Competition studies: structuring competencies in university entrepreneurship programs

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

Moscow University for Industry and Finance «Synergy»

Competition studies: structuring competencies in university entrepreneurship programs

Yury B. Rubin - Dr. Sci. (Economics), Prof., President,

Mikhail V. Lednev - Cand. Sci. (Economics), Assoc. Prof.,

Danila P. Mozhzhukhin - Chief Executive Officer,

Association for Entrepreneurship Education

Moscow

Аннотация

Изучение конкуренции: структурирование компетенций в университетских программах по предпринимательству

Рубин Юрий Борисович - д-р экон. наук, проф., чл.-корр. РАО, ректор.

Леднев Михаил Владимирович - канд. экон. наук, доцент. Московский финансово-промышленный университет «Синергия»

Можжухин Данила Петрович - исполнительный директор. Национальная ассоциация обучения предпринимательству

В статье конкуренция рассматривается как неотъемлемая часть профессиональной деятельности предпринимателей, а изучение конкуренции - как важное направление в системе предпринимательского образования. Конкурентные компетенции важны акторам на любой из стадий жизненного цикла предпринимательского проекта. Поэтому на теоретическом уровне, в процессе проведения исследований по вопросам становления системы предпринимательского образования так важно найти конкурентным компетенциям место, соответствующее их реальной значимости.

Целью данной статьи является обоснование рационального подхода к определению, классификации конкурентных компетенций профессиональных предпринимателей, а также и к структурированию их как значимых результатов обучения в предпринимательском образовании сообразно типам, видам, методам, характеру, манерам, стилям конкурентного поведения, направлениям менеджмента конкурентных действий. В статье определяются и описываются группы конкурентных компетенций.

Ключевые слова: изучение конкуренции в системе высшего образования, конкурентные компетенции, компетенции в области совершения конкурентных действий, конкурентное взаимодействие, конкурентные действия, конкурентная среда в предпринимательстве, конкурентное поведение, менеджмент конкурентных действий, селф-менеджмент в конкуренции

Abstract

In this article, we introduce competition as an essential part of professional entrepreneurship activity and competition studies - as a significant direction in entrepreneurship education system. Competition competencies come into play at any stage of the entrepreneurship process. In this case, it is important to place competition competencies on relevant position within mainstream research in entrepreneurship education.

The purpose of this article is to take a rational approach to defining, classifying competition competencies in entrepreneurship, and to structuring them as significant learning outcomes in entrepreneurship education in accordance with the types, kinds, methods, character, manners, styles of actor's competition behavior, directions of competition management. Paper defines and describes categories ofcompetition competencies.

Keywords: competition studies at university, competition competencies, competencies in competition actions performance, competition interactions, competition actions, competitive environment in entrepreneurship, competition behavior, competition management competencies, competition self-management

The main text

In this article we introduce participation in competition as an essential part of professional entrepreneurship activity. The competition competencies development in entrepreneurship education is crucial due to the competitive environment all the entrepreneurs are involved into. Acting entrepreneurs defend their goals from the inevitable conflicts of interest posed by rivals via mutual challenges, threats, and risks. Therefore, each entrepreneur is ought to develop a unique form of competition communication with the opponents, which is employed at stages of new venture creation, maintenance, development of entrepreneurial projects and exit/termination from them. Furthermore, executing competition function along with the performance of constituent, administrative, production, marketing, branding and other mandatory functions is an integral part of an entrepreneur's professional activity as well as one of the main factors in the professional career.

Inquiry to the ordering of the fundamental ideas about companies' participation in competition is determined by an outstanding motivating conditions related to education. Despite competencies in entrepreneurship have become the subject of numerous studies [1-6; 7, p. 107; 8, p. 133; 9, p. 7-23; 10, p. 84-96; 11, p. 389-391; 12] as an outcome of an outstanding implication of entrepreneurship education [13; 14], research in competition competencies in entrepreneurship has yet been relatively silent. However, it should be noted, that the competencies mentioned above belong to core identity or entrepreneurship practice, especially to the activity of small and medium-sized organizations.

