Inovating Entrepreneurial Pedagogy

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Innovating entrepreneurialpedagogy: examples from France

and GermanyRita Klapper

Department of Strategy and Management, Rouen Business School, Mont Saint Aignan, France, and

Silke Tegtmeier Department of Entrepreneurship and Start-up Management,

Leuphana University of Lü neburg, Lü neburg, Germany

Abstract

Purpose – This paper – one of only a few examples – aims to conduct a cross-national research intoinnovative teaching approaches in entrepreneurship in France and Germany.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on two cross-cultural cases and reflects onthe experiences of two innovative teaching approaches in two European settings. The underlying aimof this investigation is to identify commonalities and differences between the approaches, establishlearning between the different Higher Education institutions as well as to investigate thetransferability of such approaches to other cultural environments.

Findings – This research has highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary learning inentrepreneurship research. Whereas, in the German case, management and other disciplines worktogether to create the example of the “practice firm”, in the French case entrepreneurship theories,network theories and cognitive science are brought together to create a new approach to learningabout entrepreneurship. Both approaches highlight the importance of the personal development of thecourse participants by empowering the student to be proactive.

Research limitations/implications – The paper builds on the early experiences with both theconcept of the “practice firm” and the application of repertory grids in entrepreneurial pedagogy,which justifies the highly exploratory character of this research. More research is necessary toestablish students’ opinion about such innovative approaches, also on a cross-national level.

Practical implications – The paper provides examples of effective practices for encouragingentrepreneurial thinking in the classroom. More such comparative work is necessary on a European,but also on a wider international, scale to encourage learning, in particular for those involved inteaching entrepreneurship, but also for policy makers who are looking for new ways to stimulateentrepreneurial thinking.

Originality/value – The paper is innovative as it compares and contrasts two innovativeapproaches to teaching entrepreneurship in two European countries and hence fills a gap in theliterature.

Keywords Teaching, Entrepreneurialism, Cross cultural studies

Paper type Research paper

1. IntroductionAcross Europe and in particular in France and Germany enterprise creation andentrepreneurship are considered as vital in terms of their contribution to economicregeneration, regional economic development (Acs and Audretsch, 1990; Audretsch,1995; Fayolle, 2004; Nerlinger, 1998) and employment generation (Fayolle, 1999, 2005;

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Verstraete and Fayolle, 2005). In line with this trend there is a growing recognition thatthere is a need to foster an entrepreneurial culture across Europe aiming to encouragethe right mindset, entrepreneurial skills and awareness of career opportunities(Commission of the European Communities, 2006; Seikkula-Leino et al., 2010). Clearly,

entrepreneurship teaching has a key role in this context as it allows individuals todevelop their talents and their creativity, pursue their dreams, obtain independenceand a sensation of liberty (Fayolle and Sénicourt, 2005).

Some of the earliest research on entrepreneurship education appeared in theproceedings of Entrepreneurship Education, a conference at Baylor University in 1981and “Entrepreneurship: what it is and how to teach it”, a conference held at HarvardUniversity in 1985. These initiatives were followed up by a special issue publishedin AJSB in 1988 comprising a number of articles such as that by Sextonand Bowman-Upton (1988) exploring what to teach students and particularly how toteach it.

In comparison with these early initiatives in the Anglo-Saxon context therecognition that entrepreneurship education is vital to the well-being of our economiesand societies is a more recent phenomenon in the European context. A surveyconducted by the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) andthe European Foundation for Entrepreneurship Research (EFER) in 2004 found thatentrepreneurship education in Europe had started developing significantly since thelate 1990s and was expected to continue to grow in the twenty-first century. Themajority of the courses on a European level were electives, that is, stand alone courseswith little integration into the overall curriculum. The report concluded pointing outthe need for more entrepreneurship faculty, more research and more pedagogicalmaterial.

2. Entrepreneurship among higher education graduates in France and

GermanyAs Drillon et al. (2004) highlight, enterprise creation by higher education graduates isstill a very marginal phenomenon in France, which is similar to Frugier and Verzat(2005) who note that entrepreneurial intention is not very developed among youngpeople in France, which is different from the USA (Fayolle, 1999). The majority of Grandes Ecoles Management and engineering students as well as university graduatesare not attracted by a career as an entrepreneur and rather prefer to work for a largecompany, consultancy firm, become a civil servant or enter the public sector (Drillonet al., 2004).

