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Essay Samples on Entrepreneurship

What is entrepreneurship in your own words.

What is entrepreneurship in your own words? To me, entrepreneurship is the art of turning imagination into reality, the courage to chart unexplored territories, and the commitment to leave a lasting mark on the world. It's a journey of boundless creativity, relentless innovation, and unwavering...

• Entrepreneurship

What is Entrepreneurship: Unveiling the Essence

What is entrepreneurship? This seemingly straightforward question encapsulates a world of innovation, risk-taking, and enterprise. Entrepreneurship is not merely a business concept; it's a mindset, a journey, and a force that drives economic growth and societal progress. In this essay, we delve into the multifaceted...

Social Entrepreneurship: Harnessing Innovation

Social entrepreneurship is a transformative approach that merges business principles with social consciousness to address pressing societal challenges. This unique form of entrepreneurship goes beyond profit-seeking and focuses on generating innovative solutions that create positive change in communities. In this essay, we explore the concept...

Evolution of Entrepreneurship: Economic Progress

Evolution of entrepreneurship is a fascinating journey that mirrors the changes in society, economy, and technology throughout history. From humble beginnings as small-scale trade to the modern era of startups, innovation hubs, and global business networks, entrepreneurship has continuously adapted to the dynamic landscape. This...

Importance of Entrepreneurship: Economic Growth and Societal Transformation

Importance of entrepreneurship transcends its role as a mere business activity; it stands as a driving force behind innovation, economic growth, and societal transformation. Entrepreneurship fosters the creation of new products, services, and industries, while also generating employment opportunities and catalyzing economic development. This essay...

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Entrepreneurship as a Career: Navigating the Path of Innovation

Entrepreneurship as a career is a compelling journey that offers individuals the opportunity to create their own path, shape their destiny, and contribute to the economy through innovation. While the road to entrepreneurship is laden with challenges and uncertainties, it is also marked by the...

Corporate Entrepreneurship: Fostering Innovation

Corporate entrepreneurship represents a strategic approach that empowers established organizations to embrace innovation, take calculated risks, and explore new opportunities. In an ever-evolving business landscape, the concept of corporate entrepreneurship has gained prominence as companies seek to maintain their competitive edge and adapt to changing...

Challenges Faced by Entrepreneurs: Innovation and Success

Challenges faced by entrepreneurs are a testament to the intricate journey of turning visionary ideas into tangible realities. While entrepreneurship is often associated with innovation and opportunity, it's also characterized by a multitude of hurdles and obstacles that test an entrepreneur's resilience and determination. In...

300 Words About Entrepreneurship: Navigating Innovation and Opportunity

About entrepreneurship is a dynamic journey that involves the pursuit of innovation, creation, and the realization of opportunities. It is the process of identifying gaps in the market, envisioning solutions, and taking calculated risks to bring new products, services, or ventures to life. Entrepreneurs are...

Best topics on Entrepreneurship

1. What is Entrepreneurship in Your Own Words

2. What is Entrepreneurship: Unveiling the Essence

3. Social Entrepreneurship: Harnessing Innovation

4. Evolution of Entrepreneurship: Economic Progress

5. Importance of Entrepreneurship: Economic Growth and Societal Transformation

6. Entrepreneurship as a Career: Navigating the Path of Innovation

7. Corporate Entrepreneurship: Fostering Innovation

8. Challenges Faced by Entrepreneurs: Innovation and Success

9. 300 Words About Entrepreneurship: Navigating Innovation and Opportunity

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Home — Essay Samples — Business — Technology in Business — Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Startup Hubs

• Categories: Starting a Business Technology in Business

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Published: Apr 11, 2019

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Innovation and entrepreneurship (essay)

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Entrepreneur College Essays Samples For Students

206 samples of this type

Do you feel the need to examine some previously written College Essays on Entrepreneur before you get down to writing an own piece? In this free database of Entrepreneur College Essay examples, you are granted a thrilling opportunity to discover meaningful topics, content structuring techniques, text flow, formatting styles, and other academically acclaimed writing practices. Implementing them while composing your own Entrepreneur College Essay will definitely allow you to finalize the piece faster.

Presenting high-quality samples isn't the only way our free essays service can aid students in their writing efforts – our authors can also compose from point zero a fully customized College Essay on Entrepreneur that would make a genuine basis for your own academic work.

Economics And Entrepreneurship Essay Examples

Someone who has the initiative to organize a venture for taking benefit of an opportunity is an entrepreneur. He is a decision maker and his decisions involve what, how, and how much of products or services will be produced.

Entrepreneurship Essay Sample

Reflections on how i became an entrepreneur, evaluating key concepts of entrepreneurship essay examples.

Evaluating the key theoretical developments of the term - entrepreneurship!

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Free Essay On Evaluating The Key Theoretical Developments Of The Term - Entrepreneurship

Introduction:, good essay about entrepreneurship interview, executive summary3.

Introduction 4 Brand 6 Conclusion..7 Appendices..8

Executive summary

The report is a thorough analysis of the real events that an entrepreneur encounters in his or her daily activities to prosper in his business. The report endeavors in sourcing information form a well established entrepreneur in the technology sector that will set the ground of comparing the theoretical entrepreneurial attributes with the challenges that are faced in the business environment.

Introduction

Good essay on entrepreneurial profile and swot analysis, personal entrepreneurial strategy exercise, entrepreneurship essay example, good market feasibility essay example, inspiring essay about the interview went as follows:, interviewing a post-founding entrepreneur..

After getting the contacts for the post-founding entrepreneur, I called him. I had the opportunity to interview a top Founder and CEO of a certain company, who has been a successful entrepreneur. I got the chance to acquire information concerning entrepreneurship and the key skills for one to have to be a successful entrepreneur.

Free Essay On Does Entrepreneurship Pay Journal Of Political Economy

1.) describe the definition of "entrepreneurship.", essay on martin m 2011 issues in entrepreneurship london palgrave macmillan.

Introduction to Entrepreneurship

Time And Money Essay Examples

The term ‘entrepreneurship’ became very popular in the 21st century when people recognized the importance of introducing major changes in the world. Today, many people abandon their career as an employee and start entrepreneurial ventures with intent to earn unlimited income and to meet their self-actualization needs. Considering the scope of entrepreneurship in supporting a country’s economic growth, governments worldwide are willing to finance potential entrepreneurial start-ups today. This paper will critically explore the scope of entrepreneurship, giving particular emphasis to the operations of small business houses.

Free Entrepreneurship Essay Example

Role of innovation for entrepreneurial start-up and/or firm growth, free entrepreneurship essay sample, essay on ross perot: the success of an entrepreneur, the early dreams of ross perot, free entrepreneur essay sample, qualities of a successful entrepreneur.

An entrepreneur needs certain qualities to be a successful entrepreneur. It is due to the fact that without development of those qualities, he or she cannot be succeeded in the diversified business world. Table 1 identifies the qualities and their traits that should be part of an entrepreneur to be successful.

Table1: Characteristics and Traits of an Entrepreneur

Source: Singh & Gupta (2016)

The earlier described traits are interlinked to each other and hence can be summarized in the following manner.

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BUSINESS FINANCING AND THE CAPITAL STRUCTURE Raisinga business capital is a crucial step on every entrepreneur who aims at starting a business. They should conduct extensive research on various funding options which will suit their specifications. They should also consider the prevailing market competition to help them chose a method that would give their businesses an upper hand in the competing market. There are two ways in which the entrepreneurs can acquire a startup capital. One is through equity financing, and the other one is through debt financing.

Jason Tsai The Great Entrepreneur Essay

Jason tsai: the great entrepreneur.

An entrepreneur is an individual that makes use of opportunities and available resources to create values around. This is defined as the individual "who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise" (MariamWebster Dictionary). This explains being innovative with your resources and creating values from the resources. Jason Tsai has shown the world the characteristics of a successful entrepreneur. His values and qualities in creating values with his company is worthy of exploration and emulation. This review identifies those personal characteristics contributing to the success of Entanet.

Effective planning

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Entrepreneurship is the process of creating, organizing and managing a business undertaking in order to get profit. The most common type of entrepreneurship is starting of new business enterprises. Entrepreneurship is exemplified by innovation and taking of risks. Entrepreneurs are essential to the nation’s growth and development. They ought to be creative in the modern times because of the stiff competition and a constantly changing market. Knowing what business to start is as crucial as running the business itself.

Current Economic Situation

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Strategic planning involves the formulation of plans that helps and promotes the achievement of effective management of both the internal and external environment of a business. The strategic plan of a company is influenced by various factors including personal vision and commitment from the side of the entrepreneur. With visionary planning, a company’s strategic plan will be achieved. On the other hand, it is not easy to implement the strategic plan when an entrepreneur has no defined vision for such achievements.

Successful ventures balance entrepreneurial characteristics with managerial styles. What does this statement mean?

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Al Gharbia in the UAE has been endowed with nature. The Empty Quarter of Al Gharbia has many sand dunes and Sabkhas. There are business ideas that can be developed from these gifts of nature. This paper will focus on how these features can be used to be a source of business. It will propose a business idea that can be used by businessmen to develop businesses that can bring revenue to the business owners (Lokier, 2013).

Business idea

Innovation entrepreneurship and steve jobs essay example, innovation, entrepreneurship and steve jobs.

Nagji and Tuff (2012) define innovation as a “novel creation that produces value”. Innovation is the process of improving upon a product, service idea or a technology that has been invented, so as to make it readily available in the market. Innovation is significantly different from the word invention. Whereas the word invention refers to the creation of a new idea, product or a technology, Innovation is the process which is aimed at making it better so as to have more practical applications to it in the marketplace.

Example Of Entrepreneur Essay

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In my own thinking, a market is either a virtual, such as online platform, or physical position where potential and actual buyers are present and sellers are ready to satisfy the needs of such buyers. In a market, an entrepreneur needs to conduct a market research since it is only through the research they will be able to collect relevant data concerning the market needs. Through market research, an entrepreneur will be able to identify a market as it provides an opportunity to spot a gap.

Describe social media marketing and mobile marketing.

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Biotechnology entrepreneurship is the integration of all scientific and business activities that are required to build an enterprise (Shimasaki, 2014). This practice allows an organization to invent, develop, and make money from biotechnology products.

Significance of the Biotechnology Entrepreneur

Comment for 3 students and 2 students: exemplar essay to follow.

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Princeton Common App Essay: Discuss an accomplishment

Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family..

“Ka-ching!” Success! This was not a real cash register but the sound of a notification from the Etsy app on my phone. I eagerly read the screen. “One new order.” Someone bought something I created! A childish glee coursed through me as I opened the Etsy app.

This adventure began two years ago when I clicked the “Publish” button on my new Etsy shop. (Etsy.com, a virtual marketplace, accommodates everyone from budding entrepreneurs to experienced sellers.) Soon came the first order, and I was hooked. At first, my shop in the cloud sold art prints built of simply two components: ink and cardstock. But with increasing confidence, I experimented with new styles, concepts, and materials. My shop expanded to offer a selection of products including wedding invitations, iPhone cases, and business-logo designs.

To create a market for my products and services, I opened two Instagram accounts. I contacted Instagram users with anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 followers to sponsor my shop, which meant they would post photos of my art and share their followers with me in return for free products. Many more “Ka-chings!” rang out as my little business burgeoned into an international enterprise with customers in Australia, Canada, and England. I grew with it. I began to take risks. I acted on other ideas, including building a professional photography business.

