Abstract
This thesis examines the effectiveness of entrepreneurship training programmes in supporting and developing aspiring entrepreneurs. It identifies both the benefits and shortcomings of entrepreneurship programmes, investigating their overall impact in economic and non-economic terms. The main hypothesis of the study is that such programmes are beneficial to aspiring entrepreneurs and that they are effective in aiding the successful development and set-up of a new business. This hypothesis includes the secondary hypothesis that there are many hidden benefits in these programmes which are of a qualitative rather than a quantitative nature.The study involves the analysis of a number of entrepreneurship programmes in operation throughout Europe and shows that, while there are certain common elements, significant differences exist in terms of content, costs and outputs. The type of individual who aspires to becoming an entrepreneur, and participates in entrepreneurship training programmes, is investigated and, in this respect, the various theories surrounding successful entrepreneurship are discussed. This is supplemented with an examination of the "make-up" of over 100 individual participants from four of the entrepreneurship programmes studied, revealing that the aspiring entrepreneurs surveyed tended to be well educated, confident individuals with work experience.
An in depth, five part longitudinal study, which tracks the development of a single group of programme participants over a three year period, forms the core part of the empirical research in this thesis. This piece of research shows exactly how entrepreneurship programmes benefit aspiring entrepreneurs, and also indicates areas for improvement in the structure, delivery and content of such programmes. It further shows that, whether clearly proven or not, many aspiring entrepreneurs believe that their subsequent success is due to their participation in the particular entrepreneurship programme.
One of the interesting conclusions of this research is that, when compared with a control group, those who participated in the entrepreneurship programme were more successful in terms of business set-up rates than those who did not. In addition, the individuals in the control group believed that they would have been more successful had they had the opportunity to participate in the training programme.
| Date of Award | Dec 2000 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Frances Hill (Supervisor) |