Chronicle Of The Neville Wadia Institute Of Management Studies And Research ISSN 2230-9667

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Role of Management Institutes in Enhancing Innovative Practices in Entrepreneurship Development

Prof. Vilas K. Chaudhari,

Dr. Prof. Kshama SinghM.J.S. Mandal’s

Institute of Management Social Sciences & Research (I.M.S.S.R.)1165, Sadashiv Peth, Near Sahitya Parishad, Tilak Road, Pune – 411 030

Abstract:

Entrepreneurship is a difficult undertaking, as a vast majority of new businesses fail. According to Peter F. Drucker, “Most of what you hear about entrepreneurship is all wrong. It’s not magic; it’s not mysterious; and it has nothing to do with genes. It’s a discipline and, like any discipline, it can be learned.” Entrepreneurship and education are two such extraordinary opportunities that need to be leveraged and interconnected if we are to develop the human capital required for building the societies of the future. Entrepreneurship is the engine fuelling innovation, employment generation and economic growth. Every year plenty of students are coming out of the campus with a pre-determined mindset of joining the corporate world and very few of them are thinking about their own enterprise due to lack of practical knowledge of the subject along with analytical skill, confidence. Students are also not having knowledge how to get the finance for establishing their own enterprise, which is really a major drawback of our management education system. It is the responsibility of Management Institutes to power the education in such a way, so that it will help in developing the skills among the students which generate an entrepreneurial mindset and prepare future leaders for solving more complex, interlinked and fast-changing problems. Knowledge and good practices in entrepreneurship education will cover the lifelong learning process of an individual. Management institutes will play a vital role in developing entrepreneurial skills, attitudes and behaviours among the students. Exposure to entrepreneurship education throughout an individual’s lifelong learning path, starting from youth and continuing through adulthood into higher education – as well as reaching out to those economically or socially excluded – is imperative. There is enormous potential in investing in entrepreneurship education in order to nurture talent and develop the next wave of leaders and innovators who will not only create jobs and value for society, but also empower others to create a better future. The act of entrepreneurship is associated with true uncertainty, particularly when it involves bringing something really novel to the world, whose market never exists. Social entrepreneurs act within a market aiming to create social value through the improvement of goods and services offered to the community. Their main aim is to help offer a better service improving the community as a whole. Entrepreneurship education seeks to provide students with the knowledge, skills and motivation to encourage entrepreneurial success in a variety of settings. What makes entrepreneurship education distinctive is its focus on realization of opportunity, where management education is focused on the best way to operate existing hierarchies. Both approaches

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share an interest in achieving “profit” in some form. Opportunities can be realized in several ways. The most popular one is through opening a new organization. Another approach is to promote innovation or introduce new products or services or markets in existing firms. A recent approach involves creating charitable organizations which are designed to be self-supporting in addition to doing their good works. This is usually called social entrepreneurship. Even a version of public sector entrepreneurship has come into being in governments, with an increased focus on innovation and customer service.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Knowledge, Confidence, innovation, employment generation and economic growth

Introduction:

Entrepreneurship is a process that results in creativity, innovation and growth. Innovative entrepreneurs come in all shapes and forms; the benefits are not limited to startups, innovative ventures or new jobs. Entrepreneurship has never been more important than it is today in this time of financial crisis. At the same time, society faces massive global challenges that extend well beyond the economy. Innova-tion and entrepreneurship provide a way forward for solving the global challenges of the 21st century, building sustainable development, creating jobs, generating renewed economic growth and advancing human welfare. When we speak about entrepreneurship, we are defining it in the broadest terms and in all forms – entrepreneurial people in large companies, in the public sector, in academia and, of course, those who launch and grow new companies. Now more than ever, we need innovation, new solutions, creative approaches and new ways of operating. We are in uncharted territory and need people in all sectors and at all ages who can “think out of the box” to identify and pursue opportunities in new and paradigm changing ways.