Prerequisites for Defining, Classifying, and Structuring Competition Competenciesin Entrepreneurship

The purpose of this article is to take a rational approach to defining, classifying competition competencies in entrepreneurship and to structuring them as significant learning outcomes in entrepreneurship education. The prerequisites for mentioned above actions are rooted in a system of certain assumptions:

- an appreciation of the need to systematize competencies in entrepreneurship based on the sequential identification of their composition and structure [1; 4; 12; 15];

- a distinction between competition as it is and participation of various market actors in it as separate objects of research and competency developing;

- the recognition that competition competencies in entrepreneurship reflect the need for entrepreneurs to operate with an active cognitive willingness to undertake the responsibilities inherent in competitive environment of entrepreneurship on a permanent basis;

- an awareness of core identity competition competencies in entrepreneurship, which corresponds to the unique competition function skillfully implementing by professionally acting entrepreneurs on a regular base;

- an awareness of competition competencies set existing, that cannot be reduced to one distinct competition competency;

- understanding that competencies of competition participants in permanent performing competition actions and permanent managing them in entrepreneurship should be distinguished;

- an approval to rejection of the view that the key differences between entrepreneurship and other areas of human activity base on personality traits [16], in conjunction with the recognition that personality traits are a significant factor of impact on the entrepreneurial choices, intentions, actions, and (especially) behavioral specifics.

This distinction within coherent competencies system in entrepreneurship could be in general based on the sequential identification of essence and composition of participation, creating and maintaining competition by its actor.

On the way of getting through this composition, it seems impossible to treat “competencies in competition” as equal to “competencies in participation in competition”. Knowledge and understanding of trends and rules of competition history or modern competition reality cannot in any case be recognized sufficient to entrepreneurs for their fruitful acting. As a matter of fact, all of them need to obtain professionally significant knowledge, understanding and skills in participation in competition as a rigorous participant.

A suggested holistic view on participation in competition actions taken by active entrepreneurs assumes professional competition competencies in entrepreneurship to be an integral expression of their ability to act within a competitive environment, that conjoin competencies in competition as it is and competencies in their rigorous and detailed participation in competition as a market actor [17; 18]. That precisely indicates: competition competencies in entrepreneurship reflect the need for entrepreneurs to operate with an active cognitive willingness to undertake the responsibilities inherent in competitive environment of entrepreneurship on a permanent basis (not just as a hobby).

As a rule, competition competencies in entrepreneurship are obtained in the most efficient way through lifelong learning programs. This article explores the process through which these competencies are learned and develops an entrepreneurship education model for bachelor's degree programs, including a description of the key competencies professionally significant for a successful entrepreneur. A certain case of bachelor's degree entrepreneurship program developed by authors at the Moscow University for Industry and Finance «Synergy» (20132018) revealed that this need includes both

- knowledge and understanding in competition theory and practice;

- skills in participation in competition (use of legal tools, avoiding illegal tools), including specific know-how in performing competition actions.

The approach described above facilitates justification of competition competencies in entrepreneurship as a group of essential professional competencies in entrepreneurship, along with competencies in the creation, maintenance, development and exit stages of entrepreneurial projects in contrast to other professional competencies required for successful entrepreneurship [18; 19]. Therefore, it becomes obvious, that the development of competition competencies should be given enough space in entrepreneurship education programs to enhance entrepreneurs' levels of professional competence in participation in competition and develop their personal attitude in the entrepreneurship process within competitive environment.

The list of competition competencies in entrepreneurship as learning outcomes in entrepreneurship education should not be limited to that achieved in a typical university course on microeconomics (for example, knowledge of theoretical views on competition, the history of its evolution, and awareness of its impact on the market order, pricing, and the ratio of supply and demand). In this case, within bachelor's degree entrepreneurship program Synergy University students have a unique possibility to study participation in competition in such courses as “Competition strategies”, “Competition status and strategic groups in competition”, “Tactics and situations in competition management”, “Securing business in a competitive environment”.

The suggested view on entrepreneur's participation in competition as an object of study makes it necessary to use a combination of several research methods. These include an inductive approach that involves a description of competition process and an interpretation of its results; a deductive approach, in which the explanation transitions from core identity competition competencies in entrepreneurship to complex and detailed content; a structural approach, which combines analysis (division of the competencies system into component parts) and synthesis (integration of identified parts of the whole system); and the case study method, which, due to the deep understanding of the studied object and context, provides an opportunity to identify the causal relationships of competition process in a given context [20].

