Education, Training and Networking for Entrepreneurship in ...

Chapter 10
Entrepreneurs’ innovativeness expanded by education, training,
competency and networking
How is entrepreneurs’ innovativeness shaped
by their learning? More specifically, this chapter
addresses the questions, What are the distinct
effects upon innovativeness from education,
from training, from competency and from networking?
The idea of effects upon entrepreneurs’ innovativeness
from their education, training, competency
and networking can be symbolized as a
diagram with sequences of arrows, Figure 10.1.
Each arrow here symbolizes a hypothesized effect.
The effect may be positive or negative, and
of large or small magnitude, or it might actually
be nill. The task then is to estimate each distinct
effect, preferably while other things are equal,
and specifically ascertain whether the effect is
different from zero, positively or negatively, and
to estimate the magnitude of the effect. These
effects shall be estimated in this chapter.
Innovativeness is measured by asking starters
and owner-managers three questions,
Will all, some, or none of your potential customers
consider this product or service new
and unfamiliar?
Right now, are there many, few, or no other
businesses offering the same products or
services to your potential customers?
Have the technologies or procedures required
for this product or service been available for
less than a year, or between one to five years,
or longer than five years?
Figure 10.1
Hypothesized effects upon innovativeness from education, training, competency and
networking
Training
Education
Competency
Networking
Innovativeness
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