News
Wise up to Succeed: An Educational Framework for Cultivating Practical Wisdom of Business Successors
We are enthusiastic to share that the literature review conducted as part of Working Package 2 of our project has been accepted for presentation at the esteemed European Academy of Management conference (EURAM 2024).
The article, titled “Wise up to Succeed: An Educational Framework for Cultivating Practical Wisdom of Business Successors,” represents a significant milestone in our project’s progress. This conceptual study lays the foundation for developing a comprehensive educational framework that aims to cultivate practical wisdom among the next generation of business leaders. By presenting our findings at the EURAM conference, we will have the opportunity to engage with leading scholars and practitioners in the field, exchange ideas, and gather valuable feedback to further refine our approach. See the abstract below:
Abstract: To tackle grand societal challenges and make decisions that serve the common good, we need well educated business successors who will become the practically wise entrepreneurs of tomorrow. This paper presents a pioneering educational framework, i.e., the WiseUp Cube framework, to enhance the decision-making skills of business successors through the cultivation of practical wisdom (phronesis). Emphasising practical wisdom as central to sustainable and responsible decision-making, the study provides a novel perspective for contemporary entrepreneurial education. It addresses a critical gap in management and entrepreneurship education literature by focusing on business successors, an often-neglected target group, whose training and education are pivotal for sustainable business practices. The educational framework targets six practical wisdom skills for critical decision-making. It integrates pedagogical, psychological and philosophical aspects and offers six learning perspectives to enhance these skills. In addition, pedagogical tools for implementing the learning perspectives are named. The study contributes to the advancement of entrepreneurial education. It extends the Responsible Management Education agenda to Vocational Education and Training (VET), an area that has received too little attention in this respect, but which offers immense potential for tackling grand challenges. Moreover, it pioneers the translation of the conceptual understanding of the Aristotelian notion of phronesis into a practical framework for education. It serves as a valuable template for educators involved in the training of business successors and offers guidance for the design of curricula and educational practices targeting this distinct cohort.
Keywords: Practical wisdom, vocational education, successors, entrepreneurs, transformational learning, critical pedagogy
The symposium explores an innovative approach to develop practical knowledge for improved decision-making among successors of European SMEs. It will include a presentation, an immersive gaming experience using cards and a cube, and a dynamic discussion.
The presentation will emphasize the role of practical wisdom on successors of SMEs and their challenges. The gaming activity will give participants first-hand insights into applying practical wisdom to different SME succession scenarios.
The discussion will explore the transformative potential of this novel gaming approach to other areas. It will empower participants with a practical approach to teaching practical wisdom to future SMEs leaders.
Proponents: Raysa Rocha, University of Essex; Florian Kragulj, Vienna University of Economics and Business; Susanne Durst, Reykjavik University
Journal of Innovation Management’s LinkedIn Post
The OECD’s Report “Entrepreneurship in Education: What, Why, When, How – Entrepreneurship360 Background Paper” (Bartin Lackéus, 2015, https://lnkd.in/guiST85z) cited that, ‘The idea of infusing #entrepreneurship into education has spurred much enthusiasm in the last few decades.’ It goes on to state in section 2.1 30. that, The most common reason that #researchers and experts promote entrepreneurial education is that entrepreneurship is seen as a major engine for #economicgrowth and #jobcreation (Wong et al., 2005).’ Over time the OECD has produced various reports on this important topic. More recently, (published July 4, 2022), the European Commission (EC) and the OECD have developed the HEInnovate Guiding Framework to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education and provide guidance to policy makers and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that want to generate additional societal and economic value. https://lnkd.in/gkre7pfT
The Journal of Innovation Management is pleased to continue to add to the #Entrepreneurship #Education debate in a recently published paper (July, 2023) by Julien DE FREYMAN, Ph.D. and Susanne Durst which argues that: ‘Most of the entrepreneurship education (EE) efforts have been directed to #businesscreation as the preferred option for entrepreneurial activity. Considering the ever-increasing number of businesses to be transferred and thus the need for people who are willing and interested in seeing a #business transfer as a career option, this one-sided view is unsatisfactory. Inspired by the “attention-interest-desire-action” model from marketing, this paper brings together the existing literature and the authors’ own #research and # experience to propose research directions that can lay the #theoreticalfoundation to incorporate business transfers more clearly in EE. This underlines that #valuecreation through entrepreneurship can take different forms and adds a missing but relevant part to RE and its development.’. Read the full paper via the JIM website: https://lnkd.in/gwv7J6yA
Kick-off Meeting
The Wise Up to Succeed Erasmus+ Project has started
The Wise Up 2 Succeed: Learning Spaces for Sustainable and Responsible Decision-Making (2023-1-AT01-KA220-VET-000166057) is on a mission to address two significant European challenges.
Firstly, the project is committed to reigniting the spark of entrepreneurship in the face of demographic shifts and declining business succession. Secondly, it aims to cultivate the wisdom and responsibility of future business leaders.
On October 10, the kick-off meeting for the Wise Up 2 Succeed project was held via Microsoft Teams. During the meeting, the partners discussed the project’s guiding document, which detailed the milestones, timelines, and responsibilities.
The project is being led by Dr Florian Kragulj from the Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria, and is a collaborative effort with Dr Raysa Rocha and Prof Paulo Pinheiro from the University of Beira Interior, Portugal, as well as Prof Susanne Durst from Reykjavik University, Iceland. The team consists of other researchers, professors, and undergraduate students. Together, they aim to make a significant impact with the implementation of this project.
Wise Up 2 Succeed has a one-year duration and one hundred-twenty-thousand-euro budget funded by the European Commission through the Erasmus + program (KA220-VET – Cooperation partnerships in vocational education and training) to implement a c-VET curriculum on responsible and sustainable decision-making tailored to SMEs business successors. Its training programme focuses on know-why in decision-making and promotes strategic thinking and entrepreneurial vision. The programme uses blended learning and includes individual online learning and local and international peer learning in workshops. The Wise Up Game embeds sustainable and responsible decision-making in daily entrepreneurial practice.