Vast empirical evidence underscores that exporting firms are more productive than non-exporters. As governments accordingly pursue export-promoting policies we are interested in the firmness of these conclusions with respect to African small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and the influence of the …

Educational programs teaching entrepreneurial behaviour and knowledge are crucial to a vital and healthy economy. The concept of building a Communities of Practice (CoP) could be very promising. CoP’s are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavour …

Background As the level of government closest to citizens and the real economy, local and regional authorities have an important role in tackling the severe impact of the current economic crisis. The double pressures of decreasing public revenue and increasing demand for services, however, call for more …

Although previous research programs have yielded valuable knowledge that can help sugar beet growers to innovate farming processes, actual transfer of this knowledge to the growers so far is lacking. Currents ways of knowledge transfer do not match learning styles, personal traits or the social environment …

Working paper 2008

This paper will focus on important “soft” factors of regional innovation systems, namely learning, network development and network actors within a regional context. Their importance will be explored based on an extensive review of studies and worldwide good practice regions in Welter and Kolb (2006), …

We live in a digital society which has significantly changed the information landscape affecting every aspect of our lives. The current wave of technological innovation is part of the context in which social work students, practitioners and service users and carers operate. Technology can improve the …

This paper proposes a framework for designing human resource development interventions that facilitate change in professional organizations through promoting learning at the individual and group level. The framework proposed is based on a theory of organizational learning developed by Etienne Wenger …

It is important for the current small and medium sized companies to innovate and thereby still to be able to compete with the cheaper companies from the east. Within Fontys University a project has been started to develop an innovative education for its future curricula. More attention is paid to competence …