The role of entrepreneurship development in universities to promote knowledge sharing the case of vietnam national university hanoi

THE RO LE OF ENTREPRENEƯRSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN UNIVERSITIES TO PROMOTE KNOWLEDGE SHARING: THE CASE OF VIETNAM NATIONAL ƯNIVERSITY HANOI Dinh Van Toan*, Hoang Van Hai, Nguyen Phuong Mai Vietnom Nationol University Hanoi 144Xuan Thuy, (au Giay, Hon oi *dinhvantoơn@vnu edu ABSTRACT !n the modern economy, effective knowledge sharing is being considered as a break- through soỉution to enhance competitive advantage and strengthen the position o f enterprises and the economy as weỉl In a developing country ìike Vietnam, through training research actìvities and trans/erring scierìtific research resuìts, universities are contributing significantly to knowledge sharing and development However, activities to share and transfer knowledge within universitoes andfrom universities to enterpríses are evaluated to have some shortcomings Many research topics and research resu ìts are not reỉated to the reaỉ situation o fth e economy and responsive to the needs ofth e appìicable research results On the contrary, som egood practical research results are not implemented and commercialized to bring benefits to enterprises and scientists as a means o f socio-economic development One o fth e reasonsfor this situation is that the structure Common Platform to a Sustainable Society in the Dynamic Asia Paciíĩc I 27 and management o f universities in Vietnam is still affected heavily by the bureaucratic and inactive way o f thinking This is a typical management process o fa b u reau in the subsidy system and the "ask give" mechanism Furtherm ore, there is a lack o f entrepreneurship in universities to promote the knowledge transfer and sharing process Therefore, this paper /ocuses on anaìyzing the current situation o f knowledge sharing in the university and from the university to the society with the case study o f Vietnam National University Hanoi, and the role o f entrepreneurship development in the promotion and enhancement ofknow Iedge sharing In terms o f scientiỊic contribution, through literature review o f previous studies, this paper clarifìes the concept and contents o f "entrepreneurship development" and "academic erìtrepreneurship" and their role in knowledge sharing frorrt universities to the industry and society Resuìts o f the case study at Vietnam N ational University rev eal that the actuaì impact o f entrepreneurship development in universities on knowledge sharing is still limited due to several external reasons Therefore, it is necessary to have policies and/avorabỉe mechanism that promote knowledge sharing through entrepreneurship deveìopment In terms o f practical contribution, some proposed suggestions are applicable in Vietnam urìiversities to perfect the university governance model and promote knowledge sharing in the new development period Keỵwords: Knowìedge sharing, entrepreneurship development, academic entrepreneurship OBỊECTIVES OF THIS STƯDY This paper focuses on analyzing the current situation of knowledge sharing from the university to the industry and society with the case study of Vietnam National University Hanoi, and the role of entrepreneurship development in the promotion and enhancem ent of knowledge sharing Based on VNU’s secondary data and primary data from in-depth intervievvs vvith key managers of VNU, research 28 I Asia Pacific Coníerence on lnformation Management 2016 results shovv that entrepreneurship formulation and development in universities as well as policies and mechanism to govern the organization using business management approach is a íactor that promotes knovvledge sharing and enhancing innovation m anagem ent vvhich contributes to socio-economic development There has been an increasing trend of the results of entrepreneurship development and its contribution to knovvledge sharing in Vietnam National University Hanoi However, the entrepreneurship development process still has some shortcomings and challenges Its role in knovvledge sharing and research results transfer is limited due to several reasons This paper proposes som e suggestions to university governors to enhance entrepreneurship development, improve management mechanism tovvards business management spirit in order to promote knovvledge sharing and contribute to socio-economic development THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING IN UNIVERSITIES Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial activities and entrepreneurship development in university context Entrepreneurship as a field of study is relatively young (Cooper et al., 9 ) The deíinition of entrepreneurship has evolved from a trait or supply side (who is the entrepreneur) to a context or demand side approach (the iníluence of firms and m arkets on how, where, and why new en terprises are íounded) (Thornton, 9 ) The literature on entrepreneurship and development defines entrepreneurship as the creation of new econom ic activity (Low and MacMillan, 8 ; Shane and Venkataraman, 0 ) , often resulting in the creation of new organizations (Schumpeter, , p 66; Gartner, 9 ; Reynolds, 9 ), or the pursuit of innovation (Schumpeter, ; for a review, see VVennekers and Thurik, 9 ; Davidsson et al., 0 ) From the w ork of Birch (1 ), entrepreneurship was measured in terms of size - i.e., small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) Common Plaưorm to a Sustainable Society in the Dynamic Asia Pacific I 29 Yet, if entrepreneurship is the creation of new organizations, it is not consistent to m easure it in terms of existing firms Now the focus is on the phenomenon itself given data availability not only on new firms creation (Reynolds et al., 0 ) but also on the entrepreneurial process - i.e the gestation, birth, and growth of firms (Reynolds, 0 ) Most economic, psychological and sociological research points to the fact that entrepreneurship is a process and not a static phenomenon Entrepreneurship is more than just a