scholarly journals A mindset of entrepreneurship for sustainability

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 797-811
Author(s):  
Shirley Mo-Ching Yeung
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Entrepreneurship Education ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Skill Sets ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Common

This study focuses on exploring the elements needed for entrepreneurship education in the future for generating economic, social and environmental sustainability for the community and for developing future leaders through understanding the existing entrepreneurship related policies, programmes, modules and the perception of teenagers of entrepreneurship skills to realise the importance of a mindset of entrepreneurship and the ways of integrating multidisciplinary knowledge for developing entrepreneurship spirit to meet the challenges of the future. This topic has not been comprehensively explored in the past. After conducting quantitative analysis on 95 undergraduate students of a postsecondary institution in Hong Kong on entrepreneurship skills, the regression results presented in this paper found “entrepreneurship skills include implementation skill” can explain about 33percent of the change in the dependent variable of “sustainable skill sets include building a positive mindset”. And, the mean scores of “entrepreneurship skills include creativity and risk-taking are the same as 4.02 out of a 5-point scale while “dislike handling paperwork with details”, “dislike facing people I don’t know” and “dislike being challenges” received the lowest scores of 2.6, 2.7 and 2.7 respectively. With regard to the qualitative analysis of existing entrepreneurship related programmes, it is found that business, management, finance and contemporary issues are the common elements in existing programmes of which the skills of creativity, risk-taking, socialization, handling details and challenges are lacking. When analysing the meeting notes of UNESCO, APEID in February, 2015 of nine countries (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, China Hong Kong, Japan, and Republic of Korea), there is a trend on the importance of entrepreneurship and innovation mindset with three common concerns, that is, a lack of competent teachers teaching entrepreneurship programmes, a lack of industry exposure and a lack of government support. This paper highlights the key elements of future entrepreneurship related programmes for sustainability. Both educators and policy makers not only need to respond to the ecosystem of entrepreneurship education, but also need to co-produce relevant and meaningful entrepreneurship related modules and programmes which focus on soft skills development for building a positive mindset for handling challenges of the future

Hong Kong and Shanghai: current and/or future international financial centres?

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-193
Author(s):  
John Adams ◽  
Andrew YC Wong
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Financial Centre ◽  
Future Success ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future Policy ◽  
First Time

Purpose – This paper publishes summary results for the first time of a major survey of senior financial practitioners undertaken in Hong Kong and Shanghai in 2005, and compares these with the Global Financial Centre Index first created in 2007 to determine the extent to which both are consistent. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on a detailed survey and utilizes principal-components analysis to determine the primary factors relevant to the development of both cities as international financial centres (IFCs) and those which the respondents consider will be relevant in the future. Findings – The paper demonstrates that the key “success factors” for both cities in 2005 remain very important in the global financial centres index (GFCI) analysis ten years later but not necessarily by the same ranking. We also found that a number of the “primary” factors change when respondents are asked to consider future success factors. Research limitations/implications – The survey was conducted ten years ago; however, the results continue to have significant reliability and validity - especially when compared with the results of the GFCI report of 2014. Practical implications – The paper should enable policy makers and practitioners to better understand the future policy environment needed for extending the financial centre status of both Hong Kong and Shanghai. Originality/value – This is the first time (some) of the survey findings that have ever been published, and they represent a rich source of information – however, the authors will be examining the survey data for future publications.

scholarly journals Factors Influencing Engineers’ Attitude towards Environmental Sustainability

2018 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 04003
Author(s):  
Siti Nur Fazillah Mohd Fauzi ◽  
Nor’Aini Yusof ◽  
Hanizam Awang ◽  
Mohd Nurfadzli Mat Nah
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Peninsular Malaysia ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Responsible Attitude ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship

