The notion that starting one’s own business is a substitute for college, or at least that college isn’t consistent with the idea of entrepreneurship, has not been true since our grandparents or great-grandparents’ generation. Yet we hear more about how Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of college than we hear that other very successful entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma and Ariana Huffington actually graduated from one. Just google “successful entrepreneurs who went to college”; you’ll instead get a number of links to entrepreneurs who never finished or never went to one in the first place.

While the legend of the billionaire college dropout entrepreneur makes for a good news story, this is far from the norm. Figure 1 shows percentages, among the adult population and among entrepreneurs, who have completed a post-secondary level of education in 23 countries. As this figure demonstrates, the majority of countries have a much higher proportion of entrepreneurs with a college degree compared to the general population. In fact, more than half exhibit twice the percentage of college educated entrepreneurs as does the general populace. With our entrepreneurial hats on, we can surely say this represents an opportunity. If so many entrepreneurs have gone to college, can we increase their preparation for this endeavor during their studies? In so doing, we can enhance their skills and confidence in ultimately building impactful, long-lasting businesses. (Read more…)

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Digitalization is playing an increasingly important role in the growth of small businesses and is leading to strategic, structural and cultural transformations. For MSMEs which decide to engage internationally, the use of digitalization presents new opportunities to succeed in foreign markets, based on a new international value proposition. Digitalization – as the combination and application of digital technologies within an organization, economy and society – is applicable for many fields and creates opportunities. It is represented in three related phenomena: digital artifacts, digital platforms and digital infrastructures.

For decades globalization was defined through trade in goods and services between countries. While the dynamics of these flows are currently moderate, globalization is not slowing down (Manyika et al., 2016). In contrast, huge data flows are constantly crossing borders and their volume has increased considerably. Consequently, globalization is evolving at the same pace as these exchanges of information and data across foreign markets. Digital infrastructures and platforms are mainly at the origin of these changes. They are creating new virtual market spaces and resizing all the business cross-border economies by reducing costs, shortening transactions and amplifying interactions. Because digital means shaping global user communities, these infrastructures are essential databases for companies and provide real opportunities with innovative ways to reach potential customers.

In terms of international business, MSMEs are now able to digitalize their internationalization process by integrating these technologies into the value chain and managing the massive amount of data. The 21th century globalization evolution is marked by intangible flows of data and information, greater participation by emerging economies and more knowledge-intensive flows. As digital infrastructure becomes equally important, and the role of small enterprises and individuals grows, there are more exchanges of free content and instant global access to information and services (Manyika et al., 2016) (Read more…).

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A Brief Overview on Imaginative Mindset and Ecological Commitment

On June 27, 2019, we celebrate the third anniversary of the International Day of Micro-, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. The entrepreneurship community in general, and we at the International Council for Small Business (ICSB) in particular, are grateful to the United Nations (UN) for agreeing to create this special day. It strengthens our commitment and provides an additional means of communication to help reach the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

This paper is intended for entrepreneurs throughout the world, in developed and less developed countries, and especially for new venture creators. Recognition of the importance of MSMEs in the development of societies implicitly includes recognition of the role played by entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs make a difference in people’s lives. The products and services they develop influence the way people live, their quality of life and the evolution of their societies.

We were asked to share some of the lessons learned from enterprises in our regional environments. (Read more…)

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While entrepreneurs may come from every demographic and situational background, each economy around the world has its own distinct entrepreneurship profile. This profile reveals who in a society most frequently starts a business—and who doesn’t. Those who are less likely to become entrepreneurs may be dissuaded in some way. This typically includes women, younger or older age groups, and those with lower income or less education. Besides these demographic characteristics, there may be those who have challenges due to their particular situations, such as veterans, migrants and refugees, and ex-convicts.

These populations may be underrepresented among the entrepreneurship ranks in an economy, yet they may otherwise benefit highly from this activity, particularly if they have few other work options, or if they have particular needs that entrepreneurship can accommodate. Additionally, society benefits from their participation when they pursue opportunities that others do not see and when they are generators rather than consumers of income. Entrepreneurship helps a society make the best use of its human capital and avoid negative consequences of idleness and frustration. (Read more…)

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In an era of economic upheavals due to radical technological change and rising trade protectionism, a major challenge facing policy makers is how to boost research and innovation across their economic system. The reason is quite apparent when considering what lies behind the sizeable and prolonged slowdown of economic growth in the EU countries in the last decade. Apart from cyclical developments, the economic slowdown has some of its roots in the long-term decline of productivity, which is the outcome of several factors affecting the ability of entrepreneurs to do research and innovate on a wide scale, thereby ensuring economic renovation and competitiveness.

SMEs are part and parcel of this negative trend, but structural factors and government policies also play a significant role. It is well established that there is a positive correlation between both innovation and productivity, on one side, and firm size, on the other side, whereby investment in innovation and productivity rise with the increase of firm size. But in the new economic paradigm of an “entrepreneurial economy” that has taken hold in both industrial and emerging economies, even small firms can have access to the same resources needed for R&I as those available to large firms, that rely on their ability to exploit economies of scale. R&I are no longer the preserve of large firms due to their command over ample means. Still, firm size matters. Thus, while the channels linking growth, productivity and innovation are shared by all countries and their firms, regardless whether more or less developed, structural characteristics and policies that affect this relationship widely differ across countries, leading to disparities in economic performance. (Read more…)

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