Missing the point? Management education and entrepreneurship

The growth in management education generally, and entrepreneurship education specifically, has occurred at the same time as increasing importance is attached to management both as an activity for academic investigation and as a practical activity in both public and private sectors. This paper argues that the intellectual foundations of this growth are unsupported by a significant volume of evidence and so it is unlikely that the hope for economic outcomes will be achieved. In the specific case of entrepreneurship education, this paper recommends that the tension between prescription and recognition of the activity needs to be resolved by both academics and policy makers before the benefits of education in this area can be realised.