Jos Verstegen

Het doel van het project 'het ontwikkelen en toetsen van interventietrajecten om het ondernemerschap in de agrarische sector te versterken, met speciale aandacht voor de versterking van netwerkcompetenties' is in vier stappen uitgewerkt. Allereerst is een theoretische verkenning uitgevoerd rond ondernemerschap(scompetenties), strategisch management en het netwerken. Vervolgens zijn diepte-interviews gehouden en is een uitgebreide interventiestudie uitgevoerd. Ten slotte zijn de

Het doel van het project 'het ontwikkelen en toetsen van interventietrajecten om het ondernemerschap in de agrarische sector te versterken, met speciale aandacht voor de versterking van netwerkcompetenties' is in vier stappen uitgewerkt. Allereerst is een theoretische verkenning uitgevoerd rond ondernemerschap(scompetenties), strategisch management en het netwerken. Vervolgens zijn diepte-interviews gehouden en is een uitgebreide interventiestudie uitgevoerd. Ten slotte zijn de ervaringen bij de opzet en uitvoering èn de bevindingen bediscussieerd met vertegenwoordigers van adviesorganisaties en kennisinstellingen. The aim of the project 'the development and testing of intervention trajectories aimed at strengthening entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector, with special focus on strengthening networking competences' was developed in four steps. First of all, a theoretical study was conducted into entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial competences, strategic man...

This paper empirically identifies differences between dairy farmers in their perception of opportunities for farm development. The construct 'perceived Room for Manoeuvre' (pRfM) is used which is defined as: 'the opportunities perceived as viable in order to obtain a (substantial part of) business income'. A unique case study of 79 dairy farmers operating in a highly comparable socio-material context at the level of the case study allows for an empirical analysis of differences in the pRfM using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods exploratory research, a questionnaire and in-depth interviews with stakeholders in farm development. Differences in the pRfM will likely affect the early phase of strategic decision making and consequently explain heterogeneity in farm development. Data analysis revealed the following three dimensions of pRfM: perception of the opportunity (1) to diversify; (2) to end production; and (3) to maximise production. These dimensions proved useful to explain heterogeneity in farm development and thus showed the importance of a subjective approach towards opportunity identification in farm development. This paper shows the need to view the farmer as entrepreneurial actor in the process of strategic decision making who interacts with the socio-material context of the farm.

An important assumption of entrepreneurial competence is that (at least part of) it can be learned and developed. However, human resources development (HRD) practices aimed at further strengthening and developing small-business owner–managers' entrepreneurial competence are complex and underdeveloped. A multisource assessment of owner–managers' entrepreneur-ial competence in a well-defined sector was conducted to provide an answer to the research question: How do self-assessments about mastery and improv-ability of entrepreneurial competence made by owner–managers relate to the same assessments made by significant others in the small-business work envi-ronment? The data show that owner–managers rate their own mastery of entrepreneurial competence significantly lower than internal assessors in their work environment do. Furthermore, the assessors indicate many possible areas for improvement of owner–managers' entrepreneurial competence. Nonetheless, mastery and improvability patterns differ considerably between the assessors. Multisource assessments as adopted in this study can help owner–managers raise their self-awareness, and consequently help them bypass some of their often costly trial-and-error learning. Small businesses, having less than 50 occupied persons, are important contributors to employment and the economy of the European Union. Together they are responsible for more than 50% of the total employment and 40% of the total added value (which is as much as large firms). Panel data from the Euro-pean Union show that small businesses have contributed significantly to the

Moving beyond general personal traits as predictors for success, a growing volume of research acknowledges that entrepreneurial core processes are enabled by specific competencies which can be learned, further refined and developed. The research objective of this article is to develop a framework for entrepreneurial competence in a well-defined small firm sector by elaborating and empirically validating an existing categorization of entrepreneurial competence. The dataset includes 348 small firm owner-managers who participated in an educational programme, established to pursue new business opportunities in the Dutch agri-food sector. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis revealed that three domains constitute the heart of entrepreneurial competence in this small firm context: 'analysing', 'pursuing' and 'networking'. These three competence domains provide professionals active in sector development, small business support and (vocational) education with an empirically valid framework of clearly discernible elements of entrepreneurial competence. This framework also encompasses insights on education and learning.