20898 - ENTREPRENEURSHIP, HISTORY AND SOCIETY

A preliminary background in microeconomics, general management, business organization and fundamentals of global economic and social history can be of help for achieving an effective learning experience.

How does entrepreneurship thrive and contribute to economic growth and development? What are the drivers of entrepreneurial decisions? How do entrepreneurs act in uncertain and risky environments? How do entrepreneurial choices impact on organizations? Is entrepreneurship constrained, or supported, by the context? Entrepreneurship is one of the most intriguing and mysterious components of modern economy. This course focuses on the challenges entrepreneurs faced in the past and the present. It addresses their successes and blunders, with the aim of highlighting some of the origin and evolution of the modern enterprise since the start of the industrial era. The course hinges on three main themes: innovation, growth and entrepreneurial impact. It departs from theories that treat these themes. With this long-term approach, it assesses the changes and continuities, focusing on the crucial contribution of entrepreneurs, technology and socio-institutional elements to the creation of the present global economy. The course adopts a comparative perspective among the main global macro-region of United States, Europe and Asia. Students therefore can appreciate key issues in management and strategy through real-life examples. They will develop critical thinking and ability to make contextualized decisions as well as deeper understanding of leadership and business ethics. These skills are among the most important ones recognized by the OECD for new graduates in 21st century

Part 1 – The Essence of Entrepreneurship

• Introduction to the course 
• The theory of the Firm in 20th century
• Who is the Entrepreneur? Entrepreneurship in theory
• Entrepreneurs, uncertainty, and risk
• First Industrial Revolution and Viral Marketing
• Second Industrial Revolutions: From Creative Destroyers to Tycoons
• Entrepreneurship during Deglobalization
• Managerial Entrepreneurship
• Doing Business with Authoritarian Regimes

Part 2 – Contemporary Perspectives on Entrepreneurship

• Emerging Asia: the Japanese Recipe
• Big Science and Archimedes in Business
• Creativity and Female Entrepreneurship
• The Conglomerate Era and Financial Entrepreneurship
• Archipelago Capitalism
• Global Value Chains and the New Globalization
• Entrepreneurship in Emerging Countries
• Big Tech and Platforms
• Global Beauty and Start-ups

• Understand the concept of entrepreneurship and its multi-faceted meanings.
• Understand the power of the context in shaping entrepreneurial and managerial decisions.
• Explain the micro-foundations of modern economic development.
• Master the macro-developments of historical events that shaped global capitalism since 18th century.
• Discuss and understand the impact of technological change on the opportunities and challenges entrepreneurs and organizations face.
• Discuss and analyze the different businesses organizational forms across different time periods and geographical contexts.
• Discuss and explain the changing relationships between public (e.g. government) and private spheres (business) through time and contexts.
• Discuss and reflect on the impact of entrepreneurial and firm activity on different stakeholders and society at large

• Dissect the components of entrepreneurial decisions.
• Understand and evaluate the context in which decisions are made, and the concept of bounded rationality.
• Compare different institutional, political, geographic contexts across time and judge the merit and ethics of different entrepreneurial decisions in those situations.
• Discuss and evaluate the complex relationship between politics and business.
• Develop skills in academic writing, critical analysis, problem solving, and decision making.

• Lezioni frontali
• Testimonianze (in aula o a distanza)
• Analisi casi studio / Incidents guidati (tradizionali, multimediali)
• Lavori/Assignment individuali
• Lavori/Assignment di gruppo

The learning method in this course blends traditional frontal lectures focusing on a wide range of historical and geographical contexts with the discussion of case studies and incidents connected to the concept of entrepreneurship.

There will be also a group project on a theme that changes every year. Groups will select a business case and will carry out an analysis about how entrepreneurs and enterprises operated in regard to the assigned theme and will evaluate the ethical and economic consequences of the company’s actions.

More information on the group assignment will be available on BlackBoard once the course starts.

1. A class-specific final written exam using a mix of open-ended and multiple-choice questions. This item allows the instructor to provide an evaluation of the students’ acquired knowledge and understanding of facts and key concepts studied during the lectures and class activities. It will also allow to test the ability to summarize acquired knowledge and critical analysis of entrepreneurial actions and decisions. This item is graded according to the existing rules in a scale from 0 to 30.
2. A group assignment. This item allows the instructor to provide and evaluation of the students’ ability to analyze and interpret specific case studies of entrepreneurs and enterprises within a specific economic and geographical context and a selected topic. This part tests the ability to design and carry out research using the historical methodology and sources. This item is graded according to the existing rules in a scale from 0 to 30.

The assessment of non-attending students’ preparation is a final written exam, using a mix of open-ended and multiple-choice questions to test both basic knowledge of the course material, the understanding of key concepts introduced in the course readings, and the ability to summarize narrative interpretations from the course readings.

This item is graded according to the existing rules in a scale from 0 to 30.

• Class materials (cases, incidents, journal articles, chapters and other resources) available on the class repository and BlackBoard.
• Class notes and PowerPoint presentations of each lesson (available on BlackBoard).
• All the detailed materials will be communicated once the syllabus is published before the course starts. 

• All the material assigned to ATTENDING STUDENTS
• F. AMATORI, A. COLLI, Business History: complexities and comparisons, Routledge 2010. (Full book)
• Extra readings will be communicated once the syllabus is published before the course starts.