During 1993-1994, a national survey of business incubator managers and entrepreneurs in and out of business incubation was conducted to gain a shared understanding of entrepreneurship and of the extent of support for business incubation and entrepreneurship at the national level (see Report 1, Hernández-Gantes, Sorensen, & Nieri, 1996a). Concurrently, nine case studies were conducted to gain in-depth insights on the extent of the involvement of postsecondary technical institutions in economic and entrepreneurship development through business incubation and educational opportunities in the community. Participant sites represented urban, suburban, and rural locations distributed across the nation and serving diverse populations (see Report 2, Hernández-Gantes et al., 1996b).
Several opportunities to foster community economic development were identified in terms of strategies to develop human capital resources with a focus on entrepreneurship, participation with business- and industry-related services, and facilitation of transitional experiences from school-to-work-to-business ownership as an alternative career path. This guidebook summarizes these opportunities from a practical standpoint to assist and inform administrators, instructors, and students with an interest in entrepreneurship and community development. In a time of intensive educational reforms, the main objective of this guidebook is to bring research results closer to a working understanding of practical applications and considerations for sound program implementation.
This guidebook describes opportunities for the participation of postsecondary technical institutions in the economic and entrepreneurship development of urban, suburban, and rural communities, and is organized into six major sections to facilitate the identification and presentation of strategies, a description of examples, and a list of the resources available.
The purpose of this organization is to help administrators
The format of the guidebook is designed to provide the reader with easy-to-use information enriched with brief, yet comprehensive descriptions of working strategies for each of the major areas identified in the guidebook. Each major section is briefly introduced to provide a framework for the inclusion and description of a particular set of opportunities for participation in community and entrepreneurship development in the community. On the same page, an index of key strategies for implementation are identified for subsequent reference.
Each strategy for implementation is outlined step-by-step and characterized with descriptions based on the personal insights of business incubator managers, entrepreneurs in and out of business incubation, college administrators, instructors, and students. All in all, these strategies are based on a series of comprehensive "real world" experiences leading to practical applications and an understanding of practices throughout the United States.
At the end of each section, a list of resources, which includes a description of services, contact people, reference materials, and agencies, is provided. Given this format, the reader can use this guidebook following a sequential examination to build an overall understanding of the potential possibilities and limitations or go directly to individual strategies and review them without losing any coherence in the content.