My shop, created as a hobby, soon opened up new opportunities. I’ve collaborated with several entrepreneurs, including the winner of the international Starbucks White Cup Contest. My art has been published in Ama-gi Magazine and I’ve licensed my designs to businesses nationwide: a clothing store, a phone case shop, and a paper goods company. Most recently, Rocksbox.com, a jewelry company featured on Forbes.com, asked me to sponsor their company because they want access to my customer base. I will showcase their products on my Instagram accounts.

Although I enjoy designing, I relish the “Ka-ching!” and what it means to me. It represents non-monetary rewards: confidence, because I made important business decisions; productivity, because I worked within a tight schedule to deliver quality products; and excitement, because my Etsy success has inspired me to chase other opportunities. I’ve also learned some real-life skills: communicating effectively with customers, enjoying focused work, researching marketing techniques, brainstorming product ideas, organizing my time, and taking risks with my own money. Most significantly, I experienced how a few bold ideas and diligence can translate into confidence and the joy of achievement.

In the beginning, my business wasn’t very lucrative. I earned far less per hour than the minimum wage. But the “Ka-ching!” is not about money, it’s about total strangers around the world giving me a vote of confidence for my hard work with every dollar they spend.

They say that there is a profound link between sense and memory. Everyone experiences this with a familiar smell or sound because the same section of the brain that holds memories also has sensory processing ability. For me, that cash register sound always recalls the thrilling sense of achievement, assurance, and connection with other people. That is the power of “Ka-ching!”

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So You Want to Be an Entrepreneur?

• Emily Heyward

One founder’s advice on what you should know before you quit your day job.

Starting a business is not easy, and scaling it is even harder. You may think you’re sitting on a completely original idea, but chances are the same cultural forces that led you to your business plan are also influencing someone else. That doesn’t mean you should give up, or that you should rush to market before you’re ready. It’s not about who’s first, it’s about who does it best, and best these days is the business that delivers the most value to the consumer. Consumers have more power and choice than ever before, and they’re going to choose and stick with the companies who are clearly on their side. How will you make their lives easier, more pleasant, more meaningful? How will you go out of your way for them at every turn? When considering your competitive advantage, start with the needs of the people you’re ultimately there to serve. If you have a genuine connection to your idea, and you’re solving a real problem in a way that adds more value to people’s lives, you’re well on your way.

When I graduated from college in 2001, I didn’t have a single friend whose plan was to start his or her own business. Med school, law school, finance, consulting: these were the coveted jobs, the clear paths laid out before us. I took a job in advertising, which was seen as much more rebellious than the reality. I worked in advertising for a few years, and learned an incredible amount about how brands get built and communicated. But I grew restless and bored, tasked with coming up with new campaigns for old and broken products that lacked relevance, unable to influence the products themselves. During that time, I was lucky to have an amazing boss who explained a simple principle that fundamentally altered my path. What she told me was that stress is not about how much you have on your plate; it’s about how much control you have over the outcomes. Suddenly I realized why every Sunday night I was overcome with a feeling of dread. It wasn’t because I had too much going on at work. It was because I had too little power to effect change.

• EH Emily Heyward is the author of Obsessed: Building a Brand People Love from Day One (Portfolio; June 9, 2020). She is the co-founder and chief brand officer at Red Antler, a full-service brand company based in Brooklyn. Emily was named among the Most Important Entrepreneurs of the Decade by Inc.  magazine, and has also been recognized as a Top Female Founder by Inc. and one of Entrepreneur’s Most Powerful Women of 2019.

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Seven reasons entrepreneurship may be the missing puzzle piece to a successful college application.

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The biggest obstacle for students aspiring to wow college admissions officers with a slam-dunk application isn’t acquiring impressive skills; it’s finding a way to “show” rather than “tell” those strengths. While test scores, GPA and a challenging course load can offer measurable statistics and paint a partial picture of a student’s strong suits and aptitude, they fall short of presenting an applicant’s robust contributions outside the classroom. 

Student entrepreneurs can find a way to stand out to college admission officers by starting their ... [+] own business.

In recent years, entrepreneurship has become an increasingly popular discipline, with the pandemic accelerating this trend for both high school students and adults . The simultaneous rise of virtual entrepreneurship programs like Beta Bowl , high school pitch competitions and entrepreneurship scholarships encourages teens to explore entrepreneurial pursuits — and the benefits are vast. Entrepreneurship education has been directly tied to an increase in students’ innovation , and a hands-on entrepreneurial experience may help applicants demonstrate the critical skills universities are fervently seeking. 

One: Entrepreneurial Projects Portray Autonomy And Confidence

As colleges seek mature, driven self-starters who will take their education into their own hands, there’s no clearer proof of such maturity, autonomy and confidence than a teen building and running their own business. An entrepreneurial experience gives colleges a glimpse into how the student could contribute to their campus.

These entrepreneurial teens don’t rely on hand-holding from parents, professors or superiors to make bold results and tackle challenging, innovative projects.

Two: Students Employ Analytical Thinking and Independent Research In Business Planning

Those who rise to the top of a university class aren’t simply instruction-followers, but rather they’re the analytical thinkers who ask provocative questions, dig deep into complex topics and challenge their peers and professors’ thought patterns, as well. 

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Research is a skill few high school students master outside of classroom-assigned science projects. However, thorough independent research is often critical in the college setting, as students are tasked with research-backed presentations, debates and defending their viewpoints through thesis papers. 

Three ways entrepreneurship fosters research in teen founders:

• Industry research (understanding the problems, solutions, peers, customers, trends and price points in their industry)
• Market validation (proving the market need for the product through quantitative data outlining the size of the market and the trends in buyer behavior)
• Competitor analysis (to ensure their venture stacks up to the competition and maintains a clear and compelling competitive advantage)

Three: Critical Thinking And Decision-Making Skills Are A Constant

Critical thinking and decision-making are at the forefront of every entrepreneur’s actions, and they offer a real-world example of how students successfully take their research one step further. 

These skills are easy to list on a resume but much harder to prove without a concrete example. An entrepreneurial venture gives students an opportunity to do just that.

Four: Entrepreneurship Entails Problem-Solving And Obstacle-Tackling

Every business is riddled with unforeseen challenging obstacles. Teens can allow admissions officers a front-row seat to their problem-solving strategies as they recount their journey in an essay or interview.

• How will they get the product produced or delivered?
• What actions do they take to convert sales with a limited marketing budget?
• How will they overcome unexpected upsets like a technical glitch, dissatisfied customer or marketing blunder?

Five: A Commitment To Take Projects From Inception To Completion

One of the most rewarding and impressive aspects of building a business is the experience of taking an idea from inception to completion with a concrete outcome. This reinforces to universities a student’s self-drive and commitment to long-term projects.

Six: Entrepreneurs Manage Diverse Tasks And Oversee Multiple Projects

Unlike a subject-specific class, entrepreneurship encompasses a broad array of skills and tasks across varied domains, from product development to marketing to technology and more. Teen entrepreneurs exemplify leadership and project management as they oversee simultaneous tasks and juggle diverse responsibilities.

Seven: Pitching To Investors And Customers Cultivates Professional Communication Skills

No matter the business a student pursues, they’ll likely strengthen their professional communication along the way. Whether dealing with suppliers, technology providers, investors or customers, teen entrepreneurs must clearly communicate their value proposition and business needs to strangers in a professional manner. Doing so will further develop a student’s maturity and salesmanship, which will provide long-term benefits to their educational and professional careers, and will help them to stand out to universities.

In the college application process, some universities even allow students the chance to talk specifically about their entrepreneurial journey. For example, in 2020, Massachusetts Institute of Technology had the following essay prompt: 

“At MIT, we bring people together to better the lives of others. MIT students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way in which you have contributed to your community, whether in your family, the classroom, your neighborhood, etc.”

Entrepreneurial teens come away with a clear essay topic and talking point around how they’ve challenged the status quo with their business, offering a preview of the impact they may have in a university setting. 

Applicants Should Prioritize Actions Over Buzzwords

With rising applicant pools and declining acceptance rates , standout candidates need more than high test scores to ace their applications. Those looking for a unique differentiator should turn to real-world, impactful projects that illustrate their skills through actions and outcomes, rather than solely relying on a 4.0 GPA or resume buzzwords.

Testing the waters of entrepreneurship might be the silver bullet solution for those aiming to put their best foot forward and secure a spot at their dream university.

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Common Application Short Answer Essay on Entrepreneurship

Doug's Supplemental Essay Response has Problems—Read the Response and Critique

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At selective colleges that use the Common Application , you'll often find a supplemental essay that asks something like this: "Briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences." A college that asks this type of question has holistic admissions ; that is, the college wants to get to know you as a whole person, not just as a list of grades and test scores.

By asking you about one of your extracurricular activities, the college is giving you an opportunity to highlight a passion of yours that you didn't explore in your main Common Application essay  The length limit for the essay will vary from school to school, but something in the 100- to 250-word range is typical.

A Sample Short Answer Essay with Some Problems

When you consider which extracurricular activity to explore in your response, keep in mind that it doesn't have to be a school-related activity. Doug chose to write about a lawn-mowing business that he founded. Here's his essay: 

My freshman year I founded Beat the Joneses, a lawn care company. I was a kid with a hand-pushed mower, a second-hand weed whacker, and a desire to build a successful and profitable company. Three years later, my company has four employees and I've used the profits to buy a riding mower, two trimmers, two hand mowers and a trailer. This kind of success comes naturally to me. I'm good at advertising locally and convincing my customers of the value of my services. I hope to use these skills in college as I earn my business degree. Business is my passion, and I hope to be even more financially successful after college.

Critique of Doug's Short Answer Response

What Doug has accomplished is impressive. Most college applicants haven't started their own business and hired employees. Doug does seem to have a true knack for business as he grew his company and reinvested in his lawn care equipment. A college business program would probably have a favorable impression Doug's accomplishments.

Doug's short answer response, however, has makes some common short answer mistakes . The most significant issue is that Doug comes off sounding like a braggart and an egotist. The phrase "this kind of success comes naturally to me" is likely to rub the admissions officers the wrong way. Doug sounds full of himself. While a college wants confident students, it doesn't want obnoxious ones. The tone of the essay would be much more effective if Doug let his accomplishments speak for themselves rather than showering himself with self-praise.

Also, presumably students go to business school in order to develop their knowledge base and skill set. Doug, however, comes across as someone who doesn't think he has much to learn in college. Why exactly does he want to go to college if he already thinks he has all the skills he needs to run a business? Here again, Doug's tone is off. Rather than looking forward to expanding his education to make him a better business owner, Doug sounds as if he already knows everything, and he's simply looking for a diploma to increase his marketability. 

The overall message that we get from Doug's essay is that the writer is someone who thinks very highly of himself and likes to make money. If Doug has any ambitions more noble than "profit," he hasn't made those goals clear in his supplemental short answer response.

Put yourself in the shoes of the folks working in the admissions office. You want to admit students who will make campus a better place. You want students who will be enriched by their college experience, flourish in the classroom, and contribute to campus life in positive ways. Doug does not sound like someone who will be a charitable and contributing member of a campus community.

