HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION (HEI) LEARNING HUBS: A CASE STUDY ON SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THAILAND AND MYANMAR

Liliya Terzieva, Lisa Mahajan and Monique Schulte
Additional contact information
Liliya Terzieva: The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands
Lisa Mahajan: FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Austria
Monique Schulte: Breda University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands

Poslovna izvrsnost-Business Excellence, 2023, vol. 17, issue 1, 83-97

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 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/439334 (application/pdf)
None

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zag:busexc:v:17:y:2023:i:1:p:83-97

DOI: 10.22598/pi-be/2023.17.1.83

Access Statistics for this article

Poslovna izvrsnost-Business Excellence is currently edited by Tonći Lazibat

More articles in Poslovna izvrsnost-Business Excellence from University of Zagreb Faculty of Economics & Business Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Dario Dunković ().