.6% (relative reduction: between 45% and 62%). However, the studies showed weaknesses, limiting the validity and reliability of their findings. The main limitation was that studies with significant results considered only a proportion of the originally recruited children in their analysis. On the other hand, retrospective sample size calculation indicated that the power based on the cohort size was not sufficient to detect small changes between the groups. Outcome parameters such as quality of life or adverse effects of screening have not been adequately investigated in the literature currently available.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Population based preschool vision screening programmes cannot be sufficiently assessed by the literature currently available. However, it is most likely that the present systematic review contains the most detailed description of the main limitations in current available literature evaluating these programmes. Therefore, future research work should be guided by the findings of this publication.</p
Averages of b-hadron, c-hadron, and tau-lepton properties as of 2018 Heavy Flavor Averaging Group (HFLAV)
This paper reports world averages of measurements of b-hadron, c-hadron, and
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-lepton properties obtained by the Heavy Flavour Averaging Group using results available through September 2018. In rare cases, significant results obtained several months later are also used. For the averaging, common input parameters used in the various analyses are adjusted (rescaled) to common values, and known correlations are taken into account. The averages include branching fractions, lifetimes, neutral meson mixing parameters,
C
P
violation parameters, parameters of semileptonic decays, and CabibboâKobayashiâMaskawa matrix elements
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