To cite this article: Russell M. Knight (1987) CAN BUSINESS SCHOOLS PRODUCE
ENTREPRENEURS? AN EMPIRICAL STUDY, Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship,
5:1, 17-26, DOI: 10.1080/08276331.1987.10600283
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08276331.1987.10600283
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ABSTRACT
This study examines a sample of225 entrepreneurs who have graduated from the Western
Business School. Issues examined include characteristics such as whether family
members were entrepreneurs, the type of company which employed them before their
entrepreneurial career and reasons why they left that employment. The influence of
mentors, entrepreneurial ventures in university and reasons contributing to their decision
to become entrepreneurs are also investigated, as well as the influence of various courses
on their decision, especially entrepreneurship courses. Information on their type of
venture, sources offinancing, and educational background completed the survey while
suggestions to encourage entrepreneurial careers for business school students were
also sought.
The overall conclusions of the study are that potential entrepreneurs can be
encouraged (and discouraged) by business school programs, entrepreneurship can be
taught (and learned) in business schools and new ventures by entrepreneurial alumni
make tremendous case teaching materials for entrepreneurial courses.
SOMMAIRE
Cette etude porte sur un echantillon de 225 chefs d'entreprise qui son! des diplomes de Ia
Western Business School. Parmi /es questions traiteesfigurent les caracteristiques des
chefs d'entreprise. On a demande, par exemp/e, aux personnes interrogees si les membres
de leur famille etaient des chefs d'entreprise, le type de societe qui les a employees avant
qu'elles amorcent leur carriere d'entrepreneur, et les raisons qui les ont conduites aquitter
leur emploi. [.;article examine aussi /'influence des mentors, /es initiatives prises dans les
universites pour susciter /'esprit d'entreprise, /es raisons qui on! pousse les interesses a
devenir des chefs, de meme que /'influence exercee sur eux par divers cours, notamment
des cours sur /'esprit d'entreprise. Des renseignements sur leur type d'entreprise, leurs
sources de financement et leur formation completent /'enquete, qui demande, par
ailleurs, des suggestions pour favoriser /es carrieres de chef d'entreprise parmi /es eleves
des eco/es commercia/es.
[.;etude conclut que les programmes des ecoles commercia/es peuvent encourager
(ou decourager) les entrepreneurs en puissance, qu'il est possible de donner (et d'acquerir)
/'esprit d'entreprise dans les eco/es commerciales, enfin, que les initiatives nouvelles prises
par lese/eves entreprenantsfournissent du materiel de choix pour les cours sur /'esprit
d'entreprise.
INTRODUCTION
The controversy has raged for years over whether entrepreneurs are born or made,
whether they are creatures of their environment, or whether entrepreneurship can be
taught, especially in business schools. We believe entrepreneurship can be defined and
taught in the same sense that management, business or administration can be defined and
taught. In fact, let us for convenience in this study define an entrepreneur as the independent owner/manager of a business which is profit-oriented. Let us further restrict our area
17
of interest to entrepreneurs who are alumni of business schools, and Western's Business
School in particular.
We believe that business school graduates become entrepreneurs in spite of what
we, the faculty in business schools, teach them, rather than because of it. In this paper we
were interested in asking the entrepreneurial graduates of at least one business school why
they became entrepreneurs and how business schools might better prepare future
graduates for entrepreneurial careers. Our interest in this area was supported and increased
by several factors. The first of these was a study by a colleague at Western (l) who surveyed
Western's Business School Alumni and found that nearly 25 per cent of them were selfemployed, at least five years or more after graduation. This totally surprised many of us
at Western, since the School, like many others, purports to train its graduates for careers
in the larger business corporations in Canada and elsewhere.
Second, we were supported and encouraged by the administration at Western to
explore the reasons behind this phenomenon and how we might learn from and
encourage it, especially in terms of an insert in a mail out to all alumni.
Third, we encountered other colleagues, notably Ronstadt at Babson College,
doing research on entrepreneurial alumni, and they encouraged us to explore this area.