Muhammad Yunus, Ex-Managing Director, Grameen Bank, Bangladesh “My greatest challenge has been to change the mindset of people. We see things the way our minds have instructed our eyes to see.” Entrepreneurship education can be a societal change agent, a great enabler in all sectors. Not ev-eryone needs to become an entrepreneur to benefit from entrepreneurship education, but all members of society need to be more entrepreneurial. Entrepreneurship plays a vital role on economic growth. If we are to attain the development goals of reducing poverty of our country, we must develop a human capi-tal in the country and societies, in remote regions as well as major cities, and in all sectors, to address both the opportunities and major challenges we are facing. Entrepreneurship education, in its various forms, can equip people to proactively pursue those opportunities available to them based on their local environments and cultures. We have seen a number of “waves” in entrepreneurship education, starting a century ago, developing in phases and now expanding exponentially. By making entrepreneurship education available to management students and adults alike, we are preparing the next wave of entre-preneurs to enable them to lead and shape our institutions, businesses and local communities.

The time to act is now. There is tremendous movement on the entrepreneurship front in countries around the world. As evidenced by the numerous recent reports and initiatives focused on entrepreneurship ed-ucation, there is also sufficient buy-in for action. While many of the reports point in common directions, most initiatives have been at the local, regional or national level. With the current momentum, now is the time to take these efforts to the next level – to move from words to action as well as to address entre-preneurship education in a comprehensive manner at the global level. Existing knowledge and practices in entrepreneurship education will facilitate sharing and scaling as well as to enable the development

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of innovative new tools, approaches and delivery methods. It provides a landscape of entrepreneurship education practices across management students, higher education and social inclusion, providing not only examples but also recommendations across these segments for various stakeholders. Management institutes’ goals is to raise the awareness about the importance of entrepreneurship education for de-veloping the skills to solve global challenges, increase understanding about current approaches, build acceptance of entrepreneurship’s rightful role in education and provide a platform for action to take the necessary next steps for mainstreaming entrepreneurship in education.

Entrepreneurship is a global phenomenon. The future, to an even greater degree than the past, will be driven by innovation and entrepreneurship. It’s time for management institutions to move adequately for developing entrepreneurial skills, attitudes and behaviours in our management students as a part of a lifelong learning process. Entrepreneurship is to include the pursuit of opportunities, whether they in-volve start-ups, spin-outs, entrepreneurial activities in larger organizations (private or public), or social ventures. Entrepreneurship education has been considered as a lifelong learning process of an indi-vidual starting from youth, continuing into higher education and including informal education systems that reach out to those socially excluded. Entrepreneurship education is needed to build entrepreneurial human capital for the society of the future. We need to encourage a more entrepreneurial culture and develop the necessary skills, attitudes and behaviours to prepare young people and others to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities.

Objectives:

The convergence of globalization, technological innovations, knowledge-based economies and demo-graphic trends has led to an increased focus on the effects and importance of entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship education is critical for developing entrepreneurial skills, attitudes and behaviours that are the basis for economic growth. Access and exposure to entrepreneurship within educational systems at all levels are important as they are the outreach to target audiences outside of traditional educational systems.

In both respects, the role that technology can play in delivering entrepreneurship education is essential. Entrepreneurship Education Initiative aims to:

Highlight and raise awareness of the importance of entrepreneurship education in spurring eco-1. nomic growth and achieving the desired goalsConsolidate existing knowledge and good practices in entrepreneurship education for the devel-2. opment of innovative new tools, approaches and delivery methodsProvide recommendations to governments, academia, the private sector and other actors on the 3. development and delivery of effective education programmes for entrepreneurship

Launch a process in which the recommendations can be discussed on the global, regional, na-4. tional and local levels and implemented with the involvement of key stakeholdersThe role of management and business education in creating content for managers and leaders.5. Training for self-employment and new ventures in order to cope with large-scale unemployment 6. and underemployment in our country.Personal development for creating a more democratic society through leadership development, 7. practical skills and community building.

