Global board games project:a cross-border entrepreneurship experiential learning initiative

Entrepreneurship training and development in the context of higher education has grown tremendously over the past four decades. What began as offerings of a handful of courses aimed primarily at business planning and small business management has evolved into over 3.000 higher education institutions around the world offering degree programs and concentrations in entrepreneurship on both undergraduate and graduate levels (Morris, Kuratko and Cornwall, 2013). Universities – particularly in the USA, UK and EU – have invested into developing entrepreneurship curricula but also extra-curricular programs and infrastructure aimed at supporting enterprise development. It is consensus among educators that entrepreneurship can be taught (Kuratko, 2005). Indeed, entrepreneurship education research has become a field in its own right (Fayolle, Gailly and Lassas‐Clerc, 2006; Pittaway and Cope, 2007; Penaluna, Penaluna and Jones, 2012; Fayolle, 2013; Fayolle and Gailly, 2015; Pittaway et al., 2015; Nabi et al., 2017). As literature indicates, entrepreneurship education can have an important impact on a variety of outcomes, including entrepreneurial intentions and behaviours. Intentions are a motivation to engage in certain behaviour that is geared towards venture creation (Gibb, 2008, 2011) as well as recognition and exploitation of opportunities (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000). Moreover, research has also identified the impact of entrepreneurship education on more subjective indicators such as attitudes (Boukamcha, 2015), perceived feasibility (Rauch and Hulsink, 2015), and skills and knowledge (Greene and Saridakis, 2008). Recently, the literature on the best practices in entrepreneurship education has centred on the importance of experiential learning allowing students to create knowledge from their interactions with the environment (Kolb, 1984). The key to effective experiential learning is engaging students individually and socially in a situation that enables them to interact with elements of the entrepreneurial context thus moving them away from text-driven to action-driven learning mode (Morris, Kuratko and Cornwall, 2013). Increasingly, digital technologies have been leveraged to create a learning environment that provides opportunities for experiential learning (Onyema and Daniil, 2017). This chapter provides findings of a study related to the development and implementation of a collaborative, digitally supported simulation project aimed at enhancing entrepreneurial social skills in an international context

A Community of Practice Approach to Teaching International Entrepreneurship

With a dearth of research on international entrepreneurship pedagogy, there is a gap in knowledge on the effectiveness of educational programs, courses, and teaching methods in stimulating and promoting international entrepreneurship practice. To address the gap, this study evaluates an experiential teaching innovation in the area of international entrepreneurship, the Global Board Game project. Designed as a Community of Practice (CoP), the project provides students the opportunity to participate in the construction of their knowledge through interactions with their counterparts in other countries. A qualitative analysis of student essays indicates that the Global Board Game project is effective in helping students achieve learning outcomes, which include defining, recognizing, and evaluating international business opportunities; designing and validating a business model based on such opportunities; and creating a plan for pursuing these opportunities. Additionally, it indicates that participation in the project enhanced students’ attitudes toward entrepreneurship as a career path

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development

Purpose – The aim of this study is to examine the role of learning in the opportunity discovery, opportunity exploitation and local embeddedness of sustainable ventures in an emerging economy. Design/methodology/approach – We use a partially grounded approach to analyze three case of successful sustainable ventures in the Cali Baja gastro industry. Findings – We find that sustainable entrepreneurs possess general knowledge of natural and communal environment along with compassion for the environment. However, it is the acquisition of a specific business-related knowledge that is the trigger for the formation of the first-person opportunity belief (i.e. confidence in the ability to exploit the sustainable business opportunity personally). Our analysis of also reveals several unique learning processes associated with opportunity exploitation and local embeddedness with a special focus on tradeoffs and compromises that are required given the tension between the sometimes conflicting goals of sustainable enterprises. Originality/value – Our study adds to the literature on sustainable entrepreneurship by investigating the complex interplay between personal and contextual factors that unfolds over time as entrepreneurs conceive and then exploit a viable business opportunity that simultaneously addresses environmental and social goals.Journal of Small Business and Enterprise DevelopmentDOI 10.1108/JSBED-03-2020-007

The influence of international networks on internationalization speed and performance: A study of Czech SMEs

Drawing on social capital theory and the international entrepreneurship literature, we develop hypotheses relating the structural, cognitive and relational aspects of the international network of SME CEOs to two internationalization outcomes - speed and performance. The study is based on a sample of 155 Czech SMEs covering a broad range of manufacturing industries. Our findings indicate that firms sharing a common language with their international ties are able to internationalize faster than firms that do not share a common language. Moreover, we observe that geographically diverse networks contribute to superior performance. Extensive reliance on personal contacts hinders the performance of the first international venture.International networks SMEs internationalization Social capital

International new ventures: The cross-border nexus of individuals and opportunities

We draw on entrepreneurship research to present a framework for international new ventures as the cross-border nexus of individuals and opportunities. Opportunities may be associated with cross-border combinations of resources and/or markets and therefore vary along these two dimensions. This framework accounts for the emergence of firms whose very existence stems from opportunities to engage in the cross-border combination of resources and/or markets. This perspective has important implications for whether internationalization follows competitive advantage or vice versa and also helps explain how the identification and exploitation of opportunities to create international new ventures may contribute to economic development.International new ventures Entrepreneurship Opportunity

Covid-19 and the global value chain: immediate dynamics and long-term restructuring in the garment industry

Advancing the literature on global value chains (GVCs), this study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on immediate dynamics and long-term changes shaping the evolution of the garment GVC. We use a partially grounded, longitudinal approach to analyze data on seven cases of Bangladeshi garment manufacturers, supplemented by archival data on the garment industry. Based on our analysis, we theorize that the COVID-19 crisis has led to three types of dynamics (temporal, structural, and spatial) that contribute to GVC restructuring. Consistent with the paradox approach, we document two counter-tensions that influence the GVC in the long term: the push to disintegrate (i.e., permanently restructure) and the pull to integrate (i.e., preserve or strengthen the existing structural routines). We conceptualize the ultimate structure of the GVC as the alignment of a new balance of power and new capabilities of the GVC actors. Implications for theory, practice, and policy are discussed