Colleges hear all too frequently that students want to attend so that they can get a great job and make money. However, if students have no passion for learning and participating in college life, the road to that degree will be fraught with problems. Doug's short answer doesn't succeed in explaining the connection between his lawn care company and his desire to spend four years of his life studying business.

A Final Word About Short Answer Supplemental Essays

Doug's short essay  could  be excellent with some revision and a shift in the tone. A winning short answer essay will reveal a bit more humility, generosity of spirit, and self-awareness. Whether you're writing an essay about your love of running or your job at Burger King , you need to keep your audience in mind and remember the purpose of the essay: you want to show that you've participated in a meaningful extracurricular activity or work experience that has made you grow and mature.

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Entrepreneurship in college: advantages and keys to success.

BY MELISSA BURNS

When you’re busy studying for finals, writing essays, and worrying about next semester’s classes, the last thing on your mind is becoming an entrepreneur. But starting a business in college can be a real opportunity for college students—and it’s more feasible than you might think. At worst, you’ll walk away with a significant experience that you can put on a resume, and at best, you can growth hack your way to the status of brands like Spotify, YouTube, or Facebook (the latter of which was actually started by a founder still in college).

Advantages of College Entrepreneurship

So why is starting a business in college advantageous over simply waiting until you graduate?

• Sheer connection potential. In college, you’ll be surrounded by hundreds to thousands of other students, all of whom are energetic, eager to learn, and motivated to find a future career for themselves. If you’re looking for partners, employees, or interdisciplinary contacts, you’re never going to find a better time and place.
• Advice from professors and counselors. You’re surrounded not only by peers, but by people far more experienced and knowledgeable than you are. Depending on the nature of your business, you may be able to find seasoned experts in your field teaching classes, or at the very least, be able to contact advisors who can connect you to those resources outside the university.
• Extra free time. Being a full-time college student is demanding, and on top of that, some students even have part-time or full-time jobs. However, most students aren’t juggling full-time work, overtime, family responsibilities, and other obligations the way most graduated adults are. You’ll almost certainly have more free time now than in the future, so it’s a prime opportunity to invest more hours in a potential business.
• Business world connections. Even if your business isn’t a success, as you develop your business, you’ll make valuable connections in the business world. For example, if you start wooing potential investors, working with other business partners, or finding new suppliers, you’ll build yourself an extended network of contacts you can use for references or opportunities down the road.
• Entrepreneurial experience (while you’re young). Finally, and most importantly, you’ll gain the experience of starting and running your own business, which will teach you invaluable lessons about leadership, creative problem solving, critical thinking, and communication–all of which are valuable to learn while you’re still young.

How to Succeed

Just because there are major advantages to college entrepreneurship doesn’t mean it’s easy or straightforward; you’ll need these strategies to find success:

• Choose the right idea. Not all business ideas offer the same degree of feasibility for college students; for example, you’ll likely need an idea that won’t require much upfront capital, and one that won’t demand an intensive investment in infrastructure. Opt for more inexpensive, nimble options for your first foray.
• Start slow. Don’t start sacrificing everything for your business. It’s a good thing to be passionate about your business and invest yourself fully in it, but not at the expense of your other responsibilities. Start working on your business slowly, and gradually scale up as you become more comfortable and familiar with the process.
• Listen to advice. You may have a great idea, but you’re still young and inexperienced. You don’t have to take the advice of everyone who offers, but you should at least listen. Absorb as much information and as many different perspectives as you can during this experience.
• Prioritize your studies. Your business does have a chance to become successful, but it’s still a good idea to complete your education. Even if you’re more excited about your business idea, try to prioritize your academic studies. Think of it as hedging your bets for the future.
• Be careful with your money. You’re likely facing a large sum of student debt, without much personal capital available to fund your venture. Accordingly, you’ll need to be frugal and judicious about how your business financially operates. The last thing you want is to accrue a secondary source of massive debt before you graduate.
• Remain flexible. Finally, understand that few paths to success in the business world are straightforward and unbent. Your business will likely take a course of development that you wouldn’t expect and can’t predict, so remain flexible enough to allow that development.

Starting a business while still in college is certainly a massive undertaking, but it’s both possible and beneficial to do so—regardless of your business’s ultimate fate. Put your fears of failure to the side and start taking advantage of the resources and opportunities that surround you.

Melissa Burns graduated from the faculty of Journalism of Iowa State University in 2008. Nowadays she  is an entrepreneur and independent journalist. Her sphere of interests includes startups, information technologies and how these ones may be implemented.

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Entrepreneurship →

• 09 Apr 2024
• Cold Call Podcast

Sustaining a Legacy of Giving in Turkey

Özyeğin Social Investments was founded by Hüsnü Özyeğin, one of Turkey's most successful entrepreneurs, with a focus on education, health, gender equality, rural development, and disaster relief in Turkey. The company and the Özyeğin family have spent decades serving and improving communities in need. Their efforts led to the creation of one of Turkey’s top universities, the establishment of schools and rehabilitation centers, post 2023 earthquake humanitarian shelter and facilities, nationwide campaigns, and an internationally recognized educational training initiative for young children, among other achievements. Harvard Business School senior lecturer Christina Wing and Murat Özyeğin discuss how the company is a model for making a significant impact across multiple sectors of society through giving and how that legacy can be sustained in the future, in the case, “Özyeğin Social Investments: A Legacy of Giving."

• 22 Mar 2024
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• 01 Aug 2023

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• 05 Jul 2023

How Unilever Is Preparing for the Future of Work

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• 16 May 2023
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• 14 Mar 2023

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• 17 Jan 2023

8 Trends to Watch in 2023

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• 10 Jan 2023

Time to Move On? Career Advice for Entrepreneurs Preparing for the Next Stage

So many people shift from one job to the next, with little time to consider how the experience changed them and what they want out of future ventures. Julia Austin recommends that entrepreneurs look within and reflect on these questions before they jump into a new opportunity.

• 03 Jan 2023

Wordle: Can a Pandemic Phenomenon Sustain in the Long Term?

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• 26 Oct 2022

How Paid Promos Take the Shine Off YouTube Stars (and Tips for Better Influencer Marketing)

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• 19 Oct 2022

Cofounder Courtship: How to Find the Right Mate—for Your Startup

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• 06 Sep 2022

Reinventing an Iconic Independent Bookstore

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• 16 Aug 2022

Now Is the Time for Entrepreneurs to Play Offense

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• 26 Jul 2022

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Bombas was started in 2013 with a dual mission: to deliver quality socks and donate much-needed footwear to people living in shelters. By 2021, it had become one of America’s most visible buy-one-give-one companies, with over $250 million in annual revenue and 50 million pairs of socks donated. Later, as Bombas expanded into underwear, t-shirts, and slippers, the company struggled to determine what pace of growth would best allow it to reach new customers while maintaining its social mission. Harvard Business School assistant professor Elizabeth Keenan discusses the case, "Bee-ing Better at Bombas."

• 07 Jul 2022

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• 10 May 2022

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• 03 May 2022

Can a Social Entrepreneur End Homelessness in the US?

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Traditional leadership models have failed to address the world's complex challenges. To solve them, we need a new model: entrepreneurial leadership.

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Entrepreneurial leadership is both a skill set and a mindset—both of which can be taught. Entrepreneurial leaders stand out because they put people first and manage in a relational way. They inspire an entrepreneurial approach, which has the potential to create strong risk managers, exceptional uncertainty navigators, and highly skilled ambiguity explorers. These three traits work together, enabling entrepreneurial leaders to take action, solve problems, and create value while others are still analyzing the situation.

This goes far beyond business, allowing entrepreneurial leaders to impact organizations, the economy, and society as a whole.

Entrepreneurial leadership is the ability to help people in an influential way to have an increased capacity to recognize and exploit entrepreneurial opportunity.”

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No one is born with an entrepreneurial gene. The skills necessary to become an entrepreneurial leader—risk management, continuous learning, deep collaboration—aren’t reserved for a certain class, race, or gender. It doesn’t require dropping out of school to launch the next unicorn. Anyone can practice and develop entrepreneurial competencies and skills.

Entrepreneurial Thought and Action® (ET&A™) is a proven methodology for developing the skill set and mindset needed to not just launch a new business but also make change in an established company, lead a team, or create social impact. It allows leaders to effectively navigate uncertainty by continuously taking action in order to move forward.

You can apply it to innovating within a family business, creating a charity, or solving global social issues. ET&A allows for the establishment of sustainable organizations that can have a positive impact on the economy, as well as the environment and society.

The Arthur M. Blank School for Entrepreneurial Leadership is a first-of-its-kind hub that connects and extends the Babson College community to learners across the lifespan. The Blank School is an action lab that convenes and amplifies thought leaders around the globe.

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Entrepreneurship From Different Perspectives Reflective Essay

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Introduction

Positive aspects of entrepreneurship, negative side of entrepreneurship, philip medical systems.

The health care industry has been undergoing tremendous transformation in the last three decades. These transformations have created both enormous opportunities and threats and at the same time, it has led into realization of creation of new organizations. Entrepreneurship is one of the opportunities that have resulted and drastically increased due to the changes in health care environment; indeed, it has become the best and effective strategic response to threats that are produced by the changes (Blair, 2007, p.130).

Discovering entrepreneur opportunity in health care generally requires individuals with relative adequate experience or information with the ability to recognize the availability of opportunity and thereafter device the means for exploiting the opportunity. In order to effectively exploit the identified opportunity in health care, an entrepreneur needs to understand the nature of the opportunity and develop orientation actions aimed at achieving the goals. Once the entrepreneur has outlined the opportunity, the next important thing is to evaluate costs and benefits of exploiting the opportunity. The nature of the opportunity is not just enough for an entrepreneur, but again certain key skills have been attributed to the success of most entrepreneurs irrespective of their fields. These characteristics include: propensity for risk taking, a tendency for positive self-efficacy and a high tolerance for ambiguity.

The emergence of entrepreneurship in health care industry has seen both positive and negative effects being realized. For example, the positive aspects of entrepreneurship include: first, through entrepreneurship in health care industry, jobs have been created thereby absorbing a large number of professionals who would otherwise have been jobless.

Second, entrepreneurship in the industry has led to provision of health services in regions or areas that, in some way, public or few managed private facilities available would not have managed.

Third, entrepreneurship is closely associated with innovation and as a result, more cost-effective technology has been developed and enhanced which in turn has led to greater number of members in society to get access to key and vital health products or services.

Fourth, entrepreneurship in health care industry has also promoted competition among the health products and service providers and the positive results of this competition have translated to the patients who are largely the consumers of these products and services.

Fifth, assessing the wider role of entrepreneurs in any society, it can be concluded that, entrepreneurship in health care is necessary as it positively contributes to research and development in the field. For instance, Margaret Miller has estimated that 75 per cent of all innovations are credited to entrepreneurs (Miller, 2008) and without innovations then the world would be a boring place to inhabit.

Sixth, the prosperity of a nation is largely dependent on entrepreneurship and because health care sector has been regarded as the biggest industry in the nation and to the world at large, it can be concluded that more entrepreneurship ventures in the sector will greatly contribute to the growth of the wealth of the nation as well as for the individual entrepreneurs.