A similar situation can be found in the German context. The GlobalEntrepreneurship Monitor country report (Sternberg et al., 2007) gives an impressionof entrepreneurial activity in Germany 2006. With a rate of 2.9 per cent nascententrepreneurship Germany reaches a low position compared to other innovation-drivencountries such as Finland or the USA. The total Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activityin Germany was 4.2 per cent in 2006. With 58 entrepreneurship professorships and afurther 13 ones, either recently established or in planning process less than one third of all universities (scientific and applied sciences) in Germany are structurally involved inthe field of entrepreneurship education (Klandt et al., 2008). From these figures we canconclude that Germany has certainly taken a more dynamic, proactive approach to thedevelopment of entrepreneurship education given that in 1998 only 20 professorships

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existed. Most of the professorships providing entrepreneurship-based education arefocused on start-up management, start-up and finance, start-up and innovation,business succession or technological management. In line with the wide contentcourses offered do not solely focus on potential entrepreneurs, but are also open to

students who want to become consultants or head of incubators rather thanentrepreneurs (Tegtmeier, 2007).

3. Innovating in entrepreneurship educationAlready in 1968 the OECD created a Centre for Research and Innovation in teaching(CERI) to help the different stakeholders in education such as professionals anddecision makers at various levels to deal with the different challenges affecting theeducational domain and prepare for the future. One of the key issues of concern washow different teaching methods and the acquisition of knowledge could be developedin line with scientific progress, new technologies and the diversification of the studentaudience. Other issues related to the role of innovation in the classroom and the

question which educational systems and schools would be appropriate in the future(Istance and Shadoian, 2009). These issues are still important today, maybe even moreso than in the 1960s, given the climate of uncertainty created by the economic crisis,which has touched the majority of European countries and has impacted on aworld-wide level. There is little doubt, as Istance and Shadoian (2009) conclude, thatthe recent social and political changes have triggered questions about theappropriateness of analysis and methods in teaching. This is different from the1960s when much change in education was triggered by the baby boom and therealisation that education had a major role to play in reducing social inequalities. Giventhis new situation which makes experimentation and innovation in pedagogyimperative Istance and Shadoian (2009) conclude that the desire to experiment ineducation has triggered a wave of innovation around the world.

As a reaction to the presumably positive social and economic effects of entrepreneurship many universities try to advance entrepreneurial thinking andbehaviour in their local, regional and national contexts. Moreover in this context it isalso crucial to enhance the students’ awareness of what entrepreneurship is about. As aresult, there is a need to introduce entrepreneurship courses into every degreeprogramme in order to encourage and maintain an entrepreneurial culture in oursocieties (Commission of the European Communities, 2006), the level of innovation of such programmes and courses varies, however. In fact, as Verzat et al. (2009) andWankat et al. (2002) highlight there is not much literature available about innovativeapproaches to Entrepreneurship teaching and even less comparative work has beendone on a cross-national level. Against this background the two cases presented herefrom two European countries, that is, France and Germany, aim to fill a gap in the

existing literature. The first innovative pedagogy experimentation is placed in thecontext of Leuphana University of Lüneburg in the North of Germany, the second tookplace at a French Grande Ecole Management School in Normandy.

4. MethodologyAs Perren and Ram (2004) argue, qualitative methods have been gaining acceptance insmall business and entrepreneurship research and the case study method has been partof this trend. Indeed Stake (2003, p. 435) confirms that case studies have become one of

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the most common ways to do qualitative inquiry and they “are not a methodologicalchoice, but a choice of what is to be studied”. This article is based on two case studiesand aims to compare and contrast innovative entrepreneurial pedagogy in twodifferent European settings, France and Germany. The underlying objectives were to

learn from the different cross-cultural approaches, that is, derive learning in terms of identifying individual strengths and weaknesses for both institutional partners, butalso to critically assess the possibility of exchanging different elements from eachprogramme/course across the two institutions.

The two European cases discussed in this article represent the two opposite ends of the wide spectrum of innovative pedagogical tools available in Entrepreneurshipteaching ranging from a fully fledged case of a “practice firm” with six modularcomponents in Germany to an individual innovative teaching module, taught either asa stand-alone 3 h course solely focussing on entrepreneurial network analysis in Franceor as part of 18/24/36 h entrepreneurial programmes. The two cases were chosen asthey contrast the traditional approach of understanding entrepreneurship as a processrequiring holistic and action-oriented teaching with an approach that draws oncognitive psychology and here in particular on repertory grids, the methodological toolof Personal Construct Theory (PCT) which was developed by George Kelly (1955).

