CONNECTING ACADEMIA WITH BUSINESS MANAGEMENT: INSIGHTS FROM THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP COMPETENCE- BASED APPROACH

Management culture, and specifically business management as an academic discipline, is in agreement over the importance of innovation and readiness to adapt to a continuously changing and connected world with a wide range of possibilities for transformation. Companies today are facing more complex challenges and more dynamic and competitive environments. Managers operating in such scenarios must have the right competences in order to perform successfully. Under the tenet that competences can be learned, or at least enhanced, this study first explores the importance of identifying the key skills to which businesses are currently attributing value, and second, explores whether connections exist in training for business development in the higher education context. Among other results, we find that entrepreneurial competence is identified as a key driver of success in real-life business practices. Interestingly, academia has made improvements in introducing values to encourage innovation and proactiveness in the educational community, particularly in implementing external learning experiences. We find that all parties involved value the opportunities for learning from both academia and business that can arise from their interactions. Moreover, beyond the importance of perceiving entrepreneurship as a competence, an entrepreneurial mindset is essential for continuous personal growth and to expand career opportunities in a connected society.