Engineers have a vital role in addressing environmental degradation in construction projects. Therefore, engineers’ positive attitude towards the environment is important to ensure that construction projects are carried out responsibly. The objective of this paper is to investigate the factors that influence engineers’ attitude towards green practice. Six factors; Knowledge, Self-initiative, Firm Support, Government Support, Board of Engineers Support and Client Attributes were assumed to influence the engineers’ attitude towards green practice. A self-administered survey with 37 items was distributed to engineering firms in Peninsular Malaysia and 128 usable responses were received. The results show a moderate relationship with 32 percent of the variances in the relationship between the six factors and engineers’ attitude. The results reveal that self-initiative and government support have a significant and positive impact on the engineers’ attitude towards green practice with the higher effect coming from the support from the government (f2 = 0.210) as compared to self-initiative (f2 = 0.058). In contrast, the results provide insufficient evidence about the relationship between Knowledge, Firm Support, Board of engineers Support and Client Attributes and engineers’ attitude towards green practice. The results serve as a guide to the policy makers and engineers to ensure responsible attitude can be adopted towards the environment.

New Chinese Entrepreneurs

2017 ◽  
pp. 1135-1152
Author(s):  
Connie Zheng ◽  
Bai-Xuan Wang ◽  
Mei-Chih Hu
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Dynamic Environment ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Enterprise Growth ◽  
Social Settings ◽  
Innovative Capabilities ◽  
Chinese Entrepreneurs

This chapter uses a qualitative approach to explore the characteristics of newly-bred Chinese entrepreneurs among 14 technology-based companies in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Internal and external perspectives on studying entrepreneurship were adapted to examine personality attributes and the impacts of social settings on shaping the characteristics of modern Chinese entrepreneurs. The findings show that Chinese entrepreneurs were strongly influenced by the Confucianism, in which learning was upheld as a key to develop internal innovative capabilities for sustaining enterprise growth in the dynamic environment. Chinese entrepreneurs leading technologically innovative companies were also found to be visionary, but with less risk taking; they had exceptional networking capability and political dexterity to build strong relationships with government, industry and community. The tie between the Confucian entrepreneurial attributes and strong government support appears to enable the ‘innovation in Chinese way'. Implications of these results are discussed.

New Chinese Entrepreneurs

2015 ◽  
pp. 19-35
Author(s):  
Connie Zheng ◽  
Bai-Xuan Wang ◽  
Mei-Chih Hu
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Dynamic Environment ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Enterprise Growth ◽  
Social Settings ◽  
Innovative Capabilities ◽  
Chinese Entrepreneurs

This chapter uses a qualitative approach to explore the characteristics of newly-bred Chinese entrepreneurs among 14 technology-based companies in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Internal and external perspectives on studying entrepreneurship were adapted to examine personality attributes and the impacts of social settings on shaping the characteristics of modern Chinese entrepreneurs. The findings show that Chinese entrepreneurs were strongly influenced by the Confucianism, in which learning was upheld as a key to develop internal innovative capabilities for sustaining enterprise growth in the dynamic environment. Chinese entrepreneurs leading technologically innovative companies were also found to be visionary, but with less risk taking; they had exceptional networking capability and political dexterity to build strong relationships with government, industry and community. The tie between the Confucian entrepreneurial attributes and strong government support appears to enable the ‘innovation in Chinese way'. Implications of these results are discussed.

scholarly journals A tale of two universities: graduates perceived value of entrepreneurship education

2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 689-705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Jones ◽  
David Pickernell ◽  
Rebecca Fisher ◽  
Celia Netana
Keyword(s):  
Course Design ◽  
Entrepreneurship Education ◽  
Career Outcomes ◽  
Sustainable Business ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Sample Number ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Skill Sets ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Uk Higher Education