5. Innovative entrepreneurial pedagogy – a case from GermanyFor the case of Germany a person-induced (instead of computer-induced) start-upsimulation has been developed (Tegtmeier and Schulte, 2009) through a cooperation of two universities (Leuphana University of Lueneburg and University of Hildesheim)providing economic contents and a pedagogical and didactical framework. In thefollowing this approach will be described and reasons why we pursue this innovativetool will be illustrated (Tegtmeier and Schulte, 2009).

In order to teach entrepreneurship it is important to provide an adequate

methodology that helps students to immediately understand and learn entrepreneurialactions. Action-oriented event concepts which are holistic, appealinglyparticipant-orientated, and promote reflection become increasingly important inentrepreneurship education (Ebbers, 2004).

Professional skills and competences of business starters do not only compriseexpert knowledge in new venture management, but also multidisciplinary elementsgoing beyond, the so-called key qualifications. The latter include methodologicalcompetences (for example the competence to solve problems) and social competences(for example the competence to interact and to take responsibility) (Halfpap, 1991).Expert knowledge is, for instance, about the ability to draw up a marketing planwhereas methodological competences are associated with problem-solving heuristics.Social competences of a founder are required in customer acquisition when negotiatingterms of delivery as well as when applying for loans.

The simulation method is an activity-based didactical concept, applied in order toteach students each of these competences simultaneously. A start-up simulation can bedefined as an entrepreneurship teaching course which leads students to practicalexperience by simulating business reality in an imitational setting. For students thismethod provides opportunities to experience and evaluate the consequences of riskyand costly decisions in a simplified model situation reproducing reality withoutactually exposing them to any risk. Simulation methods are manifold and versatile.


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They comprise action based methods like role plays, case studies, practice firms, juniorcompanies and computer simulations.

The practice firm is a dynamic simulation model of a given company. As a model itdoes not reproduce the original true-to-life situation, but reduces reality in certain

aspects in order to emphasize relevant and interesting aspects in a given seminar.Hence, complex processes become comprehensible, interdependencies and strategies of entrepreneurial processes can be identified and thus professional active skills can beencouraged.

This approach is designed to develop awareness for self-employment as a careeralternative and to enable people who have never experienced a start-up process toconsider such a step. Activity based learning is used here not only to transmitentrepreneurial skills and abilities and to create experience with it, but also toencourage independent acting and self-employment as well to empower independenceand the faith in one’s own ideas, to encourage openness to experience, to inspirecreativity, to enable team work, and to incite enthusiasm, but also to unveil routine jobsconnected with the creation of a new venture. The practice firm as a means of activitybased learning should motivate and teach entrepreneurship, but also convey a lifelikeview of entrepreneurship and a more realistic approach to understanding their ownstrengths and weaknesses. It helps to clarify unrealistic images of entrepreneurshipand should – where appropriate – even dissuade from starting a business.

Within a given learning environment students can improve their professional skillsby doing and deciding, joined with high levels of student action and autonomy, to gaina deep insight into the entrepreneurial reality. As a result, the profile of competencesrequired for the start-up of the simulation business within a practice firm settinghighly corresponds with the scope of skills needed to start a new business.

Description of the tool (practice firm)

Based on theoretical approaches to simulation methods in general and the practice firmas a pedagogical tool in particular an action-oriented and holistic start-up simulation inthe form of six modular components was designed. Each individual unit takes aboutfour hours of classroom teaching and covers a specific component of a start-up processin a given environmental setting of a business idea, the people involved, their CVs,their financial and human capital, and so on. These units simulate the seed phase andthe start-up phase of a company, focusing on the following topics: team building (incl.cooperation and networks), legal structure of the company, entrepreneurial finance,marketing and sales, tax, and succession. This mixture has been composed to indicatea reasonable diversity and a manifold image of entrepreneurship. The choice of thesetopics is academic, but the way of preparation in class is induced by reality, expressinga strong relationship between theory and application in entrepreneurship education of

this kind. Each unit of the practice firm follows a holistic approach and intends notonly to convey expert knowledge in new venture management, but also to achieve anincreased awareness of the individual opportunities and risks of entrepreneurship.