mechanical economic íactor (Pirich, 2001) Entrepreneurship has to with change and is also commonly associated vvith choice-related issues Existing definitions of entrepreneurship often relate to the íunctional role of entrepreneurs and include coordination, innovation, uncertainty bearing, Capital supply, decision-making, ownership and resource allocation (Friijs et al., 2002) One operational deíinition of entrepreneurship that successíully synthesizes the functional roles of entrepreneurs is that of Wennekers and Thurik (1 9 ]: "the maniíest ability and willingness of individuals, on their own, in teams within and outside existing organizations, to perceive and create new economic opportunities (new Products, nevv production methods, new organizational schemes and new productmarket combinations) and to introduce their ideas in the market, in the face of uncertainty and other obstacles, by making decisions on location, form and the use of resources and institutions." Entrepreneurship is, hence, essentially a behavioral characteristic of a person Entrepreneurs may exhibit it only during a certain phase of their career or only vvith regard to certain activities (Carree and Thurik, 002) In response to colleges and universities becoming increasingly intersected with the private marketplace (Slaughter and Leslie, 9 ; Slaughter and Rhoades, 0 ), a large body of literature has emerged that addresses the implications of this "corporatization” of the academy (e.g., Clark, 199 8; Etzkowitz, 0 ; Geiger, 0 ; Kirp, 0 ; Slaughter and Leslie, 9 ; Slaughter and Rhoades, 0 ; VVashburn, 0 ) The application of entrepreneurship and 30 I Asia Paciíic Coníerence on Iníormation Management 2016 associated principles and practices is commonplace in this literature Etzkowitz ( 0 ) used entrepreneurship as a primary descriptor of the transformation of MIT as a result of clear collaborations and alliances with private industry and governmental bodies Clark ( 9 ) conceptualized the "entrepreneurial transformation” of five European research universities in the direct context of these institutions íinding innovative methods for reducing heavy reliance on governmental support and subsequent oversight The academic entrepreneurship may have som e different forms Typically, these enterprises are closely related to the cycle of research experimentation - transfer - practical application - commercialization On the other hand, academic entrepreneurship can be established as a start-up of small and medium scale to cope with high risk In addition to the entrepreneurship in establishment of academic university is also enterprises, developed through entrepreneurial activities The entrepreneurial activities observed in the universities are multi-fold They include the establishment of business corporations, overheads, consultancy, Service to the community and even scholarship Thereíore, Yokoyama (2 0 ) stated that terms such as “entrepreneurial" and "entrepreneurialism" in the context of universities are not necessarily to be understood with the idea of proíitgain, risk taking, and even commercial activities Rather, the study of Yokoyama signiíies the universities attitudes in attempting to "stand up" and be self-reliant "Entrepreneurial" activities in this deíinition could relate to the promotion of their accountability to society as a whole; "entrepreneurialism" is the process by vvhich the universities become engaged in more entrepreneurial activities than vvere previously According to Yokoyama (200 6), the entrepreneurship development in universities led to the change in their governance mechanism as vvell when universities become more and more entrepreneurial Consequently, some different entrepreneurial types of university are formed as a direct result of the entrepreneurial process (Table 1) Common Platform to a Sustainable Society in the Dynamic Asia Paciíic I 31 Table Five en trepren eu riaì types o f universities No Type A Prototype (e.g.: Tokyo University) An Entrepreneurial2 oriented University (e.g.: VVaseda University) A Fledgling Entrepreneurial University (e.g.: Nottingham Trent University) An Adaptive Entrepreneurial University (e.g.: University of Surrey) Key teatures - Increase of institutions’ discretion - The introduction of entrepreneurial culture - Review in governance, management, leadership and internal íunding - Set up of institutional strategic planning - Emphasis on the signiticance of enhancing accountability - The extension of entrepreneurial activities - Market-oriented institutional policy - Conílict between academic and entrepreneurial values - Introduction of managerialism - Limitation of public tunding dependency - Self-identity as an entrepreneurial university - Contribution to regional economy - Institutional self-determination - Substantial amount of income from external tunding - Market-oriented governance and management structure - Integration of entrepreneurial and academic structure An Ideal Type - Autonomous and self-reliant institutions - Clear risk sharing and responsibility among actors involved in the entrepreneurial activities - Integration of entrepreneurial and academic culture, and managerial and collegial culture in an institution with no conílict between them Source : Yokoyama, 2006 32 I Asia Pacific Conference on lnformation Management 2016 Besides, entrepreneurial terminology has also applied to research addressing particular market- oriented activities that occur within contemporary higher education environments For instance, there exists an extensive body of literature that relies in part on entrepreneurial terminology to analyze university technology transíer activities and associated outcomes (e.g., Bercovitz and Feldman, 2006; Bercovitz et al., 2001; Feldman et al, 200 2; Owen-Smith, 2005; Owen-Smith and Powell, 2003) Similary, scholars such as Colyvas and Powell (20 07) have framed m a rk e t activities that include the creation of faculty-led start-up ventures in the life sciences as illustrations of academic entrepreneurship The market-oriented