Comparing Start-up Propensities and Entrepreneurship Characteristics of Students in Russia and Germany

This paper comes along with the international research project "Foundation and Entrepreneurship of Students" (GESt-study) which aims to analyze target group differentiated start-up propensities and entrepreneurship characteristics of students in diverse countries to derive demand-oriented recommended actions for an appropriate conceptualization of entrepreneurship education and support. The results of this country comparison illustrate that the students in Russia show higher start-up propensities and usually deal stronger with entrepreneurship than the students surveyed in Germany. However, this stronger motivation in Russia to create start-ups is based on economic necessity, which often does not depend on innovative business ideas. In contrast, the students questioned in Germany recognize coaching and consulting as more important start-up support than their fellows from Russia - leading one to assume that they stand in later phases of the start-up process and intend more complex and challenging business ideas. Furthermore, the students in Germany regard their own financial risk and fear of failure as higher start-up barriers, whereas their Russian fellows lack stronger entrepreneurial qualifications. Altogether, both student groups should be imparted particularly start-up specific basic knowledge as well as entrepreneurial skills during the whole their studies and on the basis of an interdisciplinary approach.