The pilot installation of our practice firm was directed at students at the Universityof Hildesheim, Germany, majoring in Education with two professional specializations,one of which is Economics. The previous knowledge of the participants in businesswas poor or moderate; in Entrepreneurship it was generally marginal. The course waspart of the Economics section of their master degree program and concluded with an

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oral examination. This group of students is particularly challenging as they aretraining to become school teachers themselves, a profession where entrepreneurialthinking may not necessarily be regarded an essential part of a degree programme.

Assuming that a high proportion of active learning is necessary to enable

problem-solving, self-reliance and self-reflective working and learning, studentsactively take pre-defined roles in the concept of the practice firm. This is supposed tofacilitiate the identification with the business start-up and the involved persons.Furthermore, this allows the students to reflect on decisions and results achievedirrespectively of their own person. All kinds of activities are initiated by persons. Incontrast to computer simulations this means that any kind of activity will be initiatedby people who are physically present (above all by students). Therefore, there are nocomputer-induced activities, since it is essential for holistic learning to explicitlyinclude social interactions of students. The academic (lecturer) restricts her- or himself to being an initiator, moderator, and observer. She or he should control or “navigate”only in the exceptional case (Ebbers, 2004). Figure 1 gives an overview of the different

components of the practice firm concept.

6. Innovative entrepreneurial pedagogy – a case from FranceThe second example of innovative entrepreneurial pedagogy was conducted at aFrench Grande Ecole Management School in Normandy. The audience were MBAstudents and experimentations were conducted in December 2009. Repertory grids,which are part of George Kelly’s (1955) Personal Construct Theory (PCT), were utilisedto facilitate the analysis of entrepreneurial networks during the pre-organisation stage.A similar application can, however, be envisaged in a post-creation setting. Repertory

Figure 1.Practice firm as didactical

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grids aim to elicit concepts defined in the participants’ own words in a systematic wayand comparison between construct systems of individuals becomes possible.

One of the authors experimented with repertory grids in different situations: First,in doctoral research which was conducted between 2005 and 2007 with French

entrepreneurs and later in entrepreneurial classes taught at the French Managementschool. The focus of this paper is on the latter aspect: Repertory grids were integratedin a 20 h entrepreneurial MBA course entitled “Product and markets seen from anentrepreneurship point of view” in December 2008. The application of repertory gridsin entrepreneurial network analysis was embedded within the context of a lecture onthe importance of networks and social capital for the success of a fledgling venture,which was preceded by a practical session on entrepreneurial idea development and acreativity session integrating innovative tools such as music, brainstorming andcollage to develop creativity and stimulate innovative thinking in the studentpopulation.

The analysis of the entrepreneurial network is a practical tool to make the studentsaware of the contribution any contacts from their diverse networks could make to their

entrepreneurial project. Furthermore, this analysis helps to make decisions about whattype of individual with what competences should be integrated in the network in orderto advance the entrepreneurial project. Hence, the tool helps to point out potentialstrengths and weaknesses of an individual’s network. The major advantage of this toolis, however, that it allows the participants to develop their own networking strategyappropriate to their individual situation.

The theoretical context of the network lecture (early research on entrepreneurialnetworks, definitions, types of networks, the link between social capital andentrepreneurial networks and the benefits from entrepreneurial networking) waspresented in a standard lecture format (1.5 h), followed by an application of repertorygrids in a classroom situation where students employed repertory grids to analysetheir entrepreneurial network at the pre-organisation stage. As a last step theinformation was integrated in Gridsuite 4, a German software available in English,which can produce both a cluster analysis and principal component analysis.

Description of the tool The repertory grid technique was devised as a method for investigating personalconstruct systems. Its purpose is to provide some information about the way in whichour system of personal constructs is evolving as well as showing its limitations andpotential (Beail, 1985). In general such matrix tables contain:

. Elements: the presented stimuli for discussion.

. Constructs or concepts derived from the participants.

. Ratings, that is, hierarchical values assigned by the interview participant(Aranda and Finch, 2003).

Beail (1985) refers to these ratings as “linking mechanisms” as they show how eachelement is assessed on each construct. One of the advantages of repertory grids is thatalthough they contain qualitative data, they can be analysed statistically. Hence, it ispossible to identify correlations between elements and concepts within a grid and linksbetween the grids themselves (Aranda and Finch, 2003; Bryman and Bell, 2003). Forthis purpose, Gridsuite 4 was used to conduct cluster analysis. The latter was helpful in

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establishing the relationship between the individual whose network was beinganalysed and his/her network members. The accent was on the individual’s perceptionof the different person’s contribution to the entrepreneurial project.

