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172 education, entrepreneurial
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FRANK M. GO, THE NETHERLANDS
education, entrepreneurial
The focus of entrepreneurial education is the
development of individual ability to successfully
initiate and manage new ventures. The effective
cultivation of entrepreneurship is particularly
important in tourism, where the success of any
destination is determined by the provision of
numerous attractions, services and amenities.
This provides diverse opportunities for new venture
development, ranging from small-scale family-run
businesses to larger corporate enterprises. By not
encouraging and building entrepreneurial capability,
a significant portion of tourism potential may
not be tapped.
Three components of a successful entrepreneurial
development programme are important: identifying
and selecting students, using appropriate
programme content and teaching style and incorporating
follow-up procedures. As to the first
component, careful screening and selection of
students is fundamental to the success of an
entrepreneurial development programme. This
can be better understood by breaking entrepreneurship
into several capabilities. They include a
combination of innovation, risk taking and
managerial skills �McMullan and Long 1990).
The first two components, innovation and risk
taking, describe ingrained personality traits that are
difficult to learn or change. However, managerial
skill can be developed and enhanced through
education. Individuals who lack the first two are
not likely to be entrepreneurial, even with the
appropriate training. Therefore, programmes
screen students based on personality traits. Characteristics
such as the need for achievement,
capacity for risk-taking, originality, a positive selfconcept,
problem-solving ability and perseverance
are good indicators of entrepreneurial potential.
These attributes are best assessed through a series
of interviews rather than by more rigid forms of
measurement, such as written tests. Another factor
which can be taken into consideration in choosing
students is previous experience with entrepreneurship.
An individual who has already operated an
entrepreneurial venture, or been exposed to one
through working for relatives or friends, has a
better understanding of what is involved in the
entrepreneurial process.
For the second component, traditional business
education addresses management issues through
the study of standardised functional management
areas such as marketing, finance, accounting,
information systems and organisational behaviour.
On the other hand, entrepreneurial training should
be approached chronologically rather than crosssectionally.
The dynamics of business development
rather than the functional areas are emphasised.
The entrepreneur is provided with the specific skills
and techniques necessary to guide the new venture
through the earliest stages of development, including
opportunity identification, feasibility analysis,
initial financing, product design and market
development. As a result, entrepreneurship education
is unique in terms of curriculum design and
delivery when compared to the more traditional
forms of business management education.
The subject areas generally covered by entrepreneurial
programmes are motivation and
behaviour training, opportunity assessment, venture
development, strategic decision making
and marketing skills. Specific topics include
identifying target markets, sales techniques,
understanding credit, financial planning, inventory
control, production issues and methods for
evaluating success. One of the most important
components in an effective entrepreneurship development
programme is the requirement that
students collect and analyse data and defend the