Tõnis Mets

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• PhD
• Professor Emeritus at University of Tartu

Environmental sustainability has become one of the key issues for the future development of the European Union (EU). Estonia's startup entrepreneurship contributes prominently to innovative ideas in energy technology and information and communication technology (ICT) applications, essential for sustainability. Research and education are prerequisit...

Based on the trust/commitment theory and the customer-based brand equity theory, this study aims to ascertain which of the brand equity drivers of A. Le Coq beer have an impact on attachment and its overall brand equity in the Estonian brewery market. In order to achieve this goal, an empirical study was conducted based on the 17 customer-based/con...

Entrepreneurship is a process that transpires over time. Every entrepreneurial journey is a unique process that is difficult to replicate in the exact way it happened. Entrepreneurial activities in an existing organization can, over time, form a specific staged process that allows a more structured way from generation to implementation of new ideas...

Recently, there has been increased discussion of entrepreneurship and innovation as process-based phenomena. However, research on the essence of dynamic entrepreneurial and innovation processes and their simultaneous interactions needs to be more cohesive and well-covered. This article critically reviews prior publications and explores the process...

Entrepreneurship education (EE) plays an essential role in developing the competencies of modern knowledge-based societies and economies, the so-called 21st-century competencies (OECD 2018) [...]

The use of the concept and construct of the entrepreneurial journey as a temporal realization of the entrepreneurial process in entrepreneurship research is growing. A groundbreaking role in this development is the essay by McMullen and Dimov (2013), which raised a number of questions and criteria that the construct of the entrepreneurial journey s...

Although entrepreneurship at the university level has constantly been evolving, little research has been done on what competencies should be developed in entrepreneurship education (EE) and how EE relates to the core of entrepreneurship—the entrepreneurial process competence. This article seeks to develop and empirically measure the entrepreneurial...

The entrepreneurial idea and opportunity are formed in the entrepreneurial process, which is characterized by entrepreneurial learning. During the entrepreneurial journey, the entrepreneur repeatedly reassesses the maturity of his business/venture idea and venture creation process to enter the market. The entrepreneur’s decisions are influenced by...

The book is devoted to supporting entrepreneurship in Poland, Slovakia and Estonia from the perspective of local authorities of each country, solutions available from the perspective of the central level, as well as the involvement of the institutional environment in creating conditions for initiating and running a business.

Associated with global climate agreements and the European Union’s focus on climate-neutral goals by 2050, the development of Green Transformation competencies in society has become topical. This viewpoint paper proposes a conceptual model for applying Entrepreneurship Education (EE) to designing an integrated transdisciplinary, Green Transformatio...

Understanding the entrepreneurial journey has become essential for both start-up entrepreneurs and policymakers within the ecosystem of technology start-ups, functioning as engines of growth in new economies and exports. Often they are Born Global (BG) High Technology Small Firms (HTSFs). The entrepreneurial journey, often used as a metaphor in the...

This study examines the relationship among experiential entrepreneurship pedagogy, entrepreneurial competencies and employment status of business graduates in two European countries. A proposed model relies on the adapted Bloom’s taxonomy, human capital theory, and experiential learning theory. The model examines knowledge, skills, and attitudes as...

This paper empirically substantiates a novel tripartite framework for measuring learning outcomes of entrepreneurship education (EE) by employing structural equation modeling. Three types of learning outcome are estimated—cognitive, skill-based, and affective—following Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy of educational objectives. The study is based on a sampl...

This paper aims to investigate how sustainable entrepreneurs innovate in business models to overcome their hybridity-related tensions to achieve environmental, social, and financial goals. A case study was conducted on 12 organizations in seven countries from October 2018 to June 2019 through observation visits, interviews, and secondary data colle...

Language technology provides several possibilities to commercialise collected language resources (data) in the form of providing access to databases, dictionaries, translation, text analysis and localisation services, storage of documents and personal language data, software, and other types of digital content. This article focuses on the contractu...

The present paper aims to develop an understanding of interconnections between the entrepreneurial ecosystem and entrepreneurial opportunity. The first step of this research was to disclose the development of the ecosystem within two higher (efficiency- and innovation-driven) stages of economic development and the transition between them according...

In order to promote sustainable entrepreneurship, it is necessary to understand the sustainable entrepreneurial process. To address this gap in the literature, this study aims to investigate how entrepreneurs generate ideas, as well as recognize, develop, and exploit opportunities in the context of sustainable development. A case study was carried...

The theoretical relevance of opportunities for entrepreneurship research has not been met with proportional empirical research endeavors. Perceived entrepreneurial opportunities (PEO) is believed to be a key construct to identify entrepreneurship favorable contexts, however, empirical evidence regarding its determinants is still scarce. This paper...