Practical steps to establishing such a grid Following Beail (1985) there is a five-stage process for working with repertory gridswhich comprises:

(1) eliciting elements;

(2) eliciting constructs;

(3) completing the grid;

(4) analysis; and

(5) interpretation.

Translating this process into the classroom reality students had to organise themselves

in teams of two; they had to decide whose network was analysed first. Second, theperson whose network was to be analysed was asked to provide a list of possiblecontacts (at least six). The elements integrated in the matrix are the differentindividuals or organisations that could potentially be involved in the different stages of the entrepreneurial venture creation process. If the interview partner refers to anorganisation the teacher leading this experimentation would advise the interviewpartners to identify at least one personal contact. Third, the names of the differentindividuals/organisations were then transferred to individual cards and one of thestudents, usually the one whose network was to be analysed, had to draw three cardsrandomly, which in the literature is referred to as the “triad” (Beail, 1985; Hunter andBeck, 2000). Fourth, the interview participant was asked to identify what two elementsof the triad had in common and how a third was different to them. The key issue here is

to identify the differences in the contribution of the different elements to theentrepreneurial project. The similarities and the contrasts that are identifiedthroughout this exercise represent a bipolar description (dichotomous construct)(Hunter and Beck, 2000). Throughout the discussion contrasting concepts areestablished which are used to fill the grid. Once all cards had been dealt with, theinterview partner was asked to assess the different network contacts on a scale of 1 out5 with regard to the identified constructs. The figures 1 to 5 indicate no value

judgement, but rather represent the two extremes of a scale. As a last step the data wasput into Gridsuite 4 which provides information about the interrelatedness of thedifferent concepts and the different network contacts.

A practical example

The example given here was taken from the MBA session “Products and Markets seenfrom an entrepreneurship point of view” conducted in December 2008. Two studentsNB and his partner D conducted the interview together. The objective was to analyseNB’s existing network that could be of use for the entrepreneurial start-up project of acompany that specialises in building management systems (BMS). These systemsbasically offer to the customer the ability to control all the technical aspects of abuilding from one computer. These aspects include electricity, plumbing, A/C, firedetection, video surveillance, elevators and many more. Needless to say that this is a


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very demanding field that requires a high level of technical expertise and a network of people able to provide the company with its potential first customers and possibly evenhelp in financing the project.

The first part of the network analysis consisted of choosing a number of people that

form the network the student believed could help achieve his professional objective.A total of 11 people were chosen who are briefly presented below. NB was alsointegrated in the grid:

(1) NB is a 26 year-old engineer with three years of experience in the area of building management systems. He received a bachelor’s and a master’s degreefrom Virginia Tech and is currently pursuing an MBA degree at a FrenchManagement School.

(2) AC is a 42 year-old controls engineer and has 20 years of experience in the fieldof building automation. AC was the student’s manager when he was workingfor IB CM.

(3) HB is a 28 year-old electrical engineer and has been working for CM for overfive years. The student worked with him in close collaboration on severalprojects as their companies were partners.

(4) MB is a 59 year-old financial manager with 35 years of experience in financeand economics. He is very knowledgeable about business administration andhappens to be the student’s father.

(5) AH is a 55 year-old business man with experience in many areas. He has a greatlevel of expertise in Entrepreneurship since he has created several successfulcompanies. He is the student’s father in law.

(6) YI is a 27 year-old business man who is one of the student’s best friends. Hereceived a Master’s degree in Management Information Systems from Boston

University and is now running his family business which consists of a steelplant and several real estate companies.

(7) ZC is a 25 year-old notary who is currently working at a large notary office inMorocco. She has only been working for a few years but she is veryknowledgeable when it comes to legal issues.

(8) D is 24 years old and is the student’s wife. During her university studies, Dspecialized in Marketing before working in the sales department of anadvertising firm. She is currently pursuing an MBA degree.

(9) NK is a 28 year-old sales manager at DM. He has had no formal universitytraining but has been working in the sales department of many companies forover eight years.

(10) IJ is a 65 year-old Electrical Engineering professor at VTech in the US. IJ has aPhD in Electrical Engineering and has many years of experience. He also has alarge network of people working in the high-tech area.

