Narrow Results

The German mechanical engineering sector plays a key role as provider and user of digitally integrated products, processes and business models for Industry 4.0. However, it has not yet been empirically investigated to what extent these companies are able to independently develop digital products and services and what kind of competences they need to be able to do this successfully. An online survey of 335 German mechanical engineering companies and 15 deepening expert interviews shows that they mainly regard digitized service offerings such as predictive maintenance or condition monitoring as core competences and develop them in-house. The analysis shows that agile and design-oriented development methods can significantly improve the companies’ abilities to develop digitized products themselves. An interdisciplinary approach will become more and more important in the future, as digitally integrated innovations are increasingly taking place in the intersection of different disciplines.

Universities across the world are adopting entrepreneurial programs to meet the needs and challenges of the global economy. However, by accident or design, the entrepreneurial programs tend to focus almost exclusively on start-ups and do not necessarily encourage or enable corporate entrepreneurship (CE). Therefore, much of the content is not applicable in a corporate scenario, yet business students typically start working for established companies for initial positions or as continuation of graduate training. With the lack of corporate entrepreneurship modules in the entrepreneurial curriculum, business students are less prepared to enter the job market and incumbent organizations and miss out on opportunities to recruits with corporate entrepreneurship knowledge, skills, and abilities. This is unfortunate, as companies are also affected by the absence of next-generation leaders oriented to CE, which may contribute to the vulnerability of existing organizations facing increasingly dynamic environments. To address this knowledge deficiency and encourage future research on this important topic, we conducted 20 in-depth interviews with CE scholars, educators, and administrators. In this chapter, we synthesize a Corporate Entrepreneurship Education Framework and propose high-potential directions for future research.

Diaspora networks across the globe think of their homeland, which makes them continuously assist various projects that have public–private partnership ventures. Many of the members of the Indian diaspora had difficult times during their childhood in their native country. The conditions were not favorable within India prior to Indian Independence for acquiring desired skills in entrepreneurial activities. However, they managed to sail through the rough sea and reach the western coast in great adversity. The journey itself was a training for the early diaspora that resulted in learning the skills needed for setting up their business in the adopted countries. Indian diaspora from various developed countries have learned a great deal about the local culture, new skills in business partnership, consultancy services, research and innovations in technology that helped them to prosper in the adopted land and implement those ideas in their home country as a part of social remittances and giving back to the society. Developed countries have exhibited the feasibility of sustainable development through social entrepreneurship. Compulsory community service that trains people in new skill development also educates them in preserving the environment in which they reside. The public–private partnership model, which is in practice in developed countries, has become the agent of creation of social entrepreneurship with accountability toward the society. Diaspora communities that send social remittances to their home countries not only in the form of money but also ideas, identities and behaviors help set up public– private models of undertakings that would ensure sustainable growth in the long run. Philanthropic work is reckoned in the Public–Private Partnership (PPP) model that we see in various parts of India, especially in states like Punjab (Sikh diaspora), Kerala (Malayali diaspora) and Gujarat (Gujarati diaspora). In this background, this chapter tries to examine the Indian diaspora’s schemes in India on the model of public–private partnership that they had either set up or observed in their adopted countries. This chapter also looks into how far diaspora remittances in totality help mitigate the existing problems in Indian villages, create new job opportunities for the local population, manage skill development centers and educate the masses in preserving the environment that would help in sustainable development through social entrepreneurship.

This paper discusses the data collection technique used to determine the skills and knowledge required of academic librarians working in a digital library environment in Australia. The research was undertaken as part of the researcher's master's thesis conducted at Tallinn University. The data collection instrument used was a freely available online survey tool, and its advantages and disadvantages are discussed in terms of the desired outcomes and circumstances surrounding the thesis project. Decisions regarding the design of the questionnaire are also discussed.