The adequate combination of methods listed above entails appropriate forming of study content methodology as a combination of:

- theoretical knowledge and understanding of the evolution of competition and the competitive environment, participation in competition, and the rules for fair competition;

- practical skills in direct performing and managing competition actions.

In addition, we would like to draw the reader's attention on the necessity of methodological conjoining various angles of looking immanent to various market inhabitants, among which acting entrepreneurs' angle of looking seems crucial for perception in theory. Although entrepreneurship is often discussed by authors of publications outside the competition context, entrepreneurs themselves try to adhere, for example, to the awareness-motivation-capability framework of competitive dynamics [21]. While most publications do not define types of competition interactions and actions, it is apparent that in practice competition competencies help actors to choose appropriate competition actions, strategies, tactical operations, to evaluate their own competitive positions, and to decide whether or not to use competition maneuvers and tricks.

The Core Identity of Competition Competencies in Entrepreneurship

According to Morris and Liguori, “the emergence of entrepreneurship has occurred so rapidly that it has outpaced our understanding of what should be taught by entrepreneurship educators, how it should be taught, and how outcomes should be assessed” [22]. Much of the research in the field of teaching and learning of entrepreneurship “has emphasized the student perspective and the content of what they are learning” [14].

As entrepreneurship is a continious worldwide process, each university should be able to articulate the core identity of competition competencies in entrepreneurship while developing educational programs, learning and training materials.

The core identity of competition competencies in entrepreneurship corresponds to the unique competition function artfully implemented by qualified entrepreneurs within their permanent professional activity. The sequential and self-consistent implementation of this function by acting entrepreneurs along with production, marketing, sales, financial, administrative and other functions inherent to entrepreneurship means winning in rivalry by appealing to personal tenacity and perseverance (we use last terms according to famous Morris-Kaplan competencies paradigm) [2].

Those bilateral / multilateral interactive efforts of competing entrepreneurs were translocated to the center of attention in the bachelor's degree entrepreneurship education program developed at Synergy University. The implementation of competition function by entrepreneurs was treated in terms of bilateral / multilateral rivalry around key objects of competition - results, resources, competitive environment, and business processes (including processes of performing competing interactions as they are). In this case, these objects of competition interactions were treated as platform for implementing competition function by rivals.

Under the impact of competition function core identity competition competences in entrepreneurship core identity integrally consist of knowledge, understanding “how to create, maintain and develop fruitful participation in competition for results, resources, and business processes”, and set of obligatory skills, that form set of “participation tools”.

As a matter of fact, the providers of competition function are not only entrepreneurs or company decision makers, but all employees to different extent. Acting entrepreneurs cannot be recognized as the only participants in competition. Therefore, the formation of competition competencies is important for any field of education. The importance of competition competencies in entrepreneurship as learning outcomes in entrepreneurship education is the fact that entrepreneurs make a decisive contribution to implementation of competition function. An entrepreneur plays an influential role in the performance of each company, particularly when the company remains small [15], or during new ventures creation [7]. In status of competition participants, entrepreneurs strive to address the challenges of ensuring successful operation of their projects. The process of obtaining competition skills by each new venture is strongly influenced by entrepreneur as the key functionary of the company.

Therefore, competition competencies in entrepreneurship become a part of key-points in the process of learning outcomes achieving - competent entrepreneur is obliged to act as a competent competitor. Competition competencies help entrepreneurs carry out the following tasks:

- achieving acceptable competition results - maintaining or enhancing an acceptable balance of competition forces and ensuring relatively stable competitive positions (compared to their rivals);

- securing access to resources necessary for participating in competition and managing these resources to maintain competitive advantages and overcome competitive disadvantages;

- staying in tune with a competitive environment and remaining aware of its dynamics, its functional status, its regulations to prevent unfair competition, and the emergence of trusts and cartels within it;

- enhancing the effectiveness of their competition actions and weakening the competition actions of rivals.

Goods and services are often treated as unique objects of competition in research publications by default. We find confirmation of this even in M. Porter's fundamental works [23-25], where competition appears only in rivalry related to products. Competitive advantages and disadvantages in the production and sale of goods determine the balance of competition forces and the degree of stability in competitive positions and are the objectives of «competition for results». In this case, Universities are ought to consider graduates' competence in competition for results as indispensable condition while composing entrepreneurship program and its learning outcomes.

