by Bettina Lankard Brown
1999
PRACTICE APPLICATION
BRIEF NO. 3
Clearinghouse on
Adult, Career,
and Vocational
Education
Entrepreneurship Success Stories:
Implications for Teaching and Learning
An explosion in entrepreneurship will characterize the first decade
of the 21st Century. This Practice Application Brief describes the
societal trends and personal characteristics that are facilitating move-
ment from corporate to self-employment. It reports on successful
entrepreneurs and suggests practical teaching and learning strate-
gies for promoting entrepreneurial behaviors and skills in the class-
room.
The entrepreneurship movement is characterized by several trends
that are influencing the way people choose to work. For one, em-
ployer-employee contracts have become short-term commitments.
Today’s adolescents and Generation Xers have little trust in the tra-
ditional employment arrangement that guaranteed job security for
hard work and loyalty. They have seen their parents lose jobs due to
corporate downsizing and restructuring (Love 1999). Second, ca-
reer options have expanded. Nontraditional occupational choices
are increasing (ibid.). Alternative work arrangements that allow for
part-time and contingent workers are providing options for flexibil-
ity and autonomy. Third, businesses have fewer operating constraints.
Government deregulation has opened national borders for com-
merce. Communication technology has opened the four-walled of-
fice operation with systems such as the World Wide Web forging
global connections (Bronner 1998). Finally, society has legitimized
“working at home.” Affordable, user-friendly office technology has
made it possible for people to conduct business from any number of
locations, including the home, in a professional, cost-effective man-
ner (Grossman 1998).
Characteristics that Facilitate
Entrepreneurship
The following characteristics are commonly attributed to entrepre-
neurs: perceptive, innovative, creative, self-directed, action oriented,
confident, collaborative, perseverin