20522 - MANAGING THE GROWING ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURE
Department of Management and Technology
Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 31
Course Director:
RENZO CENCIARINI
RENZO CENCIARINI
Suggested background knowledge
In order to deal with this course’s contents, students should recall concepts of Strategy and Corporate Finance.
Mission & Content Summary
MISSION
The rising interest in entrepreneurship has become a regular topic discussed worldwide. New ventures have a crucial contribution for businesses, as they become part of ecosystems where innovation leads to technological changes and growth in productivity. Able business owners always think about major industry shifts and new technologies that significantly impact the way they operate in the years ahead.
Focus of the course is the scaling-up phase of new entrepreneurial ventures, and value creation as the company grows, which often requires financial support. The course examines the scaling-up issues of new industrial projects, from a strategic and a managerial point of view. We learn from success case studies and failures. We then explore the criteria that the company must follow in the search of the optimal financial support, and to effectively manage relationships with the specialized intermediaries. The course focuses on generating value from the invested capital, i.e. the left-hand side of the Balance Sheet, as opposed to courses that analyse Private Equity firms, which focus instead on the right-hand side of the Balance Sheet. The underlying theme of the entire course is the role of the entrepreneur, from the start up of a new venture, to its development and sale.
CONTENT SUMMARY
The course deals with the decisions that new ventures need to take in order to define and execute their development programs, and to select the most appropriate financial sponsor for the company. It focuses on the scaling-up phase of a startup, and covers the way to approach financial investors. It also focuses on the risks associated with hypergrowth.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of the course student will be able to...
- Learn how to spot and evaluate new business opportunities.
- Analyse and evaluate growth strategies for startups.
- Learn how to organise a startup for the scaling-up phase.
- Identify the financing options available for early-stage companies.
APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of the course student will be able to...
- Set the pace for growing the early venture.
- Structure and negotiate a fundraising round.
Teaching methods
- Face-to-face lectures
- Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
- Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
- Group assignments
DETAILS
The learning experience of this course is mainly based on face-to-face lectures.
The course is carried out with an extensive use of short cases, case studies, and the involvement of some guest speakers, mostly startuppers. The use of cases, simulations and external speakers aims at better connecting the body of knowledge covered in the course with real-life examples.
A group assignment on a business case will be assigned to attending students. The group assignments will provide the teams with substantive and productive feedback before the final exam.
Attendance is not compulsory, although strongly recommended given the constant use of case discussions and guest speakers’ presentations.
Assessment methods
| Continuous assessment | Partial exams | General exam | |
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ATTENDING STUDENTS
The evaluation of attending students is based on these graded components:
- Class participation: 20%
- Written group assignment: 20%
- Final in-class written exam (individual): 60%
1. Class Participation (20%): attending students are expected to actively contribute to their own and others learning during the case discussions and debates. To successfully complete the course requirements, students need to participate in class on a regular basis, be able to voice their own views in the plenary sessions, consider the arguments and reasoning of colleagues, and decide whether to change their point of view or not. Contributing only “active listening” during class discussions is not sufficient to earn a good mark, nor is taking up “air time” simply to talk in class. The best participation marks go to those students who make insightful comments or ask substantive questions and who contribute to the learning of others.
2. Written Group Assignment (20%): attending students need to organise themselves into groups, in order to analyse and write up the questions of a case study.
With the group assignment, students demonstrate their ability to:
- Analyse the business model and revenue model of an entrepreneurial venture;
- Analyse the competitive landscape and the strategic position of the venture;
- Recommend appropriate responses to business and organisational issues that a growing venture usually faces;
- Organise complex teamwork tasks.
3. Final in-class Individual Written Exam (60%): the written exam includes 8 open questions (to be answered in approx. one hour). The exam is closed books. The examination questions test the degree to which an individual student comprehends the concepts covered in the course. The exam will also show whether students are able to communicate relevant practical inferences from what they have learned.
NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
Non-attending students are evaluated with a written exam, on the course materials, including slides, background notes and cases.
Teaching materials
ATTENDING STUDENTS
Slides, cases and background notes will be available to students on course reserve or in the course session of the Blackboard platform.
Moreover, guest speakers' material
NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
Slides, cases and background notes will be available to students on course reserve or in the course session of the Blackboard platform.
Last change 09/11/2023 12:25