Entrepreneurial opportunities and the entrepreneurial process have long been understood as the foundation and heart of entrepreneurship. In this article, using systems thinking and a systems approach, we reshape the dynamic stage model of the entrepreneurial process to create a novel method for the configuration and metrics of progression of the en...

Suna Løwe Nielseni, Kim Klyveri, Majbritt Rostgaard Evaldi ja Torben Bageri raamat "Entrepreneurship in theory and practice: Paradoxes in play" on hea sissejuhatus valdkonda. See mitte üksnes ei paku teoreetilist vaatenurka distsipliinile, vaid ka suunab lugejat kriitiliselt analüüsima ettevõtluse pakutavaid võimalusi ning avardab kaasuste ja parad...

The authors address the transformation of research data into open data. The article draws on the experience in four countries: Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Lithuania. The transformation process presents several challenges where legal, organizational and individual aspects influence the process. Research data often contain personal data. Research da...

The process of the transition to a market-oriented economy for countries from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) started some 25 years ago. A new technology base triggered the fast growth of new investments into intangible assets by global economic leaders at the beginning of the 1990s, providing the b...

Entrepreneurship as a private economic initiative in Estonia became legal with Gorbachev Perestroika at the end of the long period of Soviet occupation. Therefore, political agenda of transition from command to market economy also marks entrepreneurship development trajectory. Efforts of the Estonian government, for ICT development, from the 1990s,...

The Singing Revolution led to regaining independence after 50 years of Soviet occupation and created a new socioeconomic situation in Estonia in 1991. One of the first steps, of the Estonian government, was a telecommunication concession to the private company Eesti Telekom, in 1992. In 1995–1998, the Estonian government launched the national ICT s...

The importance of evaluating the outcomes of entrepreneurship education (EE) has been widely acknowledged, but how to approach the evaluation and what models and measures to use are still subjected to academic debate. In this article, the authors present an application of the European Competence Framework (ECF) – the knowledge–skills–attitude triad...

The empirical study presented in this chapter addresses a major gap in entrepreneurship education (EE) research: the lack of empirical evidence that the experiential approach to teaching is associated with superior outcomes in comparison to the traditional approach. It focuses on perceived learning outcomes specifically and applies the tripartite c...

The strategies of the European Union and its Member States suppose that intellectual property (IP) created as a result of R&D is the engine of economic growth and welfare in society. Studies based on the European Regional Innovation Scoreboard (RIS) have demonstrated that R&D investments, support to the high technology industry and patenting intens...

The authors explore different models of transfer of industrial property on a comparative basis. The article demonstrates that these models differ on a country level and several models may be in use in one legal system. The authors analyze strengths and weaknesses and legal implications of these models in the three Baltic States both at the regulato...

This paper analyzes the entrepreneurial process and journey suggesting dynamic stage model approach. Theoretical models are tested in a quasi-experiment. Empirical facts related to stages of the process and strategic factors and their patterns are mapped using the case studies of three high-technology start-ups. Value creation has seen the primary...

Preliminary evaluation of the contribution of technology companies into job creation and welfare in Europe and USA says that technology sector induce more jobs in other sectors. Very little is known how these high potential technology firms are born. The role of the leadership in small technology companies able to globalize from inception or after...

Understanding the content of the entrepreneurial process is essential for creating better policy and practical training of nascent entrepreneurs, especially for accelerating the growth of new companies. Some studies devoted to venture launch see the gap between process orientation in entrepreneurship pedagogy and academic variance research models....

This article looks at the changing notion and paradigm of entrepreneurship and related research. Though previously “entrepreneurship” referred to a profitable action while risking one’s personal property, the modern connotation is much broader. The contemporary view is not just about profit orientation but also focuses on exploiting entrepreneurial...

The objective of this research paper is to assess the impact of intellectual property (IP) ownership regimes (professor’s privilege vs institutional ownership) on the knowledge transfer and academia–industry collaboration. One of the aims is also to define the advantages and challenges of both ownership regimes and different reward policies. The ar...

One of the reasons of weak implementation of own R&D, or the appearance of so called the "European paradox" phenomenon, is poor management of the entrepreneurial (open) innovation processes on policy level. Behind the poor (policy) awareness and poor management should be seen shortage of scientific knowledge about the entrepreneurial/innovation pro...

The entrepreneurial role of the culture or art college in the Triple helix (Academia-Industry-Government) linkages has been examined much less than of a traditional university. The paper aims to fulfill the gap in understanding the mission and the model of a university culture college carrying partly a regional partly a national role. Two case stud...

