Entrepreneurial Gyms For Entrepreneurial Learning

Paola Dubini and Mario Campana

Paola Dubini and Mario Campana (ASK Centre) presented Entrepreneurial Gyms For Entrepreneurial Learning at EURAM ’11, the 11th EURAM Annual Conference (Tallinn, 1st-4th June 2011).

Abstract: Entrepreneurship literature is concerned with the problem for start-ups of coping with liability of newness. As the new venture unfolds and the founder activates learning processes and builds confidence. This is a continuous process that helps the entrepreneur to overcome successfully the liability of newness. But there is the possibility for an entrepreneur to build learning also in less risky context. Entrepreneurial sweatshops are defined as forms of minimalist organizations or pre-organizations, which allow building entrepreneurial learning at with very low risks. To verify if these entrepreneurial sweatshops are able to foster entrepreneurial learning, the paper analyzes 250 blogs (that could be defined as minimalist organizations) run by women. Once identified some key variables that could influence entrepreneurial learning, some regression analyses are run in order to verify if this influence exists in entrepreneurial sweatshops.