InterICSB

It is my great pleasure, as editor, to launch The Second Inter-ICSB online publication, which has been an excellent way of networking distinguished professors with distinguished researchers by the International Council for Small Business. In this editorial, I present the Inter-ICSB 2008-2009 process as well as try to give suggestions for the next round of activities.

The idea behind Inter-conference activity was to improve the quality of selected conference papers to Journal articles through peer review. Additional aim is to increase international co-operation and networking of ICSB members between conferences. The process tries to encourage especially younger researcher into publishing their research in quality Journals. Additionally, we want to develop the skills of younger researchers in peer review activities, to give and receive positive feedback on their individual work. A networking of researchers in practice.

The First Inter-ICSB online publication was launched at the ICSB 2008 World Conference in Halifax, Canada. For the Second Inter-ICSB we selected the theme of the Inter-ICSB 2009-2009 to be “Entrepreneurship Education,” for there were a large number of papers presented in Halifax. A total of 16 quality papers were selected for the process. A few researchers had, already at this stage, a clear plan to approach certain Journal and, therefore, did not want to participate in the Inter-ICSB activities. A few decided to drop out for other reasons during the process.

In the Inter-ICSB, each paper was reviewed twice by other Inter-ICSB participants. It was a blind review for the fact that the author(s) did not know who evaluated his/her/their paper. Participants knew, however, the author(s) of the paper they were reviewing. After the first round of reviews the author(s) had time to develop the paper according to the review. The same applied after the second round of evaluation. The final versions were then submitted to the editor.

During the process Journal editors were approached in order to ask for their opinion on each paper in the process. A total of 2 “positive drop-outs” took place during the process. These papers are in the Journal review process to be published at a later stage. All the papers received very positive feedback from Journal editors. Therefore, we suggest that the authors of this ICSB online publication develop their papers further and approach Journals that are suitable for each particular paper to be published. At the end of the process a total of 8 papers accepted to participate in this Inter-ICSB online publication.

I present here the schedule of the Inter-ICSB process:

Paper selection and participation announcements (June-August 2008>
First round of evaluation <September 2008>
Paper development <November-December 2008>
Second round of evaluation <January-February 2009>
Finalizing the paper and submitting it <March-May 2009>
Formatting the papers, foreword & editorial comments <June 2009>
Launching the second Inter-ICSB publication in ICSB World Conference in Seoul, Republic of Korea and publishing the ICSB online publication <July-August 2009)

I learned a lot during the process. An early start is a must. By this I mean that everybody has busy schedules and other research engagements. Therefore, I tried to start the journey as early as possible. The process requires a lot of effort and energy from the editor. Therefore, be warned if you are the next one! The editor(s) should try to keep the dead-lines for reviews/developed papers might come in late. An active role towards the participants is needed in order to keep the process alive and in schedule. A standard evaluation forms was used for the process to assist the reviewers/authors. Contacting Journal editors should be done as early as possible for they are very busy people. And finally, the selection of the most suitable reviewers for each individual papers requires some “Sherlock Holmes acts” as well for the papers, seemingly covering similar topic (“Entrepreneurship education”), they vary in their disciplines, methodology, and geography.

During the process I was contacted with very sad information. One of the participants, Professor Dr. Christian Lendner passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in April 15, 2009. On behalf of the ICSB, I want to express my sincerest condolences to the people close to Christian. The ICSB lost a distinguished colleague.

Finally, I would like to thank the participants fully for taking part of this exciting journey, which ends by this publication. You participants worked very hard to develop your individual paper but also helped your colleagues to improve their papers. And by doing so you made my life so much easier. Therefore, thank you again for participating the Inter-ICSB process and I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. And we hope that you made some valuable links in the process as a side effect. Additionally, I would like to thank the International Office of the ICSB for excellent editing and publishing work.

