Why leadership matters for micro and small firms in the East Midlands?

This report was produced with data and assistance from East Midlands Chamber of Commerce and is being made available to business organisations in the East Midlands.This report highlights the importance of micro- and small firms in the East Midlands economy and the role of leadership in their development. It explores the adverse and rapidly changing conditions, and explains why business leadership, resilience and competitiveness are vitally important in addressing them. The strengths and vulnerabilities of the micro and small firm sectors in the East Midlands economy are summarised, including concerns over productivity levels and their effects on smaller firm competitiveness. Local Enterprise Partnership strategies for productivity improvement in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire are summarised. It highlights the lack of a single voice for business leadership in the region, and introduces the 'Leading for Growth' pilot programme led by the Small Business Charter with three regional universities

Universities and enterprise education: responding to the challenges of the new era

Purpose The article suggests that the international financial and economic crisis in 2008 produced a new economic era with significant implications for enterprise and entrepreneurship education. It explores: 1. The changing influences on entrepreneurship education and learning; 2. What is the new era in entrepreneurship? The consequences of changing economic, social and cultural movements; 3. How entrepreneurship education and learning can respond to these challenges. Approach The research approach is informed by practitioner-based educational enquiry, reflective practice and research, education and participation with groups of universities, educators, students, entrepreneurs and other groups during the economic crisis. Findings The article proposes that the nature of entrepreneurship is changing in response to social and cultural movements in the new economic era. Ethical and environmental concerns are creating a discourse of responsible entrepreneurship informed by social entrepreneurship. The article conceptualises this as the shift from an ‘old’ to ‘new’ entrepreneurship. Practical implications Implications for the future development of enterprise and entrepreneurial education are presented, referring to the factors shaping change including the social and economic context; learners; learning and teaching; and institutional change. Originality/value The article presents new thinking on the future challenges and directions for entrepreneurship and related education in the context of fundamental economic change

Entrepreneurial learning: a narrative-based conceptual model

Purpose – Entrepreneurial learning is an important area of enquiry which is not well understood in either the academic study of entrepreneurship or the practical development of new entrepreneurs. The article aims to explore two questions: first, how do people learn to work in entrepreneurial ways – are there significant processes and experiences in their learning, which can be related to existing learning theories? Second, can a useful framework to understand entrepreneurial learning be developed and applied both in entrepreneurial practice and conceptually by educators? Design/methodology/approach – The article includes a brief critical review of the theoretical literature in the areas of entrepreneurship and learning. Thematic discourse analysis is used to interpret the life story narratives of three entrepreneurs in the creative industries. Material from their learning experiences is used to support the development of a conceptual model. This demonstrates connections between the emergence of entrepreneurial identity, learning as a social process, opportunity recognition, and venture formation as a negotiated activity. Findings – The principal finding is to propose a conceptual framework of entrepreneurial learning as a triadic model, including major themes of personal and social emergence, contextual learning, the negotiated enterprise, and a group of 11 related sub-themes. Practical implications – Applications of the model in entrepreneurship education, work-based learning and practice, are proposed, within and beyond the context of the creative media industry. Originality/value – The paper develops an original and distinctive conceptual understanding of entrepreneurial learning through analysis of entrepreneurs’ experiences, based on a social learning and constructionist perspective

Developing the NACUE Student Enterprise Framework

This document sets out a review of policy and evaluation studies related to the student enterprise offer provided by universities. The review has been undertaken by the University of Lincoln as part of a broader project to develop a Student Enterprise Framework for the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE)

Lincolnshire economic strategy 2008-2012

An economic strategy for Lincolnshire, developed on behalf of Lincolnshire Enterprise and Lincolnshire Assembl

SME perceptions of and responses to the recession

The UK has recently experienced the worst recession since the 1930s. Despite the severity of this recent recession, there are currently few studies of its effect on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, small business growth and entrepreneurship are recognised as essential drivers for economic recovery (Matlay, 2012; Rae, 2010). Drawing on an online bi-monthly survey of SMEs in Lincolnshire and Rutland, this paper explores owner managers’ perceptions of the UK recession. We examine the views of businesses on various aspects of the recession, and how this has affected business performance, levels of confidence, and growth ambitions. The paper explores the role of business confidence in the economy as a determinant of business growth intentions, and draws a comparison between perceptions and behaviour

