CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.2 Literature Review
2.2.5 Research on the Supporting System of Entrepreneurship Environment in
First, some early literature suggests that the measures of entrepreneurial competence are relatively simple. After years of practice, the European commission has come to the conclusion that the most effective and common short-term evaluation method is the college students’ business plan competition. In the long-term, the entrepreneurial competency of college students should be related outcomes such as entrepreneurial activity or commercialization.
Second, there is no denying that today’s entrepreneurs are operating in a fast changing knowledge-based environment, and the competencies required to become successful can be dynamic too (McCuddy, 2007). Some scholars have suggested that entrepreneurship competency takes on multiple dimensions and includes the following three aspects. First, entrepreneurial potential competence related to entrepreneurs’ entrepreneurial potential. Second, knowledge competence related to entrepreneurial knowledge and cognition. And finally, entrepreneurial skills competence related to opportunity identification and utilization, resource combination utilization and new business creation. Therefore, the measurement method of entrepreneurship competency should also be developed around these three dimensions.
Third, in colleges and universities, due to the special attributes of college students, the measurement of entrepreneurial competency of college students pays more attention to the improvement of entrepreneurial accomplishment, rather than the simple entrepreneurial competition and the establishment of new enterprises.
The entrepreneurial competency of college students can be measured from the following three aspects: college students’ entrepreneurial potential competence, college students’ entrepreneurial knowledge competence and college students’
entrepreneurial skills competence (Mao, 2011).
2.2.5 Research on the Supporting System of Entrepreneurship
system, and so on. The external support system mainly includes policy support, participation organization, economic aid, and so on.
1) About the internal support system
The organizational structure of entrepreneurship education is divided into two categories: leading institutions and service institutions. After analyzing the entrepreneurship environment system of American community colleges, scholar Jie Wang (2019) found that the leading institutions of entrepreneurship environment mainly include the board of directors, the entrepreneurship environment committee, or the entrepreneurship center of the college. J. Jiang (2015) conducted case studies on entrepreneurship environment at the University of Maryland and Cornell University and found that the two universities have a perfect guarantee of entrepreneurship environment institutions. The university of Maryland has set up more than 30 entrepreneurship environment organizations, groups, and clubs. Different departments have different responsibilities and jointly serve the development of entrepreneurship environment in the whole school. These institutions can be broadly divided into the following categories:
(1) Business and legal consultation. Innovation Office Hours is set up under the school Entrepreneurship center. A business information window is open for students every Friday. Students of technology entrepreneurship can have face-to-face communication and consultation with experts on their specific problems.
The Maryland Intellectual Property Legal Resource Center provides free Legal advice to entrepreneurs and start-ups, such as patent application, technology search, licensing agreement, company formation, etc.
(2) School entrepreneurship accelerator. With the guidance of an experienced team, students can clear their minds and start running the new business as soon as possible. The specific process includes evaluation - planning - implementation - improvement. After a cycle of coaching, a startup is well run, with a defined customer base and credible business financing. Instead of providing scattered guidance on a single aspect, the accelerator covers all aspects of a startup, making it easier for inexperienced students to get started quickly.
(3) Business incubation. University of Maryland students have also created and run their own Start-Up Shell. The emergence of this organization is due to the strong entrepreneurial atmosphere of the school and the educational philosophy that encourages students to try their hand at entrepreneurship. The startup shell is made up of a group of students who are passionate about starting a business together. They come from different majors and have different interests, but all of them are willing to try their hand at entrepreneurship. Students apply to schools for office space and equipment, and enterprises for financial aid and sponsorship. The primary purpose of this group is to encourage students to explore, collaborate and start businesses, and encourage peers to experiment without fear of failure. It is this benign and open cultural atmosphere that attracts more students to do what they like and make entrepreneurial attempts. So far, there have been several student startups that have grown.
2) About the external support system
J. Jiang (2015) found that the external support system for entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities in the United States mainly includes policy support from the government, support from social non-profit organizations and industrial enterprises, and external financial support. In terms of policy support, scholar Meng (2017) conducted a systematic study on the entrepreneurial policies of the US federal, state, and local governments from three aspects, including the background, development process, and specific content. She points to key elements of American entrepreneurship policy. X. Han (2016) sorted out the policy system of the “university maker space” of the Chinese government from three levels: national policy, local policy, and university policy. At the same time, he made a detailed summary from four aspects: education policy, financial policy, science and technology policy, and service platform construction policy.
In terms of support from social organizations and the business community, it mainly provides knowledge and skill support and financial support for entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurship of college students. The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, for example, provides business consulting to start-ups and growth companies to help entrepreneurs improve their business skills and knowledge to run a successful business. At the same time, the
development center also provides an online startup evaluation system, which can help entrepreneurs better understand their strengths and weaknesses, so that they can give more detailed guidance, suggestions, and required resources.
In terms of financial aid guarantee, Y. Meng studied the financial aid system of entrepreneurship education in the United States. She found that angel investment, venture capital, foundations, and other innovative investment channels are the main external sources of funding for entrepreneurship education and undergraduate entrepreneurship. The University of Maryland, for example, has received substantial funding from the Kauffman Foundation, the Small Business Administration, the Angel Investment Association, the Global Alliance of Entrepreneurship Centers, and others. On the one hand, the school has expanded its fund-raising channels, on the other hand, the school has used these funds to fund the encouragement of students to start their businesses and the development of entrepreneurship education in the school. The external funding support for entrepreneurship education in the United States presents three characteristics:
government guidance of capital flow, a virtuous cycle of regional clusters, and multiple and multi-level financing channels (Meng, 2017). P. Wang (2019) conducted a comparative study among Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He suggested that Chinese universities should learn from the advanced practices of the three universities. For example, to create a “trinity” entrepreneurship education ecosystem, to improve the “incentive and monitoring” policies and systems, to establish “service and support” organizations, to set up a “multi-dimensional and integrated” curriculum system, to build an “industry and college” faculty, and to create an “infiltration and experience” cultural atmosphere.