Event

Presented by Mahamadou Biga-Diambeidou
Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at ICN Business School, University of Lorraine, France.

The goal of the research seminar is to present and discuss an ongoing young research project that links the experiential process with the development of entrepreneurial knowledge in higher education. More specifically, the focus is on the entrepreneurial process and in particular on the question "how to bring innovation to market and create value?"

Understanding of entrepreneurial processes and how we can inspire and teach entrepreneurship is currently one of the core issues of the EU 2020 strategic plan. Despite increasing research interest on the topic, a critical examination of the relevant literature reveals that it is still unclear to what extent such education impacts the level of graduate entrepreneurship or whether it enables graduates to become more effective entrepreneurs (Pittaway & Cope, 2007). Furthermore, a substantial component of contemporary entrepreneurship education appears to be largely theoretical and is not well supported by empirical evidence of its practical effects (Honig, 2005). Consequently, we ask ourselves how to best develop entrepreneurial knowledge in the context of higher education that can positively impact new venture performance?

Our research project aims to provide an empirical test of an entrepreneurial learning model in the context of higher education. It builds upon previous Politis (2005) ETP paper and seeks to confirm or reject some theoretical assumptions developed in her study. Our work will contribute to the ongoing debate on entrepreneurial learning as an experiential process with specific focus on the development of the ability to discover and exploit entrepreneurial opportunity, and to cope with the liability of newness.

Our study is situated in an original entrepreneurial education program with a cohort of 400 graduate students concentrated in business in France and uses an action research methodology (Patti, 1986; Reginald & Evered, 1983; Winter, 1989, 1992). The education program concentrates on business simulation in providing training for 50 teams comprised of around 8 people each. Other significant features of the program include a business plan competition, sharing of methodologies and educational materials for entrepreneurial education, collaborating with regional authorities, chambers of commerce, business incubators, banks, consulting companies, associations and other private bodies. The program culminates in a mini conference which incorporates research presentations and round tables (with the main actors of the local entrepreneurship ecosystem). Awards are also granted to the teams that have best demonstrated creativity and innovative approaches. The adopted approach including observation, survey, documents, etc allowed us to collect rich and unique database at both individual and firm (group of student evolving as young firm) level over time.

In addition to examining the training of graduate students, the study seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the skills and knowledge that are central to developing an entrepreneurial culture. This will allow us to respond to two issues which are not fully addressed through the entrepreneurship education program:
- How to better understand and promote the early growth and development process of new innovative firms?
- How the entrepreneurial ecosystem can better support the development of high potential business start-ups and serve as an accelerator for their early growth process?

Mahamadou Biga-Diambeidou is Visiting Research Fellow at Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research, QUT Business School, and Management since 2011. He is Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at ICN Business School, University of Lorraine (France). He is also affiliated to the Center for Research in Entrepreneurial Change and Innovative Strategies (CRECIS), Louvain School of Management, Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) where he also took his PhD. His main research interest lies in the early development and performance of new venture.

His work has been published in book, book chapters and journals such as Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, International Journal of Service Technology and Management, Canadian Journal of Regional Sciences, Gestion 2000. Biga's research has also evoked interest from organizations such as the OECD Working Party on Entrepreneurship Indicators: Measurement of High-Growth Enterprises. His research interest are Firm Early Development and Performance, Entrepreneurship Support System , Regional Innovation System and Longitudinal Research Methods.

Date

06 March 2013