The purpose of this paper is to explain why the likelihood of survival and post-entry growth rates vary systematically from industry to industry. In particular, the post-entry performance of new firms is linked to the underlying technological conditions in an industry. In industries where innovative activity, and especially the innovative activity of small firms, plays an important role, the likelihood of new entrants' surviving over a decade is lower than in industries where innovative activity is less important. At the same time, those entrants that are able to survive exhibit higher growth rates. In addition, the conditional likelihood of surviving an additional two years for entrants that have already survived the first few years is actually greater, and not lower, in highly innovative industries.

The evidence therefore suggests that a highly innovative environment exerts a disparate effect on the post-entry performance of new entrants. Those new firms that are able to adjust and offer a viable product apparently experience higher rates of growth and a greater likelihood of survival. But overall, entrants and certainly new firms that are not able to adjust and produce a viable product are confronted by a lower likelihood of survival in highly innovative environments.

Entrepreneurship has emerged over the last two decades as arguably the most potent economic force the world has ever experienced. With that expansion has come a similar increase in the field of entrepreneurship education. The recent growth and development in the curricula and programs devoted to entrepreneurship and new-venture creation have been remarkable. The number of colleges and universities that offer courses related to entrepreneurship has grown from a handful in the 1970s to over 1,600 in 2005. In the midst of this huge expansion remains the challenge of complete academic legitimacy for entrepreneurship. While it can be argued that some legitimacy has been attained in the current state of entrepreneurship education, there are critical challenges that lie ahead. This article focuses on the trends and challenges in entrepreneurship education for the 21st century.

The Green Paper argues that enterprise is important because it contributes to job creation, economic growth and competitiveness. Both the European Community and the United Kingdom devote considerable funds each year spread over an extensive range of programmes in support of enterprise—in the region of 13 billion euros at Community level and just under 8 billion pounds in the United Kingdom (counting receipts from the Common Agricultural Policy).