Finally, entrepreneurship provides self sufficiency. In health care sector, self sufficiency has been realized in greater and better standards to the professions employed. In addition, it has provided numerous growth opportunities to professionals working in the organizations and this has contributed to enhancement of happiness and liberty among many professionals in the field (Miller, 2008).

There has not only been the positive side of entrepreneurship, but there have also been numerous negatives associated with entrepreneurship in health care industry. These negative aspects include:

• in the health care industry, entrepreneurship still attract little attention and this can be attributed to the existence of various barriers in form of structure and also culture in the health care sector. In a way these barriers have become a hindrance to new and aspiring entrepreneurs while at the same time, ‘suffocating’ and operating in disfavor of the existing entrepreneurs in the industry;
• entrepreneurship in health care sector is still faced by many problems that range from poor infrastructure, unstable economic climate, lack of government incentives and also poor managerial skills. These problems among entrepreneurs are escalated by inferior technology, sometimes due to poor capital, business and finance planning, lack of entrepreneurship development in the sector and generally presence of operational inefficiency in many entrepreneurship ventures;
• when analyzed from an economic point of view, entrepreneurships activities become less viable when one reviews the tax policies in the country. Primarily, marginal tax rates are still high and their movements downwards are unlikely – when marginal tax rates are high the rate of entrepreneurship remain relatively law and those who operate in such situations realize less returns;
• lastly, entrepreneurship spirit has led to instances where the quality of health care services has been compromised by professions out to rake in a lot of money. For example, comparing health care costs in three cities, McAllen, Texas and El Paso, Mandelbaum notes that, “McAllen has got more, surgery, more home care, more diagnostic testing, more hospital treatment, but more care does not equal better care” (Mandelbaum, 2009). The author traces this and calls it ‘overuse of medicine’ to which he associates to entrepreneurship spirit, which he describes as, “innovative and aggressive in finding ways to increase revenues from patient care” (Mandelbaum, 2009).

Philips Medical Systems Company is a diversified and well-being Company which has focused on making people’s lives better through modern innovations. The company has mainly invested in health care, lifestyle and lighting and it largely integrates technologies and designs into finding solutions to problems affecting people. The company has diverse range of independent experts, international professions for setting its agendas, policymakers and also opinion leaders who co-operate into finding solutions to health problems facing people and therefore work for improvement. Most innovations by the company focus on cost reduction especially in response to the fast-growing care expenses (Floren, 2008, p.293). The company has not just restricted itself to rich countries, it has progressively enhanced market of health care products and services in developing countries.

In conclusion, it can be suggested that changes in health care industry will continue to spur entrepreneurism spirit and therefore, it is necessary for the government and other key stakeholders to formulate policies that will be favorable to entrepreneurs. At the same time, health care sector has to improve on the various rules guiding entrepreneurship activities and to institute a vibrant culture that encourages entrepreneurship, which is guided by ethics.

Blair, J. D. (2007). Strategic Thinking & Entrepreneurial Action in the Health Care Industry . UK, Emerald Group Publishing. Web.

Floren, R. (2008). The Entrepreneur & the Entrepreneur Cycle . Netherlands, Uitgeverij Van Gorcum. Web.

Mandelbaum, R. (2009). When Entrepreneurship Hurts Health Care. The Entrepreneurial Agenda. Web.

Miller, M. (2008). Importance of entrepreneurship. Web.

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Essay on Entrepreneurship: Top 9 Essays | Business Management

Here is a compilation of essays on ‘Entrepreneurship’ for class 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Entrepreneurship’ especially written for school and college students.

Essay on Entrepreneurship

Essay Contents:

• Essay on the Benefits of Entrepreneurship

Essay # 1. Introduction to Entrepreneurship:

Entrepreneurship is the name given to the factor of production which performs the functions of Enterprise. In economics, Land, Labour, Capital, Organisation and Enterprise are the five factors which are thought to be the basis of all the production activities.

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Entrepreneurship in a broader sense can be considered as a process of action undertaken by an entrepreneur (Person) to establish his enterprise. It is a creative and innovative response to the environment.

Entrepreneurship can be described as a creative and innovative response to the environment. Such responses may take place in any field of social endeavour may be business, agriculture, social work and education etc.

For the entrepreneur it is important to have knowledge about the economic and political environment, more particularly about the economic policies of the government and the financial as well as commercial institutions.

Thus a simple definition of entrepreneurship is doing new things or doing things which are already being done in a new way.

According to Dr. J.E. Stepenek, “Entrepreneurship” is the capacity to take risk; ability to organise and desire to diversify and make innovations in the enterprise.

According to Higgins, Entrepreneurship is meant for the function of seeing investment and production opportunity, organising in enterprise to undertake a new production process, raising capital, hiring labour, arranging the supply of raw materials, finding site, introducing new techniques and commodities, discovering new sources of raw materials and selecting top managers for day to day operation of the enterprise.

It may be concluded that entrepreneurship is a composite skill, the resultant of many qualities and traits. These include, imagination ready to take risk, ability to bring together and utilize other factors of production such as capital, land and labour along with intangible factors such as capability to mobilise scientific and technological developments.

Entrepreneurship thus involves taking risk and making essential investments under conditions of uncertainty. At the same time it is connected with innovation, planning and taking decisions so as to increase productivity in industry, business and agriculture etc. It thus plays a key role in the process of economic development.

Essay # 2. Definition of Entrepreneurship:

Entrepreneurship is a pro­cess of action an entrepreneur undertakes to establish his enter­prise. Entrepreneurship is a re­sultant mix of many qualities and traits of an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship can be de­fined as a process undertaken by entrepreneur to augment his business interests. It is an exer­cise involving innovation and creativity that will go towards establishing his/her enterprise.

Entrepreneurship is the inclination of mind to take calculated risks with confidence to achieve a predetermined business or industrial objectives.

Essay # 3. Growth and Success of Entrepreneurship :

Entrepreneurship has opened avenues of great scope in the Indian economy. Our national economy is most suited to the growth of small business enterprise. Small business units offer a more convenient means of nurturing and developing entrepreneurship by providing the means of entry into business for new entrepreneurship talents. Small-scale industries are labour-in­tensive and can play an important role in solving the problem of unemployment.

Success of Entrepreneurship :

Following aspects are necessary for the successful entrepreneurship:

1. Regular inflow of information related to buyers, consumers, distributors, dealers, retailers, transporters etc., about raw material, quality aspects, government organisations, employees and competitors.

2. Satisfying the needs of customers.

3. Generation of adequate cash flow.

4. Regular objective assessment of the enterprise.

5. Improving productivity.

6. Maintenance of quality.

7. Use of technology of the time.

8. Be innovative.

9. Keep employees motivated.

10. Scrap or waste material be utilised properly.

11. Time management.

Essay # 4. Entrepreneurial v/s Managerial Styles :

An entrepreneur is a person who is motivated to satisfy a high need for achievement in innovative and creative activities. This creative behaviour and innovative spirit forms a process of an endless chain and is termed as entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur is also required to manage his business. He has to perform both entrepreneurial and managerial func­tions. After the start of the business he becomes more as manager.

Manager is one who specialises in the work of planning, organising, leading and controlling the efforts of others. He does it through systematic use of his classified knowledge and principles. He should have an insight of job requirement, which he should continuously update.

An entrepreneur must adopt the style of professional management. He must organise mana­gerial functions by setting long term objectives, formulating strategic policies, developing man­agement information system, monitoring and evaluation systems. He is required to possess management knowledge related to technical, economical, financial, human and administrative aspects.

There is a vast difference between owner-manager and professional-manager. The owner- manager is identified with individuality, flair, strong motivation to achieve success and pros­per, while the professional-manager is concerned with the planning, organising, motivating and controlling. Owner-manager builds the organisation, assumes all business risks, and also loses his reputation and prestige in the event of failure of business, whereas professional-manager is not exposed to such risks.

Thus entrepreneurship is a process of combining resources to produce new goods or services and reappears to initiate another change. Entrepreneurs are also required to play other roles, especially those of capitalist and manager. Managerial function of an entrepreneur is a continu­ous process of combining the factors related to production.

Essay # 5. Entrepreneurial Development :

For the economic development, entrepreneurial development is necessary. For the purpose of entrepreneurial development, rapid growth of small scale sector is necessary. Entrepreneur­ial development programmes are designed to help a person in strengthening his entrepreneur­ial motive and in acquiring skills and capabilities necessary for playing his role effectively.

Main objective of the entrepreneurial development programme is to motivate and assist pro­spective and potential entrepreneurs to set up small scale units of their own and thus become self-employed and contribute significantly to production and employment in the country.

Entrepreneurial development programme must be designed properly and should incorpo­rate the following:

(i) Developing, achievement, motivation and sharpening entrepreneurial traits and behaviour.

(ii) Project planning and development, and guidance on industrial opportunities, incen­tives and facilities, rules and regulations.

(iii) Developing managerial and operational capabilities.

Keeping the target group and target area in view various strategies and approaches are adopted. The process of entrepreneurial development is designed very carefully and starts from identifying the potential and right candidates, linking suitable project with each one, and then training and developing the managerial and entrepreneurial capabilities, counseling and motivating them, and then providing the required follow-up support to help them in establishing their venture.

Objectives :

Objectives of entrepreneurial development programme are to help to:

(i) Develop and strengthen their entrepreneurial quality.

(ii) Analyse environment related to small business and small industry.

(iii) Select product and its project.

(iv) Formulate projects.

(v) Understand the procedure for setting up of small enterprise.

(vi) Support needed for launching the enterprise.

(vii) Acquire basic management skills.

(viii) Appreciate the social responsibilities.

(ix) Let him set the objectives of his business.

(x) Prepare him to accept risks.

(xi) Take strategic decisions.

(xii) Develop communicating skills.

Training for Entrepreneur :

Proper training is essential for the success of any industry in production techniques, man­agement, marketing and other aspects.

Small Industries Service Institutes and their Extension Centres are organising trainings:

(i) To improve technical skills of workers,

(ii) For acquainting the entrepreneurs with advanced production and management techniques.

The courses for workers are organised in the following areas:

(a) Shop practice courses such as machine shop practice, tool room practice, foundry, blacksmithy, electrical shop practice etc.

(b) Trade oriented courses, such as tool making, fitter, sheet metal, pattern making, carpentry etc.

(c) Process oriented courses, such as welding, heat treatment, electroplating, leather works etc.

(d) Product oriented courses, sport goods, foot wear, paint, varnish making etc.

Training programmes for entrepreneurs are of two types namely:

(i) For graduate and di­ploma holder engineers, physics and chemistry graduates and

(ii) For rural artisans, educated unemployed, ex-servicemen, weaker sections of the society, women entrepreneurs etc. with special courses for each of the categories of persons.

For providing training and upgradation of technology and managerial skills, specialised institutions have been set up.

For conducting entrepreneurship development programmes, the lead was given by Small Industries Development Organisation through its small industries service centres. Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII) was established in 1983 at Ahmedabad as a resource organisation at the national level for the purpose of creating the institutional infra­structure for entrepreneurship development.

National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIES BHD) was established by the central Government at New Delhi, with the objective of coordinating activities related to entrepreneurship and small business development.

In addition, institutions established by the Government are:

(i) Rural Entrepreneurship Development Institute (RED) at Ranchi.

(ii) Rural Management and Management Centres (RMEDC) at Maharashtra.