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate career impact of entrepreneurship education (EE) considering evidence drawn from a quantitative study of alumni within two UK higher education institutions (HEIs) from a retrospective perspective. The findings inform the value of the EE experience and its impact on both self-employability and wider employability career choices. This study will be of relevance to both enterprise support agencies and government policy makers. Design/methodology/approach This research study considers evidence drawn from an online quantitative survey of EE within two UK HEIs. The survey evaluated a range of issues including course design, programme satisfaction, impact, career outcomes and respondents demographics. Over 80 respondents completed the survey in full which was analysed using a range of bivariate techniques. Findings The evidence suggested here indicates that EE programmes provide value both in terms of helping to enable business start-ups and also in supporting other career paths, through the enterprising knowledge and skill sets graduates acquire during their specialised studies. This study contributes to the literature by recognising and measuring these contributions. For example, this study enables discernment between different EE course components and their value for different career outcomes. Research limitations/implications The study recognises the limitations of this survey data in terms of the size of the sample, number of HEIs evaluated and its point in time design. Practical implications The HEI sector must evaluate its practices and measure the effectiveness of its graduates in terms of achieving sustainable business start-up. In course design, the evidence suggested that students value both the enterprising and entrepreneurial skills and knowledge components and discern value between them in their later careers. The findings suggest that EE graduates typically experience portfolio careers with multiple occupations in different sectors and roles within both employment and self-employment. Thus it is important that EE programme design includes both enterprising and entrepreneurial components to meet the future requirements of their graduates postgraduation. Originality/value This study contributes new evidence regarding the value of EE in UK HEIs. This evidence should inform course design and policy makers regarding the value of EE in creating self-employment and creating enterprising employees.

Soft and Hard Technologies in Technology Education

2015 ◽  
pp. 378-391
Author(s):  
Kin Wai Michael Siu ◽  
Yi Lin Wong
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Technology Education ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Future Trend ◽  
Balanced Approach ◽  
Common Misconception ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Government

There is a common misconception that technology is limited to physical devices (i.e., hard technology). However, technology also includes soft technology, which is concerned with human and social factors. The emphasis on hard technology has prevented technology education from widening its scope and thus catering to the needs of a changing society. This chapter first briefly identifies the common definitions of soft and hard technologies. It then argues that technology education should emphasize both hard and soft technologies. Through a case study of Hong Kong, the chapter identifies the issues surrounding the inclusion of soft technology in the technology curriculum. The issues comprise the outdated perceptions of the government and schools with respect to technology, teachers' backgrounds, and students' abilities. The chapter then proposes recommendations and suggestions for resolving these issues. The future trend of an all-round and balanced approach toward hard and soft technology in technology education is discussed.

Soft and Hard Technologies in Technology Education

2014 ◽  
pp. 625-638
Author(s):  
Kin Wai Michael Siu ◽  
Yi Lin Wong
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Technology Education ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Future Trend ◽  
Balanced Approach ◽  
Common Misconception ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Government

There is a common misconception that technology is limited to physical devices (i.e., hard technology). However, technology also includes soft technology, which is concerned with human and social factors. The emphasis on hard technology has prevented technology education from widening its scope and thus catering to the needs of a changing society. This chapter first briefly identifies the common definitions of soft and hard technologies. It then argues that technology education should emphasize both hard and soft technologies. Through a case study of Hong Kong, the chapter identifies the issues surrounding the inclusion of soft technology in the technology curriculum. The issues comprise the outdated perceptions of the government and schools with respect to technology, teachers' backgrounds, and students' abilities. The chapter then proposes recommendations and suggestions for resolving these issues. The future trend of an all-round and balanced approach toward hard and soft technology in technology education is discussed.

Hill farming - An opinion on the future

2011 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
G.W. Sheath
Keyword(s):  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Future ◽  
Hill Farming

This paper is not a formal review of hill farming literature. Rather, it is my view on the critical challenges and changes that we need to deal with if mixed livestock farming on hill lands is to be successful over the next 20 years. It is my hope that industry leaders, policy makers and agribusiness managers will give consideration to these views. Some people say that it is not smart to look into the rear-vision mirror, but I do not agree. Having a better understanding of the consequences of past events can help guide future decisions and changes.

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