behaviors and activities of students have also sometimes been identified as being entrepreneurial For example, Mars et al (2008) theoretically developed the role of the state-sponsored student entrepreneur through an exploration of cases of students using universityhoused Capital as levers for creating individual business ventures This literature reveals how entrepreneurship is sometimes used to articulate and deconstruct the commercial activities that begin vvithin colleges and universities and are later realized within the private marketplace Knowỉedge sharing in university context Knovvledge sharing (KS) and vvhich is also called knowledge transfer (KT) is defined as "an exchange of knovvledge betw een two individuals: One who communicates knowledge and one who assimilates it In knowledge sharing, the focus is on human Capital and the interaction o f individuals” (Paulin and Suneson, ) Within the frame of reíerence, both "knowledge transíer” (KT) and ‘*knowledge sharing” (KS) are used and discussed interchangeably (Ịonson, 0 ) In recent decades, in developed countries, knowledge sharing (KS) has becom e a strategic issue: as source of funding for the university research and as a policy tool for economic development Actually, universities have always involved in KS activities, they are not something new, "somehovv" discovered in recent years, as argued by scholars in the Triple Helix or Mode Two traditions (Etzkowitz Common Plaưorm to a Sustainable Society in the Dynamic Asia Paciíĩc I 33 and Leydesdorff, 0 ; Gibbons et al., 9 ), vvho propose the idea of a new academic revolution that is characterized by universities becoming involved in KS activities The interactions betvveen university professors (not necessarily the universities themselves) and companies, back to the development of the chemical industry in the nineteenth century (Meyer-Thurow, ) Hovvever, in the recent decade, the new trend is institutionalization of university - industry linkages through the direct involvement of the university The knovvledge can be shared from university to the industry and the society at large in several ways Some academic staff are heavily involved vvith companies through university offices devoted to KT, a signiíicant number are concerned mainly with teaching and research, but may carry out som e occasional consultancy The change is in the type of activities undertaken by academic staff (in response to new demands) and their relative importance and, therefore, the need to support, manage and organize them in a more efficient way In other words, the scale and complexity of the universities' activities has increased, moving from what we could deíine as "craft" production to something more akin to "industriar production, although it is in only a limited num ber of institutions that we can see the hallmarks of industrial production In a university, KS activities often have two main forms The internal KS process can be started with expertise and ideas exchange in conferences or transfer of technology or patent betvveen the scientists with other VNƯ members or training activities that promote KS to students For the external KS process, the university may join in activities such as organizing conferences, setting up enterprise incubation, directly transfer knovvledge to businesses, or calling joint venture to com m ercialize the research Products, etc Roles o f entrepreneurship deveỉopment in urtiversity to promote know!edge sharing During the past two decades, a series of empirical studies in America and Europe, vvhich analyze the main sources of knovvledge 34 I AstìPacificConferenceonlnformation Management 2016 creation, and knovvledge diffusion mechanisms show that the stock of knowledge economy can contribute positively to the growth rate of economic growth, only if there are sufficient mechanisms for disseminating this knowledge and innovation throughout the production system Under the nevv theory of Business Knowledge Society (Audretsch, 0 ), entrepreneurship is one of the key mechanisms of transíers in the process of diffusion of knowledge In other words, entrepreneurship is a key driver of endogenous grovvth, o r else, it represents the link betvveen Capital stock of knowledge and technological opportunities since it turns the stock of knowledge into economic knovvledge (the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship) We also observed some differentiation in the levels at which academic entrepreneurship was applied based on national and regional contexts In particular, scholars who studied higher education phenomena with an entrepreneurial dimension vvithin Asian, European, and Latin American settings commonly íịcused on systemic change Specifically, six studies (Bain et al., 9 ; Krucken et al., 0 ; Kvviek, 0 ; Ryu, 9 ; Santiago et ai., 0 ; Slantcheva, 0 ; Yokoyama, 0 ) íocused on systemic change that involved some entrepreneurial characteristics within these three global regions Generally, the systemic change studied were anchored in broad shifts based on resource dependencies, increases in the academy's autonomy from State governance, and enhanced focus on the abilities and capacities of higher education systems to contribute to national and regional economic development The research on American, Australian, and Canadian higher education contained vvithin our final sample of articles primarily focused on institution-level change that inđuded topics such as the institutionalization of technology transfer units and knowledge commercialization activities vvithin college and universities (e.g., Dill, 9 ; Duke, 0 ; Harman and Harman, 004 ; Powers, 0 ) and university-industry cơllaboration (e.g., Anderson, 0 ; Bradshavv et al., 0 ; Fisher and Atkinson-Grosjean, 002 ; Common Plarform to a Sustainable Society in the Dynamic Asia Pacific I 35 Harman, 9 ) Thus, we found academic entrepreneurship to be a phenomenon that has been understood at differing levels of analysis that are at least partially dependent of national and regional contexts One proposed