Other organisational actively conducting entrepreneurship development programmes are:

(i) State Bank of India

(iii) Centre for Entrepreneurship Development at Ahmedabad and Hubli.

(iv) State financial corporations.

(v) Industrial consultancy organisations in various states.

(vi) Small Industries Extension Training Institute, Hyderabad.

(vii) Institute of Entrepreneurship Development (IEDs) in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa.

(viii) Management Development Institute (MDI) at Gurgaon (Haryana) near Delhi.

Some of the other institutions for entrepreneurial development are:

1. Central Institute of Tool Design, Hyderabad.

2. Central Tool Room and Training Centre, Calcutta.

3. NI SIET, Guwahati.

4. Institute for Design of Electrical Measuring Instruments, Bombay.

5. Electronic Service and Training Centre, Ramnagar.

6. Process-cum-Product Development Centre for Glass and Ceramic Industry, Ranchi.

7. Process and Product Development Centre, Agra.

8. Process and Product Development Centre, Meerut.

9. Central Institute of Hand Tools, Jalandhar.

10. Hand Tool Design Development and Training Centre, Nagpur.

11. New Indo-Danish Tool Rooms, Jamshedpur and Bhubaneswar.

12. Ino-German Tool Rooms-Indore, Ahmedabad and Aurangabad.

13. National Institute for Entrepreneurship & Small Business Development, New Delhi.

14. National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.

15. Centre for the Improvement of Glass Industry, Firozabad.

16. National Council for Cement and Building Materials, Delhi, Ballabgarh, Hyderabad, Patna and Madras.

17. Indian Plywood Industries Research Institute, Bangalore.

18. Central Pulp and Paper Research Institute, Saharanpur.

19. National Federation of Industrial Cooperatives Limited, New Delhi.

20. Central Machine Tool Institute, Bangalore.

Essay # 6. Beliefs Regarding Entrepreneurship:

According to literature there are many myths about entrepreneurship:

But myths and realities about its are different as follows:

1. Myth about entrepreneurs is that they are born not made but “reality” is that entrepreneur characteristics and traits may be acquired through properly structured learning.

2. Myth regarding entrepreneurs is that all required is money but generally it is observed that excessive and surplus money reduces the risk taking opportunities, scarce for care resources and grasp for opportunities.

3. Myth regarding entrepreneurship is that it is profile of traits and characteristics but practically it is a combination of situational issues.

4. Myth about entrepreneurs is doer not thinkers whereas the reality is that frequent thinking in planning, creativity, innovation and risk taking is required.

5. As per myth “Business schools have no place in entrepreneurship” but in actual practice most of the successful entrepreneurs have come from engineering courses and business schools.

Essay # 7. Financing of Enterprise :

Finance is the main input of any enterprise. The entrepreneur needs capital to start with, and he also needs financial assistance at every stage of the project. Project finance is required for both short term and long term.

(a) Short-term Finance:

These usually refer to the funds required for a period of less than one year. These are usually required to meet variable, seasonal or temporary working capital requirements. Main sources for short term finance are borrowing from banks, trade credit, installment credit and customer advances.

(b) Medium-term Finance:

Period of one year to five years are regarded as a medium- term. These are generally required for permanent working capital, small expansions, replace­ments, modifications etc. These can be raised by issue of shares and debentures, borrowing from banks and other financial institutions, ploughing back of profits.

(c) Long-term Finance:

Periods more than 5 years are regarded as long-terms. These are required for procuring fixed assets, for substantial expansion, modernisation etc. Important sources of long-term finance are issue of shares and debentures, loans from financial institu­tions and ploughing back of profits.

Sources of Finance :

The sources from which the entrepreneurs can meet their financial needs for their projects are grouped as:

(a) Internal source, and

(b) External source.

In addition, the entrepreneur raises his finance by availing of available subsidies, state aid to industries etc. A judicious mix of funds from these sources should be given priority.

(a) Internal Sources of Finance:

(i) Personal and family savings.

(ii) Loans from L.I.C. and Provident Fund Account.

(iii) Loans against assets like land and property.

(iv) Loans against shares and debentures.

(v) Loans from relatives and friends.

(b) External Sources:

Substantial amount is required by an enterprise to buy machinery and equipment and to purchase land and buildings.

These finances are generally arranged from following sources:

(i) Borrowing from Banks.

(ii) Term-lending from institutions like IDBI; IFCI, Industrial Development Corpora­tions etc.

(iii) From Government and Semi-Government agencies.

(iv) Other sources.

Institutional Finance :

Institutional finance is available for large, medium, small and tiny industries by commer­cial banks. Commercial banks include the State Bank of India group, nationalised banks, pri­vate sector banks and development corporations which have been especially established to pro­vide industrial finance.

In addition, the Reserve Bank of India gives credit guarantees and the ECGC gives export guarantees to the small-scale sector. Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), by its refinance operations, plays a significant role in the promotion of the small scale- sector. The National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) offers financial assistance in the form of its hire-purchase schemes.

Besides, new institutions like mutual funds, lease companies, financial service institutions, investment companies, merchant banks etc. provide financial assistance and financial services to industries.

Essay # 8. Factors Essential for Successful Entrepreneurship:

The following aspects/factors are essential for successful entrepreneurship:

1. Regular inflow of information concerning consumers or buyers, distributors and dealers/retailers, transporters, etc., about raw materials, quality aspects, competitors, government organization and employees.

2. Aspects regarding satisfaction of consumer requirements.

5. Aspects concerning productivity improvement.

6. Quality maintenance.

7. Utilization of upto date technology.

8. To be innovative in view of competition.

10. Proper utilization of scrap or waste material.

11. Proper time management.

Essay # 9. Benefits of Entrepreneurship :

Entrepreneurship has following three benefits for society:

1. Economic Growth:

These provide economic upliftment of society and generate labour employment.

2. Productivity Improvement:

It helped in improving the productivity, which means the ability to produce more goods and services with less labour and other inputs.

3. New technologies, products and services:

It helps in promoting innovative tech­nologies, products and services.

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• Entrepreneurship: Compilation of Essays on Entrepreneurship
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• Published: 11 June 2024

College students’ entrepreneurship policy, regional entrepreneurship spirit, and entrepreneurial decision-making

• Yangjie Huang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6459-220X 1   nAff2 ,
• Jiali Zhang 1 ,
• Ying Xu 1 ,
• Shuanglei Sun 1 ,
• Yajing Bu 1 ,
• Sihui Li 1 &
• Yingying Chen 2  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  11 , Article number:  748 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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College students represent a burgeoning force in mass entrepreneurship, underscoring the critical need to nurture their entrepreneurial endeavors. This study adopts a quantitative method, surveying 33,660 Chinese college students engaged in entrepreneurial activities. It examines the impact of various entrepreneurial policies and regional entrepreneurship spirit on these students’ decision-making processes. The findings reveal a positive correlation between entrepreneurial policies and entrepreneurial decision-making among college students, with regional entrepreneurship spirit serving as a mediator. Gender influences the relationship between regional entrepreneurship spirit and entrepreneurial decision-making, primarily moderating the effects of supply-based and environmentally-oriented policies. Entrepreneurship must be deeply integrated within China’s unique social networks and informal institutional frameworks. The moderating influence of gender also highlights differing policy impacts among various student groups. This research contributes to the enhancement and understanding of the policy support mechanism’s effect on college students and underscores the necessity for precise implementation of entrepreneurship policies tailored to college students.

Introduction

Entrepreneurship is an endogenous force that promotes social progress and change (Wang and Shao, 2023 ; Si et al., 2023 ). It not only generates employment and stimulates innovation but also profoundly influences the establishment of a scientific and balanced economic structure. Entrepreneurial decision-making is a critical event that catalyzes entrepreneurial behavior, marking the transition of an individual’s identity to that of an entrepreneur (Gabrielsson et al., 2022 ). For college students, effective entrepreneurial decision-making not only directs entrepreneurial actions but also assists them in identifying opportunities and securing a competitive edge (Karami et al., 2023 ; Krueger, 2017 ). It is argued that entrepreneurial decision-making lies at the heart of the success, longevity, and sustainability of entrepreneurial endeavors (Caputo and Pellegrini, 2019 ). Thus, adopting suitable entrepreneurial decision-making logic is essential for value creation and acquisition in a dynamic environment.

In recent years, the Party Central Committee and the State Council of China have enacted numerous policies to promote entrepreneurship and employment among college students. For instance, in March 2020, the General Office of the State Council issued the Implementation Opinions on Strengthening Measures to Stabilize Employment in Response to the Impact of the New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemic . In September 2021, the General Office of the State Council introduced the Guiding Opinions on Further Supporting College Students’ Innovation and Entrepreneurship . A survey conducted across 1,231 colleges and universities in China revealed that most students highly value the country’s entrepreneurial policies (Huang and Huang, 2019 ). However, another survey indicated that universities tend to focus on short-term achievements in entrepreneurship policies, prioritizing infrastructure construction over student development (Klofsten et al., 2019 ). The objectives and approaches of different policies were not always aligned (Wright et al., 2022 ). Consequently, this study comprehensively analyzes the impact of entrepreneurship policy on college students from the perspective of policy tools. Rothwell’s classification of policy tools is particularly notable, dividing them into three categories: demand-based policy tools, supply-based policy tools, and environmentally-oriented tools (Rothwell and Zegveld, 1981 ). This classification aligns well with the current emphasis on addressing the structural employment contradiction of college students and promoting an innovation-driven strategy.

Moreover, the impact of entrepreneurship on the subjective social stratum of individuals extends beyond the micro level, where it affects individuals’ career choices and social standing. The entrepreneurial spirit at the regional level significantly influences individual entrepreneurial decision-making (Guerrero et al., 2020 ; Jessop, 2005 ). Within the region, the social environment fostered by a concentration of entrepreneurship also alters people’s behavior and psychological perceptions, exerting a notable social impact (Jena, 2020 ; Peters and Jetten, 2023 ). Considering the increasingly robust atmosphere of “mass entrepreneurship and innovation” in China, entrepreneurial activities are progressively taking shape regionally. The spillover of regional entrepreneurship spirit on college students’ entrepreneurial decision-making has thus become a pressing issue for investigation.

While previous research has systematically revealed gender differences in entrepreneurial decision-making (Shepherd et al., 2015 ), current studies still face some limitations. First, there is a constraint regarding sample size, with a lack of nationwide surveys that challenge the generalizability of the results. Second, some studies focus exclusively on qualitative analysis without the support of quantitative data, thus restricting a comprehensive understanding of gender differences. Current academic studies concentrate on comparative entrepreneurship policy (Egan, 2022 ), entrepreneurship education (Mei and Symaco, 2022 ), and talent training for college students’ entrepreneurship research (Li et al., 2023 ; Yang et al., 2021 ). However, there is a scarcity of studies exploring how the entrepreneurial policies of a country impact college students’ entrepreneurial decision-making. China’s entrepreneurship and innovation policies slightly differ from those of the United States regarding innovation and entrepreneurship. Some studies indicate that current entrepreneurship policies, across various dimensions, exert distinct influences on college students’ entrepreneurial pursuits (Lu et al., 2021 ). Entrepreneurial alertness, as suggested by Minniti ( 2004 ), plays a crucial role in influencing the entrepreneurial decision-making process, guiding entrepreneurs to make a series of judgments, particularly when interpreting national policies. Consequently, it becomes imperative to scrutinize how these policies can effectively support and unleash the full entrepreneurial potential among Chinese college students.

