Entrepreneurship education: can business schools meet the challenge?

TLDR

Business schools face a challenge to cultivate entrepreneurial individuals, as traditional curricula stifle the creativity and change needed for entrepreneurship beyond new venture creation. The study argues for shifting the focus from teaching about entrepreneurship to actively educating students for entrepreneurial practice. The authors propose redesigning learning processes to simultaneously nurture right‑brain entrepreneurial creativity and left‑brain analytical skills.

Abstract

Examines the characteristics and role of the entrepreneur and the challenges for business schools posed by the need to develop more enterprising individuals. Argues that the traditional education system stultifies rather than develops the requisite attributes and skills to produce entrepreneurs, and proposes that if entrepreneurs are to be developed, considerable changes are required in both the content and process of learning. In particular it suggests that there needs to be a shift in the emphasis from educating “about” entrepreneurship to educating “for” it. Stresses equally that entrepreneurship should not be equated with new venture creation or small business management, but with creativity and change. In this context proposes that educational institutions need to change the process of learning to enable their students to develop their right brain entrepreneurial capabilities as well as their left‐brain analytical skills. As Chia argues, business schools need to weaken the thought processes so as to encourage and stimulate the entrepreneurial imagination.