Abstract:
There have been numerous debates on the importance of college education on
entrepreneurial success. A business degree is expected to offer students the chance to hone their
entrepreneurial, management, and business skills. However, scholars argue that a college degree
is not necessary for business success. As such, this study aims to compare entrepreneurs with
formal business education and entrepreneurs who succeeded without a college degree. It answers
the research question, “What are the differences and similarities between the management
practices of business degree holder and non-college degree holder entrepreneurs?
This study utilizes a qualitative design. The researcher conducted a series of interviews
among three business degree graduates and three non-college degree holder entrepreneurs. After
which, the study made use of a qualitative content analysis to determine and compare the different
management practices of these entrepreneurs.
Results show that business degree holder entrepreneurs and non-college degree holder
entrepreneurs differ on their (1) strategic management approach, which include their
organizational structure preference, decision making strategy, and management team choices; (2)
employee performance evaluation technique; and (3) organizational communication channel
preference. On the other hand, the similarities between the management practices of these two
groups of entrepreneurs include (a) some of the aspects of their human resource management such
as their recruitment and selection process, training strategies, and motivation management; and (b)
their communicational management strategies including their communication media channel
usage, development and maintenance of interpersonal relationships, and encouragement of team
work culture.