explanation for the aíbresaid geographical differentiation is that the neo- liberal forces of economic globalization that began iníluencing Western higher education systems in the s (Slaughter and Leslie, 9 ; Slaughter and Rhoades, 0 ) also more recently began permeating other, less-developed regions On the one hand, VVestern higher education systems such those in America, Australia, and Canadian have been incentivized at the national an d /or regional levels to respond to the implications of economic globalization over the course of the past several decades On the other hand, higher education systems in developing countries and regions remain in the earlier stages of responding to the shiíting social and economic conditions associated with globalization Thus, the disruption of Western higher education systems has becom e relatively stable vvith scholarly focus now being íocused on entrepreneurial responses to globalization at the institutional and disciplinary/proíessional levels of higher education Hovvever, the disruption of non-Western higher education systems by the globalỉzation movement has remained active and thereby continues to capture the attention of higher education scholars Regardless o f the reason for geographical differentiation in the application of academic entrepreneurship to higher education scholarship, this observation illustrates the value of scholars remaining attentive to the various levels of unit analysis as recommended by Low and MacMillan ( 8 ), Martinelli (1 9 ) and Thornton ( 9 ) when conducting research that includes academic entrepreneurship According to Wright et al (2 0 ), in addition to concerns about the nature of their human Capital, the ability of business schools to fill knovvledge gaps in the development of academ ic entrepreneurship is constrained by the institutional structures of universities which influence: the strategies of the university and the business school; 36 I Asia Paciíic Coníerence on Iníormation Management 2016 links between business schools, TTOs and scientists; and process issues relating to differences in language and codes, goal differences, incentives and revvards, expertise differences and the content of interactions We conclude that if business schools are to play a more prominent role in academic entrepreneurship there is a need to develop internal university processes and policies that prom ote rather than hinder internal knowledge flows betvveen business schools, TTOs and Science departm ents The role of entrepreneurship development in KS can be seen in two ways Fỉrstly, enterprises in university bridge the gap betvveen scientists, the government and other external enterprises ỉn many different phases from transferring, trial production, selling patents or joint investment in new Products All these types of activities will directly affect KS process Secondly, the way we structure and run the university that is more and more entrepreneurial is also a signiíicant part of KS The reason is very simple that using output-períịrmance evaluation system, all parties wỉll gain beneíits These activities bring more beneíits to both parties Figure Research framework From the literature revievv of entrepreneurship development and knowledge sharing, it is assumed that these two concepts are closely Common Plaưorm to a Sustainable Society in the Dynamic Asia Pacitĩc I 37 linked together and the remainder of this paper is to use the case of Vietnam National ưniversity Hanoi to illustrate the following research framework (Figure 1) EN TREPREN EU RSH IP DEVELOPMENT AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING - TH E CASE STUDY OF VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI As discussed in the previous part, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activities are increasingly important for the KS process of any academic institution In Vietnam National University Hanoi (VNU), the Board of management has long been concerned with the issue of how to promote entrepreneurship and use academic enterprises to transfer and share knovvledge from the university to the industry and society at large This section, therefore, discusses two main issues: (1) How entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activities have been developed in VNU and (2) How entrepreneurship development has contributed to KS process in VNU Facts and Ịỉgures ofentrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activities in Vietnam National University Entrepreneurial activities include all kinds of activities that promote the entrepreneurship in an organization Currently, VNU has done some initial steps to promote KS by setting up three academic enterprises vvhich belong to three mem bers of VNU, namely (1) Natural Science Ltd Co., (2) TASS Co., and (3) IMBT Biotechnology Jsc Three en terprises are very active in linking the university with the industry and society Furthermore, VNU is transforming the Center of Cooperation and Knovvledge Transfer into a Scientiíic and Technology Enterprise to promote knowledge sharing for the application of research results in practice We will look at main facts of entrepreneurial activities that have been carried out in the mentioned three companies and the results of these activities 38 I Asia Pacitĩc Coníereace on Iníormation Management 2016 Natural Science Ltd The Natural Science Ltd - a division of VNU ưniversity of Science was established in 0 Its mission is to bridge the technology and Science with the society and support scientists to conduct research and apply their research results in the real situation, create the legal íramevvork for useful and sustainable application of scientiíic research results in peopỉe's daily life The company outstanding activities include technology transferring and Consulting It has close connection vvith 10 strategic partners vvhich are enterprises in the field o f construction, enameled tile, and energy solution During 1 - , the company has conducted 90 contracts with partners achieving the revenue of approximately 10 