International entrepreneurship education: postgraduate business students experiences of entrepreneurship education

Objectives The study aims to enhance understanding of the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in meeting the expectations and motivations of international postgraduate students participating in UK business & management education. Specifically, it explores within sample groups of learners: RQ1. What is the typical profile of the international students’ prior education and work experience? RQ2. What do students expect from studying an entrepreneurship PG course in the UK? RQ3. What are their experiences of, and learning outcomes from, the entrepreneurship course? RQ4. What benefits regarding their skills and knowledge do they perceive result from participation? Prior Work International Postgraduate education has grown substantially in the last decade (UUK, 2010). There has been significant growth in international postgraduate student participation in UK business related subjects, involving both MBA and other Masters’ programmes such as MSc in Management and a range of specialist awards, which increasingly offer Entrepreneurship as a core or option. Prior research focuses on transnational comparisons between France, Germany and Poland (Packham et al, 2010) USA, Spain and China (Pruett et al, 2009) Africa and Europe (Davey et al, 2011) China (Millman et al, 2010) and Poland (Jones, et al, 2011) with relatively little research specifically addressing entrepreneurship for international students on postgraduate courses in the UK (Hall and Sung, 2009, Liu, 2010). Approach This article originates in the authors’ experiences in running postgraduate entrepreneurship modules for international students in UK Business Schools. They found that students often experienced concerns about a ‘mismatch’ between their expectations of UK business and management education and their actual experiences, with experiences of cultural tensions between prior learning experiences and their acculturation to the requirements and norms of UK business education. The study is a microcosm of a wider issue as these concerns are shared more generally by international Postgraduate students. Results The results confirmed that career development was a major motivator for international study in the UK. Interest in entrepreneurship is increasing but there are tensions between the expectations of the postgraduate experience and the experienced reality. Entrepreneurship was in some cases seen as a distinctive ‘peak experience’, but cultural factors, learning effectiveness and linguistic capability need to be addressed in designing learning programmes. Implications The study contributes new evidence and ideas to the debate on entrepreneurship education in meeting the career expectations and motivations of international postgraduate students participating in entrepreneurship education, especially in the light of new curricular guidance (QAA, 2012) and UK government regulation. Value It offers suggestions for educators on the effective design and delivery of entrepreneurship for international students in the rapidly changing and competitive postgraduate market

Agricultural Policy Reform and Industry Adjustment in Australia and New Zealand

Some sectors of Australian and New Zealand farming have been heavily assisted in the past. New Zealand underwent an economy-wide deregulation in the mid-to-late 980s that included abrupt removal of practically all agricultural assistance. Policy reform in Australia has been more gradual and is industry focused, but in some cases substantial industry assistance has been withdrawn. Deregulation of the Australian dairy industry, and that of the sheep and beef sector in New Zealand, are discussed as case studies of these deregulations. Conclusions are drawn from these experiences, a major one being that previously-assisted farmers can successfully make the transition to market-driven agriculture.agricultural adjustment, policy reform, Australia, New Zealand, Agricultural and Food Policy,

Unsteady stagnation-point heat transfer during passage of a concentrated vortex

The unsteady boundary layer due to a single rectilinear vortex filament approaching a 2-D stagnation point is investigated. Assuming the vortex remains far from the surface, incompressible potential flow theory is used to determine the time dependent inviscid flow field. The unsteady boundary layer equations are solved by an alternating-direction-implicit finite-difference method. Two mechanisms which cause fluctuations in heat transfer are the unsteady velocity field in the boundary layer and secondly, the unsteady total temperature at the edge of the boundary layer. The relative importance of these mechanisms is dependent upon the total temperature fluctuations relative to the imposed temperature difference. As a vortex approaches a stagnation point it may be forced to one side of the stagnation line or the other, depending on its initial position. Results are presented for both of these cases

Introduction

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