A93116 Global corporate Entrepreneurship

At the end of the course the student will be able:

a)   Identify entrepreneurial behaivors

b)   Design structures and systems that support them

c)   Identify and Assess entrepreneurial opportunities

d)   Write a Corporate VentureBusiness Plan

At the end of the course the student will be able:

a)   Identify entrepreneurial behaivors

b)   Design structures and systems that support them

c)   Identify and Assess entrepreneurial opportunities

d)   Write a Corporate VentureBusiness Plan

A firm's ability to survive and succeed in an increasingly competitive global arena increasingly depends on its ability to create new revenue streams and pursue new business opportunities.
For start-up companies and many small SMEs, building revenue streams around the company’s (limited) resources and assets is part of the daily management, but in larger, older and more consolidated businesses, the pursuit of opportunities is not always systematic.
Large corporations that systematic generate and screens new market opportunites, launches new products and services and develops new markets rely on what we call “Corporate Entrepreneurship”.
In this course we will have a closer look at the conditions and tools needed to create corporate entrepreneurs.
The course is structured in to Three Parts namely:
- Part I. The Nature of Entrepreneurship
- Part II: Drivers of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Established Organisations
- Part III: Experiential Learning Lab: Innovation and Business Planning Simulation

Part I. The Nature of Entrepreneurship
- Entrepreneurial Management Vs. Business Administration
- Effectuation vs. Causation

Part 2: Drivers and Barriers of E-ship  in Established Companies
-Corporate Evolution and the Entrepreneurial Imperative
-Applying Entrepreneurship to Established Companies
-Levels of Entrepreneurship in Organizations: Entrepreneurial Intensity
-Differences between Start-Up and Corporate Entrepreneurship
-Who is the Corporate Entrepreneur?
-Creativity and the Corporate Entrepreneur
-Product Innovation, Technology and the Corporation
-Corporate Entrepreneurial Strategy
-Understanding the Obstacles to Corporate Entrepreneurship
-Structuring the Company for Entrepreneurship
-Controls, Numbers and Profit Pool
-Human Resource Management and Entrepreneurship
-Company Culture, Change and Failure
-Measuring an Organization's Entrepreneurial Orientation

Part 3: Innovation in Practise: Experiential LAB
In this part,  the context for idea generation will be introduced. The idea is to introduce a real, specific company context, perhaps  with the presence of a company representatives. Examples could be:
- Whirlpool
- Di Saronno
- Bticino

Once the context is introduced the methodology for idea generation is presented. An adapted version of Gary Hamels “Innovation Lab” (Hamel, 2002) will be applied.  Context and introduction will last 1 hour. For 3 hours, students will work with the tools and generate ideas

Opportunity evaluation and screening
In this session the generated ideas needs to be screened and filtered. This filtering is done by looking at the return potential of the ideas: market size, competitive advantage, sustainability and costs. A special model will be developed in excel to support students to perform this screening

Business Idea Refinement
In this session the chosen idea is analysed and described: Target markets are clearly defined, marketing and sales strategies outlined and the production and development costs are assessed

Business Planning
In this session, a special software is introduced that allows students to simulate different financial outcome of the venture.

Because the course will emphasize the use of facts, figures, numbers and examples that support ideas and concepts, all students are expected to read the syllabus and come to class prepared to contribute to discussions and group activities. "Prepared" means having read the assigned materials in advance of class, and invested the needed time and effort to develop insightful opinions.

Attendance. Attendance is strongly recommended at all regular class meetings. The class discussions on business cases will provide key elements for the exams and the final evaluation.

Class participation. Class discussions are an essential component of the learning process.

Your full participation is expected in the discussion of assigned readings and general course themes. You are expected to complete the readings assigned for each tutorial session in advance of that session, and to attend class prepared to discuss the ideas set forth in those readings. The duly preparation is especially important for the discussion of business cases.r

Some of the criteria I shall apply in evaluating your contributions may include:

– Are the points made relevant to the discussion?

– Do they go beyond a mere recitation of case facts, and are implications clearly drawn?

– Is there evidence of analysis rather than expressions of opinions?

– Are the comments linked to those of others?

– Did the contribution further the class’s understanding of the issues?

– Is the participant a good listener?

Group written assignments. Work groups shall be formed during the course. “Groups” can consist of 1-4 students.  The groups will be required to prepare case write-ups for 4 of the cases discussed (R&R, Oticon, Dow Chemicals and IBM)  And a summary Business Plan for their experiential lab project. Assignments must be submitted BEFORE taking the final written exam. Each write-up needs to address a specific theme or theory dealt with in class (or in the text book). The assignment is an illustration of the theme/theory applied to the case. Each assignment should not exceed 4 pages (word).

For all write-ups you will be evaluated on completeness, 70% (how much of the theory do you manage to illustrate with the case)  and accuracy, 30% (are your illustrations correct). Presentation skills are important but will not be evaluated

Final grade

The final grade will consist of these elements:

-       15% Class Participation. If you go for “attending” I expect you to be in class, be prepared and participate. Records of attendance will be kept

-       15% group written assignments (see above). Evaluation will be based on relevance (“saying the right things”) of business analysis, rigor (“saying things right”) of references to theoretical models, and originality (applying personal critical views or accessing broader sources of data). Peer-to-peer evaluation may influence individual grades.

-       30% group Business Plan (Experiential Learning Lab)

-       40% individual final exam (to be held in class, closed books), evaluated on the basis of points attributed to each question, weighted for importance. You will be asked to take the final exam in the form of a multiple-choice questionnaire, definition of concepts, application of theoretical models to examples. The Final Exam will be held in class, with closed books.