(11) MZ is a 26 year-old consultant at A in the USA. MZ has a bachelor’s degree inBusiness Information Technology.

Having identified 11 people involved in the entrepreneurial network during thepre-organisation stage, these names were transferred onto 11 cards. The student NB

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then randomly chose three cards (earlier referred to as triading) to identifycommonalities and differences between these three individuals and thus establishcontrasting concepts, which would form bipolar constructs which would be integratedinto the repertory grid. This process of choosing three names was continued until all

network contacts had been dealt with. In this particular example the following bipolarconcepts were established:

. People that can give financial support/people that can give moral support.

. People with good engineering expertise/people with good managerial skills.

. People with a huge network within local administrations/people with a hugenetwork of potential clients for the company.

. People that are for the project/people that need to be convinced.

. Distance/proximity.

. People that can be trusted under some conditions/people that can be trustedunder all conditions (please note that these concepts are found in an abbreviated

form in Figure 2).

The student NB then assessed his network contacts against these concepts on a scale of 1 to 5 and as a final step the data was put into Gridsuite 4 to conduct the respectivecluster and principal component analysis. In our example this meant, for instance, thatthe majority of network contacts provide moral rather than financial support for theproject as DH, NK, ZC, NB, HB, AC and U were rated 4 or 5. In comparison, AH, MBand YI support the project financially which was indicated by choosing 1 or 2. Incomparison MZ was rated 3. Given that 3 is the midpoint on a 1 out of 5 scale it issuggested that MZ provides both moral and financial support for the project. Figure 2shows the respective cluster analysis with contrasting concepts on the left and righthand side of the grid and the network contacts horizontally.

Further information about NB’s network can be obtained from the respective clusteranalysis which is given in Figure 2. A strong correlation (88 per cent) was found

Figure 2.Dendrogram of NB’s

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between the student himself (NB) and HB. Discussing the results with NB hecommented that the findings made a lot of sense as he and HB share a lot of commoninterests and have almost similar ratings with respect to the bipolar concepts. Inaddition, there was a high correlation between NB, HB and ZC at 83 per cent and NK at

80 per cent, indicating a high level of “like-mindedness” among these network partners.As NB suggested the latter two could be even closer to him if he could convince them tobe in favour of his professional project. In comparison, MZ, YI and AH are very close toeach other (88 per cent of correlation), but further away in their thinking from NB at 67per cent. Along with MB at 80 per cent these people are very similar in the sense thatthey all have significant business administration expertise and they can all potentiallyprovide financial support for the project. These people are very important for theentrepreneurial project as they can be trusted under all conditions and can be veryhelpful in providing managerial advice since most of them are successful businessmen.The majority of them need to be convinced, however, of the potential and the feasibilityof the project.

In addition, the cluster analysis helped to identify the correlation between differentconcepts and highlighted a correlation between the different network contacts whohave a good engineering expertise and those who can give moral support. As NBconfirmed this was a very encouraging finding given that he would most probablyneed the technical expertise of these people and it would be very beneficial to get moralsupport from them as well. One further finding from the cluster analysis was the highcorrelation (70 per cent) between the two concepts: “people who are in favour of theproject” and “those in proximity”. This result indicates that that those networkmembers who are the closest (physically speaking) to the student would also tend to bein favour of the project.

As a final step of this experimentation the students were asked to providerecommendations for further network development in line with their entrepreneurial

project, which required both reflective and critical thinking.This section of the paper has provided an example of innovative entrepreneurialpedagogy from the French context. A tool from cognitive psychology which has, todate, had little or no application in an entrepreneurship context was applied in theanalysis of entrepreneurial networks, which represents an innovative and original newapproach to teaching entrepeneurship.

7. Comparison of both innovative approachesThe two innovative pedagogy experimentations investigated in this article representthe two extremes of a spectrum of approaches ranging from the fully fledgeddevelopment of a “practice firm” encompassing six modular course components to an3 h stand-alone course component with focus on entrepreneurial network analysis. Inboth approaches the teacher is key to inducing either the start-up simulation orundertaking the basic training, that is, deliver network theory and train students of how to apply network analysis via repertory grids. Hence, the teacher has aninstrumental role as initiator, moderator, but also observer. His or her initial role is toempower students so that the role reversal can take place at a later stage.

