Modulhandbuch (Module manual)

​The course has no formal pre-requirements. Some familiarity with marketing research and/or financial management is recommended but not essential​.

Entrepreneurship is considered one of the main drivers of economic growth and social change, entailing the market introduction of innovative products or services. Today, all organizations recognize the challenges a rapidly changing marketplace presents. An entrepreneurial orientation allows firms, large and small, old or new, to react to these challenges in the pursuit of business opportunities. In order to achieve that, firms require individuals capable of identifying or creating business opportunities in their environment, conceiving a business model to capitalize on such opportunities, leveraging the resources necessary to implement the business model, managing across functional boundaries, fostering a culture of innovation, leading entrepreneurial teams, and creatively engaging with a dynamic context.

Learning objective

The objective of this course is to foster the development of the core entrepreneurial competencies of students interested in creating a new venture (entrepreneurship) or assisting organizations in developing new business opportunities (intrapreneurship).

Course description

The course is envisioned as a venture-creation simulation. Thus, the students will develop their entrepreneurial competencies through an experiential, context-relevant learning experience. For that, we will mix a basic set of lectures with the development of an entrepreneurial project in teams. Classroom activities and assignments will lead the teams in the development and completion of their projects.

The course follows the new venture lifecycle, from the initial conceptualization of a business idea to its planning, funding and exit strategies. By following that process the course integrates fundamental theory and practical application designed to develop the competencies needed to grow a competitive and enduring enterprise.

Course methodology

The course is composed of 13 lectures, combining remote sessions (both live and recorded) and on-campus meetings.

Remote sessions will be used to study the theoretical foundations of entrepreneurship by discussing cases and assigned readings. Recorded sessions will comprise a short video lecture and will require the students to complete some additional work on their own. Live sessions, both on campus and remote, will focus on the development of an entrepreneurial project.

The students must form a team to develop an entrepreneurial project. Each live session will consist in the team working on a particular part of their business model, guided by the instructor. To structure this process, we have created the “Entrepreneurship Lab", a series of exercises where the teams will put in practice the concepts and methodologies studied in the lectures. These will take place mostly on campus.

Course evaluation

The evaluation will focus on the development of the entrepreneurial project as the main learning outcome.

An individual portfolio including work related to the development of the project, readings, and case work will be submitted by the end of the semester, no later than December 12. Its extension should be 20 to 25 pages.

Two pitches/presentations will take place at the middle and at the end of the course, worth 30% and 40% respectively.

The first presentation (pitching session) will be remote, in the form of a recorded video to be submitted on November 12. It will have an extension of 15 minutes as a maximum.

The final presentation (second pitching session) will be 30 minutes long as a maximum. It will be done live in the classroom on December 10.

A business plan must be submitted in support of the final pitch. It will be developed in groups and included in the portfolio. The deadline for the submission is December 12.

The grade values of the evaluation activities are the following.

First Pitch: 30%

Final Pitch: 40%

Portfolio: 30% (business plan, class and homework, case discussion, reading presentations and other activities)

Course requirements

The course has no formal pre-requirements. Some familiarity with marketing research and/or financial management is recommended but not essential.

Limitations

The entrepreneurial projects are part of an academic exercise. Thus, they do not need to be implemented once the course is completed, nor is it necessary for the ideas to have been in development before the course.

It is possible to work in a business idea existing outside the course as long as: the whole team is also part of the project/firm outside the classroom or all the members agree that their work carries no implications aside the strictly academic. To be precise, that they give up any claim on the way their work might impact on the project/firm once the course is completed.

Since this is a time-constrained, class-based venture creation simulation, the quality of the idea is not an evaluation criterion. However, the ideas must be original and the business model developed should be able to competitively enter the market were it to be implemented. Relevant evidence ought to be provided to prove the latter hypothesis.

Primary-source validation is essential for the successful completion of the course. Hence, at least some of the group members should have time to work on the project outside of class hours (interviewing customers, running surveys, obtaining quotes for materials and resources, etc.). With this in mind, it is advised that the teams work on projects close to their area of expertise.

Social and sustainable business models are encouraged when exploring potential project ideas.

Bibliography

Reading material will be provided throughout the course. A full list of the cases to be used is included in the learning plan attached.

There is no textbook as such, given the experiential, project-based nature of the course. Some supplemental bibliography is presented below.

Alemany, L., & Andreoli, J. J. (Eds.). (2018). Entrepreneurial Finance: The Art and Science of Growing Ventures. Cambridge University Press.

Carlson, E., & Koch, J. (2018). Building a Successful Social Venture: A Guide for Social Entrepreneurs. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Morris, M. H., Kuratko, D. F., & Covin, J. G. (2010). Corporate entrepreneurship & innovation. Cengage Learning.

Moyer, M. (2013). Slicing Pie: Funding your company without funds. Lake Shark.

Mullins, J. (2014) The Customer-Funded Business. Wiley.

Neck, H. M., Neck, C. P., & Murray, E. L. (2018). Entrepreneurship: the practice and mindset. SAGE Publications.

Zacharakis, A., Spinelli, S., & Timmons, J. (2011) Business plans that work: A guide for small business. McGraw-Hill Education.​

Students, who miss the first day without being officially excused, will be unregistered from the course!