In summary, this study aimed to answer the following research question: What is the internal mechanism of college students’ entrepreneurial policies and entrepreneurial decision-making? Through a national survey of 33,660 college students, this study investigates the influence of various entrepreneurial policy types and regional entrepreneurship spirit on college students’ entrepreneurial decision-making. Additionally, the study assesses the mediating effect of regional entrepreneurship spirit and the moderating effect of gender. This research makes significant contributions to the entrepreneurship literature. First, it addresses a gap in empirical evidence concerning the importance of college students entrepreneurship policies in fostering entrepreneurial decision-making by thoroughly investigating the mediating mechanism of regional entrepreneurship spirit. Second, gender may influence individuals’ perceptions of themselves as entrepreneurs, their behavioral tendencies, and their role positioning in the entrepreneurial environment (Verheul et al., 2005 ). Considering the observed differences between men and women in entrepreneurial activities (Kalleberg and Leicht, 1991 ), this study introduces gender as a moderating variable. This addition is conducive to strengthening research on the precise implementation of college students’ entrepreneurship policy and contributes to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms involved. Finally, the study highlights the need for government and society to enhance the entrepreneurial decision-making capabilities of college students through the formulation of relevant policies and the creation of a conducive entrepreneurial atmosphere.

Theoretical basis

Entrepreneurship policies for college students.

Entrepreneurship policy, formulated and implemented by countries or regional economies, aims to stimulate entrepreneurship and increase entrepreneurial activities (Collins, 2003 ; Kirschning and Mrożewski, 2023 ). Entrepreneurship serves as a means to address instability and uncertainty (Zayadin et al., 2023 ). Given the increasingly severe employment challenges faced by college students, there are high expectations for their entrepreneurship to drive employment. In May 2003, the State Council of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) first proposed “encouraging college graduates to start businesses and find flexible employment.” Consequently, the State Council of PRC has enacted regulations concerning micro-loans and administrative fee reductions and exemptions. Over time, the imperative for entrepreneurship policies has become evident. In recent years, the employment situation for college graduates has grown complex and severe. The Ministry of Education of PRC has implemented various measures, including the establishment of a Steering Committee for College Graduates’ Employment and Entrepreneurship, to foster full and high-quality employment and entrepreneurship. Internationally, it is recognized that startups contribute to employment and economic revitalization (Barboza and Capocchi, 2020 ; Sreenivasan et al., 2023 ). Growth-oriented policies and measures also significantly influence the development of new startups (Heredia et al., 2023 ). Studies have emphasized the continuous need for China to introduce entrepreneurial policies to adapt to a dynamic environment and foster an entrepreneurial nation (Mok et al., 2020 ). To promote employment through entrepreneurship, China has launched a series of preferential policies in recent years. In 2021, the Guiding Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Further Supporting Innovation and Entrepreneurship of College Students , unveiled by the State Council of PRC ( 2021 ), proposed that small-scale taxpayers with monthly sales of less than 150,000 yuan are exempt from value-added tax, while improving the achievement transformation mechanism, strengthening the integration of industry, academia, and research achievement transformation services, and tracking and supporting outstanding projects in the “Internet +” College Student Entrepreneurship Competition. In 2023, the Guidelines on Preferential Tax Policies to Support the Employment and Entrepreneurship of Young People, including College Graduates , unveiled by the State Administration of Taxation of PRC ( 2023 ), proposed to reduce taxes and fees, support young people to return to the country and start businesses in their hometowns, improve incubation services, expand financing channels, and make tax reduction and fee reduction policies precise and targeted at different needs of entrepreneurs.

However, Yang ( 2004 ) introduced the concept of institutional loopholes, highlighting that policies may not always align with the needs of entrepreneurs. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of the impact of entrepreneurship policy on college students is necessary, examining it from the perspective of policy tools. Rothwell’s classification of policy tools is particularly notable, dividing them into three categories: demand-, supply-, and environmentally-oriented policy tools (Rothwell and Zegveld, 1981 ). First, supply-oriented policies act as a direct driving force for entrepreneurial decision-making. The government enhances the supply of innovation elements, including talents, funds, and other resources necessary for innovation activities (Liang and Li, 2023 ; Huang et al., 2022 ). It supports college students in starting businesses through investments in education, provision of facilities, personnel training, and more. Second, environmental policies create a conducive development environment for educational reform by implementing measures such as educational goal planning, financial services, tax systems, and regulatory strategies. These actions aim to foster the formation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents (Kostetska et al., 2020 ). Finally, demand-based policies in industry, academia, and research encourage various entities to seek innovative achievements. This policy tool acts as a pull from the government for the reform and development of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities. Essentially, the government expands the education resource market, reduces external instability, and accelerates the cultivation of high-quality innovative talents through mechanisms like government procurement, education service outsourcing, education overseas exchanges, and shaping the education market (Wang et al., 2022 ).

Therefore, referring to the policy tool research methods of Rothwell and Zegveld ( 1981 ) and Xu et al. ( 2023 ), this study categorizes the main policy into three: demand-based, supply-based, and environmentally oriented policy tools. This classification resonates with the current emphasis on addressing the structural employment contradiction among college students and promoting an innovation-driven strategy.

Entrepreneurial policies and decision-making for college students

The decision-making process typically involves identifying and selecting alternatives, primarily dependent on the values and preferences of decision-makers (Albahri et al., 2023 ). This aspect is particularly critical for entrepreneurs, as decision-making strategies vary, particularly in a deeply rooted decision-making environment where they are both supported and constrained by their surroundings (De Winnaar and Scholtz, 2019 ). A conducive entrepreneurial policy environment can stimulate new market forces, invigorate talent, and influence entrepreneurial decision-making. Shepherd et al. ( 2015 ) highlight that entrepreneurial decisions are intricately linked to the environment. Entrepreneurial decision-making is influenced by industry conditions and institutional forces, including laws and regulations, general economic conditions, and the entrepreneurial culture within organizations. According to Shepherd and Patzelt ( 2017 ), individuals may also be embedded in specific environments, as per institutional theory. They found that entrepreneurs in different countries employ different decision-making criteria to evaluate opportunities based on the policy environment. For instance, compared with British entrepreneurs who benefit from strong intellectual property rights, Chinese entrepreneurs, owing to weak protection of intellectual property rights, may pay less attention to safeguarding their creative patents. Melović et al. ( 2022 ) also asserts that the decision-making process of entrepreneurs is predominantly influenced by environmental factors, such as rapid institutional change, which plays a pivotal role.

Therefore, this study focuses on the entrepreneurial decision-making of college students as the dependent variable, measured by two items: the extent to which entrepreneurial policy contributes to improving individual entrepreneurial intention and the degree to which entrepreneurship policies foster entrepreneurial activities. In summary, this study’s first hypothesis is to identify the impact of entrepreneurial policies on college students’ entrepreneurial decision-making.

H1a: Supply-oriented policies positively impact college students’ entrepreneurial decision-making.

H1b: Demand-based policies positively impact college students’ entrepreneurial decision-making.

H1c: Environmental policies positively impact college students’ entrepreneurial decision-making.

Regional entrepreneurship spirit

According to the 2017–2018 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Report , entrepreneurial awareness, opportunity perception, and entrepreneurial self-efficacy emerge as the three most influential factors in regional entrepreneurship spirit. The GEM introduces the Entrepreneurship Spirit Composite Index, where countries and regions with higher factor scores reflect elevated levels of the three underlying variables. This encompasses individuals and communities willing to take risks, pursue innovative ideas, and engage in business activities to drive local or regional economic growth and development. Researchers and experts have explored various factors such as local culture, social networks, educational institutions, and government policies that shape entrepreneurship spirit within specific regions (Yin et al., 2023 ). Although scholars have yet to provide a clear definition of the concept of regional entrepreneurship spirit, drawing on previous research discussions related to similar concepts (Gu et al., 2023 ), this paper suggests that regional entrepreneurship spirit represents the manifestation of individuals’ value judgments, subjective norms, and attitudes toward entrepreneurship in a given region. It influences people’s attitudes toward entrepreneurial activities within that region. Regional entrepreneurship spirit is rooted in the unique social, cultural, economic, and institutional context of a specific area, signifying the overall entrepreneurial spirit of a region and differing from the narrow subjective mindset, attitudes, and personalities of individual entrepreneurs (Bort and Totterman, 2023 ).

Entrepreneurs have enhanced their social status and the public’s perception of identity for entrepreneurial behavior by acquiring economic resources. Furthermore, entrepreneurial example strength and demonstration effect have increased their sense of self-efficacy in entrepreneurship, leading the public to form a positive value judgment on entrepreneurship, and thus deriving the regional entrepreneurial spirit. Regional entrepreneurship spirit is the embodiment of people’s value judgments, subjective norms, and attitudes toward entrepreneurship, which affects people’s attitudes toward entrepreneurial activities in the region. It is an important force and motivation influencing entrepreneurial decision-making (Su et al., 2020 ). The formation of regional entrepreneurship spirit is influenced by key factors such as the economy, society, and cultural and regional differences. A strong entrepreneurial example and a positive entrepreneurial atmosphere can stimulate entrepreneurs’ enthusiasm for entrepreneurship, thereby affecting entrepreneurial decision-making (Su et al., 2020 ). When starting a business, entrepreneurs must identify opportunities, review available capabilities and resources, evaluate markets, and allocate resources to meet challenges (Noor and Isa, 2020 ). Other studies have explored how entrepreneurial experience (Baron and Ensley, 2006 ), failure experience (Behrens and Patzelt, 2018 ), and entrepreneurial self-efficacy (Stroe et al., 2018 ) affect entrepreneurs’ decision-making strategies.

In conclusion, this research characterizes regional entrepreneurship spirit as the embodiment of individuals’ value judgments, subjective norms, and attitudes toward entrepreneurship within a specific region. It plays a significant role in shaping people’s perspectives on entrepreneurial activities in that area. According to the GEM Report, “entrepreneurial awareness, opportunity perception, and entrepreneurial self-efficacy are identified as the three most influential factors in fostering the regional innovation spirit”. First, the “entrepreneurial awareness” of the GEM Entrepreneurship Index survey’s respondents on whether they know someone who has started a business in the past year. Previous studies have examined the influence of parental role models on children’s entrepreneurship (Zapkau et al., 2015 ) and the influence of entrepreneurial teachers on students’ entrepreneurship (Li and Wu, 2019 ). This article refers to GEM to study indicators of entrepreneurial awareness from the perspective of classmates or friends. Second, entrepreneurial opportunity perception refers to whether respondents believe good entrepreneurial opportunities exist in their locality. Subjective perception and objective market conditions help obtain entrepreneurial opportunities. Although each entrepreneur has different perceptions and pursuits of entrepreneurial opportunities, entrepreneurship success is restricted by objective opportunities (Renko et al., 2012 ). This study examines the degree of entrepreneurial opportunities from the perspective of the respondents’ provinces according to China’s national conditions. Third, entrepreneurial self-efficacy refers to whether respondents believe they have the knowledge, skills, and experience to start a business. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy measures a person’s ability to start an entrepreneurial enterprise (Mauer et al., 2017 ). This study improves this indicator, as respondents believe they have sufficient knowledge, skills, and experience to start a business.