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Developing entrepreneurial drive among students (raising awareness and motivation); 8. Developing the entrepreneurial ability to identify and exploit opportunities; 9. Training students in the skills they need to set up a business and manage its growth10.

Existing Practices in Management Institutes about entrepreneurship:

The curriculum for most successful youth entrepreneurship programmes includes many or all of the activities below, typically with clear learning objectives tied to textbook themes, usually with pre- and post-reflective sessions and evaluations, and frequently taking place outside the classroom:

Focus on Fundamentals•Integrate Entrepreneurship Education into Mainstream Curricula•Mentor – Mentee concept.•Simulations and games.•Interactive teamwork and group activities.•Direct, action-oriented market research (students recognize market opportunities by observing •and interviewing potential customers, identifying needs in their own communities).Student buying and selling events, using real money.•Field trips to local businesses, especially entrepreneurial ventures.•Entrepreneurs or venture funders as guest speakers in class.•Business plan and other competitions, with business people as judges.•Student’s club house activities and drawing exercises.•

Entrepreneurship education rewards the diversity of approaches that emerge from individuals working to meet the needs of others.

Entrepreneurship Education for Management Students:

Management students become entrepreneurs for the same reasons that adults do, sometimes out of ne-cessity and sometimes to capitalize on an opportunity. According to John T. Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco, “We are facing a transition, and we must take this opportunity to provide today’s students and entrepreneurs with the tools and the thinking that is required for the future. Col-laborative technologies can fundamentally transform both how we teach and learn. We need to harness the power of the Internet and these new technologies for creating and sharing knowledge that will prepare students with the skills to compete in the 21st century.” The advent of the digital age has helped reduce barriers to entry for students both because each successive generation grows up more digitally savvy than its predecessors, and because geographic barriers to business have been es-sentially eliminated.

Student entrepreneurship is not essentially different from entrepreneurship among adults. It involves engaging in socially useful wealth creation through application of innovative thinking and execution to meet the needs, using one’s own labour, time, and ideas. The only difference is in the age of the entrepre-neur. What differs between student and adult entrepreneurship – given the inherently different levels of intellectual and behavioural maturity – is how entrepreneurship is taught and how it is learned. Outlined below are some of the key areas in terms of what, how, where and who to teach entrepreneurship, to

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maximize the learning of the participants

What Management Institutes can do?Enhance entrepreneurial behaviours and mindsets of their students• .Build self confidence, self efficacy and leadership quality among students.•Make students creativity, innovative and train them for thinking “out of box”.•Teach students how to managing complexity and unpredictability.•Basic business and financial skills: “business literacy”.•Opportunity identification.•How to build, finance and grow ventures?•Developing negotiation skills.•How to build relationships and develop networks?•

How the Management Institutes can do this?Change in pedagogies such as creating Interactive learning centres in their institute• .Launching of Multi-disciplinary Programs and Projects, Case studies, Management Games, •Simulations, Business plan competitions etc.Providing platform to students for learning by doing hands-on.•Starting of Experiential learning labs. •Mentoring and coaching their students for motivating towards entrepreneurship.•Starting regular interactive sessions between students and entrepreneurs.•

In Management Institute who can do this.Professors and Administrators.•Business people and leaders.•Entrepreneurs.•Mentors, Coaches and Advisors.•

Where Management Institute can do this?Starting formal systems (i.e. Primary, Secondary, Tertiary)•

At all levels- Across all disciplines- Compulsory and elective courses-

In informal systems allowing management students for associating with - •Community centers, NGO’s, Government Agencies, Banks, Industries etc.- Workplace-based training programs.- Lifelong learning-

Management institutions’ needs to work with institutions like DIC, Banks, Industries and other stake-holders of government, public and private sectors to restructure the educational system for promoting entrepreneurship programs. Entrepreneurship thrives in ecosystems in which multiple stakeholders play key roles. Academic institutions are central in shaping their student’s attitudes, skills and behaviours. However, actors outside of the education systems play an increasingly critical role in working with formal and informal educational programmes as well as reaching out to underserved and socially ex-

