GRA 3164 Developing, Organizing and Leading Entrepreneurial Ventures
GRA 3164 Developing, Organizing and Leading Entrepreneurial Ventures
Entrepreneurs and corporate innovators face significant leadership and organizational challenges such as deciding on and developing the firm's business model, recruiting and leading an entrepreneurial team, leading explorative and experimental work on a shoestring budget, and building an organization from scratch. Successful entrepreneurship requires an understanding of these challenges and a set of leadership skills to overcome them. The course will give students knowledge and understanding of theory and practice of business models, agile design and development, leadership and organizing in entrepreneurial settings and prepare them for careers in start-ups, scale-ups, and corporate innovation efforts.
Upon completion of the course, students should have knowledge of:
- DIfferent types of business models and their application in entrepreneurial ventures
- The leadership challenges and requirements of start-ups, scale-ups, and corporate innovation efforts
- Leadership and development of people and teams in entrepreneurial settings
- Methods for leading and organizing innovative projects
- Decision making in entrepreneurial settings
- The role of technology in leadership and collaboration
- Organizational development and design of entrepreneurial efforts of different types and stages of development
Upon completion of the course, students should be able to:
- Identify and develop different types of business models, the drivers of their performance, and important strategic choices
- Identify leadership challenges and requirements as well as apply relevant leadership practices
- Assess and choose appropriate processes, methods, and tools for different innovation challenges, as well as to know the basics of how to lead them
- Identify and make strategic decisions
- Assess and choose effective ways to organize start-ups, scale-ups, and corporate innovation efforts
Upon completion of the course, students should be able to reflect and apply knowledge and skills across diverse contexts on:
- The use of theories and models to solve business development, leadership and organizational problems in start-ups, scale-ups, and corporate innovation efforts
- Approaches to collaboration, management and organization of work in an international context
- Impact of digitalization
- Personal career development path
The course covers the following topics:
- Different types of business models and related strategic issues and potential actions
- The leadership capabilities of an entrepreneur: start-ups, scale-ups, and corporate innovation and the different leadership capabilities they require
- Building a team and leading people
- Decision making in entrepreneurial settings
- Leading and organizing innovative projects: introduction to Agile, Lean Startup, rapid prototyping, and Design Thinking methods
- Organizing start-ups, scale-ups, and corporate innovation: the fundamentals of organization design
The course will combine academic rigor and practical relevance through research-based and academic-grade practitioner literature, student involvement, problem solving, and practical exercises in and between lectures. Leading reflective practitioners will be involved in the development and teaching of the course.
Students have to read assigned literature and cases before each class and be prepared for class discussions.
Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class.
This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded by using points on a scale from 0-100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the examination code (course). Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam elements will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades when the course starts.
At resit, all exam components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.
| Assessments |
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Exam category: Activity Form of assessment: Class participation Weight: 20 Grouping: Individual Duration: 1 Semester(s) Exam code: GRA 31641 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 60 Grouping: Group (1 - 4) Duration: 1 Semester(s) Exam code: GRA 31641 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Activity Form of assessment: Presentation Weight: 20 Grouping: Group (1 - 4) Comment: Presentation of group project Exam code: GRA 31641 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.
- Develop a business model and organizational development plan for an entrepreneurial effort
- Conduct an assessment of the business model and organization of an entrepreneurial effort