Admission requirements
3rd year bachelor students
Description
This course will provide students with an interactive introduction to the theory and practice of innovation management and entrepreneurship in a European context. The module approaches innovation as a core business imperative and appropriate management as an essential element to business success. The course will be of interest to those who are considering forming their own business or who envisage having a role promoting new initiatives within existing organisations.
It introduces strategies to assess the potential of new business concepts and thus improve the likely success of high-impact ventures.
It covers methods for analysing, specifying, designing and launching high-impact initiatives along with the knowledge and skills required to prepare a financial plan for a new business venture.
Participants will be introduced to an overview of critical issues and skills necessary to not only manage innovation within existing companies but to foster an open-innovation environment that encourages innovation across organisational boundaries.
Topics covered
Introduction: entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial imperative
Creating and capturing value: business models and business plans
Opportunities: what are they and how do we spot them
Building and sustaining competitive advantage
Entrepreneurial sales and marketing
Leadership and teams: building an “A” team
Sources of capital: mind the (funding) gap
Idea creation: coming up with “the new”
Building out your value proposition: the “lean” startup movement”
Startup to scaleup: the growing pains of organisations
Course objectives
Upon successful completion of the course, a student will:
be able to make a judgment as whether he/she would like to become an entrepreneur.
have a clearer view of how to judge the potential of a high-potential business concept
understand the difference between a true opportunity and just another idea
appreciate the effort and dedication needed to make a business succeed recognize the importance of building effective teams
have an understanding of the various sources of finance (conventional and unconventional)
Timetable
Semester 1:
- Course: November 12th – December 10th 2018
Please check the latest version of the schedule on Blackboard.
Mode of instruction
The course emphasises interactive teaching that focuses on real-life case studies. Students will be debriefed, in hindsight, on what really happened.
Course Load
10 seminars
Preparation for each seminar
Group assignment
Group presentation
3-hour exam
Assessment method
Final Exam (40%); Group Assignment and Presentation (30%); Individual Assignment (30%)
In order to pass students must have a total grade of at least a 6 (six). The final grade is rounded off to the nearest half or integer.
Blackboard
Yes.
Reading list
Mullins, J. 2006. The New Business Road Test. FT Prentice Hall
Osterwalder, A. et.al. 2014. Value Proposition Design. Wiley.
Ries, E. 2011. The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses. Portfolio Penguin
Registration
Students have to register for the course in uSis. The registration in uSis for 2018-2019 will open two months before the start of the academic year. Click here for instructions.
This course is part of the SBB minor. If you would like to follow this course as an elective, please contact the programme coordinator to discuss the possibilities.