Entrepreneurship between skills, training and social context

24 December 2019

What are the reasons behind an entrepreneurial project? How does the social context come into play in shaping an idea and giving certain input to turn it into reality?

The labor market has changed dramatically in recent years and entrepreneurship is becoming an increasingly popular career option among younger generations. The increasing globalization, the specialization of skills, the rapid technological changes and the complexity of the working dynamics have profoundly transformed the traditional organizational structures, making it less and less probable to undertake long careers and stabilized over time within the same company.

An evolution that the Universities themselves are supporting, because they are increasingly leveraging a 360-degree training capable of giving a mindset oriented to the creation of new projects. However, recent research suggests that only a small part transforms these entrepreneurial intentions into a concrete, autonomous project. What are the reasons? The social context is one of the main elements to come into play, according to a study conducted, among others, by Riccardo Fini, Academic Director of the Executive Master in Entrepreneurship, and Maurizio Sobrero, Senior Advisor for the Next Production Revolution at BBS.

Specifically, the survey shows how the context influences the process by which some individuals, but not others, decide to create a new business. “In practical terms, our research shows that entrepreneurial intention is linked to how the individual seizes opportunities, resources and difficulties in their process of creating new businesses” – explain the authors of the study. We are more likely to translate our intentions into goals if we perceive that the surrounding environment supports us: numerous studies confirm that the support of parents and encouragement of students and colleagues positively affects students’ school performance.

“On the contrary – the authors continue – there is less likelihood of undertaking career paths if we perceive that our efforts in this sense are hampered by contextual factors”. Not only acquired skills and innate attitudes, therefore but also the context contributes to creating fertile ground for the development of an entrepreneur soul.

For these reasons, Bologna Business School is not only academic training, but above all dialogue and sharing with the community, for an interdisciplinary exchange full of stimuli. Rooting in the territory, research and development of innovative projects, collaboration with the most important companies in international level, global vision and mental flexibility are the strong points of the training program.