Can entrepreneurial skills be taught?
Babson is taking a crack at it What with increased competition from nimble e-commerce startups and the escalating flight of key talent to dot.coms, it’s a trying time for Big Business. With even such corporate heavyweights as Andersen Consulting Chief Executive George T. Shaheen leaving for the likes of online grocer Webvan Group, many in Corporate America question whether bigger still means better. For big company execs who have not yet abandoned ship, however, today’s fast-moving new economy has intensified the search for ways to make their giant, often bureaucratic, corporations more entrepreneurial. And to get the help they need, many are turning to executive education. According to New York-based consultant Corporate University Xchange Inc., company-run universities are spending an average of $3.4 million annually on leadership and innovation programs, some $750,000 of which is going toward entrepreneurial training. But can classroom learning actually teach an old-school exec more
