MBA students and entrepreneurship: an Australian study of entrepreneurial intentions and actualisation

In an increasingly repressed economic environment such as that facing most countries today, where the ‘new economy’ is undergoing a distressing ‘shake-out’ and where the ‘old economy’ is experiencing severe business downturns and failures, there is a crying need for wealth creation, in addition to wealth preservation. Surviving businesses have to be sustained, and new ones created to fill the void left by failed ones. In addition to initiatives by government and industry, another catalyst in wealth creation is entrepreneurship. This is underscored by the fact that many universities have embarked upon entrepreneurship-related subjects in both their undergraduate as well as postgraduate programs. Whole programs have been structured on the notion of entrepreneurship, as has been the case with the Swinburne MBA. In fact, the strategic focus of some graduate schools has changed in the direction of entrepreneurship, as evidenced in the School’s name; for instance, the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship. Marketing efforts for those programs have touted the virtues and benefits of those programs for practising as well as nascent entrepreneurs.