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What is “enterprise culture?” How can organisations benefit from this new ideology and its consequent practices?

The support for local initiatives by large organisations has become substantially institutionalised in the UK through Business in the Community. How much further it will go, and how much it will be supported by government, is the subject of debate and conjecture. An overview of how large firms support small and medium enterprise development — the motivations and how they are changing — is provided. The problems in evaluation and a case study of Shell UK Ltd are provided, and future directions, possible shifts and influences are considered.

There has been a substantial growth in training programmes in the UK over the past decade and particularly in the 1980s, aimed at supporting the business start‐up process. In the 1970s, small business training, channelled mainly through the Industry Training Boards, concentrated almost exclusively on the existing small business. That there has been such substantial growth reflects the priorities and influence of the Manpower Services Commission (MSC). Its pioneering work on the New Enterprise Programmes in the late 70s led on to a hierarchy of start‐up programmes in the 80s covering a wide variety of client types. Behind this, in turn, lay the political commitment to support of self‐help progammes aimed at increasing the rate of starts of small business as a counter to unemployment, and increasing their viability, thus lowering the failure rate. Start‐up training has gone much farther in the UK than in the rest of Europe, and several European countries have followed British practice in recent years[1]. The growth in provision can partly be monitored by the Manpower Services Commission's own figures which show 64 starters being helped through training in 1978/79 and 31,000 in 1986/87. The MSC is planning to revise its programme portfolio in this area, in the light of its evaluation, and in an endeavour substantially to increase the through‐put of participants with targets of over 45,000 in 1987/88.

This article is written for practitioners. It argues that training policies should clearly be related to objectives of stimulating the role of start‐ups, improving survival rates and increasing the growth potential of small firms. It argues also that the supply offer of training in Europe is somewhat below that of need. It looks at the possible reasons for this both from the demand and the supply side. It suggests that the small firm needs distinct approaches by trainers and organisers and a level of professional competence which might yet be largely missing. It identifies the necessary competences for trainer and organiser to deliver effective training. It concludes by arguing the case for the development of a professional cadre of small business trainers across Europe.

This is the second and final part of an article which considers the role of the UK education sector in small firms management, education and training. The first part reviewed the changing pressures on the higher education sector which provide opportunities for its greater involvement with the owner‐managed company. It also looked closely at the needs of the “customers” for small business training and discussed how these might be usefully segmented. We now discuss the contribution of the education sector along with the “supply side” problems. The data is drawn from a survey of 80 ex‐participants of the UK Small Business Management Teachers Programme. The survey was undertaken in 1982. The objectives of this programme and its importance in the field of the small business management were discussed in the first part.

Contemporary entrepreneurial education (EE) has global reach and impact, with a growing number of entrepreneurship courses, specializations, and degrees in all parts of the world. There is no longer a question of the significance and demand for EE in the higher education system. At the same time, the interest in scientific knowledge and proven experience of “what works” has accelerated, resulting in a rapid growth in the number of scholars and research-based publications conversing vividly about the field. This chapter elaborates on the historical evolution of EE as a scholarly field. First, an overview of important milestones and major events that shaped the field is provided. Second, by focusing on the development over the last three decades, the authors present an overview of the advances that have occurred within the field in terms of practice, social, and research-based aspects. The historical review shows how EE began in, but gradually separated from entrepreneurship as a field, which can be observed in the development of research outlets, meeting places, and teaching practice. Consequently, this historical review can serve as a point of departure for showing how the field has emerged and how knowledge has been developed and accumulated over time. The authors believe that this review can be helpful for scholars, particularly new entrants such as PhD students and other scholars entering the EE field, to learn from and contextualize their own research-based historical insight.

There has been an enormous growth in assistance to small firms over the past three or four years, albeit from a very small initial base. Much of this assistance has been geared to “software”, namely the provision of advice, counselling, consulting and training/education services. The Small Firms Information Centre Service has expanded its capability substantially as has the associated Department of Industry Counselling Service. The latter, for example, has not only increased numerically (with over 200 counsellors throughout the UK) but has begun to differentiate its service in favour of particular groups, for example, in offering a technical counselling service. In addition, as local interest in small firms has developed, a wide range of other sources of assistance have emerged including: large companies providing secondees to “counsel” small business; local authorities providing their own counselling and advice centres; semi‐autonomous “voluntary” organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureau; other representatives of local authorities, including community services organisations and industrial development officers; the banks and some accountants, and more recently the Enterprise Agencies themselves. In addition many colleges and polytechnics have established counselling/consultancy services often linked with small business training and education programmes.

One result of the recent upsurge of national, and indeed international, political interest in the small firm sector of the economy has been a focus on the role of management training and development in the small firm and on the wider, but related, issue of education and training for entrepreneurship. The basis for this renewed government attention seems to lie in recognition of the employment potential of small firms rather than in the contribution that training and education might make to productivity and efficiency. Added to the weight of official concern is pressure from individuals who, without the early possibility of becoming an employee, are being forced to look to their own resources and initiative. It is, therefore, scarcely surprising that much of the recent stimulus to small firms training has come from government training schemes and, in the UK, from local community‐based ventures aimed at improving local job prospects. The accent in the UK has been on encouraging the new small business start up.

The period 2002‐2010 has seen significant growth in enterprise education in schools in England, accompanied by the growth of guidelines and frameworks to provide educational and assessment structures. This paper intends to explore the questions: What does “enterprise” mean in the context of 14‐19 education? What is the purpose and contribution of competence frameworks and related structures for the learning and assessment of enterprise education? How effective are they? and How might enterprise education frameworks evolve in response to changes in the post‐ recessionary economic, employment and educational landscape?

The paper conducts a critical review of competency frameworks introduced in England to assist with enterprise education primarily for the 14‐19 age group. These are compared on the basis of their educational purpose and rationale (“why?”), their content (“what skills and knowledge they include”), and the approaches to teaching, learning and assessment they recommend (“how?”).

The analysis discusses the following questions to reflect on the progress and direction of enterprise education: How broadly or narrowly should enterprise be defined? How useful is the term? Are the skills and related knowledge and attributes too broad or too soft?; and Is there too much emphasis on assessable outcomes, rather than on how enterprising learning takes place?

The paper contributes to the development of enterprise education for researchers, policymakers and practitioners in schools at an important point in the economic, educational and political cycle.

Enterprise education in schools requires critique of and reflection on what has been achieved, together with consideration of its future purpose, value, orientation and nature. There is a concern that the “delivery” of enterprise education takes place in ways which are not “enterprising” forms of learning, and that assessment drives the curriculum. Changes to definitions, frameworks and pedagogy are needed to clarify its future educational role.