On behalf of the Inter-ICSB 2008-2009, June 24, 2009 in Seoul, Republic of Korea,

Prof. Pasi Malinen, D.Sc. (Econ. & Bus. Admn.)
Director-at-Large, International Council for Small Business (ICSB)
Turku School of Economics, Finland

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Inter ICSB 2009 Abstracts

Developing and Evaluating Entrepreneurship Curricula: Lessons from a Start-up Simulation Pilot
by Silke Tegtmeier, Reinhard Schulte

This paper focuses on developing and testing an adequate technique for evaluating
classroom entrepreneurship. Theory-based pre- and post-questionnaires have been
developed and applied in a pilot start-up simulation (n=17). The simulation is an interactive, action-learning concept that focuses on planning a venture creation. Students work independently and make quasi-authentic experiences. Particularly, the evaluation refers to the impact on students’ entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions based on two common behavioural models: Ajzen’s “Theory of Planned Behavior” and the similar “Model of the Entrepreneurial Event”. This was accompanied by individual expectations and overall evaluations. The results of the pilot simulation show that the questionnaires are fruitful instruments for evaluating start-up simulations. The simulation helps to enhance a more realistic view of entrepreneurship and might motivate students to think in an entrepreneurial manner. Overall, the results of this evaluation show that the simulation sensitizes the participants and makes them aware of the complexity of a start-up.

Effects of Mandatory and Voluntary Simulation Game Seminars on Entrepreneurs’ and Students’ Learning
by Christian Lendner and Jutta Huebscher

We suggest entrepreneurship simulation seminars as a viable method to teach complex
business interrelationships to entrepreneurs as well as students with different motivations of participation. We check the learning effects the simulation game seminar can bring about by analyzing a unique data set of 2,161 participants of 108 simulation game seminars collected in Germany. In doing this, we do not only look at the knowledge content common in entrepreneurship education, but we test for specific learning effects that should be achieved especially by simulation games as constructivist teaching method. Analysis of variance shows that the experienced learning effects are held to be professionally useful by the participants, even by those taking part mandatorily.

From Science to Business - Business Development Laboratory as a Developer of Science-Based New Ventures
by Vesa Hautala, Pasi Malinen, Markus Orava, Jussi Puhakainen

Innovations have been seen as the key factor for the EU economies to survive in international competition (see Lisbon agreement etc.). Consequently, there are many programmes and policies encouraging universities in participating in international, national and regional innovation systems. There are currently various schemes, programmes, assisting organisations and guidance services for new venture creation in Finland and in the Turku region. However, the Finnish paradox in innovation is, that while the country has actively invested in R&D&T, the output has been very modest (a few science-based companies, entrepreneurship scores low among educated Finns). Consequently, according to our recent study on industry-academia collaboration (Malinen et al. 2005) there are problems in the Finnish innovation system. The paper concentrates on two of the problems; there are too few new ideas and innovations coming from the university sector to the innovation pipeline and; firstly, growth and internationalisation of new innovations have been very moderate due to a limited number of potential innovations in the first place and, secondly, due to the limited understanding and capabilities for commercialising new ventures. In this context, the paper presents a case study of a recently founded Business Development Laboratory activity as a vehicle and promoter of increased flow of new sciencebased ventures into the innovation system. Business Development Laboratory integrates entrepreneurship teaching into hands-on training and development activities of sciencebased inventions/discoveries. In practise, business school students together with law school students, staff and needed external mentors assist the researcher(s) with science-based invention (IPR holder) in developing a business plan and the future business operations of the potential new venture. The outcome of this 4-month-exercise is usually a new start-up that continues its development in incubation or acceleration activities organised by the Turku Science Park. We use Business Development Laboratory as a case to illustrate how recent research findings in science-based businesses can be put in practise through entrepreneurship education. We acknowledge the fact that this is not the only solution to the limited number of new innovative companies but an excellent example of entrepreneurship teaching (action learning) and new science-based business assistance programme for researchers without much business education or background. The paper also offers suggestions for other organisations assisting science-based businesses. This is the practical contribution of the paper.