Therefore, the second hypothesis seeks to confirm the role of regional entrepreneurship spirit in college students’ entrepreneurial policies and decision-making.

H2a : Regional Entrepreneurship Spirit plays a positive mediating role in the relationship between supply-oriented policies and entrepreneurial decision-making.

H2b : Regional Entrepreneurship Spirit plays a positive mediating role in the relationship between demand-based policies and entrepreneurial decision-making.

H2c: Regional Entrepreneurship Spirit plays a positive mediating role in the relationship between environmental policy and entrepreneurial decision-making.

Gender as a moderating factor in entrepreneurial decision-making

Differences in gender socialization between men and women result in distinct roles and expectations as they mature, shaping their future social activities (Hägg et al., 2023 ). Rebellow and Suri ( 2019 ) highlight that gender plays a role in a person’s inclination toward risk-taking, with men demonstrating a higher likelihood of decisive decision-making. Studies on the significance of gender in decision-making indicate that this process tends to be more time-intensive for women. Women often engage in meticulous environmental analysis and frequently gather more data than men during decision-making (Alsos and Ljunggren, 2017 ; Malmström et al., 2017 ). Prior studies have affirmed that women’s decision-making processes are influenced by emotions, while men typically base their decisions on reliable and objective environmental factors (Melović et al., 2022 ). Therefore, we propose the following hypothesis:

H3a : Gender has a moderating effect on the relationship between college students’ entrepreneurial policies and entrepreneurial decision-making; male college students’ entrepreneurial policies greatly impact entrepreneurial decision-making.

H3b : The moderating effect of gender on college students’ entrepreneurial policy and entrepreneurial decision-making is realized through the mediating effect of regional entrepreneurship spirit; regional entrepreneurship spirit has a profound influence on entrepreneurial decision-making for men.

Figure 1 shows the theoretical model used in this study (see Fig. 1 ).

The theoretical model.

Data and methodology

The data for this study were obtained from a survey conducted by the author’s research team on a national scale, targeting undergraduate and postgraduate students with entrepreneurial experience (excluding freshmen from the 2018 academic year). The survey collected a total of 35,340 questionnaires. After excluding 1680 invalid questionnaires owing to excessively short completion times or invalid school names, 33,660 valid questionnaires were retained, representing 95.25% of the total. Prior to hypothesis testing, comprehensive assessments were conducted, including tests for reliability and validity, common method bias, and multicollinearity. Subsequently, the hypotheses were examined through the testing of a moderated mediation model.

Sample selection

The research data were collected between 2017 and 2018 through a nationwide random questionnaire survey using the Star software. A total of 35,340 questionnaires were gathered, from which 1680 were deemed invalid owing to excessively short completion times or invalid school names. This left 33,660 valid questionnaires, constituting 95.25% of the total. The overall data quality was deemed satisfactory. The survey focused on 33,660 undergraduate college students (excluding first-year students in 2018) who had engaged in entrepreneurial practices during their college years. Table 1 provides an overview of the basic conditions. The evaluation mean values range from 3.09 to 3.89 on a 5-point scale questionnaire (with 1 as the minimum and 5 as the maximum). Notably, the mean value for the impact of entrepreneurial policies on increasing personal entrepreneurial willingness is 3.89, indicating that students perceive it as significantly stimulating their entrepreneurial inclination. Similarly, the mean value for the overall impact of entrepreneurship policies is 3.89, suggesting that students consider these policies helpful for initiating entrepreneurial endeavors (see Table 1 ).

Reliability and validity test

The overall reliability and validity test results of the sample are as follows: the alpha ( α ) value is 0.928 (with α  ≥ 0.7 considered acceptable), and the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) value is 0.957 (where KMO > 0.5 is deemed suitable). These values indicate that the overall scale demonstrates good reliability and validity. Furthermore, the reliability and validity test results for each factor (see Table 2 for details) have successfully passed the internal consistency test ( α  ≥ 0.7), affirming the good reliability of each factor scale. The KMO sample measure and Bartlett’s test results demonstrate that all variables have passed Bartlett’s test (KMO > 0.5), meeting the criteria for factor analysis. The outcomes of the exploratory factor analysis revealed that the factor loading of each item, after rotation, exceeds 0.6. Additionally, the composite reliability (CR) for all factors surpasses 0.7, and the average variance extracted (AVE) value for each factor is above 0.5. These findings indicate the scale’s robust convergent validity. To assess discriminant validity, the square root of the AVE values for each factor was calculated, along with the correlation coefficient (see Table 3 for details). The results demonstrate that each factor scale exhibits good discriminant validity. Referring to the suggestion of Wen Zhonglin et al. ( 2004 ), through confirmatory factor analysis, the over-stimulated statistics (root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.072, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.971, (goodness of fit index)GFI = 0.946, adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI) = 0.919, incremental fit index (IFI) = 0.971, normed fit index (NFI) = 0.971) show a good degree of fit. Therefore, this study’s scale has good reliability and validity.

Common method bias test and multicollinearity test

This study employed Harman’s univariate test to address common method bias. The results, without rotation, indicate that the first factor explains 47.86% of the variance of all items. Importantly, this percentage was below 50%, signifying effective control of the common method bias in the data used (Hair, 2009 ). Moreover, the variance inflation factor (VIF) was consistently below 10, with the majority being <5, indicating the absence of a serious multicollinearity issue.

Analysis of hypothesis testing outcomes

Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis of each variable.

The total average scores of supply-, demand- and environmentally oriented policies, regional entrepreneurship spirit, and entrepreneurial decision-making were analyzed. Table 3 shows that entrepreneurial decision-making is significantly and positively related to supply-, demand-, and environmentally oriented policies, as well as regional entrepreneurship spirit. There is a significant positive correlation between regional entrepreneurship spirit and these three types of policies. Men scored higher than women in the relationship between such policies, regional entrepreneurship spirit, and entrepreneurial decision-making.

Moderated mediation model testing

SPSS software was used to analyze the data, referring. We refer to Wen Zhonglin and Ye Baojuan’s moderated mediation model testing method ( 2014 ). The three categories of policies were used as independent variables; regional entrepreneurship spirit as an intermediary variable; gender as a second-stage regulatory variable; entrepreneurial decision-making as the dependent variable; and permanent residence, family entrepreneurial experience, educational resources, and family entrepreneurial resources as control variables. The formula used is as follows:

where Y represents the dependent variable entrepreneurial decision-making, X 1, X 2, and X 3 represent the independent variables (policies), and environmental policy, respectively. M represents the intermediary variable, regional entrepreneurship spirit, and W represents the gender of the regulatory variable. The theoretical models proposed above were tested, and the mediated effect with regulation was tested using the bootstrap method. Tables 4 – 6 present the results. Figures 2 – 4 provide the final models based on quantitative analysis for supply-, demand-, and environmentally-oriented policies, respectively.

The final model for supply-oriented policy.

The final model for demand-based policy.

The final model for environmental policy.

Table 4 illustrates that X 1, the supply-oriented policy, significantly and positively affects M , the regional entrepreneurship spirit ( a 1 x 1  = 0.2694, 95% CI = 0.2611–0.2776) (see Table 4 ).

Furthermore, the regional entrepreneurship spirit also significantly and positively impacts Y , entrepreneurial decision-making ( b 1 x 1  = 0.1520, 95% CI = 0.1265–0.1775). After incorporating the regional entrepreneurship spirit into the model, the supply-oriented policy continues to significantly and positively influence entrepreneurial decision-making ( c ' 1 x 1  = 0.7769, 95% CI = 0.7521–0.8017). Therefore, the regional entrepreneurship spirit serves a partial intermediary role between the supply-oriented policy and entrepreneurial decision-making. Regarding regulatory effect, the interaction between the supply-oriented policy ( X 1) and gender ( W ) significantly negatively affects entrepreneurial decision-making ( Y ) ( c ' 3 x 1  = −0.0407, 95% CI = −0.0564 to −0.0251). Similarly, the interaction between the regional entrepreneurship spirit ( M ) and gender also significantly negatively impacts entrepreneurial decision-making ( b 2 x 1  = −0.0272, 95% CI = −0.0430 to −0.0114). Concurrently, the bootstrap test reveals that the adjusted intermediary effect index is significant ( a 1 x 1 b 2 x 1  = 0.0151, 95% CI = 0.0119–0.0179), confirming the regulatory effect of gender. Specifically, the mediating effect is established distinctly for men (95% CI = 0.0296–0.0376), and women (95% CI = 0.0224–0.0302). Figure 2 illustrates the final model for the supply-oriented policy.

Table 5 illustrates that the X 2 demand-oriented policy significantly and positively influences the M regional entrepreneurship spirit ( a 1 x 2  = 0.2747, 95% CI = 0.2666–0.2828).

Concurrently, the M regional entrepreneurship spirit can also significantly and positively affects Y entrepreneurial decision-making ( b 1 x 2  = 0.0931, 95% CI = 0.0710–0.1152). Furthermore, after incorporating the M regional entrepreneurship spirit into the model, the X 2 demand-based policy continues to significantly and positively impact Y entrepreneurial decision-making ( c ' 1 x 2  = 0.8065, 95% CI = 0.7852–0.8278). Thus, the M regional entrepreneurship spirit partially mediates the relationship between the X 2 demand-based policies and Y entrepreneurial decision-making. Regarding the moderating effect, although the interaction between the X 2 demand-based policy and gender ( W ) does not significantly affect Y entrepreneurial decision-making ( c ' 3 x 1  = −0.0036, 95% CI = −0.0172–0.0099), the interaction between the M regional entrepreneurship spirit and gender significantly and negatively impacts Y entrepreneurial decision-making ( b 2 x 2  = −0.0195, 95% CI = −0.0332 to −0.0059). The bootstrap test further substantiates that the moderated mediating effect index is significant ( a 1 x 2 b 2 x 2  = 0.0122, 95% CI = 0.0092–0.0151), establishing the moderating effect of gender in the mediating effect. Specifically, the mediating effect has been confirmed for men (95% CI = 0.0168–0.0237) and women (95% CI = 0.0113–0.0183). Figure 3 shows the final model for demand-oriented policy.

Table 6 presents the mediation effects of the X 3 environmental policies. These policies significantly and positively influence M regional entrepreneurship spirit ( a 1 x 3  = 0.2500, 95% CI = 0.2419–0.2582).