The paper aims to define which type of intellectual property (IP) reward regime increases the competitiveness of innovative SMEs. The authors analyse IP reward regimes and their impact on new knowledge and technology creation by SME, its IP, market, business model and other strategic issues related to collaboration of inventor, entrepreneur and inv...

This empirical paper is a step forward into researching learning outcomes of experiential entrepreneurial education. It marks another important milestone of approaching a certain level of maturity in my doctoral studies with the edited version of the paper forthcoming as a book chapter in the Edward Elgar series “European Research in Entrepreneursh...

Technology start-ups able to globalize from inception in the literature are called "born global" (BG) companies. The paper aims to study the internationalization trajectories of BGs in the developing entrepreneurial ecosystem framework of the emerging knowledge economy. We suppose that value system and networks of BGs are the part of general entrep...

Some sketches of insights from the CB Entreint project team's business trips to entrepreneurial universities of the Netherlands and United Kingdom.

CB Entreint project: analytical report - main output of the University of Tartu's work package.

This important book identifies the current developments within entrepreneurship that are characterized by conceptual richness and methodological diversity. It presents the latest developments of topics such as the entrepreneurial mindset, culture and values as well as advances in entrepreneurship education and development. The contributors open the...

A Review of entrepreneurship education and university start-up support in Leipzig-Halle

In this chapter, the authors deal with the social constructivist entrepreneurial process-based training methodology approach at venture creation across different fields as experienced by trainers moderating the learning process with both social entrepreneurs and technology entrepreneurs in traditional (handicraft) and virtual technologies. The soci...

The "born global" phenomenon of hi-tech small and medium size enterprises (HSMEs) has been explored over the past 15 years. Until today, too little attention has been paid to intellectual property (IP) in knowledge-related processes, and the business models of HSMEs in their market globalization processes. This chapter aims partly to fulfill this g...

The transformation of a country into a knowledge-based economy has a considerable impact on the role of a contemporary university. The question is whether the university should assume the role of an entrepreneur itself or whether it can continue to be a traditional university - i.e. focusing on teaching and research - with some additional functions...

Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/books/entrepreneurship-creativity-and-innovative-business-models/creative-business-model-innovation-for-globalizing-smes

What are the differences between an entrepreneur and a manager? According to Schumpeter, the main difference lies in the entrepreneur's ideas, creativity, and vision of the world. These differences enable him to create new combinations, to change existing business models, and to innovate. Those innovations can take several forms: products, processe...

This article shows an approach to understanding the preferences of museum attendees. It is based on rule-developing experimentation (augmented conjoint analysis) and is demonstrated by a case study assessing what influences the interest of young people to attend an exhibition or museum. The study surveyed 224 U.S. respondents ages 18 to 35 comparin...

Secrecy is a traditional method of knowledge protection. The protection and management of trade secrets has high strategic relevance for small transition economies. As the majority of Estonian entrepreneurs are SMEs in low-tech sectors, the implementation of adequate trade-secret protection strategy is vital. There are several advantages to trade-s...

This publication incorporates portions of CMMI for Development, Version 1.2 (CMU/SEI‐2006‐TR‐008, ESC‐TR‐2006‐008), Copyright 2006 Carnegie Mellon University, with special permission from its Software Engineering Institute. Any material of Carnegie Mellon University and/or its Software Engineering Institute contained herein is furnished on an “as‐i...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to map the current situation of entrepreneurship education in higher education institutions (HEIs) of 22 European transition economy countries. Design/methodology/approach The approach taken was an internet survey and analysis covering 774 HEIs of the region. Findings In 332 institutions, entrepreneurship‐orie...

Purpose This paper aims to summarize the results of an empirical project to understand the perceptions of consumers of the future high end products in the USA. This project was a precursor of a larger global project on the topic. Design/methodology/approach The approach utilizes the consumer insights‐driven process, rule‐developing experimentation...

In European universities can be met intellectual property (IP) regimes based on IP ownership by professors – professors' privilege, but predominant is employment regulation of IP ownership by uni-versities. Which of these options is more beneficial for university and society is the question of R&D and innovation policy on the state level. The paper...

Purpose This paper seeks to explore approaches to consumer‐driven optimization of package design utilizing a novel modified conjoint analysis approach. The approach allows for dynamic creation and testing of a large number of design prototypes with consumers and finds optimal solutions on an aggregated, segmented (pattern‐based latent mindset segme...

Although hundreds of research papers have been published on the issue of accelerated internationalisation, Born Globals and International New Ventures, the advancement for common theory of International Entrepreneurship (IE) has been limited. Little attention has been paid to Intellectual Property (IP) and its strategies in rapidly internationalisi...

Commercialization process of research is analyzed in University-Industry-Government (UIG) framework in the context of entrepreneurial university business model. Critical issue in the UIG-relations model is the role of entrepreneurship: is enterprise integrated into all (education and not only intra-) university activities or is entrepreneurship sup...

