Investigating the Knowledge Requirements of Support Practitioners

To date attention appears to have been mainly§concentrated on the development and support of the§learning, skill and competence requirements that§entrepreneurs and small business owners need to§succeed. However, very little attention is placed on§the ability of support practitioners to provide the§required support. Generally accepted standards with§regard to the knowledge, skills and competence§requirements for support practitioners seem to be§lacking.In this book the need for a particular focus§on the knowledge areas for support practitioners is§highlighted. In this book the author identified gaps§that support practitioners might have which in turn§could prevent them from providing the required§support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The§book argues amonst others for the development of§specific education§and training programmes for support practitioners§within which the three knowledge areas of§entrepreneurship, business management and the§practice disciplines are dealt with collectively.The§research findings are of benefit to support§practitioners, employing organisations and education§institutions and can also assist with the development§of industry standards.