However, a «completion for resources» is equally important in entrepreneurship. Although no one officially denies the “resource” origin of competition (limited resources and their inaccessibility to interested parties), publications still find the study of competition for resources relevant only within the framework of resource-based management and its application [26; 27, p. 171-180; 28; 29]. In fact, resources for participation in competition are objects of competition everywhere and require no less attention and competence from entrepreneurs and other decision makers. Therefore, another indispensable condition of entrepreneurship program competence in “how to participate in competition for resources” is ought to be recognized as another indispensable condition of entrepreneurship program composing.

This competence allows acting entrepreneurs to understand the fact that the resources around which competition actions take place are not limited to the traditional material, human, financial, technological, informational and other resources available to market players from external sources. Competition resources are also converted from the potential of partners, the entrepreneur's personal workforce, and the results of an actor's preceding activities, as participation in competition is not discrete, but continuous.

One particularly important object of competition competencies in entrepreneurship is the competitive environment as such: knowledge and understanding of its causes and evolution tendencies, the structure of its markets, its substantial and technological features, degree of competition openness, stage of development, individual actors' market share, national circumstances and degree of monopolization.

During seminars students of Synergy University discuss the interactions of «Splat» company for detailed understanding of the term «competitive environment» with «Colgate», «Procter&Gamble» and «GlaxoSmithKline».

These competencies enable entrepreneurs to navigate the dynamics of modern markets, participate in their operations, take into account the specifics of different markets, and determine their affiliation with a particular group of competitors according to their functional status, for example:

- according to the presence or absence of diversity in a business (a specialized company versus a company with diversified business);

- by its place in a competition race (leaders, contender for leadership, those not striving to be leaders, and outsiders);

- by its role in the consistent reproduction of the competition environment (newcomers to the competitive environment versus well-established companies);

- by its role in providing innovation in the competitive environment (innovators, companies spreading innovations, and companies capturing innovations).

These competencies allow entrepreneurs to reduce risks by preventatively protecting their projects and companies from unfair competition and overcoming it when detected.

competition entrepreneurship competency

A Short-Term Immersioninto Competencies in Competition ActionsPerformance in Entrepreneurship

While composing bachelor's degree entrepreneurship education program at Synergy University the authors afforded themselves to outline business processes as the main key objects of competing entrepreneurs' participation in competition, and among them - processes of performing competing interactions as they are as primus inter pares in the list of competition competencies objects.Competencies in TakingCompetition Actions



Fig. 1 Interdependent parts of competencies in taking competition actions

Competition actions in entrepreneurship are addressed to opponents to ensure competitive sustainability and safety while running entrepreneurial projects at all stages of their evolution (creation, management, development, and exit). As a matter of fact, they have been waiting for recognition as special object of participation in competition for a long time since competition became a point of theoretical interest in marketing, entrepreneurship, and management research. The significance of this object of competition competencies is made clear by the evidence that achieving appropriate results of competition in leveraging resources and positioning in a competitive environment depend entirely on the effectiveness of competition actions.

Performing competition actions competently is one of the functional areas of an entrepreneur's professional activity along with actions related to generating business ideas, ensuring the production and sale of new value, creating and maintaining new ventures and jobs, market research, development and innovation, ensuring business growth, restructuring, diversification and technological renovation, reengineering business processes, payroll and taxes, and distribution of income.

Competencies in taking competition actions form the basis of an entrepreneurs' participation in the competition and allow them to stay ahead of their competitors, or at least to keep up with them. They allow them to achieve acceptable results in the balance of competition forces, to maintain their market position, leverage resources and turn them into new competitive advantages, influence the formation of beneficial trends in the competitive environment evolution. Therefore, they are no less significant a competitive advantage for entrepreneurial projects and companies than financial, intellectual or material resources.

It is crucial to outline two interdependent parts of competencies in taking competition actions - competencies in competition actions performance, and competition management competencies (Fig. 1).

In classifying competencies in competition actions performance routine for composing educational programs purpose, it seemed necessary to distinguish types and character of competition interactions, kinds, methods, and directions of competition actions, the manners and styles ofcompetition behavior as their objects.

The types of competition interactions vary in accordance with the way of making impact on rivals by using offensive, defensive, or coopeti- tive strategies and operational tactics.