The German prototype of the practice firm was developed as a collaborative projectbetween two German universities, which creates a much more resource intensiveframework than the individual initiative developed by the researcher and teacher in the

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French setting. The latter did, however, undertake extensive testing of repertory grids,first within Phd research and then she integrated this practical tool into her teaching.

The underlying philosophies of both teaching approaches differ to the extent that inthe German case business creation is understood as a process, bringing together

knowledge from different disciplines to train students to become moreentrepreneurially minded. The main focus is on business and management. TheFrench approach differs as the accent is on interrelating entrepreneurship, networktheories with cognitive psychology, i.e. personal construct theory.

One of the commonalities of the two experimentations is the integration of person-induced learning. In the French case the experimentation itself can be conductedwithout the software, the latter only serves to provide deeper, also graphically visibledata. The German practice firm is conducted without the use of a particular softwarealthough students are allowed to use their own computers. Emphasis in bothexperimentations is on person, that is, teacher- and student-induced learning. Thisapproach is in line with Seikkula-Leino et al. (2010) and Shulman and Shulman (2004)who emphasize the role of the teacher in inducing a vision into the classroom and takingan active role in developing forms of pedagogical and organisational practices.

One further commonality of both approaches is that they do not only encourageteam-based learning, but also personal development. In both cases, that is, in Germanyand France, student teams work independently after initial tutoring. In the Germancase the accent was on developing the participant’s start-up skills, their creativity andconfidence through teams with the latter providing mutual support and expertise. Inthe French context the team situation is necessary as the repertory grid application isbest performed with a second person who, through conversation, helps the otherperson to become aware of the importance of his/her network and its members for theentrepreneurial start-up. Concepts are elicited during this conversation which are laterintegrated in the grids, as described earlier.

There are also disadvantages to both innovative approaches to entrepreneurshipteaching. The German practice firm example does not reproduce true to life situations,yet aims to provide a comprehensive picture of the start-up situation. The integrationof repertory grids as a network analysis tool can be considered an essential element of any programme teaching necessary skills for start-up. It needs to be acknowledged,however, that teacher and students need to invest time into developing the right skillsto apply the tool.

Both innovative teaching approaches benefit from making the complex morecomprehensible. In the practice firm concept it is aimed to break down the start-upprocess in small digestible chunks, which is similar to the French experimentationwhich also intends to make the complexity of relationships visible by breaking downthe network into its members and analysing their potential to contribute to the

entrepreneurial project. Table I gives a summary of the commonalities and differencesin approach, focus and underlying philosophies of both innovative teachingexperimentations.

Adapting Abdessemed’s (2009) modelisation of pedagogical exercises theresearchers further developed Figure 3 to show the positioning of both cases on anx-axis indicating the complexity of the teaching paradigm and theory/practice versusinteraction on the y-axis. As is shown in this modelisation, the concept of the practicefirm works on the basis of a fairly complex teaching paradigm with interdependent


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theories being taught; with a medium to strong relationship between theory andpractice. In comparison, repertory grid teaching requires less complexity in theteaching paradigm and average theory/practice input.

8. Conclusion

This paper has provided two examples of innovative pedagogy in entrepreneurshipteaching, in two different cross-cultural contexts. The German example focussed on theinnovative case of the “practice firm” with all its different tasks and decision-makingprocesses, in France the subject of investigation were repertory tools which are themethodological tool of PCT, used within the context of entrepreneurial networkanalysis.

One of the key lessons from this work is that the interdisciplinary approach toteaching entrepreneurship (in Germany, an activity-based didactical concept; in

Approach Germany: the case of a practice firmFrance: repertory grids to analyseentrepreneurial networks

Tool Comprises six modular components Stand-alone course componentRole of teacher/student

Person-induced start-up simulation,teacher as initiator, moderator andobserver, but later empowerment of student

Teacher undertakes basic training, i.e.teacher as initiator, moderator andobserver, but later empowerment of students

Initiators Developed by researchers at twouniversities, applied in entrepreneurialpedagogy

Developed by one researcher, tested inPhd research, later applied inentrepreneurial pedagogy

Underlyingtheories

Entrepreneurship as a process,interdisciplinary approach

Interdisciplinary approach linkingentrepreneurial Network theories andPCT (cognition-based approach)

Focus of training Holistic, activity and participantorientation

Importance of entrepreneurial networkfor a start-up

Software use Without software tool Software tool possible, but not

compulsoryWorks on basisof

Team work Team work

Aims to Encourage understanding of businessreality through imitational setting;promote personal development; promotea realistic view of entrepreneurship