billion VND (Figure 2) Unit: million VND 5,000 -Ị 4,068 4,0003,0002,319 2,0001,000 1,590 J 987 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Figure Revenue ofNaturaI Science Ltd duríng 2011-2015 Source: Natural Science Ltd., Company Report during 1 - In this period, the company has two Products vvhich are innovated by academ ic researchers of VNU and they are very useíul and highly applicable in reality These two Products are Eco-friendly vvashing gel and Unisex deodorant Both of them are planned to be com m ercialized by being sold directly to the custom ers from scien tists rather than the company Common Platform to a Sustainable Society in the Dynamic Asia Pacitic I 39 TASS Co TASS is a m em ber of VNU University of Social Sciences and Humanities that vvas íịunded in The company’s operations include (1) skills training for students and business leaders; (2) tourism; and (3) event services Unit: million VND 0 - 8.000 - 0 - 6.000 7,873 ■■ 0 -■ 0 0 2,000 - 1,000 - 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Figure Revenue ofTASS during 2011 -2015 Source: TASS Co., Company Report during 1 - As shovvn in Figure 3, the revenue of TASS gradually increases in the recen t five years Speciíically, the hỉghest revenue was nearly billion VND in During the period of 1 - , the company has successfully conducted several entrepreneurial activities Firstly, the company held some experiential research classes that also provide life and career skills for students and young potential employees In , only when TASS won the training bid opened by the Tourism General Office, the training results w ere extrem ely appreciated by the customers Secondly, in term s of tourism Service, the com pany innovates a new Service w hich is called "v o lu n tee r to u r is m ” for foreign stu d en ts Every year, the company has ab ou t 0 foreign stu d en ts joining this p ro g ram 40 I Asia Pacitic Coníerence on Iníormation Management 2016 Thirdly, the company has built and strengthened its reputation and brand in the field of vvorkshop and sem inar organizing Service The annual revenue from this Service is about 0 to 0 million VND vvhich play a big part of percent in the total revenue of the company Through the mentioned provided services, the company contributes to KS process vvith main beneficiaries including students, íoreigners and business leaders These entrepreneurial activities also help to introduce Vietnamẹse culture and heritage to a huge number of domestic and íoreign tourists IBMT Biotechnology Jsc IBMT Biotechnology Jsc company, a m em ber of Bio-technology Institute of VNU, was nevvly established in and aims at commercializing research results in the field of bio-technology such as pharm aceutical and cosm etics Products, functional food, and high-tech agriculture Products (food, manure, bio-pesticide) and environmental pollution treatm ent Currently, the company is now in the beginning phase of operation The company is an entrepreneurship initiative of the VNU academ ic researchers In addition to the existing th ree academic enterprises in VNƯ, another noteworthy entrepreneurial activity of VNU is the transíịrm ation o f Center of Cooperation and Knowledge T ransfer into VNU Science and Technology Company This transíorm ation decision aims at enhancing technology research and transferring knowledge and research results into real situation Th e new company will directly bridge the university and the industry and promote knowledge sharing In conclusion, the facts of the above academic en terprises show that entrepreneurial activities have b een promoted in VNU in the recent years and brought about preliminary positive results in terms of profitability and reputation building These activities tighten the linkage betvveen VNU and related Industries and help to transíer knovvledge from the university to other stakeholders o f the society Common Platform to a Sustainable Society in the Dynamic Asia Pacific I 41 Knoxvìedge sharing and the role of entrepreneurship development in Vietnam National University Hanoi Formulation and development ofentrepreneurship in VNU To enforce the role of entrepreneurship development in KS process, the authors conduct semi-structured intervievvs with 30 experts of entrepreneurship and business administration vvho are vvorking at VNU in the field of technology and Science, organization governance, ỉegal issues Several research questions have been raised for the intervievvs: (1) VVhat are the beneíits of entrepreneurship development in knovvledge sharing? (2) How are entrepreneurial activities and academic enterprises prom oted in VNU? (3) Why are there some shortcomings in the real activities of entrepreneurial activities and academic enterprises? (4) W hat is the VNƯ policy to promote entrepreneurship in the Corning future? (5) W hat are the solutions to promote entrepreneurship at VNƯ in the near future? Based on the iníormation of semi-structured intervievvs with the experts, som e íindings are listed as follow: Table BeneỊĩts o f entrepreneurship development in university No Percentage of respondents (%) Beneíit Promoting innovation and technology commercialization 100 Bringing long term benetits for academic researchers and scientists from 90 intellectual property of their inventions Source: Authors' analysis from intervievv vvith experts Firstly, it is proved by the experts that entrepreneurship development in universities in general and in VNU in particular, is 42 I Asia Paciíic Coníerence on Iníormation Management 2016 extremely necessary to promote knowledge sharing to the community and it bring some beneíits (see Table 2) Secondly, the establishment of academic enterprises must comply with the law All members of VNU are strongly encouraged to start entrepreneurial activities In Vietnam, enterprises in universities are regulated by the Law of Enterprises No /2 /Q H issued on / 1 / by the National Assembly XIII Particularly for technological enterprises, in addition to the mentioned law, this type of enterprises also has to comply