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Course 2018-2019 a.y.

30263 - ORGANIZING ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Department of Management and Technology

Course taught in English

Insegnamento riservato agli studenti in scambio (incoming)


Go to class group/s: 31

CLEACC (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/10)
Course Director:
ANNA GRANDORI

Classes: 31 (I sem.)
Instructors:
Class 31: ANNA GRANDORI


Class-group lessons delivered  on campus

Mission & Content Summary
MISSION

Entrepreneurial activities have regained centrality in modern innovative economies, especially by establishing new firms, but also through the continuous starting of new projects in established firms. The course provides concepts and tools for understanding and crafting entrepreneurial structures and strategies, based on forefront research in organization and management, organizational economics, technology and innovation management. More than focusing on which types of products or services to devise and how to bring them to a market, the course distintively focuses on a process and organizational perspective: which methods for dicovering opportunities, how to attract and govern resources, how to design organizational structures and mechanims for innovation.

CONTENT SUMMARY
  • Theories and sources of entrepreneurship.
  • Discovering opportunities and entrepreneurial decision making.
  • Attracting and committing human, technical and financial resources to new projects.
  • Organization and governance practices for entrepreneurial firms.
  • Internal and networked growth strategies.
  • Organizing environments for entrepreneurship and innovation (Poles, Parks, Incubators, RIS, Districts etc).
  • Elements of Corporate entrepreneurship.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Distinguish  effective and ineffective cognitive and relational behavior under uncertainty.
  • List and recognize a range of organizational and governance practices for entrepreneurship, distiguished for new ventures and corporate entrepreneurship.
  • Design a mix of practices fit to a situation (type of entrepreneurial activity).
  • Discern which types of organized environments and external support (from incubators to public programs) can be properly used for a project.
  • Understand which are the possible different  modes of getting and combining financial, technical and human resources and some criteria for their selection.
  • Understand how entrepreneurial behaviors can be infused in established large organizations.
APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Apply appropriate cognitive processes and methods in innovative  decision-making, both individually and in team.
  • Devise entrepreneurial behaviors in established organization.
  • Construct an effective portfolio of relational ties for the exploration and exploitation of opportunities.
  • Draw up/evaluate a business plan.
  • Design a structure for a start up.
  • Conduct a colloquium with investors.

Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face lectures
  • Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
  • Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
  • Individual assignments
  • Group assignments
  • Interactive class activities (role playing, business game, simulation, online forum, instant polls)
DETAILS
  • Structural topics are developed with reference to key case studies, in order to increase the reception and long term retention of the key messages.
  • Behavioral topics are developed through simulations of product design, teamwork, and evaluation of real business plans.
  • The course includes a structured simulation, covering various sessions, in which students can experiment some key phases of the entrepreneurial process (project formulation, the ‘pitch’, the relationship with financial investors).

Assessment methods
  Continuous assessment Partial exams General exam
  • Individual assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)
  • x    
  • Group assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)
  • x    
  • Active class participation (virtual, attendance)
  • x    
  • Peer evaluation
  • x    
    ATTENDING STUDENTS
    • Class assignments (max 18 points/30): three wrap-up  assignments, requiring to analyze cases by applying the tools learned in the three main parts of the course, are proposed. The assignment includes an individual take-home prior analysis and an in class team analysis of a case. Both outputs should be in a ‘bullet-point’ format (max 2 pages). Delivering an individual analysis of a case is a necessary condition for gaining points in the teamwork on that case. Individual analyses have to be delivered by the beginning of the session by e-mail or in print and they are valid and evaluated also in case the student does not participate to the  teamwork in class. Each individual analysis can gain up to 4 points; and team analyses in class up to 2 points according to quality level.
    • Entrepreneurial Projects (max 10 points/30): students are requested to form entrepreneurial teams and formulate a project. Projects are presented in class in a pitch simulation, in which they receive a peer evaluation. Projects are evaluated on the basis of both peer ranking and professors’ judgment, based also on the delivery of a written business plan (max 2 pages, as in provided template).
    • Class  participation (3 points / 30): students are expected to read the assigned cases in advance. Coming to class prepared is a pre-condition for learning and good results. 3 points (one for each part of the course between wrap-up sessions) are assigned for well prepared participation.

    The maximum number of points attainable through the above scheme is 31/30, where 31 corresponds to ‘30 cum laude’. The points accumulated during the course are communicated shortly after the sessions in which they are assigned, so that students can have on going feedback.

    NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
    • An individual written test with structured questions (closed books, open answers, no multiple choice) in the official exam dates, on theory and cases, based on readings. For questions applied to cases, a short description of the situations to be analyzed is provided.
    • An individual end course paper on selected features of entrepreneurial projects/firms in the student’s country, analyzed with the course models and tools, for example: start-ups and types of opportunity/sectors (high tech, e-commerce, agri-business, culture etc); structure and governance of new firms; modes of financing; types of networked environments (incubators, poles and parks etc), corporate entrepreneurship experiences; to be delivered in print (max 5 pages) in the session in which the exam is taken.

    Delivering the paper is a condition for taking the test. Sufficiency in each of the two elements (test and paper) is a condition for passing.


    Teaching materials
    ATTENDING STUDENTS
    • Book: A. GRANDORI, L. GAILLARD, Organizing Entrepreneurship, Routledge 2011 (only chapters listed in the course Syllabus).
    • Cases: are included in the book or posted and are to be read before the session in which they are discussed.
    • Slides are part of the course material and are posted on the learning space.
    NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
    • Book: A. GRANDORI, L. GAILLARD, Organizing Entrepreneurship, Routledge 2011 (All chapters).
    • At least 3 self-selected references (books, press, business articles) on entrepreneurial firms in the country/subject on which the student focuses the paper. These readings have to be cited in the paper, and their pertinence, quality and depth of use concur to the evaluation.
    Last change 03/07/2018 12:36