Participation in the conference of Saint-Petersburg State University of Economics in 2018

From the 22^nd till the 24^th of October 2018 the XIII International Symposium about Intelligent Systems was held in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The symposium hosted several scholars from about 15 countries, involved in various fields of science, such as neurophysiology, physiology, biology and the application of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, knowledge technology, control theory and other basic sciences. A contributing author to Entrepreneurial Finance Module, Judit Sági, was participating in this symposium with a research paper, titled “Knowledge Company: Approaches to Assessing New Knowledge and Representation it to Society”. The paper, which examined the main approaches and methods for assessing new knowledge, and by how the corporate value is created, was written and presented together with Alzhanat E. Suleimankadieva and Valeria I. Pilipenco from Saint-Petersburg State University of Economics. It is not just an outcome of the research done through the FAME project, but also an outstanding opportunity to the future cooperation of the two universities. Judit Sági’s participation in the symposium, and the writing of the paper was financed by FAME.

Partticipation at the RENT Conference in Toledo, Spain

The XXXIIth RENT conference organised by the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (EIASM) took place in Toledo, Spain between 14-16th of November 2018. The title of the conference was ’Sustainable entrepreneurship: A win-win strategy for the future’ with the aim to bring together approximately 250 leading academics in this field who present and debate cutting edge research in a wide variety of entrepreneurship related topics. Representing the Hungarian FAME-team, Péter Csizmadia, Sára Csillag, Karina Szászvári and Anna Hidegh prepared a paper for the conference with the title of ‘Learn as if you were to life forever? Learning patterns in Hungarian SMEs’ which was selected for the poster session. The poster was exposed and presented by Péter during the conference. Based on the lessons learned from the FAME project the poster aimed at promoting the project results with a special emphasis on small firms HR development practices. The paper addressed three main questions: (1) What are characteristics of workplace learning in small firms? (2) What is the role of the owner/manager in constructing the learning environment in small businesses? (3) How do owner/managers utilize networks to support workplace learning in small businesses? The conference was a useful forum for receiving (mainly positive) feedback from the academic community concerning our results and also provided an excellent opportunity to extend the BBS’s professional network by popularising the FAME project.

FAME at the 13^th Enterprise Educators Conference, Leeds Beckett University, UK

5-7 September 2018

Leeds Beckett University was delighted to host the 13^th Enterprise Educators UK Conference at the Rose Bowl in Leeds. More than three hundred delegates from all corners of the globe enjoyed connecting, contributing, participating and networking with participants with a range of interests associated with promoting Enterprise Education in Higher Education and other learning contexts.  Brian Jones and David Devins convened a session to consider curriculum design and development issues associated with small family businesses.  The session drew extensively on the experiences of the Erasmus funded FAME project and encouraged participants to consider the implications of the family business context for curriculum.  It provided an opportunity to showcase the online learning materials developed in the project and encouraged participants to provide constructive feedback. 

Family Business Sustainability (FAME) Multiplier in Leeds (UK)

More than thirty manufacturing and service sector businesses attended a FAME project multiplier event hosted by Leeds Business School on 15^th November 2018.  The workshop considered productivity related performance in the context of small and medium sized family businesses.  Professor David Devins outlined a UK context where, on the one hand family businesses are seen as the backbone of a sustainable economy providing jobs for more than 12 million people and contributing more than £1.4 trillion to the UK economy.  However, on the other hand, family businesses are seen as contributing to an economy struggling to make productivity improvements with relatively low levels of management practice that have seen media reporting management practice in family firms as ‘awful’.

In response to this context and as a result of universities seeking to develop connections with the business community, the FAME project produced some innovative training materials.  These materials seek to support the development of knowledge and skills in relation to a range of areas including management, finance, governance and transition.  David provided an introduction to the modules that have been developed and he showcased the Small Business Management and Transition training materials.  Workshop participants had an opportunity to see the on-line learning materials and handbook, discuss the value of the resources, to provide initial feedback in a question and answer session and complete project evaluation questionnaires.  The results of the event will be used to inform the further development of the training materials and exploitation of the project in the future.

The fifth transnational partner meeting of the FAME project was organised in Budapest hosted by the coordinator Budapest Business School 8-9 November 2018.