with the Decree No 87/2007/N D -C P issued on / / 0 by the Government In other word, an enterprise in university is a special type of enterprise that is recognized by the Government like any other type of enterprises Thereíore, VNU supports the delegation of authority to its members so that each university vvill be free to submit a nevvventure project to the Board of Management for approval However, the management of enterprise in university is still barriered by some legal requirements For instance, according to the Law of Enterprise , Law of Cadre and Public Servant and Law of Antỉcorruption 05, public staffs who are working in public organizations are allowed to invest but not to directly manage an enterprise Hovvever, an academic enterprise must have a public staff in the sam e university to be the manager, so that the enterprise is truly considered a part of the university In other words, the legal requirements are very challenging for the entrepreneurship development in university Thirdìy, entrepreneurial activities and academ ic e n te rp rise s are running under th eir capacity and still have potential to develop Currently, VNU has a team of ,2 0 staff in đ u d in g nearly 0 professors and associate professors This n um ber of se n io r experts is th ree tim es higher than the average ratio of the nation Research activities are im plem ented ỉn six m em ber universities, and five research institutes VNU also have strong tie with m o re than international universities and education organizations o f vvhich som e are top universities in the vvorld Therefore, enterprises in VNU still have a lot of big opportunities to develop Hovvever, until now there are only four enterprises in VNU Common Plaưorm to a Sustainable Society in the Dynamic Asia Paciíĩc I 43 Moreover, it is proved that the activities of enterprises in VNU have not contributed much to knovvledge sharing process, particularly the case of Natural Science Company This company has been íounded for 12 years but the R&D activities and product spin-off is very limited Revenue from training and transferring knovvledge is very low and is predicted not to increase if there vvill be no change in the way the company is running The trial production and commercialization of new products are not properly invested Scientists are looking for direct custom ers to sell their Products rather than through the company From the above mentioned íindings, it is clear that entrepreneurship development in VNU is promoted through the e stab lish m en to íacad em icen terp risesan d so m eo th eren trep ren eu rial activities that are actively involved in transíerring and sharing knowledge from the university to the society However, these companies are still running not very effectively Since the establishment, there have not been any research results transferred to the reality Some reasons for the inefficiency of these companies are mentioned by the experts as follow: Tabìe Reasons for inefpciency ofacademic companies in VNU No Percentage of Reason responses (%) The company fails to link the scientists with the business that leads to the short of fund for research and transter research results into 90 reality Leaders of the company are scientists so they lack experience and expertise to run business The company has not received enough fund for development Academic enterprise is a new type of enterprise in Vietnam 80 60 70 Source: Authors' analysis from intervievv with experts 44 I Asia Paciíic Coníerence on Iníormation Management 2016 Efforts to innovate and transform into "entrepreneurial university" in Vietnam National UniversityHanoi andsome evaỉuation ofknowledge sharing during the period o f 2011-2015 - Innovation and transformation into "entrepreneurial university" in VNU The change into an "entrepreneurial university” has becom e a trendy movement in many universities all over the vvorld Hovvever, in Vietnam, only a few universities including VNU are following this approach Some main íindings are mentioned below in the case of VNU Firstly, from 1 to , VNU revievved, controlled and restructured the university As a result, the stru ctu re is much Aexible and organic that it enables effective resource tra n síe r among divisions of VNU but th ese divisions are still very specialized T h e new structure also reduces redundancy and overlap o f functions among VNU m em bers At the end of , the structure o f VNƯ is basically fixed with 32 units including the headquarter office, training institutions, research units and 10 Service units At the sam e time, VNƯ m em bers also receive more authority but th e ir responsibility is also higher They now have higher freedom to decide th eir strategic dỉrection but stỉll very connected to other VNU m em bers to use common resources Secondìy, in term s of entrepreneurship development, VNU focuses on Science and technology divisions with the decision to restructure its three m em ber institutions which are Institute o f Vỉetnam ese Studies and Development Science, Institute of Iníịrmation Technology, Institute of Micro-organism and Bio-technology in accordance with Decree No 15/200 5/N D -C P Moreover, two other institutes namely VNU Institute of Education Quality Accreditation and VNU International Francophone Institute are being upgraded to be more entrepreneurial scientific institutes and the Center for Cooperation and Knovvledge Transfer is being transíormed into an academic enterprise VNU has actively develop 80 Common Plaưorm to a Sustainable Society in the Dynamic Asia Pacífic I 45 research teams, 21 of which are strong and key research teams that play the main role in almost research activities in VNU Thirdly, an o th er issue of entrepreneurship developm ent in VNU that support KS is the "outcome-oriented" governance mechanism The quality o f each output is strictly monitored based on quantitative m easures Plans, projects and activities are clearly described in logic fram ew orks vvith speciíic main contents, objectives, outputs, resources and tim e-frame The perform ance evaluation system is applied in all projects FourthIy, VNU encourages it members to be íinancial self-reỉiant in compliance vvith Decree No /20 15/N D -C P issued on / / Currently, two VNU members are completely self-reliant which are International Schooi and Hanoi School of Business vvhile other m em bers are partially self-reliant Fifthly; VNƯ also tries to build strong partnership with businesses and local governments to promote KS During 1 -2 , VNU has expanded its relationship with more than 20 strategic partners, of which som e are leading national corporations such as Vietnam National Petrolium Group, BIDV Bank, Viettel Group, etc lt is undeniable that VNU has exerted very high level of effort to prepare initial conditions for an effective entrepreneurial university model during these recent five years These efforts contributed to KS process írom the university to the society The speciíic results o f KS include: national research projects, more than 80 basic research projects íunded by NAFOSTED, ministry level research projects and m ore than grassroots level projects, patents and intellectual property registered Products Hundreds of international and national conferences, vvorkshops, forums and other scientiíic events have been successíully organized Speciíic studies in the field o f humanities and social Science of VNU contributed a lot to resolve national issues and play an important role in policy consultancy and review In these recen t years, the number of international publications 46 I Asia Pacitĩc Coníerence on Iníormation Management 2016 ofVNU has increased dramatically, particularly the num ber of ISI and Scopus journal papers, vvhich was about in 1 but jumped to in VNU is the first in Vietnam to have a paper in Nature Ịournal, the leading journal in the vvorld In 015 , VNU holds the first position in Vietnam in the ranking list by well-known organizations such as QS, Scimago Lab, URAP, and Webometrics Despite the outstanding performance in research, the effect of the above mentioned innovation and efforts on KS is still hard to be ẹvaluated and measured There should be an in-depth survey on it Evaluation University Hanoi - o f knowledge sharing in Vietnam National Generally, VNU has carried out a series o f en trep re n e u rial activities to prom ote KS, particularly the scien tiíic research and technology d evelopm ent helped to deal with real life problem s and fulfil national tasks, and also developed some co re products and com plete technology Products that can be applied in reality However, KS in VNƯ still has some shortcomings First of all, the technology transfer activities are very few in a year It is calculated that only five technology Products on average per year are commercialized and transfer to businesses Not many academic enterprises are íịrmulated and developed while at the sam e time, th ese enterprises are not truly active in KS Last but not least, scientiíic studies are dispersed and some fail to meet the Standard of VNU Some reasons for the shortcomings of KS in VNU may be presented as follow First of all, VNU did not pay enough attention to technology transfer, particularly đassitying and registering IP for advanced technology Products to be transferred R esearch resu lts are notlinked to real situ ations and tran sferred to users so that re se a rc h activities can not be in sp irin g enough for new ideas to be explored and can not make revenu e to reinvest in research and capacity building of researchers In addition, th ere is a lack of p rereq u isites to prom ote en trep ren eu rsh ip in university Common Platform to a Sustainable Society in the Dynamic Asia Pacific I 47 It is advised by the experts that the condition to en su re long-term entrepreneu rship developm ent in university is the venture fund to support new start-u ps This source of fund will help the company to attract experts, to build netw ork and to share knovvledge with other related stakeh old ers Currently, VNU is not conn ected to any venture Capital fund to support en terp rises in the university The technology market in Vietnam is underdeveloped The activity of exchanging technology and research results is limited due to some factors such as the lack of IP protection, technological services (eg information of technology, transfer consultancy, quality measurement, etc.) The government still does not have effective policy to link Science with production and businesses and to promote the application of research results RECOMMENDATION AND MANAGERIAL IMPLĨCATION From the analysis of entrepreneurial activities and knowledge sharing in the case study of Vietnam National University Hanoi presented in the previous section, it is notevvorthy to identiíy the strong demand for entrepreneurship development in VNU and its role in knovvledge sharing from the university to the socỉety Thus, ỉt is a must for Vietnam ese universities in general and VNU in particular to be more entrepreneurial in the future The first proposed solution is that VNU board of management should pay more attention to knovvledge management to support and promote knowledge sharing and commercialization of research results and technological Products A policy should be issued to encourage the cooperation betvveen scientists, lecturers and businesses right at the beginning phase of research and experiment The policy should also motivate the íormulation of academic enterprises or signing contracts with organizations to commercialize research results The entrepreneurship spirit should also be motivated so that more and more academic start-ups in university vvill be formulated to 48 I Asia Paciíic Coníerence on Iníormation Management 2016 prom ote KS and tra n síe r technological Products VNU is also advised to focus invest in highly applicable research results that can m eet the demand of local governments, businesses and other partners that can comm ercialize the research results to beneíit the society, The second suggestion is to set up a "technology incubation center” and restructure