18
readily available from the author to other researchers who may wish to pursue similar
studies.
Research Methodology
We used two methods to obtain our sample. The first was to include a self-addressed,
stamped card in material mailed out to all alumni of Western's Business School. The card
asked whether recipients were entrepreneurs and what type (independent, acquirer,
successor in a family or non-family business, franchise or corporate). We also asked if
they would be willing to help us by completing an appropriate questionnaire on their
experience. Questionnaires were prepared to cover three different categories, similar to
those proposed by Ronstadt, practicing entrepreneurs (the sample reported in this paper),
ex-entrepreneurs (those who have terminated an entrepreneurial venture), and serious
non-starters (those who seriously intend to start a venture of their own, but have not yet
done so).
In addition to this approach, word-of-mouth was used, by asking responding
entrepreneurs, faculty colleagues and students for suggestions of other Western alumni
entrepreneurs, who were then asked to co-operate. We obtained responses from over
70 per cent of this last category, but have no way of estimating the response rate from the
mail-back card approach.
Interviews have been held with about 40 of the sample of 225 to discuss certain
issues in more detail.
cent agreed, as shown in Figure 2. Since 47 per cent of the respondents reported that they
had previously terminated a venture, we believe that they spoke from experience in stating
that new ventures were risky, but entrepreneurs did not have to be compulsive risk takers.
Interviews supported the conclusion that these entrepreneurs feel they could manage
much of the risk.
Previous Employment
The next area explored was what type of organization these entrepreneurs had been
employed by before starting their current venture, Figure 3. Of the total, 37 per cent had
left a large corporation with sales over $100-million. An additional 31 per cent had
worked for corporations under $100-million in sales and 19 per cent had been selfemployed previously. In fact, some of these self-employed individuals had undoubtedly
worked for larger corporations previously, so the percentages estimated above are low.
Only a minority (8 per cent) had worked with non-profit organizations (chiefly government or military), which are not entrepreneurial training grounds.
The reasons cited most often for leaving a previous corporate employer were the
desire for independence (23 per cent), frustration with the current job (10 per cent), and
an opportunity that became available (8 per cent). In a few cases, entrepreneurs had
continued to work for corporate employers, maintaining their ventures as a sideline or
part-time endeavour. Several of these stated they planned to leave their corporate jobs
once their ventures became proven. Only 23 per cent stated they would consider working
for someone else again and only if the circumstances were right.
Previous Ventures
A surprisingly high 35 per cent of respondents had ventures prior to graduation from
university, while almost half (47 per cent) had terminated a previous venture, usually
selling out (15 per cent) or shutting it down (13 per cent). The number of ventures cited
ranged from one to 45 with an average of 2.7. However, the largest percentage (42 per cent)
had been involved in only one venture, with 20 per cent citing two and 14 per cent three.
Most questions were addressed to the current or most recent venture.
When they left the Western Business School, 38 per cent had definite plans to start
a business of their own, so the large corporate employers helped a majority to consider
entrepreneurship as a career alternative.
the three levels of importance and respondents were also asked to rank the three most
important factors.
that might be attractive to venture capitalists or other investors". The final 3 per cent did
not express a preference.
We next explored the percentage of the venture owned by the entrepreneur at its
beginning and currently, as shown in Figure 5. Share of ownership by the entrepreneurs
increased slightly, but not significantly. Similarly, debit-to-equity ratio varied from the
initial ratio to the current ratio, as shown in Figure 6, with debt decreasing as a percentage
of total funding, which grew from initial to current values as shown in Figure 7. Figure 8
shows initial sales goals and current sales levels, while Figure 9 illustrates sources of funds
used, both initially and currently, ranked by order of importance. In summary, personal
savings ofthe founder ranked twice as important as other sources, with supplier or trade
credit ranked second initially, closely followed by cash from earnings, family and friends
and bank loans, all of which were rated about equally. When rating current sources of
financing, founders and cash from earnings were rated about equally, closely followed by
trade credit, bank loans and family and friends, in that order.
