A new study on entrepreneurship education by Dr. Yossi Maaravi and Mr. Ben Heller presented 7 entrepreneurship education techniques – some well-known, others novel – and tested whether they were perceived as being effective entrepreneurial skillset training techniques by the trainees themselves.
Highlights
• We present and describe 7 training techniques for entrepreneurial value creation, and then analyze their effects on participants’ perceptions, attitudes, and intent to recommend them.
• Of the well-known training techniques that were examined, “The 5 Dollar Challenge” was perceived as good practice for resource acquisition and management skills, whereas the “Marshmallow Challenge” was perceived as a good product design practice, and the “Design Thinking Challenge” was an all-around favorite.
• Of the novel training techniques that were examined, “The Business Model Hackathon Challenge” was perceived as great creativity-enhancing practice, whereas “The Escape Room Design Challenge” was perceived as good practice for understanding customers’ needs, and the “FreshBiz” board game was perceived as good opportunity identification practice.
Entrepreneurship by both individuals and organizations (i.e., innovation or intrapreneurship) has become a global phenomenon, viewed by researchers, policymakers, and educators as one of the main economic drivers of today’s economy. As the economic environment becomes increasingly dynamic and uncertain, individuals, organizations, and even nations see the entrepreneurial approach as central to their success and prosperity. The centrality of this “entrepreneurial imperative of the twenty-first century” has made entrepreneurship a central topic in academic research. Among other things, scientific study has revealed that entrepreneurial mindset, knowledge, and skills, can — at least to some extent — be developed and enhanced. This notion has led to the accelerated and extensive development of entrepreneurship education and training (EET) programs in both academic and organizational settings.
In a recent article by Dr. Yossi Maaravi and Mr. Ben Heller from the Interdisciplinary Center’s Adelson School of Entrepreneurship, the authors presented seven techniques that may enhance teaching or training for entrepreneurship. Four of them are well known and are used by many entrepreneurship educators throughout the world (the five-dollar challenge, business models hackathons, the Marshmallow challenge, and design thinking workshops), and the others were developed or explicitly used for the purpose of the study (the Fiverr challenge, the FreshBiz™ game, and the escape room design challenge). In testing the perceived effectiveness of these techniques as EET tools, six well-known skills needed for both value and venture creation were tested for: opportunity identification, creativity, resource acquisition, and maximization, product design, customer-needs understanding, and project execution.
The authors found that each of the seven techniques (both well-known and novel) showed high scores in students’ perception of the degree to which these skills were trained. By examining these activities as a means to enhance the entrepreneurial mindset and skills among university students, the article aims to offer EET practitioners — from both academia and organizations — additional tools to accomplish their mission alongside empirical data that may support their curriculum planning or employee training programs.
Want to read more? Visit: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41959-020-00028-2
About Dr. Yossi Maaravi
Dr. Maaravi is the Vice Dean of the Adelson School of Entrepreneurship at IDC, Herzliya – Israel’s most prestigious private university.
Dr. Maaravi has more than 20 years of experience in teaching and training young adults, students at B.A. and M.A. levels and managers from Israel, the US, Singapore, Germany, and China. Over the years, he taught or managed programs for students from: Princeton University, The National University of Singapore, The Technische Universität Darmstadt, The Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Tsinghua University, TelAviv University ‘and The Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya.
Dr. Maaravi’s research focuses on behavioral decision making, negotiation, creativity, and innovation. Alongside academic research and publishing, he is also the author of two children’s books and a book on negotiation.
Media ContactContact Person: Dr. Yossi MaaraviEmail: Send EmailPhone: +972-9-9602750Country: IsraelWebsite: https://www.yossimaaravi.com/
