Student guide Facoltà di Economia A.A. 2008/09

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 will be formed during the course. The groups will be required to write a paper addressing the problem posed by the assignment, with clear thesis, well organized, and employing solid analytical frameworks. Every written assignment is expected to be grammatically correct and without spelling errors. The writing assignments may be represented by a short paper (approx. 5-10 pages of 250 words each) about topics based on class discussions and readings. You might be asked to explain a model, criticize an argument, discuss a case study, evaluate a business policy. A peer-to-peer evaluation for each member of the group is required.

Office hours. See the Internet site for current office hours. You are encouraged to use e-mail whenever you have specific questions, concerns or suggestions outside of class.

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 four parts namely:

Part I. The Nature of Entrepreneurship in Established Companies

Part II. Entrepreneurial Vision and Direction

Part III. Developing an Environment to Support Entrepreneurship

Part IV. Entrepreneurial Orientation and the Future

Part I. The Nature of Entrepreneurship 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

 

Part II. Entrepreneurial Vision and Direction

-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

Part III. Developing an Environment to Support Entrepreneurship

-Structuring the Company for Entrepreneurship

-Controls, Numbers and Profit Pool

-Human Resource Management and Entrepreneurship

-Company Culture, Change and Failure

 

Part IV. Entrepreneurial Orientation and the Future

-Measuring an Organization's Entrepreneurial Orientation

-Entrepreneurship in Government Organizations

-The Entrepreneurial Organization of Tomorrow

 

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.

Attending students:

The final grade will consist of these elements:

-           

-          20% Class Participation. If you go for “attending” I expect you to be in class, be prepared and participate. 30% group written assignment (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.

-          70% 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, and case discussion in writings with a short essay form. The Final Exam will be held in class, with closed books.

-          DATE OF INDIVIDUAL WRITTEN EXAM FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS:

 

 

The exam for non attending students will be based on written assignment covering the course topics and on the written analysis and discussion of a business case.

Attending students:

 
The textbook used for this course is:

ISBN: 9780030337260

Title:  Corporate Entrepreneurship - Entrepreneurial Development within Organizations

Author: Morris, Michael H.

Author: Kuratko, Donald F.

Publisher: South-Western College Pub

Location: Fort Worth

Copyright: 2002

Publication Date: August 2001

Pages:384
 

Business Cases and further required materials (supporting slides, articles and other publications) will be made available
 

Additional readings be selected from many sources of information (books, journal articles, economic papers,…)

 Additional required readings (for non attending students):