Business Excellence, Vol. 17 No. 1, 2023.
Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.22598/pi-be/2023.17.1.83
HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION (HEI) LEARNING HUBS: A CASE STUDY ON SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THAILAND AND MYANMAR
Liliya Terzieva
orcid.org/0000-0003-4834-6951
; The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands
Lisa Mahajan
orcid.org/0009-0009-7293-2118
; FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Austria
Monique Schulte
; Breda University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands
Abstract
Despite continuous efforts in various economies, amongst others in South-East
Asia, the full potential of social entrepreneurship (SE) is difficult to realize (STEPup
project comparative study findings). Challenges that need to be addressed include the
lack of skilled employees, business understanding among founders, access to funding and
infrastructure and a lack of social impact measurement. Higher education institutions
(HEI) are often challenged with limited engagement, also in terms of student support of
early entrepreneurial activity. This disbalance has also been observed in Thailand and
Myanmar, with the Erasmus+ funded project STEPup (2020-2023) seeing an opportunity
to create and strengthen innovative social entrepreneurship practices for disruptive
business settings in the two participating countries. Research based on the review of scientific articles, the conduct of focus groups (n= 42 from 38 different external
stakeholder organizations) and numerous interviews and creative sessions with
stakeholders of the social entrepreneurship domain also revealed the necessity to act in
a self-organizing and organic SE support system. This paper aims to present
recommendations and strategic guidelines to increase access and opportunity for existing
social enterprises and social entrepreneurs who are planning to create and sustain an SE
ecosystem through the framework, support, expertise and structure of existing higher
education institutions. In addition, Higher Education Institutions in Myanmar and
Thailand would serve as a good practice case on how to design and develop resource
hubs for social enterprise practitioners and engage stakeholders from all sectors to tackle
social issues and promote awareness of the social enterprise sector’s potential.
Keywords
social entrepreneurship; community development; student-centred activities.
Hrčak ID:
304676
URI
Publication date:
26.6.2023.
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