Finally, we explored the correlations between the variables discussed earlier. All
of the following relationships were significant at the 0.05 level in chi-square tests.
Entrepreneurial fathers (and mothers) seem to lead to having mentors other than parents
as role models. These alumni also were more likely to have had a venture prior to
graduation, to have planned to have their own venture after graduation, and to start
growth-oriented ventures with partners. Undergraduates were more likely to have had
entrepreneurial parents, while MBAs tended to have had mentors other than parents.
MBAs also were more likely to have had a venture prior to graduation. Those who had
pre-graduation ventures were also more likely to have terminated a venture, presumably
MBAs returning to school or others with ventures during university winding them up
at graduation.
Alumni with entrepreneurial parents were also more likely to take the entrepreneurship course during their program and to seek other courses after university. It
seems that support from parents for their entrepreneurial careers tends to encourage them
to seek support elsewhere, from mentors, courses, etc. Those who took the entrepreneurship course in business school were also more likely to have planned to start their own
venture after graduation, although the reverse may be true, which may be the reason they
took the course. Those who took the course were also more likely to start growth-oriented
firms, with partners.
Those with ventures prior to graduation had usually started more ventures overall,
were more likely to have terminated a venture, and were less willing to ever work for
someone else again. MBA alumni tend to rate previous experience higher than
undergraduate alumni, since Western MBAs tend to have more work experience prior to
their MBA, while undergraduates lack full-time work experience prior to graduation.
CONCLUSIONS
The primary conclusion of the research is that business schools can produce entrepreneurs, albeit usually on the rebound from large corporations. One might conclude that
business schools can provide an option for their corporate refugee graduates. However,
most of the entrepreneurial alumni recommended that the business school should
introduce more materials, cases and visits by entrepreneurs in all phases of its programs
to encourage more graduates to choose an entrepreneurial career. The entrepreneurial
alumni express a high level of job satisfaction, have usually left a larger corporate
employer and are seeking independence, a desire to be their own boss, plus the challenge
of building something of their own. In addition, they are avoiding the frustration of the
large corporate environment.
Several surprises arose from the feedback, notably that 47 per cent had terminated
22
a venture, enhancing the theory that success follows failure in entrepreneurial ventures.
In addition, many respondents (35 per cent) had a venture before graduating, some
starting as early as nine years of age. The parents of these entrepreneurial alumni were
often entrepreneurial immigrants who have passed on the entrepreneurial urge to their
children as role models. The environment in which these entrepreneurs developed was
usually one which encouraged entrepreneurial careers. They have suggested that the
business school should join this list of environmental influences in encouraging entrepreneurial careers, if only in presenting an option for corporate refugees. This could best
be done by introducing more entrepreneurial role models. These should be in the form of
cases about entrepreneurial alumni who should visit classes to illustrate that even business
schools can produce entrepreneurs!
REFERENCES
I. Lemmon, J. C., "A Study of Business School Alumni", Working Paper Series,
School of Business Administration, University of Western Ontario, 1976.
2. Smith, N., The Entrepreneur and His Firm, Michigan State University, 1967.
3. Knight, R. M. and J. C. Lemmon, "A Study of Small and Medium Sized Canadian
Technology Based Companies", Technological Innovation Studies Program,
Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce, Ottawa, September, 1978.
4. Ronstadt, R. C., "Entrepreneurial Careers and Research on Entrepreneurs",
Frontiers ofEntrepreneurship Research, Babson College, 1981.
5. Ronstadt, R. C., "Does Entrepreneurial Career Path Really Matter?", Frontiers of
Entrepreneurship Research, Babson College, 1982.
6. Ronstadt, R. C., Entrepreneurship: Test, Cases and Notes, Lord Publishing, Dover,
Mass., 1984a.
7. Ronstadt, R. C., "Ex-Entrepreneurs and the Decision to Start an Entrepreneurial
Career", Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, Babson College, 1984b.
