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Education, Training and Networking for Entrepreneurship in ...

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An entrepreneur here denotes a person who <strong>in</strong>tends<br />

to start a new bus<strong>in</strong>ess, who is start<strong>in</strong>g a<br />

venture, or who is own<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> manag<strong>in</strong>g an exist<strong>in</strong>g<br />

firm, those called prospective entrepreneurs,<br />

starters <strong>and</strong> owner-managers (Chapters<br />

1 <strong>and</strong> 3). However, the prospective entrepreneurs<br />

will be ignored when focus<strong>in</strong>g on networks<br />

of advice concern<strong>in</strong>g the bus<strong>in</strong>ess.<br />

<strong>Education</strong> is measured, <strong>in</strong> our annual survey <strong>in</strong><br />

Denmark, by ask<strong>in</strong>g,<br />

What is your completed vocational education<br />

or further education?Is it …<br />

vocational education [erhvervsuddannelse],<br />

further education <strong>for</strong> less than three years<br />

[videregående uddannelse på under tre år],<br />

further education <strong>for</strong> three to four years [videregående<br />

uddannelse på tre til fire år],<br />

further education <strong>for</strong> more than four years<br />

[videregående uddannelse på over fire år],<br />

or<br />

neither vocational education nor higher education?<br />

<strong>Tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g</strong> is measured by ask<strong>in</strong>g,<br />

Have you ever taken part <strong>in</strong> tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> start<strong>in</strong>g<br />

a bus<strong>in</strong>ess at primary or secondary school?<br />

Have you ever taken part <strong>in</strong> tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> start<strong>in</strong>g<br />

a bus<strong>in</strong>ess after you completed your education<br />

<strong>in</strong> school?<br />

An entrepreneur is considered tra<strong>in</strong>ed if the response<br />

is yes to either of the two questions.<br />

Competency is measured by ask<strong>in</strong>g,<br />

Do you have the knowledge, skill <strong>and</strong> experience<br />

required to start a new bus<strong>in</strong>ess?<br />

The above questions were posed not only to entrepreneurs,<br />

but to all surveyed adults, as was<br />

exam<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> Chapter 7.<br />

Entrepreneurs’ network<strong>in</strong>g is measured <strong>in</strong> some<br />

detail. I asked starters: Various people may give<br />

advice on your new bus<strong>in</strong>ess. Have you received<br />

advice from …<br />

spouse or partner<br />

parents<br />

other family<br />

friends<br />

current work-colleagues<br />

earlier work-colleagues<br />

current boss<br />

a <strong>for</strong>mer boss<br />

someone <strong>in</strong> another country<br />

someone start<strong>in</strong>g a bus<strong>in</strong>ess<br />

someone with much bus<strong>in</strong>ess experience<br />

someone with expertise <strong>in</strong> what you do<br />

a researcher or <strong>in</strong>ventor<br />

a possible <strong>in</strong>vestor<br />

a bank<br />

a lawyer<br />

an accountant<br />

a public advis<strong>in</strong>g service <strong>for</strong> bus<strong>in</strong>ess<br />

a firm you collaborate with<br />

a firm you compete with<br />

a supplier<br />

a customer<br />

Owner-managers are asked <strong>in</strong> the same manner:<br />

Various people may give advice on your<br />

bus<strong>in</strong>ess. Dur<strong>in</strong>g the last year, have you received<br />

advice from … answer<strong>in</strong>g <strong>for</strong> the same list of 22<br />

possible advisors.<br />

<strong>Network<strong>in</strong>g</strong> will here, be measured as the size of<br />

the entrepreneur’s network, the number of advisors<br />

used by the entrepreneur, rang<strong>in</strong>g from 0 to<br />

22. This measure of an entrepreneur’s network<strong>in</strong>g<br />

is better than the measure of a person’s network<strong>in</strong>g<br />

used <strong>in</strong> previous chapters, where a person’s<br />

network was measured by ask<strong>in</strong>g about<br />

know<strong>in</strong>g or not know<strong>in</strong>g someone who is start<strong>in</strong>g,<br />

a measurement that is <strong>in</strong><strong>for</strong>mative <strong>for</strong> analyz<strong>in</strong>g<br />

people’s vocational choice, but <strong>in</strong>sufficient<br />

when focus<strong>in</strong>g on entrepreneurs.<br />

Entrepreneurs’ education<br />

Entrepreneurs’ educational background can be<br />

compared to the educational background of<br />

non-entrepreneurs, Table 9.1 (the difference between<br />

entrepreneurs <strong>and</strong> non-entrepreneurs is<br />

statistically highly significant, with probabilityvalue<br />

less than 0.0001 <strong>in</strong> a chi-square test). Entrepreneurs<br />

have long higher education, more<br />

frequently than non-entrepreneurs. Conversely,<br />

entrepreneurs <strong>in</strong>frequently have neither higher<br />

nor vocational education, compared to non-entrepreneurs.<br />

The typical entrepreneur has either<br />

vocational education or long higher education.<br />

In other words, educationally, there are<br />

two major groups of entrepreneurs, those with<br />

60

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