Innovation Projects of SMEs as Vehicles for Capability Building of University Students
by Helena Forsman

This paper provides an insight into integrating SMEs’ innovation projects to serve as
learning challenges for university students. The aim of the paper is to examine the impact of SME-student collaboration on the innovation outcome of SMEs. Additionally, it explores the ways in which involvement in innovation projects of SMEs affects the innovation capabilities of students. The evidence demonstrates that student teams can provide a valuable contribution to SMEs in the front-end phase of the innovation process. The findings suggest that the learning experience along with the innovation process can be used as a vehicle for developing innovation capabilities. A process based on analysis and planning appears to create capabilities for acquisition and assimilation of knowledge, resulting in incremental inventions. Instead, a process that includes also discovery and imagination seems to result in inventions more radical in nature leading to a development challenge that demands capability building for transformation and exploitation of knowledge. The evidence outlines a virtuous process: The degree of richness of the learning process seems to affect the quality of developed capabilities, while the quality of the developed capabilities appears to affect the innovation outcome. On the contrary, the targeted innovation outcome affects the needed capabilities and directs the learning.

Realizing Entrepreneurship Education Through Curriculum Reform – Dilemmas and Prospects for the Future
by Jaana Seikkula-Leino

This article aims at presenting how entrepreneurship education has been realized
through curriculum reform in Finnish comprehensive school. Moreover, there is an aim to
analyze, though the study of realization, how dilemmas are involved in this process. (see also Seikkula-Leino 2006; 2007.) In order to study the realization process the research questions were: 1) What is the feeling of responsibility for implementing entrepreneurship education? 2) What kind of knowledge is there about entrepreneurship education? The survey was carried out in two parts (2005 – 2006) in 43 municipalities representing different educational and socioeconomic backgrounds. The questionnaires were sent to the representatives of education and municipalities’ economic life. The results indicate that the atmosphere of responsibility for implementing entrepreneurship education is developing rather well although teachers do not know how to implement entrepreneurship education. Dilemmas of realizing curriculum reform play a central role enhancing the changes of education. In the future we could develop 1) MacDonald’s (2003) partnership curriculum reform from the point of view of teachers’ learning (Shulman and Shulman 2004), 2) the way we take into consideration dilemmas in curriculum reforms, 3) meaningful and designed partnerships, having different partners involved even though they are autonomous and come from outside the educational sector, 4) enterprising culture, especially in the context where we want to develop entrepreneurship education, and 5) local curriculum work which takes into account the various starting points that various municipalities and regions have towards such work with perspective on diversification. The realization of these ideas may promote the development of entrepreneurship education according to the national and international, for example European Union, strategies.

Students as Consultants - Adding Value to the Small and Medium Enterprise
by Jacqueline Brodie, Tony Douglas and Susan Laing

The purpose of this paper is to document and critically examine an innovative
undergraduate student consultancy module taught at the Centre for Entrepreneurship at Napier University, Edinburgh. The paper discusses how this module is delivered to students, the benefits this delivery mode offers students and how the module seeks to ensure value is also added to the Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in which students carry out their projects. Feedback from students and staff are presented in the paper that note the areas of value and implications for best practice in entrepreneurial consultancy teaching are indicated on the basis of this including new product and service development and improved customer satisfaction.

The Coventry University model for Innovation, Entrepreneurship Education, Prosperity and Philanthropy
by Veronica Velo

This paper develops on the attempts that Higher Education Institutions worldwide have
made in order to make their learning and teaching methods more industry-relevant and
closer to employment opportunities either by corporations or Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Universities and Business Schools have received funding and even sometimes developed their own ways at their own cost to enhance their attachments to reality more independently, with varied levels of success. Following a literature review capturing on the most recently published work in the domain of educational models to promote industryrelevant education, we present the example of the work having been performed at Coventry University with comments on the rationale and theoretical background supporting its development.

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InterICSB Online Publication