8. Ronstadt, R. C., "The Decision Not to Become an Entrepreneur", Frontiers of
Entrepreneurship Research, Babson College, 1983.
9. Stevenson, H. H., "Who are the Harvard Self-Employed?" Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, Babson College, 1983.
10. Shuman, J. C., J. A. Steger, J. B. Kamm, and N.C. Teebagy, "An Empirical Test of
10 Entrepreneurial Propositions", Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, Babson
College, 1986.
Figurel
Which of the following do you think describes an entrepreneur?
OJo of Responses
I.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Note:
8
38
56
66
22
Total adds to more than 100 per cent due to multiple responses.
23
Figure 2
Which of the following best expresses your reaction to the
following statement? "Starting a new venture is very risky"
OJo of Respondents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
2
23
3
57
13
2
OJo of Respondents
I.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Self-Employed
Not-For-Profit Organization
Corporation with Sales Less than$10 Million
Corporation with Sales $10 Million- $100 Million
Corporation with Sales Greater than $100 Million
Other? (Student)
19
8
14
17
37
3
Figure4
The Importance of Various Reasons Contributing
to Your Decision to Become an Entrepreneur
Reason
Overall
Ranking
24
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
l3
14
15
16
17
%Stating
Very
Important
76
64
62
33
31
32
34
22
16
6
6
5
4
3
3
2
1
%Stating
Somewhat
Important
21
30
31
43
44
35
28
42
27
20
14
15
18
5
3
3
4
%Stating
Not
Important
3
6
7
24
25
33
38
36
57
74
80
80
78
92
94
95
95
l<'igure 5
Percentage of Current Venture
Owned by Entrepreneur, Initially
and Currently
OJo of Respondents
Initially
Currently
Amount of
Equity Owned
Whole (100%)
Majority ( > 500Jo)
50%
25% to49%
Minority(<25%)
41
42
8
22
16
12
16
17
ll
l3
Figure6
Debit to Equity Ratio of
The Venture, Initially and Currently
Debit to Equity Ratio
OJ'o of Respondents
Initially
Currently
38
7
12
15
23
5
46
l3
18
16
5
2
Figure7
Capitalization of Ventures,
Initially and Currently
Capitalization
OJo of Respondents
Initially
Currently
85
10
2
2
53
12
24
7
FigureS
Sales in First Year
and Current Sales
Sales Level
OJo of Respondents
Initially
Currently
32
ll
28
27
64
12
16
25
N
0\
17/13
9/6
10/6
12/14
4/4
514
0/1
3/1
111
112
Ill
111
112
010
0/1
51150
64/42
66/79
58/58
83/84
89/88
94/91
93/92
94/94
91/91
94/93
96/94
96/93
98/96
98/93
14/15
15/16
16/9
13/14
12/13
11/11
2/3
3/2
415
514
. 616
7/8
8/7
9/10
10/12
19/16
16/36
111
Personal Savings
of Founder
Supplier/Trade Credit
Cash From Earnings
Family/Friends
Bank Loans
Individual Investors
Customer Advances
American Sources
Private Placement
F.B.D.B. Loan
Other (Notes,
Corporations)
Federal Government
Program
Venture Capital
Provincial Government
Program
Investment Group
Public Issue
1/C
1/C
l.g~
N!;!!!'
Rank
1/C
Source
Figure9
Sources of Funding Used
Initially (I) and Currently (C)
(OJo Responding)
2/1
0/1
110
110
0/3
Ill
2/2
010
110
111
0/0
0/0
111
3/3
111
111
4/4
110
3/4
111
0/0
2/3
0/1
111
110
19/8
eau
1/C
5/3
8/19
6/3
3/0
5/1
111
212
112
110
0/2
22/16
1/C
M!2~t
26/26
15/20
15/10
23/22
5/8
514
212
3/2
3/2
4/3
24/22
1/c
Amount Used
Soms: