Differences in students’ understanding of opportunity process matters for their learning!

Despite different views on opportunities and opportunities identification, there seems to be consensus about the significant role of opportunities in the entrepreneurship process and for the success of the entrepreneur (Shane & Venkataraman 2000, Eckhardt & Shane 2003, Gaglio & Katz 2001). However, even though opportunities, depending on the purpose and contributor, are regarded as a core element, process or competence in entrepreneurship, it is only recently that the question of how to teach or learn these opportunity-related competences has started to attract scholars (Saks & Gaglio 2002, Corbett 2005, Lumpkin & Lichtenstein 2005). The problem is that how the nature and process of opportunities are understood has an effect on learning and teaching practices. We argue that the differences in understanding what opportunities are have effect on how to learn and teach opportunity competences. The starting point though should be the knowledge about how students understand what opportunities are and how they want to enhance their competences related to the opportunity process. Consequently, the aim of our research is to understand how students understand opportunity process. First, we identify different theoretical approaches to the opportunity process from the learning perspective. Then, we investigate (basing on 16 writings), how students understand what opportunities are in the venture creation process with respect to these different approaches and, finally, we elaborate what this means for learning and teaching practices. On the basis of the theories of Cantillon (1931), Mises (1949) and Kirzner (1963) regarding human beings as central to entrepreneurship, our study identifies three approaches through which the opportunity process could take place: search, discovery, action. Empirical analysis validates proposed division. We conclude that courses aimed at opportunity enhancement should be designed in a way that students increase their awareness of the different nature of an opportunity and its process, as well as the varying nature of human involvement in opportunity processes. Entrepreneurship education should not be to look for uniform methods and teaching tools, but to try to combine them in order to enable all students to learn and increase their competences

Opportunities in the process of becoming an entrepreneur

The role of opportunities in becoming an entrepreneur is undeniable. Gaglio and Katz (2001) argue that understanding the opportunity identification is one of the core intellectual challenges for the entrepreneurship. However, despite an extensive research on opportunity, the question what opportunities are and how to identify, develop and exploit them has no explicit answer. On the contrary, there are diverse concepts gathered around opportunities. Some authors argue that opportunities ‘exist out there’ in the form of unmet needs, unsolved problems, or inefficient processes and it is the job of the entrepreneur to uncover these opportunities (Aldrich and Cliff, 2003; Kim, Aldrich and Keister, 2003; Shane, 2003). Other approach posits that opportunities are a product of one’s mind (Shane and Venkataraman 2000; Ardichvili et al.2003; Gartner et al. 2003), thus, the opportunity does not exist prior to the point in time in which they apply their individual creativity and take individual action. To follow complex and diverse opportunity process descriptive character of opportunities identification might be already moved towards questioning their dynamics and contingency (Gaglio 2004). However, the study of process perspective is hard to proceed in context of opportunities. One of the solutions to reconstruct opportunity process is to apply backward viewpoint at opportunities. As Dimov (2011) suggests the examination of individuals who talk about their past ventures allows applying retrospective perspective that seems to be particularly valid in researching opportunity concept. Retrospective enables to uncover complex histories behind individuals and their ways of putting ideas into life. Consequently, the aim of our research is to better understand how entrepreneurs experience opportunity process by studying their different venture creation processes. We aspire to follow how opportunities evolve in the process of becoming entrepreneur, recognize different phases of that process and uncover the relations between those phases. First, we identify three different approaches to the opportunity and opportunity process drawn from previous research. Then, by adopting multiple longitudinal case study approach and documentary videography as a method, we try to catch retrospective perspective to opportunity process. We take four diverse videos obtained by using editing method and investigate how entrepreneurs understand what opportunities are in their processes of becoming entrepreneurs and how they have proceeded in their opportunity process. We follow their “specific paths in terms of a sequence of events or concrete experiences” (Dimov 2011). Finally, by implementing pattern matching logic we compare their opportunity processes to the different approaches provided by us

‘Other’ Posts in ‘Other’ Places: Poland through a Postcolonial Lens?

Postcolonial theory has tended to focus on those spaces where European colonialism has had a territorial and political history. This is unsurprising, as much of the world is in this sense ‘postcolonial’. But not all of it. This article focuses on Poland, often theorised as peripheral to ‘old Europe’, and explores the application of postcolonial analyses to this ‘other’ place. The article draws upon reflections arising from a study of responses to ethnic diversity in Warsaw, Poland. In doing so we conclude that postcolonialism does indeed offer some important insights into understanding Polish attitudes to other nationalities, and yet more work also needs to be done to make the theoretical bridge. In the case of Poland we propose the ‘triple relation’ be the starting point for such work

Chemistry for nanotechnology

In recent years, the processing order during the synthesis of new chemical compounds has been redefined. Until now a chemist considered primarily receiving a new compound and only then searched for its potential application. The new philosophy of proceedings forces chemists to answer the question: what physical and chemical properties a new chemical compound must have, and what should be structured. After that it has to be planned how to get the compound including the defined budget. The compounds obtained by conventional chemical synthesis are then used to create new functional materials having the properties as scheduled. The paper presents the way of the proceedings from a molecular receptor to a new nanomaterial containing this receptor, so in other words from individual molecules to new material with specific and previously planned properties

Variable-Thermoinsulation Garments With a Microprocessor Temperature Controller

This paper presents the concept of active variable thermoinsulation clothing for users working in low temperatures. Those garments contain heating inserts regulated by a microprocessor temperature controller. This paper also presents the results of tests carried out on the newly designed garments

Hybrid inorganic-organic molecular scavengers – synthesis, properties and applications

Hybrydowe nieorganiczno-organiczne zmiatacze molekularne zbudowane są z nierozpuszczalnego, nieorganicznego lub polimerowego nośnika, na którym, za pomocą łącznika, osadzono reaktywne grupy funkcyjne zdolne do wiązania analitów. W pracy przedstawiono sposób wytwarzania hybrydowych układów na nośnikach nieorganicznych, właściwości otrzymanych układów oraz zastosowanie tego typu układów w ochronie środowiska, chemii analitycznej oraz kontrolowanym transporcie leków.Hybrid inorganic-organic molecular scavengers are composed of insoluble inorganic or polymeric carrier, on which functional reactive groups, capable of binding to analyte, are deposited through a linker. The article presents the methods for the synthesis of hybrid systems based on inorganic carriers as well as their application in environmental protection, analytical chemistry and controlled drug delivery

Remediation of heavy metals from soil using quartz sand functionalized with organic amino silanes

The results of the research studies concerning the binding of heavy metals (HMs) by quartz sand functionalized with amino silanes have been described. The studies have been carried out on soils sampled from the areas affected by emissions from Copper Smelter and Refinery. The research aims to increase the food safety in the areas of industrial impact. The presence of polyamine chain in the hybrid materials obtained enables a binding of heavy metals (nickel, copper, cobalt). The best results are observed for the hybrid material having four amine groups (four coordination centers) per molecule. For this material the highest content after two extraction cycles (pH 7.0 and 5.0) is observed for copper (98.2%), but for other ions (nickel, cobalt) it is at least 85% of the initial amount of components available for plants