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

Conformity to Gender Stereotypes Impacting Body-Esteem, Eating, and Exercise Behaviors in Female College Students

Conformity to gender stereotypes and the impacts they may have on body-esteem, eating, and exercise behaviors have always been a very important topic in society because of the mental, physical and emotional problems that could arise. In society today, it is extremely unlikely to go a day without hearing or seeing something about eating healthy, exercising, or performing the correct “role”. With this increased pressure from the media and peers, conforming to the stereotypes in society can impact someone beyond what they may believe possible or even realize. A stereotype is a widely held and oversimplified image or idea of a particular person or thing. It is a preconceived notion that is generally conceptualized to an entire group of individuals or behaviors, which tend to be inaccurate and potentially harmful. The purpose of this study is to examine the link between gender stereotype adherence and body-esteem, eating, and exercise behaviors. Multiple regression analyses are used to examine a sample of 248 female college students. Findings reveal that several female gender stereotypes have effects on bodyesteem,eating and exercise behaviors. Of particular significance was the stereotype that females should strive to be thin

Applications of mathematical programming on four New Zealand horticultural holdings : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Horticultural Science in Massey University

Although fifteen years have passed since the publication of Dorfman's article 1 Dorfman, Robert, "Mathematical or 'Linear' Programming, a Non-Mathematical Exposition," American Economic Review, vol.43,p.797, 1953. describing linear programming in terms readily understood by the most non-mathematical agricultural economist, and fourteen years have lapsed since Heady published an article 2 Heady, Earl o., "Simplified Presentation and Logical Aspects of Linear Programming Technique," Journal of Farm Economics, vol.36, p. 1035, 1954. demonstrating the obvious potential of linear programming in solving a large class of farm management problems, 'real life' applications of programming, particularly those concerned with horticultural management are surprisingly few. 3 For interesting applications of programming to horticultural or part-horticultural holdings, see: Simpson, I.G., Hales, A.W., and Fletcher, A., "Linear Programming and Uncertain Prices in Horticulture," Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol.15, P.617, 1963; Camm, B.M., "Risk in Vegetable Production on a Fen Farm," The Farm economist, vol.10, p.89, 1962-65; Wesney, D. , "A study or the Financial Returns to Process Pea Growers in Hawkes Bay," unpublished M.Agr .Sc. thesis, Massey University Library, 1964; and Tyler, G.J., "An Application of Linear Programming," Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol.13, p.473, 1960. Linear programming has been accepted in the U.S.A. as an extremely useful and versatile tool for both farm management research and advisory work but has not as yet been widely accepted in the United Kingdom, where simpler techniques such as Programme Planning 4 Clarke, G.B. and Simpson, I.G., "A Theoretical Approach to the Profit Maximisation Problems in Farm Management," Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol. 13, p.25o, 1959. For a comparison of the merits of Programme Planning and Linear Programming see Candler, Wilfred and Warren Musgrave, "A Practical Approach to the Profit Maximisation Problems in Farm Management," Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol.14, p.2O8, 1960.are advocated. Official advisory services in New Zealand tend to be based on techniques used in the United Kingdom and hence linear programming has not been given adequate opportunity to demonstrate its usefulness