They are differentiated by competitors in the process of developing goal-oriented tasks and road maps of the impact they have on rivals as well as backfiring countereffects when interacting with them within the competitive environment. They may be presented by competitors' proactive impact against each other, counteraction, coopetition (a rational integration of competition and cooperation with rivals) [30, p. 80 -89; 31], or by rational mutual inaction (in other typology - “forbearing to bring about” [32].

Synergy University offers a simple extension of the Apple and Samsung mutual rivalry case to develop student comprehensive understanding why coopetition as well as inaction might be adequately treated as types of competition interactions. Samsung earned 35% of the company's total revenue by selling components for the iPhone to Apple. This is an example of not infrequent specific feature of modern competition. Further authors highlight and pay attention on the fact that inaction must: 1) be pragmatic (inaction is terminated and complies with composed strategies/tactics); 2) not be the sole type of interaction in competitive environment, executed by actors - actors coherently combine inaction with direct addressing another types of interactions to another competitors that could entail indirect affect on the inaction targets; 3) be mutual (no proactive impacts and counteractions from each side of disposition).

Participation in competition is often treated in terms of war or desperate struggle. However, competition interactions are not usually the same as endless competition wars. As a matter of fact, the character of competition interactions varies in accordance with the level of acuteness of a conflict of interest. The interaction of the parties may have the character of a competition war, a competition struggle, a moderate contest, or semi-conflictual coopetition.

The kinds of competition actions vary in accordance with their content and the duration of direct or indirect contact with the opponents. After summarizing, one could receive a set that includes, in accordance with different types of competition interactions, at least individual and joint competition aggression, pressure, interference, creating obstacles for competitors, written and oral agreements for coopetition, or ignoring the actions of some rivals. Mentioned kinds of competition actions could be overlapped, and it becomes clear for students in certain case studies on defining not less than 20 typical situations with famous companies (Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, IKEA and so other) activities.

The directions of competition actions are seen, for example, in participation in competition for results - product, interproduct, sectoral, intersectoral competition, - in participation in competition for resources (competition for each type ofresource used by the competitors).

The methods of competition actions vary in accordance with the means by which actors execute various kinds of competition actions. For example, in participation in competition for results, competitors use price and non-price methods. In participation in competition for informational resources, competitors use various methods of gathering information, producing information products, making information exchanges, interfering with their competitors' channels of information, withholding information from competitors, and conducting information blockades.

When competing for resources rivals use, in general, different methods for ensuring the best or worst access to external resources in comparison to opponents, converting the achievements of current activities into internal resources, and using their competitors' competitive differences as part of their own competition potential.

Competition behavior in entrepreneurship may manifest in various manners, such as a confrontational manner, a cooperative manner, or an indifferent manner, as well as different behavioral styles: aggressive versus non-aggressive styles, cool-headed versus impulsive styles, etc. Mentioned behavioral specifics are considered to be significant to competition reality, however attention to them should not be superfluous in comparison with listed kinds and methods of competition actions.

A Brief Glimpse on Competition ManagementCompetencies in Entrepreneurship

As success in entrepreneurship depends on the quality of competition actions performed by entrepreneurs, competition management is assumed to be a sustainable object of entrepreneur's participation in competition and specific area of competition actions in entrepreneurship. It would be pertinent, at this point, to pay attention to the significance of competition management competencies for each entrepreneur along with the competencies listed above.

Competition management competencies comprise a separate group of competencies in entrepreneurship. The objectives of them consist of ensuring relative superiority/avoiding falling behind rivals in achieving results, making use of resources to have an impact on the competitive environment as a result of competition actions, increasing the effectiveness of competition activities, and having an indirect influence on the competition actions of rivals.

The design of competition actions is always guided. Competition management competencies in entrepreneurship include knowledge and skills in:

• planning the types, kinds, methods, directions, and character of competition actions/ interactions, and the styles and manners of competition behavior;

• establishing the strength and quality of competition actions that are to be carried out;

• motivating employees and oneself while implementing competition activity;

• operating organizational and technical regulation of competition actions execution, scripting and working schemes of competition actions, and the application of bilateral and multilateral competition dispositions;

• controlling, monitoring, and evaluating competition actions as well as comparing one's own competition actions with those of others.

Therefore, skills and knowledge in competition management help entrepreneurs design and implement successful competition actions and control the process to their advantage, preventing counterinfluence from rivals. They are no less important for managing entrepreneurial projects than competencies in industrial, commercial, financial, investment, information, innovation, and personnel management.

