Teach your children well

A study of junior high schools in Indonesia has found that educational leadership influences how well they cultivate entrepreneurial skills in their students. Indeed, these kind be improved by encouraging innovation from the top and by fostering collaborative environments in which students, teachers, and communities all work together to shape educational outcomes. The details are reported in the International Journal of Business Innovation and Research.

The research surveyed 350 schools and examined the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and entrepreneurial performance. Entrepreneurial leadership refers to a style of management that prioritises vision, innovation, and the mobilisation of others. In schools, this translates into principals and senior staff who support experimentation in teaching, promote creative problem-solving, and encourage initiative among both students and educators.

Entrepreneurial performance, on the other hand, is defined more broadly than business creation. It includes the ability of a school to generate innovative activities, equip students with problem-solving and adaptive skills, and contribute to longer-term socio-economic objectives such as employability and resilience in changing labour markets.

The study’s main finding is that leadership alone is not the sole driver of such outcomes in educations. Rather, its effects are mediated by what researchers describe as value co-creation. This term derives from service management theory and refers to a process in which value is produced through interaction, rather than being delivered unilaterally by an organisation to passive recipients. In the educational context, this implies a shift away from viewing teaching as a one-way transfer of knowledge, towards a model in which students, teachers, school leaders, and other stakeholders work together to design appropriate learning experiences and solve problems.

In countries where entrepreneurship plays a significant role in economic development, schools are increasingly seen as a foundation for developing the entrepreneurial mindset in students. The research indicates that policy initiatives which focus solely on embedding entrepreneurship in the curriculum may not work as well as those that also improve and guide leadership practices and institutional culture.

Indira, S.S., Sasmoko S., Bandur, A. and Pradipto, Y.D. (2026) ‘Business perspectives on value cocreation as a mediator for entrepreneurial performance in educational contexts’, Int. J. Business Innovation and Research, Vol. 39, No. 8, pp.1–24.

Adapting to AI adoption

Research in the International Journal of Business Information Systems suggests that the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is remarkably uneven across Italian firms. While some may have made a deliberate choice not to use AI, of the many that are planning to use it, some still lack the organisational structures needed to deploy the technology effectively.

This is one of the first systematic studies of AI adoption in Italy. It found that there are lots of early innovators eagerly integrating AI into their operations, but others are moving more cautiously and remain in the preliminary stages of exploration. This uneven uptake is seen elsewhere and reflects a broader international pattern, as businesses look for AI opportunities but struggle with the complexities of this rapidly evolving area of computing.

Despite the growing interest and investment in, specifically, generative AI, this research shows that many firms do not have a structured approach to the technology. The researchers propose an “AI Readiness Level” (AIRL) framework that could help organisations develop their AI strategy.

This notion of readiness is not just about technical capability, it takes into account the quality of a company’s data infrastructure, the availability of skilled personnel, leadership support, and external factors such as regulatory pressures or market competition. AIRL provides a model of the progressive stages of development, from initial awareness to full operational integration.

The team points out that firms that have adopted AI have reported improvements in operational efficiency, enhanced customer engagement, and more informed decision-making through predictive analytics. The research suggests that adopting AI is less a matter of installing new software than carrying out organisational transformation. Companies need to align their technological capabilities with workforce skills, management strategies, and governance structures, the authors explain. Those that fail to do so risk falling behind competitors that are already using this technology to their advantage.

Garlatti Costa, G., Pugliese, R. and Venier, F. (2026) ‘Exploring artificial intelligence adoption among Italian firms: the AI readiness level’, Int. J. Business Information Systems, Vol. 51, No. 7, pp.1–22.