2008 Occasional Papers - AUK

RethinkingEntrepreneurship:Integration in a LiberalEducation ContextM. Nauman Farooqi and Rosemary PolegatoAbstractThis paper describes a fundable, long-term strategy whichincorporates the study and practice of entrepreneurshipinto the student experience at a high-quality liberal educationundergraduate university. Parts of the program arealready delivered by a business department and madeavailable to students in other programs through well-developedlinkages with other disciplines. The program is based onentrepreneurship defined as the willingness to pursuenew product concepts, ideas and processes, and to obtainthe human, material and financial resources necessary toimplement a plan for achieving for-profit and non-profitobjectives. The context for the entrepreneurial activity maybe the creation of a start-up organization or the pursuit ofgrowth for existing small, medium or large organizationsacross a variety of industries and non-profit organizations.Thus, entrepreneurship is not just an end result, but anorientation (or attitude) that is part of how an individualrecognizes and approaches the development of ideas inany type of organizational setting. This conceptualizationand operationalization requires a dedicated, resource-basedfocus on entrepreneurship. More specifically, the recastingrequires leadership through contributions to curriculumdevelopment, the scholarship of teaching entrepreneurship(i.e., pedagogy of experiential entrepreneurship),and service to the larger community in collaborationwith business and government bodies. A long-term,capacity-building, sustainable program that is situatedwithin an existing business department is envisioned.Rethinking Entrepreneurship: Integration in aLiberal Education ContextThis paper describes a fundable, long-term strategy whichincorporates the study and practice of entrepreneurshipinto the student experience at a high-quality liberaleducation undergraduate university. The program wouldbe delivered by a business department and made availableto students in other programs through well-developedlinkages with other disciplines. The approach is in line withthe opportunities afforded by the university’s setting, whichbuilds on the track record of the Commerce Departmentin cultivating entrepreneurship, and which augmentsresources that presently exist in the department.What is Entrepreneurship?The underlying concept of entrepreneurship is a departurefrom the conventional association of entrepreneurshipsolely with small business, and also a departure from thenotion that entrepreneurship be taught in one to threeisolated courses in the business curriculum.Entrepreneurship is the willingness to pursue newproduct concepts, ideas and processes, and to obtainthe human, material and financial resources necessary toimplement a plan for achieving for-profit and non-profitobjectives. The context for the entrepreneurial activitymay be the creation of a start-up organization or thepursuit of growth for existing small, medium, or largeorganizations across a variety of industries and non-profitorganizations. Thus, entrepreneurship is viewed not justas an end result, but as an orientation (or attitude) thatis part of how an individual recognizes and approachesthe development of ideas in any type of organizationalsetting. A bank employee who, for example, designs a newinvestment package for a high net worth customer can bejust as entrepreneurial as a young graduate who opens anoutdoor store in an under-serviced market. Both recognizeopportunities and gather resources to package theirideas in a competitive setting. Thus, an entrepreneurialorientation encompasses not only knowledge (e.g., how tostructure financing, how to bring a product to market,how to analyze the competition …), but entrepreneurialskills (e.g., how to present ideas, how to deal with fundingagencies …) and entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviors (e.g.,confidence, risk-taking, adapting to conditions, actionoriented…). This multi-faceted view recognizes thebroad scope of an entrepreneurial orientation in action,rather than limit it to “bums in [course] seats”.Towards an Experiential Entrepreneurship ModelThe pedagogical approach that provides the educationalfoundation for the Entrepreneurship Model integratesKolb’s (1984) experiential learning model and Mitchell andJames’ (1989) perspective of the opportunity created througha dynamic interactive relationship between an individualand the environment. Joplin’s (1995) suggestion thatinteraction with one’s environment requires planned reflectiveactivities enhanced the philosophy and approach used.Experiential pedagogy is a participatory method oflearning which involves a variety of a person’s mentalcapabilities. Scholars, such as Corsun, Inman and Muller(1995) and Kolb, Rubin and McIntyre (1974), quote anancient Confucius statement, "I hear and I forget; I seeand I remember; I do and I understand," to convey thefoundation of this pedagogy.33