Analyse entrepreneurial networkmembers and their role in a start-up;reflect students’ reality of networks forstart-up; encourage critical reflectionand options development; makecomplex thought processes visible; elicitstudent perception of network members;promote personal development

Makes The complex comprehensible Complexity of relationships visibleAdvantages Encourages independent acting and

self-employment; empowers

independence, confidence, creativity andteam work; makes the complexity of start-up activities visible/touchable

Considers the full process of networkanalysis concluding with

recommendations of how to use/amendnetwork for a successful start-up

Disadvantages Does not reproduce true to life situation Potentially time-consuming

Table I.

Commonalities anddifferences between theinnovative teachingpractices

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France, the tool was taken from cognitive psychology) can bring something new,fruitful and innovative to our standard teaching approaches.

The researchers concluded that both approaches, though different in focus,application and extent, are potentially complementary. Thus, the network analysistool could be integrated in the practice firm concept as the merits of the tool and its

application in start-up situations were recognised. Equally interesting is the widerconcept of the practice firm for the French partner, which underlines the potentialfor further collaborative attempts in developing joint innovative pedagogical tools.Since this research started in 2008, repertory grid teaching has already beenexperimented within other European, but also Asian contexts, which has proved thetransferability of this innovative pedagogical approach. Further research hasalready been conducted to investigate student learning from repertory gridapplications in entrepreneurial network analysis and the results are expected to bepublished in due course.

Although further research is necessary in order to decide whether these approachesare 100 per cent transferable to different cultural contexts, both authors remain very

positive about cross-cultural collaboration in entrepreneurial pedagogy as thisencourages learning and exchange of innovative ideas and concepts at an internationallevel. One venue where such learning and exchange has been happening for more thaneight years is the Pan European Entrepreneurship Researchers (PEER) group formedat the University Paris Dauphine where researchers and teachers have beencollaborating in multi-cultural research aiming to exchange about entrepreneurshipresearch, but also innovative entrepreneurship pedagogy across European frontiers.Both authors are part of this international research group.

Figure 3.Different forms of

pedagogical exercises


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About the authorsRita Klapper has been employed as Associate Professor for Strategy & Entrepreneurship atRouen Business School, France since 2001, but more recently as Visiting Professor at Helsinki

School of Economics (Finland) and Nagoya University of Business & Commerce (Japan). Aftergaining her MPhil for a cross-national study with focus on the environmental dimension of Sustainable Development she studied for a doctoral degree at Leeds Business School, Universityof Leeds, UK. Her PhD was about the role of social capital in French entrepreneurial networks atthe pre-organisation stage. Her research interests focus on all aspects of entrepreneurship, but inparticular entrepreneurial networks, social capital, international entrepreneurship,entrepreneurial intention and innovative pedagogy for entrepreneurship. She is presentlyworking with companies such as Mitsubishi Electric (Germany), Panasonic (Japan), Centaur(France) and Nutriset (France). She speaks English, French and German fluently and has a


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working knowledge of Spanish. Rita Klapper is the corresponding author and can be contactedat: [email protected]

Silke Tegtmeier has been post doc (habil.) researcher in the Department of Entrepreneurshipand Start-up Management, Research Institute of Corporate Development, Leuphana University

of Lüneburg since 2009. She fini shed her PhD thesi s i n 2008, ti tle: “ DieExistenzgründungsabsicht: Eine theoretische und empirische Analyse auf Basis der Theory of Planned Behavior” (Entrepreneurial intentions – theoretical and empirical analyses based on the“theory of planned behavior”). Since October 2002 she has been employed as academic assistantto Prof. Dr Reinhard Schulte in the Department of Entrepreneurship and Start-up Management.From 1999 to 2002 she studied at the University of Lü neburg, majoring in “Human ResourceManagement” and “Principles of Foreign Economy” (French). From 1997 to 1999 she continuedworking in the Human Resources and Accountancy department of the company where she hadalready spent three years as a commercial trainee. From 1994 to 1997, she studied at theBerufsakademie Weserbergland in Hameln, Germany, focusing on business accountancy/controlling and corporate management. Her research interests focus on opportunity recognitionand development, entrepreneurial intentions (Theory of Planned Behavior), entrepreneurshipeducation, business succession, and start-up counselling.

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