To conduct competition actions successfully, actors should be competent in the strategic, tactical, and situational specifics of competition management competencies such as:

• maintaining a strategic vision of one's competition goals, understanding the meaning of competition actions strategies, and being capable of selecting and combining them with one another;

• understanding the hierarchy of strategies and tactics in competition actions, identifying and categorizing tactical rivals, formulating tactical tasks and tactical competition patterns, defining tactical periods of competition, and managing tactical operations;

• managing situational maneuvering and understanding that any situational actions do not invalidate competition strategies and tactics.

In the sequel students require a generalization of distinctions between competition strategies and tactics, that is in fact corresponds with peculiarity of total researchers' enthusiasm to strategy topic [23; 33-35] against lack of interest to competition tactics. Knowledge and skills in the development and implementation of competition strategies obtained in Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, AT&T, Wal-mart cases give entrepreneurs an understanding of the various possible competition strategies specific to their realization and possible combinations. Skills in the development and implementation of competition tactics allow entrepreneurs to carry out the participation in competition process at the tactical level with the use of different tactical models of that participation. Situational competencies allow entrepreneurs to implement competition actions on the situational level with regard to particular scenarios, including force majeure.

Competition management competencies include competencies in managing competition actions taken by companies and competencies in managing the entrepreneur's personal participation in competition (Fig. 2).

The application of knowledge and skills in competition management allows entrepreneurs to reasonably manage the actions of entrepreneurial project teams and companies as well as personal participation in competition.Competition ManagementCompetenciesin Entrepreneurship

Fig. 2 Competition management competencies in entrepreneurship

For example, students get to recognition of special business models building block composing necessity that entails inquiry on special competency for business modelling process in competitive environment.

The impact of personal competition capability and personal competitiveness on the development of the competencies is apparent from the inseparable nature of professional tasks and professional competencies in the field of competition actions. A competitor's personality traits are often treated as the main motivation for participating in competition. This is typical for some psychological theories of competition [36, p. 317-327] and separate publications directly dedicated to competition between companies [37-44].

This exaggeration of the personality's role in the motivation to take part in competition, entails a romantic interpretation of these subjects. A prime example is the trope of entrepreneurs as unique people. However, this does not put into doubt that entrepreneurs possess different degrees of competition capability and certain sets of personality traits, each contributing in a different way to the development of their personal competitiveness in entrepreneurship.

Personal capabilities that are professionally significant for successfully participating in competition and relevant to personal competition capability in entrepreneurship could include the following:

* perceiving threats to businesses from the outside, thoroughly comprehending the balance and arrangement of competition forces, systematically shaping the risk area for rivals, and constant ability for conflict with them;

• maintaining a long term "competition configuration" through self-education while supporting both oneself as well as groups of companies in a state of mobilization towards participation in competition;

• withstanding competition, which includes resisting threats, preserving past achievements, and avoiding falling into stress and panic;

• obtaining victory in opposition to rivals, which includes delivering competition blows to opponents and putting pressure on them;

• managing personal participation in the competition and of the companies;

• maintaining an overall good state of physical and mental health (physical strength and endurance, the ability to attract attention, the ability to broaden one's outlook, knowledge, the ability to think critically, and the ability to express thoughts beautifully and clearly, etc.).

Various personality traits that together constitute an entrepreneurs' personal competitiveness in entrepreneurship can also have professional importance for personal successful participation in competition. Some traits promote the formation of a competitive spirit in entrepreneurship - a person's inclination to participate in competition and a tendency to compete, which was highlighted by Veblen almost one hundred years ago [45]. Factors affecting the competitive spirit of entrepreneurs include: a propensity to perceive areas of activeity as a competitive environment, the will to win in competition, a positive attitude, resilience and vitality, a propensity towards leadership, a propensity to combine actions and manipulate the environment.

Other traits facilitate the development of a competitive mindset in entrepreneurship - an entrepreneur's desire to win the upper hand in competition and be an invincible and successful competitor in entrepreneurship. Factors affecting the competitive mindset are at least as follows: a propensity for reacting to opponents in either an uncompromising way, with rational compromises, or partnership as well as a commitment to active thinking in relation to the opponent's offensive and defensive measures, a propensity for innovative thinking, ingenuity, creativity and personal intuition, rationalism in the performance of routine procedures while competing or cooperating, and a propensity to analysis.

