Educating for Entrepreneurship: Application to the Business Services Marketing Subject

In the current economy context of Spain, where the crisis has revealed the weaknesses of the Spanish economic and production model (reduced weight of industry, excessive dependence on the construction sector, poorly competitive SMEs, high unemployment rate, and high private debt), a change in the model is becoming increasingly necessary. One possible model is entrepreneurship. A new generation of entrepreneurs is needed who are able to create and develop new businesses to solve all these problems, plus companies with well-trained human capital to operate in sectors with high added value, and to properly use new technologies to innovate and develop sustainable competitive advantages. Spain lacks an entrepreneurial culture, and neither training nor funding helps change this notion. In recent years, the high unemployment rate has served to promote entrepreneurship, especially when businesses do not require major initial investment. Notwithstanding, the fact that an entrepreneurial mindset in Spanish is missing is closely linked to the Spanish society’s negative perception of entrepreneurs. The authors of this paper have attempted to change this behavior in their students by using several tools in the Business Services Marketing subject to encourage entrepreneurship.