The importance of new firm creation in the post-Communist economies of East Central Europe (ECE) has been subject to extensive research. This paper focuses on an area of entrepreneurship which has received relatively little attention in the transition economy context but which is of particular importance for the modernization of the transition econ...

The paper presents an approach to analyzing food packages based on the eye-tracking analysis of consumers exposed to experimentally designed prototypes of packages based on Rule Developing Experimentation methodology. In addition, the paper analyses emotional reactions to conceptual packages (the respondent had a choice among seven alter- natives,...

Purpose This paper sets out to explore different approaches to optimizing web sites based on consumer preferences, introducing the most advanced form of landing page optimization, multivariate landing page optimization, and its variations. The approach aims to allow for the testing of a large number of web page prototypes with consumers and find re...

Purpose Innovation cannot come without in‐depth understanding of the product and its consumer perception. This paper aims to show the approach for consumer‐centric re‐development strategy, from design of the experiment to execution, analysis, modeling and strategies for implementation. Design/methodology/approach The approach described uses a rela...

Estonia, a transition country being 'catching-up economy', is complementing its capacity for technology absorption with potential for diffusion and commercialisation of technology. The aim of the paper is to study key issues related to university-industry knowledge transfer within the Estonian biotech sector. Empirical research of the SME sector wa...

During the past fifteen years several studies have explored the phenomenon of the "born global" of the hi-tech small and medium sized enterprises (HSME). Up to today too little attention has been paid on knowledge related processes and mechanisms, and business models of HSMEs in their market globalization process. The paper aims partly to fulfill t...

Behavior as learning organization (LO) has a high potential to enhance efficiency of knowledge creation and learning processes in software development (SD) companies. Still, the characteristics of LO environments have modestly studied. Knowledge management (KM) and knowledge transfer are critical competitive success factors in knowledge-based indus...

During the transformation process from a command economy, the extraordinary statist university–industry–government (UIG) linkages model was replaced by an extreme version of laissez-faire relationships. A more modern interaction-based UIG model could be implemented only by changing the whole national innovation system of catching-up economies. The...

Organisational learning as a process is closely related to the strategic situation of the company and its staff. The process of organisational learning should start by establishing a common system of language and symbols, this is also accompanied by a better organisation of existing knowledge. Appraisal interviews provide opportunities to establish...

There are a variety of definitions of knowledge transfer, and differing viewpoints as to the extent to which it is possible to establish a difference between knowledge transfer and technology transfer. By tapping into the positions taken by parties into the knowledge transfer debate, this chapter examines the main characteristics of these two diffe...

The aim of this chapter is to map the current situation in the entrepreneurship education of 22 European transition economies and to develop a shared source of data on entrepreneurship education in the region. The analysis covers 774 higher education institutions from the region, of which 363 had entrepreneurship-oriented courses, modules or curric...

A wide range of universities and colleges have recently invested in developing programs in entrepreneurship and technology management. Striving for entrepreneurial knowledge economies and supported politically, many institutions have successfully introduced a curriculum either in technology management or entrepreneurship. However, the examples of s...

Abstract ,The purpose of current article is to evaluate the differences of internationalisation paths of Estonian ICT and biotechnology SMEs, and the role of knowledge leverage in the internationalisation process. In order to achieve the goal, following topics are covered in the article: • role of learning and knowledge leverage in concepts and mod...

The sustained phase of transition to economies characterized by considerable, and sometimes revolutionary, advances in science, technology and related industries, coupled with subsequent profound changes in economy and society, has increased the importance of the knowledge-intensive phases of production for value-creation. As enterprises, in fact,...

This paper focuses on the contradictions in the development of entrepreneurship in Southern Estonia, a typical transition country region with traditional industries playing the dominant role in the economy. The region surrounds the University of Tartu, which in contrast is an old classical university with high-level fundamental research in high-tec...

The article identifies the features of a Learning Organisation (LO) in the Estonian school, as no surveys in this area have been carried out yet. The article looks at the concepts of development and change, and the background of organisational learning, and it deals with the teacher's competence-building process at school. The authors prepared a qu...

Spin-off biotech companies often have difficulties in creating competitive advantage through protection of their intellectual property, due to their limited human and financial resources. Having considered the value of the intellectual property and questions of enforceability, spin-off companies should use patenting only for inventions with a high...

Organisational learning is related to individuals’ behaviour in an organisation, and the organisation’s ability to respond ,more ,effectively to changes ,in its environment. Organisations possessing learning capabilities and no t just reactive behaviour are considered tobe learning organisations. The main aim of the paper is to identify the feature...