The competitive spirit in entrepreneurship is one of many modes of the entrepreneurial spirit existence, and the competitive mindset in entrepreneurship is one of the essential elements of entrepreneurial mindset. It is noteworthy that competitive spirit and mindset of an entrepreneur are more often than not crucial to the companies' success within competitive environment (ex. given: T. Edison, B. Gates, R. Kroc, J. Kamprad, J.D. Rockefeller, S. Jobs).

While managing personal participation in the competition, entrepreneurs strive to achieve high performance in the use of their personal labor. Therefore, entrepreneurs have to constantly maintain and improve their knowledge, skills, and understanding in the field of competition and competition tools. At the same time maintaining competitiveness in entrepreneurship, and personal competitiveness all comprise a necessary part of competition studies in entrepreneurship education programs.

This educational need is a prerequisite for universities approaching the problem of achieving appropriate learning outcomes in entrepreneurship education. And that means precisely that management of personal participation in competition - «competition self-management in entrepreneurship» - is ought to be treated as one of the areas of self-management in entrepreneurship by each side of educational process.

Conclusions and Implications

This article recognizes the presence of different approaches and classifications of competencies in entrepreneurship. As an example, it explored the competition process and the forms of participation of acting entrepreneurs in it, examining different types, kinds, methods, directions, and characters of competition actions, manners and styles of competition behavior, as well as competition management and self-management. Given this, definite types of competition competencies useful for real entrepreneurship within competitive environment have been highlighted among professionally significant competencies in entrepreneurship. Studying the nature of competencies in entrepreneurship has enabled the development of a competencies framework for a successful entrepreneur, which has been tested in practice at Synergy University.

The question that arose from giving competition competencies in entrepreneurship a separate classification is: how can they be developed? This article focused on formal study as a faster and more effective way for entrepreneurs to obtain competencies in entrepreneurship.

Certain conclusions in this paper could contribute to the theory of entrepreneurship, modern trends in research on competition as a constructive process with numerous participants. They could be practically used both for future research and for educational development (composing learning outcomes, creating matrices of competencies, designing and implementing programs, building and maintaining ecosystems) to provide a pragmatic view on graduates competition competencies enhancing.

Ultimately, this article's conclusions and implications for lecturers, university governors and staff members should also be reviewed under perception ofpractical necessity in:

- teaching the nature and contents of competition competencies in entrepreneurship;

- differentiating competition actions for entrepreneurship programs design;

- defining groups of competencies in executing and managing competition actions;

- describing competencies in competition self-management;

- arranging competition competencies as an inherent part of entrepreneurship programs learning outcomes system.

References

1. Morris, M.H., Kaplan, J.B. (2014). Entrepreneurial (Versus Managerial) Competencies as Drivers of Entrepreneurship Education. In: M. Morris (Ed.). Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy: In Association with the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, pp. 134-151.

2. Morris, M.H., Liguori, E. (2016). Preface: Teaching reason and the unreasonable. In: M.H. Morris, E. Ligouri (Eds.). Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. xiv-xxii.

3. Baron, R.A., Markman, G.D. (2003). Beyond Social Capital: The Role of Entrepreneurs' Social Competence in Their Financial Success. Journal ofBusiness Venturing. No. 18, pp. 41-60.

4. Man, T.W.Y., Lau, T., Snape, E. (2008). Entrepreneurial Competencies and the Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises: An Investigation Through a Framework of Competitiveness. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship. No. 21, pp. 257-276.

5. Rauch, A., Frese, M. (2007). Let's Put the Person Back into Entrepreneurship Research: A MetaAnalysis on the Relationship Between Business Owners' Personality Traits, Business Creation, and Success. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. No. 16, pp. 353-385.

6. Robles, L., Z6rraga-RodrHguez, M. (2015). Key Competencies for Entrepreneurship. Procedia Economics and Finance. No. 23, pp. 828-832.

