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The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the Greek recession on the design of adult vocational training through the financial crisis effects on entrepreneurship and, in particular, the significance of the conditions of the in-house experiential learning effective implementation in the new macroeconomic circumstances.

An overall theoretical approach is attempted through the bibliographic review and the analysis of selected scientific forums’ data.

The results of the literature review yielded 24 important factors-prerequisites that influence the implementation of in-house experiential adult education. The importance of the in-house experiential learning and the role of adult educators are emphasized in the direction of the essential skills acquisition that shall provide employees and enterprises with intellectual and practical assistance, so that they may adjust to the new macroeconomic environment.

This effort has provided a number of useful proposals to each recipient involved in adult education and training in order to reinforce the support of the business world as much as possible, especially during the time period of recession, and to reduce unemployment.

Starting from the fact that the macroeconomic recession itself constitutes an inevitable experience of an entire social, economic and educational system, the present study attempts a realistic approach of the significance of in-house experiential education and training in the direction of successful adjustment of enterprises, employees, adult educators and the State itself against the challenges of our times.

Advocates of outdoor experiential training (OET) fervently believe in its efficacy, but often have difficulty mustering “hard data” on the business results attributable to OET. OET adherents tend to rely on testimonials of how it promotes leadership and team development. Return on investment (ROI) analysis is perhaps the best way to demonstrate the impact of OET. ROI calculations treat leadership and team development training expenditures as an investment and evaluate the financial returns to an organization relative to that investment. This paper outlines a model by which the ROI of OET can be calculated, and encourages research in this area.

Training designs are critical to the success of intercultural training programmes. A common typology for classifying intercultural training designs distinguishes among the following dimensions: experiential discovery versus didactic expository and culture‐specific versus culture‐general training. The purpose of this paper is to assess different intercultural training designs referring to this typology. First, a concept of intercultural competence is developed. Based on this concept experiential training designs are favoured as they allow to train the cognitive, affective and behavioural component of intercultural competencies. In the second part of the paper an empirical study in the USA and Germany is conducted in order to assess whether the degree of intercultural competencies differs between the two nations. As no considerable differences can be identified the benefit of culture‐general training is discussed. Significant skills to be focused on in intercultural training are described and specific measures for pre‐assessment devices in intercultural training are presented.

Addressing a gap in entrepreneurial training programs, the main objective of this study was to introduce a hybrid training model that provides training to entrepreneurs after they have started their operations and before they become large and/or well established. The presented model consist of a full entrepreneurship training program suited to serve entrepreneurs who have been operating for no less than 2 years, have 1–14 employees, and need basic training to further achieve their operational goals. This format allows for progressive learning while encouraging networking among participants. Using a case study, 5 years of data are presented describing this program and its value for its participants including urban entrepreneurs.

The purpose of this paper was to determine the factors that enable entrepreneurial opportunity recognition and the significant role of education and training in enhancing opportunity recognition.

This paper follows a systematic literature review method to answer the research questions. A systematic literature review allows us to determine the work carried out to date, how it was done, assess literature and report all relevant research. The authors have used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic and Meta-Analysis procedure.

The findings of this study showed that prior knowledge, social networks, external environment, entrepreneurial alertness, creativity, self-efficacy and entrepreneurial passion are the main factors that play a role in the opportunity recognition process. The authors were also able to establish the importance of education and training in enhancing opportunity recognition. Experiential learning is at the forefront of education methods used to improve prior knowledge and experience that directly impact the ability to recognize entrepreneurial opportunities.

The paper provides human resource development practitioners and entrepreneurship educators with factors that determine entrepreneurial opportunity recognition. It pinpoints the factors that can be exploited in enhancing employees and novice entrepreneurs’ ability to recognize viable entrepreneurial opportunities.

Opportunity recognition is recognized as the first step in the entrepreneurship process. Therefore, it is crucial for entrepreneurs to have the ability to recognize opportunities that are viable. Understanding the factors that contribute to a successful opportunity recognition is important. In addition, the role of education and training in opportunity recognition and enhancing entrepreneurial opportunity recognition cannot be overlooked.

The purpose of this paper is to identify in the specialized literature published in the past 20 years about sales training, some elements or key factors that could be applied to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) as a support for the learning of the detection of business opportunities.

This is a study of a documentary nature in which a method of systematic literature review was applied to 132 studies published in journals indexed in Scopus and Scielo on sales training processes. The analysis of the data combined a process of categorization and frequencies statistical analysis.

The results highlight the role of ICT and specifically the use of mobile devices to support the strengthening of training in sales in terms of relationship, opportunity and flexibility in communication with the client, the construction of positive emotional environments and experiential/situated training.

The originality of this study lies in the extraction and interpretation of key factors focused on addressing a guiding question about the relationships between the use of ICT and sales training.

The purpose of this paper is to present a prospective entrepreneurship training model based on experiential learning which will enable the “production” of small business owners or entrepreneurs which is not being achieved by the current methods.

This is a conceptual paper. It analyses the current approaches in use, identifying inherent weaknesses and the gaps that need to be filled. Through literature reviews and case cites it provides a model that integrates experiential learning into entrepreneurship education.

The paper shows that appropriate experiential training can truly be integrated into entrepreneurship education in South Africa as in disciplines such as engineering or nursing.

The model needs to be test implemented to find its efficacy. Just like any model, it may need refinement.

The prospective model is an attempt to produce entrepreneurs and small business owners. This is critical in South Africa where entrepreneurs/business start‐ups are in critical shortage. No known study on work integrated learning (WIL) in entrepreneurship in higher education has been conducted in South Africa or such a model presented.

Cross‐cultural training is fast becoming a recognizably important component in the world of international business. This paper discusses the effectiveness of cross‐cultural training in facilitating the process of acculturation, and in developing the culture‐specific and culture‐general skills needed to increase the sociocultural and psychological adjustments of sojourners and expatriates when they encounter a foreign culture. A new cross‐cultural training model is created by integrating acculturation and training effectiveness models. This new model suggests that providing two different types of training program prior to cultural contact will help recipients to effectively modify existing culture‐general and culture‐specific skills. As a consequence, they will achieve a higher degree of sociocultural and psychological adjustment. Experiential training should trigger affective and behavioral responses, which are the basis of intercultural effectiveness skills, and thus enhance psychological adjustment. By contrast, cognitive training should trigger cognitive responses, especially cultural awareness and interpersonal skills, and enhance sociocultural adjustment.

It is argued that most Australian training courses for unemployed people starting their own small business emphasise business development. An innovative course in the State of Queensland blends personal and business development together, using experiential techniques. Feedback during the course and several months afterwards suggest the course successfully achieves its objectives.