Profiling Entrepreneurial Veterans: A Summary of Research Findings. Volume 3

摘要

The purpose of the research reported here is to develop a profile of entrepreneurial veteran alumni of business schools and to examine the relationship between military service, especially combat service, and the entrepreneurial motivations and behaviors of the business school graduates. The research was divided into three stages. In the first, exploratory research phase, a survey of the literature on entrepreneurship and on veterans status was undertaken, and focus group interviews were conducted with the alunmi of the business schools from four of the six universities participating in the study. Focus group interviews were conducted at the College of William and Mary, Norfolk State University, Ohio State University and the University of Maryland; Texas Christian University and the University of Tennessee also participated in the project. In the second, or quantitative research phase, a survey was undertaken of a randomly selected sample of the alumni of the participating business schools. An eight-page questionnaire was mailed to approximately 20,000 alumni, with a follow-up mailing sent two weeks later. The 5,229 usable responses represented a 26.1 percent response rate. In the third and final stage policy recommendations for consideration by the SBA were developed with input from experts obtained during focus group interviews with representatives of the SBA and of veterans organizations and individual depth interviews with deans of the participating schools and selected business school faculty members.