REINFORCING UNIVERSITY-BASED START-UP DEVELOPMENT THROUGH DIGITISATION: AN EVALUATION OF A SCOTTISH BUSINESS SCHOOL

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61282/mir.v3i1.31

Keywords:

enterprise, entrepreneurship, education, start-ups, digitisation, business school, higher education, incubation

Abstract

Through ideas, invention, and innovation enterprising behaviours evolve and respond to a multitude of societal and market demands. The recent COVID-19 pandemic, witnessed financial instability amongst sectors, and global student recruitment crises has brought about a need to understand, use, and develop enterprising and digital skills. Towards this practical and pedagogical endeavour, this paper evaluates the digitised offering and institutional response from a team within a Scottish university. This involves an exploration of over 500 students enrolled in taught modules or enterprising activities such as competitions and external engagement. Feedback from students, concerning the support offered, opportunities to network and realise entrepreneurial potential, and the likelihood of business growth contribute towards recommendations. This includes (1) an illustration of factors which add to enterprise agendas which in turn support businesses through digital platforms and forums, and (2) a prescriptive ‘four-stage model’ of anticipated activity through teaching and support: information, organisation, digitisation, and acceleration. This paper crystallises and highlights the need for a unified approach, both pedagogically and culturally, to university-based start-up activity to effectively utilise digital methods of engagement and development.

Author Biography

Robert Crammond, University of the West of Scotland, United Kingdom

Robert Crammond is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) and Research Director in enterprise and management, with a distinct teaching and research interest in enterprise and entrepreneurship education, with a focus on relevant stakeholders and the university context.
He is an internationally published researcher and author, and teaches several modules across many disciplines. These include: entrepreneurship and innovation; organisational stakeholders and managing business relationships; business and management (strategy); leadership; human resource management; organisational development; and business and managerial research skills.
Dr Crammond is a Senior Fellow (SFHEA) of Advance HE, and Certified Management and Business Educator (CMBE) with the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS). At the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), Crammond is the module and CPD leader for the university's largest entrepreneurship course, Enterprise Creation. He is also an academic team lead for Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs). Previously, Dr Crammond was the programme leader for the university's most extensive undergraduate business programme.
Dr Crammond is also a visiting professor at CBS International Business School, Cologne, and a lead supervisor in an institutional partnership with HAW Hamburg, Germany.
A thematic lead (Enterprise Education & Policy) in UWS's 'Transformative Enterprise Research Group' (TERG), Dr Crammond publishes in many academic journals concerning enterprise, management, and higher education.
He has published in the Journal of International Management (3*), Journal of Intellectual Capital, Baltic Journal of Management, Education + Training, Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice, and the International Journal of Intellectual Property Management.
Crammond has also authored two books: Advancing Entrepreneurship Education in Universities: Concepts and Practices for Teaching and Support in 2020 (Palgrave Macmillan) and Entrepreneurship and Universities: Pedagogical Perspectives and Philosophies in 2023 (Palgrave Macmillan). His latest, co-edited book titled: Entrepreneurship Education and Internationalisation: Cases, Collaborations and Contexts with Dr Denis Hyams-Ssekasi (University of Bolton) was released in 2024 (Routledge).
Dr Crammond is an associate editor with the International Journal of Management Education, the Baltic Journal of Management and Journal of Intellectual Capital. He is also an editorial board member with International Journal of Intellectual Property Management.
In supporting academic development, Dr Crammond supervises undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral-level theses, is the academic lead for the UWS Business Student Society, is the writing retreat coordinator for early career researchers (ECR), academic representative on the School of Business & Creative Industries' school board, and is an occasional internal examiner & viva chair for viva voce examinations.
He holds several external roles in academia, including serving as an external examiner at the University of Aberdeen and the University of the Highlands and Islands. He is also an occasional research supervisor in business and management disciplines at the University of Stirling. Since 2025, Dr Crammond is also a board member of the CMBE Professional Standards Board, with the Chartered Association of Business Schools (also community building 'Task & Finish' Group member).
Crammond has written for several higher education and business-specific publications, and news media, including: Advance HE, Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS), Daily Record, EconoTimes, the Entrepreneurial Mindset Network, the European Financial Review, the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), HE Professional, The Irish News, Paisley Daily Express, Research Features, Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF), the Small Business Charter, The Sun, The Conversation, The Herald, Times Higher Education, and Wonkhe.
Dr Crammond is also a judge for the Converge Challenge, a Business Consultant with Elevator UK, an expert member of the Entrepreneurial Mindset Network (SHINE project), and an expert member of the Working Group (Economy) for the Global Compassion Coalition.

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Published

2025-11-30

How to Cite

Crammond, R. (2025). REINFORCING UNIVERSITY-BASED START-UP DEVELOPMENT THROUGH DIGITISATION: AN EVALUATION OF A SCOTTISH BUSINESS SCHOOL. Management in Review, 3(1), 4–17. https://doi.org/10.61282/mir.v3i1.31

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2025): Entrepreneurial Innovation in the Digital Ecosystem: from Academic Incubation to Organizational Competence

Section

Artigos

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Robert Crammond

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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial use provided the original author and source are credited.