Heritage’s: MOOving Forward

The first Heritage’s Dairy Store opened in Westville New Jersey on October 10, 1957. The chain of convenient stores is known for their quality lunchmeats, fresh coffee, and their own brand of milk and ice cream. The company wholesales candy, tobacco, and groceries from its Heritage’s Wholesale Company, which supplies more than 75% of products sold in its 33+ locations. Additionally, Heritage’s now offers customizable food options throughout the day. As the business transitions to the next generation, the leadership has noticed changes within their markets, new trends within the industry, and several marketing related challenges. Following marketing research, Heritage’s found the majority of their consumers were over the age of 50. Research also showed many respondents under 25 were unaware of the company. Additionally, many within the 20–39 age bracket who had heard of the company still did not have a clear understanding of the product offerings or overall brand. Heritage’s is faced with maintaining their current consumer base while simultaneously attracting the younger demographic. Additionally, major changes in technology, store design, marketing, and branding would come at a significant cost. Lastly, the management of Heritage’s seeks to honor their company history while looking toward the future.

Intellectual Property Ownership in a University Setting

Drilling through hard rock to explore for underground oil and gas is especially complicated in geographic areas where the sub-layer is full of dense and impenetrable rock. Charlie Scent, an Engineering Professor working at a university, undertook research to solve this dilemma and developed a solution after approximately 20 years of effort. To commercialize the technology, Scent collaborated with one of his PhD students and formed a company. Through the commercialization process, friction developed among the participants—Scent, the graduate student, and the university. This discord brought to light several important questions regarding intellectual property that is created in a university setting. This case is about who owns intellectual property and decreasing the probability that there will be friction between the individuals who are at the heart of an invention.

Editorial: Publishing in Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy

In this editorial, the editors of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy (EE&P) reflect back on the journal’s first 4 years of production and the impact the journal has had. They also reflect back on the submission trends of unsuccessful submissions, offering insights into why articles are commonly rejected. Last, they discuss research translation, its importance, and strategies for scholars to help disseminate their work to a wider audience.

Wedeven Associates: Finding New Ways to Develop Novel Solutions to Persistent, Intractable Problems

Wedeven Associates is a small tribology research and engineering consulting firm located near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company faced a variety of challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic as did most small businesses in 2020. As the company became fully operational again, Wedeven Associates was approached by a longtime client to solve a tribological problem the client’s engineers had been trying to address for many years. The catch: Wedeven Associates only had a little over 2 months to do the work while complying with pandemic-related travel and meeting restrictions. This case tells the story of how the Wedeven Associates team met the challenge using virtual tools and a collaborative approach built on first principles. Readers are introduced to “tribology” as an engineering discipline and “first principles” as a problem-solving approach.

Actively Engaging with Social Entrepreneurs: The Social Enterprise Audit

Social entrepreneurship is on the rise. For educators, it is no longer a question of if we should teach social entrepreneurship, but rather how we might best do so. The Social Enterprise Audit is introduced as an innovative way to combine in-class learning with active engagement in the social entrepreneurship community. Student teams are matched with local social enterprises. As foundational concepts of social entrepreneurship are taught in the classroom, student teams visit and meet with their social enterprise partner to apply the concepts. The final deliverable includes an analysis and critique of the social enterprise along with a set of recommendations. The structured approach is easy for the instructor to implement and aligns directly with course material. Students benefit by nurturing their identity as a social entrepreneur while developing a skillset that equips them to make a difference.

Action-Based Learning Platform for Entrepreneurship Education—Case NÅA Business Center

Entrepreneurship education has established itself as a broad research stream, covering such topics as entrepreneurial intentions, skills, competences, and activities. Paradoxically, research is scant concerning detailed descriptions of pedagogical interventions or models for how to support the development of entrepreneurial skills in higher education. We address this research gap by describing and analyzing an empirical case, in which two higher education institutions have formed a joint learning platform for enhancing entrepreneurship education. The learning platform aligns project-based learning, collaborative learning, and action learning, referred to as the action-based approach to entrepreneurship education. Based on data collected through participatory action research, three aspects emerge as essential factors for the learning platform to continue to embrace action-based learning, namely (i) awareness of strategic and pedagogical visions within its community, (ii) dimensions of power and control, and (iii) reflective practices. Reflection occurs as a result of collaborative and project-based learning in authentic contexts with real-time, client-sponsored challenges and tasks.

Aesthetics, Medium, and Method: An Introduction to the Differences and Similarities Between Arts and Non-arts Entrepreneurs

A topic not often addressed in entrepreneurship literature is the broader similarities and differences between arts and non-arts entrepreneurs and the implications these analogous distinctions have in the classroom. This article is an initial exploration of the topic and outlines a minimal, broad-based hierarchy of the artistic process. Further, we attempt to identify the fundamental similarities of the two entrepreneurs and suggest they both engage not only in an analogous process, they are somewhat distinct in the “meta” materials used. Through comparison, we posit that the “meta” process used by artists is also used by non-arts entrepreneurs. By drawing attention to these analogies, educators will likely discover components applicable to traditional entrepreneurship courses; the inverse is already occurring within the medium of creative and arts entrepreneurship.

A Systematic Review of the Impacts of Entrepreneurial Support Programs in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Fields

Programs dedicated to entrepreneurship education in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields have expanded tremendously. However, much remains unknown about the current state of research and practice of these programs. This article presents results from a systematic review designed to explore how Entrepreneurial Support Programs serving science and technology innovators conceptualize and measure individual-level impacts. Results suggest that the intended impacts of programs are often ill-defined. While many programs focus on improving entrepreneurial mindset, the term is frequently not well defined, operationalized, or clearly measured. Likewise, results suggest that understanding the impact of programs is challenging due to the quality of the research or evaluation procedures employed. Finally, results suggest that there is a strong lack of diversity awareness or acknowledgment in the field; the vast majority of the papers did not mention gender, race, or other demographic characteristics. Moving forward, researchers and practitioners have an opportunity to strengthen data-driven work to assess the impact of entrepreneurship support programs through the use of clear definitions, well-documented methods, and assessment instruments with sufficient validity evidence.

Is there a Role for Entrepreneurship Education in Veterinary Medicine? A UK Study

This article examines entrepreneurship education (EE) provision within UK veterinary schools. Applying institutional theory as a critical lens, the core research question centers on whether there is a defined role for EE within veterinary curricula. Qualitative data gathered from veterinary educators, students, and employers are critically analyzed. Areas where veterinary entrepreneurship educators might enhance their offering to improve graduate employability and increase entrepreneurial activity within the sector are identified. The article contributes to extant scholarship by: identifying the challenges associated with introducing EE into Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematic (STEAM) discipline areas such as veterinary medicine; highlighting the value of institutional theory in critiquing EE within veterinary curricula; furthering understanding of how veterinary EE is perceived amongst key veterinary stakeholder groups/“institutions,” and identifying a potential role for veterinary EE. Novel avenues worthy of future research attention are also highlighted.

Guest Editorial: Special Issue on Social Entrepreneurship Education

Our key intention through this special issue in social entrepreneurship education is to capture the best practices in pedagogy and research within this growing field of social entrepreneurship and also to push boundaries and question the taken-for-granted assumptions in this discipline. Therefore, two contributions chosen for this issue advocate the importance of a service learning approach to enhance students’ learning experience beyond the classroom. The other two contributions address the need to challenge assumptions of social entrepreneurship, thus improving students’ practical and theoretical knowledge of the field.