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cluded targets groups. This requires collaboration and multi stakeholder partnerships. Entrepreneurship education requires close cooperation between academia and business. Past barriers to academic col-laboration with business need to be broken down and outreach both encouraged and supported. Case studies, companies and entrepreneurs play instrumental roles in promoting entrepreneurial education by providing knowledge, expertise, mentoring, social capital and financial support. In addition, businesses with an entrepreneurial culture contribute directly to the entrepreneurial education process by providing employees with the opportunity to cultivate entrepreneurial skills and aptitudes at work. Management institutions have a critical role as intellectual hubs in entrepreneurial ecosystems by serving as incuba-tors for innovation and research, and focal points for collaboration among researchers, students, pro-fessors, companies and entrepreneurs. Foundations, NGOs and other organizations can play important facilitation or intermediary roles, often helping to link various stakeholders.

Recommendations:

Peter Drucker said it best decades ago: “What we need is an entrepreneurial society in which inno-vation and entrepreneurship are normal, steady, and continual” (Drucker, 2001).

To achieve this society, senior policy-makers, supported by leading entrepreneurs and senior corporate officers, need to:

Require entrepreneurship education (“ownership literacy”) in management institutes, or, at the •very least, make entrepreneurship education available as an option for all students.Fund entrepreneurship educations sufficiently.•Revamp uptake and training of new teachers to include entrepreneurship education and to ensure •that the pedagogy is experiential, action- and project-based, focused on problem-solving with practical application, and centered on the concepts of ownership and individual responsibility.Encourage educational institutions to partner with business and law schools as well as other •stakeholders from the public and private sector, on entrepreneurship education.Mandate certification of teachers in entrepreneurship education.•Encourage formal, direct links between teachers and entrepreneurs, and between management •institutes and companies, so that the theory and practice are intertwined.Encourage and fund research on and evaluation of youth entrepreneurship education. •

Conclusions:

Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial skills are core components to building socially inclusive and high-ly participatory economies in an increasingly global and competitive world. While this paper highlights and raises awareness of the importance of entrepreneurship education in spurring economic growth and achieving the development goals, it also urges action. The paper consolidates existing knowledge and good practices in entrepreneurship education around the world to enable the sharing and develop-ment of innovative new tools, approaches and delivery methods. It also provides recommendations to governments, academia and the private sector on the development and delivery of effective education programmes for entrepreneurship. This is only the beginning – the launch of a process in which the rec-ommendations can be discussed on the global, regional, national and local levels and implemented with the involvement of key stakeholders. Innovation and economic growth depend on being able to produce future leaders with the skills and attitudes to be entrepreneurial in their professional lives, whether by creating their own companies or innovating in larger organizations. Entrepreneurship education is the

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first and arguably the most important step for embedding an innovative culture and preparing the new wave of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial individuals and organizations. The entrepreneurial movement is well underway. There is a high and growing level of interest in entrepreneurship from students, faculty, university administrators, employers and policy-makers, as well as an increasing number of initiatives throughout our country. This moment is right for a significant evolution of entrepreneurship education. We cannot determine today the exact nature of the next wave of entrepreneurship; however, we do know that it will require more creative, innovative and entrepreneurial attitudes, skills and behaviours. This paper is meant to be a catalyst and call for an action on entrepreneurship education. We need to learn from models around the world and focus on integrating the most relevant and high quality practices into the context relevant for each country and region. This should be a long-term commitment, however, not one that starts and then stops a few years later. Sustainability is a key issue. That means the objectives of entrepreneurship education should be clear from the start and outcomes should be measured to ensure that the intended results are being delivered.

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M. Dileep Kumar and Jain Vishal (2010), Survival skills of business management graduates: A study with reference to Retail and Banking.

Paul Seidel, New business model for corporate training at community colleges.

Rao, M.S. (2010), Overcoming challenges in management education, criteria : URL: http//www.timesascent.in

Sharma Vishakha (2011), Managing a career.