GRA 3162 New Venture Bootcamp

GRA 3162 New Venture Bootcamp

Course code: 
GRA 3162
Department: 
Strategy and Entrepreneurship
Credits: 
6
Course coordinator: 
Pengfei Wang
Course name in Norwegian: 
New Venture Bootcamp
Product category: 
Master
Portfolio: 
MSc in Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Semester: 
2020 Spring
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

After developing the entrepreneurial mindset and grasping the essence of innovation, entrepreneurs will need to translate their technical or commercial insights into successful businesses. This course focuses on real life challenges and problems for entrepreneurs in three important phases: starting-up, scaling-up, and corporate innovation. Startup Bootcamp focuses on topics important during the (pre-) start-up phase of new business creation; Scaleup Bootcamp focuses on topics important in the scaling-up and expansion phrase; Corporate Innovation Bootcamp focuses on deep dive into intrapreneurship, corporate entrepreneurship and venturing. The overall objective is to improve the ability of course participants to diagnose problems in new venture development and to recommend solutions. This course build on theoretical and empirical explanations to explore how entrepreneurs cope with developmental challenges in different scenarios. It also dives into key industry verticals (e.g., Healthcare, Fintech, and Biotech), in order to improve the competence of students to combine knowledge with practice. This course is an elective and is offered in the second seminar. 

Learning outcomes - Knowledge
  • Students should know the key steps, activities, and challenges in the process to start and grow new ventures
  • Students should understand how to build and test assumptions in the start-up phase and turn them into knowledge
  • Students should know the core challenges in the scaling-up phrase
  • Students should know core mechanisms through which corporates develop new ventures
  • Students should know the features and business models of key industry verticals
Learning outcomes - Skills
  • Students should be able to analyze start-up, scaling-up, and corporate innovation business cases and identity their key problems and assumptions
  • Students should be able to provide effective solutions tailored for the challenges in different phases in different verticals
General Competence
  • Students should be able to analyze business cases concisely, with clarity, logical flow, and coherence
  • Students should be able to present and communicate ideas and solutions effectively
  • Students should be able to develop their competence of business negotiation
Course content

The course content includes:

  1. Starting up: value creation
  2. Starting up: value capture
  3. Starting up: resource and process
  4. Scaling up: crossing the chasm
  5. Scaling up: organizing for complexity
  6. Scaling up: diversification
  7. Corporate innovation: stimulating intrapreneurship
  8. Corporate innovation: corporate venturing
  9. Key industry verticals: features, potentials, and business models
Teaching and learning activities

The course is a combination of lectures, guest lectures, cases, group work, and simulations.

  • The first part of the course offers an intensive theoretical overview of the main topics of starting-up, scaling-up, and corporate innovation
  • The second part of the course will use the case methods extensively to bring practical problems and challenges into the classroom
  • The third part of the course offers some deep dive into key industry verticals
  • The fourth part of the course allows students to apply knowledge to solve problems for new ventures during either starting-up, scaling-up, or corporate innovation phase.
Software tools
No specified computer-based tools are required.
Additional information

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
Assessments
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Structured test
Weight: 
20
Grouping: 
Individual
Comment: 
Multiple Choice. Testing theory.
Duration will be decided later.
Exam code: 
GRA31621
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: 
Class participation
Weight: 
30
Grouping: 
Individual
Duration: 
1 Semester(s)
Comment: 
Participation and presentations.
Exam code: 
GRA31621
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: 
50
Grouping: 
Group (3 - 5)
Duration: 
1 Semester(s)
Comment: 
Report
Exam code: 
GRA31621
Grading scale: 
Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Type of Assessment: 
Continuous assessment
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Total weight: 
100
Sum workload: 
0

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.