7. Solomon, G., Matthews, Ch. (2014). The Curricular Confusion Between Entrepreneurship Education and Small Business Management: A Qualitative Analysis. In: M. Morris (Ed.). Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy: In Association with the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, pp. 107

8. White, R.J., Hertz G., Moore K. (2016). Competency Based Education in Entrepreneurship: A Call to Action for the Discipline. Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy: In Association with the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, pp. 133

9. Engel, S.J., Schindehutte, M., Neck, M.H., Smi- lor, R., Rossi, B. (2016). What I Have Learned about Teaching Entrepreneurship: Perspectives of Five Masters Educators. In: M. Morris, E. Liguori (Ed.). Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy: In Association with the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 7-23

10. Santos, S.C., Costa, S.F., Neumeyer, X., Caetano, A. (2016). Bridging Entrepreneurial Cognition Research and Entrepreneurship Education: What and How. In: M. Morris, E. Liguori (Ed.). Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy: In Association with the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, pp. 84-96.

11. Liguori, E., Cowden, B., Hertz, G. (2016). Teaching Entrepreneurial Sales Skills: A Co-curricular Approach. In: M. Morris, E. Liguori (Ed.). Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy: In Association with the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 389-391

12. Mitchelmore, S., Rowley, J. (2010). Entrepreneurial Competencies: A Literature Review and Development Agenda. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior& Research. Vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 92-111.

13. Kuratko, D.F., Morris, M.H. (2018). Corporate Entrepreneurship: A Critical Challenge for Educators and Researchers. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy, pp. 42-60.

14. Neck, H.M., Corbett, A.C. (2018). The Scholarship ofTeaching and Learning Entrepreneurship. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy, pp. 9-36.

15. Man, T.W.Y., Lau, T., Chan, K.F. (2002). The Competitiveness of Small and Medium Enterprises: A Conceptualization with Focus on Entrepreneurial Competencies. Journal of Business Venturing, 17, pp. 123-142.

16. White, R., D'Souza, R. (2014). Links Between Learning Speed and Opportunity Recognition. In: M. Morris (Ed.). Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy: In Association with the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing Limitedpp, pp. 21-32.

17. Rubin, Yu., Lednev, M., Mozhzhukhin, D. (2017). [The Matrix of Competencies as a Tool of Entrepreneurship Bachelor Education]. Vysshee obra- zovanie v Rossii=Higher Education in Russia. No. 6 (213), pp. 16-28. (In Russ., abstract in Eng.)

18. Rubin Yu., Lednev M., Mozhzhukhin D. (2018). Entrepreneurship Education in Action: A Matrix of Competencies for a Bachelor's Degree Program. In: Ch. Matthews, E. Liguori (Ed.). Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy: In Association with the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, pp. 200-222.

19. Rubin, Yu., Mozhzhukhin, D. (2017). [The Competency-based Approach to Entrepreneurship Education Programs Formation]. Pedagogika=Pedagogy. No. 6. pp. 71-80. (In Russ., abstract in Eng.)

20. George, A., Bennett, A. (2005). Case Study and Theory Development in the Social Science. Cambridge: MIT Press. P. 350.

21. Chen, M.J. (1996). Competitor Analysis and Interfirm Rivalry: Toward a Theoretical Integration. Academy of Management Review. Vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 100-134.

22. Morris, M.H., Liguori, E. (2016). Preface: Teaching Reason and the Unreasonable. In: M.H. Morris, E. Ligouri (Eds.). Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. xiv-xxii

23. Porter, M.E. (1980). Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. New York: The Free Press.

24. Porter, M.E. (1985). Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. New York: The Free Press.

25. Porter, M.E. (ed.) (1986). Competition in Global Industries. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

26. Penrose, E. (1959). The Theory of Growth of the Firm. John Wiley & Sons.

27. Wernerfelt, B. (1984). A Resource-Based View of the Firm. Strategic Management Journal. Vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 171-180.

28. Hunt, S.D., Morgan, R. (1995). The Comparative Advantage Theory of Competition. Journal of Marketing. Vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 1-15.

29. Hunt, S.D., Morgan, R.M. (1996). The Resource- Advantage Theory of Competition: Dynamics, Path Dependencies, and Evolutionary Dimensions. Journal ofMarketing. Vol. 60, no. 4, pp. 107-114.

30. Hagel, J., Brown, J.S., Davison, L. (2008). Shaping Strategy in a World of Constant Disruption. Harvard Business Review. No. 10, pp. 80-89;

31. Branderburger, A.M., Nalebuff, B.J. (1996). Co- opetition. Competitive Cooperation in Business. New York: Doubleday.

...