Applying the formula M  =  a 1 x 3 X 3  +  e 13 , we concluded that for every one-unit increase in X 3 environmental policy, there is a corresponding increase of 0.2500 units in the entrepreneurial spirit within the M region. Furthermore, the M regional entrepreneurship spirit significantly and positively impacts Y entrepreneurial decision-making ( b 1 x 3  = 0.1294, 95% CI = 0.1082–0.1507), indicated by the formula Y  =  c ' 0x3  +  c ' 1×3 X 3 +  c ' 2×3 W  +  c ' 3×3 WX 3 +  b 1×3 M  +  b 1×3 MW  +  e 23 . We conclude that Y entrepreneurial decision-making increases by 0.1294 units for each unit increase in M regional entrepreneurship. After incorporating M entrepreneurship spirit into the model, X 3 environmental policies significantly and positively affect Y entrepreneurial decision-making ( c ' 1×3  = 0.8273, 95% CI = 0.8067–0.8479). Therefore, M regional entrepreneurship spirit serves as a partial mediator between X3 environmental policy and Y entrepreneurial decision. Regarding the moderating effect, the interaction between X 3 environmental policy and gender ( W ) significantly negatively affects Y entrepreneurial decision-making ( c ' 3×3  = −0.0190, 95% CI = −0.0320 to −0.0059). Similarly, the interaction between M regional entrepreneurship spirit and gender significantly negatively influences Y entrepreneurial decision-making ( b 2×3  = −0.0242, 95% CI = −0.0374 to −0.0111). Additionally, the bootstrap test confirms that the moderated mediating effect index is significant ( a 1×3 b 2×3  = 0.0126, 95% CI = 0.0096–0.0155), thus establishing the moderating effect of gender on the mediating effect. Specifically, the mediating effect is affirmed for both men (95% CI = 0.0231–0.0295) and women (95% CI = 0.0172–0.0233). Figure 4 depicts the final model for environmental policy.

This study, based on a questionnaire survey involving 33,660 college students across the nation, investigates the diverse entrepreneurial policies affecting college students, particularly those with entrepreneurial experience. It explores the mediating role of regional entrepreneurship spirit in the context of these students’ entrepreneurial policies and decision-making. This research introduced a mediated moderation model and validated the moderating role of gender within this framework. It demonstrates a positive correlation between entrepreneurial policies and decision-making among college students, aligning with the findings of Shepherd and Patzelt ( 2017 ). Notably, regional entrepreneurship spirit serves as an intermediary in this relationship, while gender moderates the interactions between regional entrepreneurship spirit and entrepreneurial decision-making, consistent with Melović et al. ( 2022 ). This emphasizes the critical role of embedding entrepreneurship within the distinctive social networks and informal institutional contexts of China. Additionally, the study finds that gender influences how supply- and environmentally oriented policies affect entrepreneurial decision-making, with a more pronounced impact on men. This moderating effect reveals a “double-skin phenomenon,” indicating a misalignment between the entrepreneurship policies and the actual needs of the students. While gender does not moderate the impact of demand-based policies on decision-making, it plays a significant role in moderating the effects between regional entrepreneurship spirit and decision-making.

Theoretical significance

The study enhances existing literature on the relationship between entrepreneurial policies and decision-making by integrating factors such as regional entrepreneurship spirit and gender. Prior research has primarily focused on self-efficacy (Stroe et al., 2018 ), entrepreneurial risk (Rebellow and Suri, 2019 ), social culture (Wang et al., 2020 ), opportunity identification (Schmitt et al., 2018 ), emotional response (Shepherd et al., 2015 ), and entrepreneurial cognition (Narayanan et al., 2021 ), all known to influence entrepreneurial decision-making. By utilizing the GEM and considering factors such as regional entrepreneurship spirit and gender, the study investigates the effects of various entrepreneurial policies (supply-oriented, demand-based, and environmental) on students’ entrepreneurial decision-making. This research integrates a comprehensive theoretical framework and develops and tests a gender-adjusted model titled college student entrepreneurship policy—regional entrepreneurship spirit—entrepreneurial decision-making . This model is instrumental in assessing the influence of Chinese college students’ entrepreneurial policies on their decision-making and career development. Additionally, the study provides significant theoretical insights for enhancing the entrepreneurial policies that concern both the Party Central Committee and the State Council.

Second, the conclusions of this study build on the work of Lucas et al. ( 2018 ) and Wright et al. ( 2022 ), who expressed skepticism regarding the efficacy of targeted entrepreneurship policies. This research confirms that entrepreneurship policies create an institutional environment that significantly enhances entrepreneurial decision-making among college students, boosting various types of entrepreneurial activities. Previous research on the relationship between entrepreneurship policies and entrepreneurial decision-making has produced mixed results (Dai and Si, 2018 ). This study emphasizes the need for careful examination of how entrepreneurship policies impact entrepreneurial decision-making, rather than presuming a direct link between policies and decisions. Consequently, building on the clarification that entrepreneurship policies can positively influence college students’ entrepreneurial choices, this study provides empirical evidence that entrepreneurship policies, when mediated by regional entrepreneurship spirit, positively affect entrepreneurial decision-making. However, Wright et al. ( 2022 ) note that the government’s promotion of entrepreneurship has not fully considered the potential risks to students. Students lacking experience and resources are at a high risk of failure; thus, the government should encourage college graduates who have accrued 2–5 years of work experience and possess entrepreneurial resources and professional skills to start their own businesses.

Finally, this model includes adjustments for gender. The findings reveal that gender moderates the effects of supply-oriented and environmentally oriented policies on entrepreneurial decision-making, whereas the influence of demand-based policies is less pronounced. This indicates that men and women may respond differently to various policy stimuli. The results affirm the role of gender in the dynamics between college students’ entrepreneurial policies, regional entrepreneurship spirit, and entrepreneurial decision-making, and they open new avenues for further research. This not only deepens the understanding of how gender influences the entrepreneurial landscape but also provides a scientific foundation for developing more inclusive and effective entrepreneurial policies. This research framework not only advances academic knowledge of gender differences but also offers practical insights for policy formulation.

Practical significance

Support for entrepreneurial policies by universities, government, and society.

This study demonstrates a positive relationship between college students’ entrepreneurial policies and their decision-making. Consequently, it is recommended that universities, government agencies, and societal entities implement more targeted and effective strategies to support these policies. Primarily, there should be an enhancement of policies that facilitate college students’ business initiatives, integrating precision, integrity, and policy coordination with digital technology advancements. Moreover, efforts should focus on promoting entrepreneurship through the deliberate introduction and implementation of supportive measures, which address both male and female entrepreneurial engagement and simplify various entrepreneurial approval processes. For example, local government initiatives like simplifying the application processes for university student enterprise registration and providing interest-free loans for startup funds are essential. Additionally, the evaluation of these entrepreneurial policies should be strengthened to include both process and impact assessments, ensuring timely adjustments that enhance their effectiveness. Continuous support should also be extended to supply-oriented and demand-oriented policies, such as enhancing open platforms for scientific and technological resources and supporting industry demands tailored to college students’ entrepreneurial projects.

Enhancing entrepreneurial policy support for female college students

According to the GEM Report 2019–2020 , there is an increasing global trend in the number and proportion of female entrepreneurs, with 231 million women engaged in enterprise activities across 59 economies. This dynamic marks them as a burgeoning force in China’s widespread entrepreneurship and innovation drive. The study highlights that gender significantly moderates the relationship between entrepreneurship policy, regional entrepreneurship spirit, and entrepreneurial decision-making. Given the traditional gender roles prevalent in Chinese culture, where men are typically viewed as breadwinners and women as homemakers, female college students often exhibit lower entrepreneurial engagement than their male counterparts. Consequently, it is imperative for governmental bodies to accord special attention to female college students when devising entrepreneurial policies. If necessary, protective measures and an entrepreneurship risk-relief mechanism should be established to alleviate the concerns female students might have about entrepreneurship. Moreover, there is an urgent need for colleges and universities to enrich entrepreneurship education targeted at female students. Initiatives can include establishing a Women’s Entrepreneurship College, organizing innovation and entrepreneurship competitions specifically for female students, and supporting their employment and entrepreneurial activities. Exemplary initiatives already exist in some provinces and universities in China, such as the collaborative efforts between the Women’s Federation of Wenzhou and Wenzhou University of Technology to establish the Wenzhou Women’s Entrepreneurship College. Similarly, the Women’s Federation of Jiaxing, along with regional partners, has organized the Yangtze River Delta Female College Students’ Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. Additionally, entities such as the Women’s Federation of Zhengzhou and the Women Entrepreneurs Association have initiated supportive actions for female university students’ employment and entrepreneurship. The Women’s Federation of Hangzhou and Westlake University, in collaboration with the Women Entrepreneurs Association and the Women Scientists Association, organized activities to support employment and entrepreneurship on campuses. These events mobilized women entrepreneurs, female scientists, and seasoned human resources experts to offer career planning guidance.

Harnessing the power of case studies to bolster regional entrepreneurial spirit and foster a supportive entrepreneurial atmosphere

This study also discovered that regional entrepreneurship spirit plays a mediating role in the relationship between college students’ entrepreneurial policies and their entrepreneurial decision-making. Consequently, governments, the media, and societal institutions should promote successful case studies of college student entrepreneurs. Governments can support these entrepreneurs by establishing incentive mechanisms, providing startup funds, and crafting policies that foster innovation and entrepreneurship. Highlighting successful cases by showcasing the journeys and achievements of these individuals can inspire a broader audience to pursue entrepreneurial aspirations. The media should focus on successful entrepreneurs and college students, emphasizing their innovative approaches, persistent efforts, and achievements. This coverage can help spark a broader enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and increase societal respect and recognition for entrepreneurs. Additionally, identifying and promoting exemplary models of innovation and entrepreneurship among college students, particularly emphasizing the influential role of peers (such as classmates and friends), can cultivate a positive social atmosphere. Success stories within peer groups can create powerful role-model effects, making it easier for individuals of similar ages to share experiences, establish collaborative relationships, and form robust entrepreneurial teams. By creating a well-rounded regional innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, college students can strengthen their identification with entrepreneurial roles, actively engage in entrepreneurial activities, and achieve higher-quality employment, thereby deepening the impact of widespread entrepreneurship and innovation.

Research limitations and future research prospects

This study has some limitations. First, it utilized a cross-sectional design, and the data only reflected the status of college students’ entrepreneurship policies at a specific point in time. Second, most of the research variables were based on subjective evaluations, which makes it challenging to completely eliminate bias stemming from personal opinions.

Future research should broaden the sample to encompass more diverse policies and explore the dynamics between various introduced variables over different time points. It should also differentiate the studies by gender and enhance the research on optimizing entrepreneurship policies for college students.

Data availability

Due to the sensitive nature of the data involved, which includes personal and confidential information of participants, we are unable to share the dataset publicly. Sharing this data could potentially breach the confidentiality assurances given to participants. However, all private information has been anonymized. Therefore, data may be made available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author, provided that the request meets ethical and privacy standards.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Major Projects on Philosophy and Social Sciences of The Ministry of Education “Research on Comprehensively Improving the Quality of Domestic Talent Development under New Circumstances” (NO. 23JZD045). We would like to thank the editor and reviewers whose suggestions and comments greatly helped to improve and clarify the manuscript. Yangjie Huang and Yingying Chen as corresponding authors.

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Yangjie Huang, Jiali Zhang, Ying Xu, Shuanglei Sun, Yajing Bu & Sihui Li

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Yangjie Huang: Acquired funding, administrated project, and supervised process and wrote the paper. Jiali Zhang: Clarified the conceptual logic, wrote the paper and further content supplementation, modification, and language refinement for the paper. Ying Xu and Shuanglei Sun: Data analysis and language refinement for the paper. Sihui Li, Yajing Bu and Yingying Chen: Draf the initial version.

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Huang, Y., Zhang, J., Xu, Y. et al. College students’ entrepreneurship policy, regional entrepreneurship spirit, and entrepreneurial decision-making. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11 , 748 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03242-8

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