some m em ber units vvhich are able to be selfreliant to invest in academic research then provide services to the society At the sam e time, it is necessary to develop a policy to raise Capital and mobilize other resources from VNU for knovvledge sharing, trial production and commercialization at the birth of academic enterprises The third thing can be done is to set up an entrepreneurship and technology transfer center This center will link and promote entrepreneurial activities with other businesses The technology transíer office is responsible for intellectual property (IP) m anagement so that the IP of Products done by VNU scientists will be protected and classiíied to be incubated and added value beíore going to the market This office vvill also consult legal issues and rights of each party when the product is commercialized Furtherm ore, it ỉs suggested to create a venture Capital fund in VNU or call for other venture funds to invest in VNU enterprises so that the businesses vvill b e very closely connected with the scientists From the side o f the Vỉetnamese government, their role is to íormulate policy and mechanism to offer favorable conditions for the technology m arket so that knovvledge can be transferred and research results can be commercialized easily In addition, the avvareness oF related industries and offices of venture Capital and its role in technolbgy innovation and investment of the company should also be raised Furtherm ore, the Law of Cadre and Public Servant should be amended so that scientists and researchers who are vvorking in public universities are allovved to set up and manage an enterprise from their own idea Common Plarform to a Sustainable Society in the Dynamic Asia Pacific I 49 CONCLUSION Entrepreneurship developm ent in university or academ ic entrepreneurship include many aspects or activities, o f vvhich the main issue is (1) the establish m ent and development of en terp rises that provide services and commercialize and tra n síe r research results to the society; (2) the restructure of organizational structure and governance m echanism to make the university to be more entrepreneurial The role of entrepreneurship developm ent in university in KS has been discussed and clarified in previous studies and in reality of business world This paper explores how entrepreneurship development or so called academic entrepreneurship in VNU has been evolving in the five recent years and how it affects knovvledge sharing from the university to the industry As it is difficult to evaluate and m easure the direct of impact of entrepreneurship deveiopment on knowledge sharing or knovvledge transferring that need further studies The limitation of this paper is the theoretical approach to the relationship between academic entrepreneurship development and knovvledge sharing and som e initial assessm ent has been made It is undeniable that entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial actỉvỉties in university now is becoming more and more popular and play a critical role in knovvledge sharing The strong efforts of entrepreneurship developm ent and knowledge sharing in VNU are clear evidence of this trend Some suggestions for VNU and the government have been raised to overcome the barriers in technology transfer, knowledge sharing and other challenges for enterprises These suggestions will remove not only internal but also external barriers for entrepreneurship development at VNƯ Moreover, these suggestions with focus on the mechanism also pave the way to free the resources for academic enterprises and entrepreneurship development in university governance and then prom ote knovvledge sharing This is also the development goal of VNƯ in the new period I Asia Pacitic Coníerence on Iníormation Management 2016 REFERENCES Campbell D F J, Carayannis E G (2 ), "The Academic Firm: A New Design and Redesign Proposition for Entrepreneurship in InnovationDriven Knovvledge Economy”, Journal o f Innovation and Erìtrepreneurship, 1- 10 Geuna A., Muscio A (2 0 ), "The Governance of ưniversity Knowledge Transíer: A Critical Review of the Literature”, Minerva, (1 ), -1 Guerrero M., ưrbano D (2 ), "Academics' Start-up Intentions and Knovvledge Filters: An Individual Perspective of the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship", Smaỉỉ Business Economics, -7 Mai Ha, Hoang Van Tuyen (2 ), Scỉentifỉc and Technohgicaỉ Enterprise: From Theory to Practice, Scientiíic and Labor Publishing House Hoang Dinh Phi (2 ), Effectivenesss o f Technology Transfer among Vietnam National University Hanoi to Organizations and Companies in Vietnam, Project Report Paulin D., Suneson K (2 ), "Knowledge Transfer, Knovvledge Sharing and Knowledge Barriers - Three Blurry Terms in KM", The ElectronicJournaỉ o f Knowỉedge Management, 10 (1), -9 Strategy o fV ỉetn am N ational University towards 2020 and Vision O /20 30 Technology and Scientific Stratey o f Vietnam National ưniversity towards 2020 Tran Anh Tai, Trinh Ngoe Thach (2 ), Modeỉs o f Entrepreneuriaì University: International Experiences and Lessons f o r Vietnam, Hanoi Publishing House Yokoyama K (2 0 ) , "Entrepreneurialism in Ịapanese and ƯK ưniversities: Governance, Management, Leadership and Funding”, H igher Education, 52 (3), -5 5 Wright M., Piva E., Mosey s., Lockett A (2 0 ), "Academic Entrepreneurship and Business Schools",Journaỉ o f Technology Transfer, 34, 560-587  ... analyzing the current situation of knowledge sharing from the university to the industry and society with the case study of Vietnam National University Hanoi, and the role of entrepreneurship development. .. anaìyzing the current situation o f knowledge sharing in the university and from the university to the society with the case study o f Vietnam National University Hanoi, and the role o f entrepreneurship. .. represents the link betvveen Capital stock of knowledge and technological opportunities since it turns the stock of knowledge into economic knovvledge (the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship)