| CODE | IOT5033 | |||||||||
| TITLE | Entrepreneurship and Business Venturing | |||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | |||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | |||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | |||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | The Edward de Bono Institute for Creative Thinking and Innovation | |||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Entrepreneurship is widely considered to be the engine of economic growth. This study-unit will involve a blend of theory and practice concerning entrepreneurship and business venturing. It will use the creation of a new venture as a model of entrepreneurship, and will discuss the identification, evaluation and exploitation of opportunities as the core elements of the entrepreneurial process. Indicative Content: - Introduction to entrepreneurial opportunities: What are entrepreneurial opportunities? What are opportunity gaps and windows of opportunity? - Opportunity identification: Are opportunities discovered or created? How are opportunities identified? (Theoretical perspectives and practical approaches) - Opportunity evaluation: How can you tell if a business idea is a potential entrepreneurial opportunity? (Conducting a feasibility study using Alex Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas) - Venture planning: What is the purpose of venture planning? What does venture planning involve? - Starting up a business: What are the key start-up success factors? What support measures and incentive schemes are available to assist local start-ups? - Sustainable entrepreneurship: What is sustainable entrepreneurship? Why should entrepreneurs be concerned with sustainability? Study-unit Aims: This study-unit aims to familiarise students with the theory underlying entrepreneurship and business venturing, and to help them develop the basic knowledge and skills necessary to start up their own business. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - critically analyse various theoretical approaches to opportunity identification; - discuss the importance of opportunity identification, evaluation and exploitation for entrepreneurship and business venturing; - explain what is involved in starting up a business. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - apply various techniques to identify opportunities for the introduction of innovative products or services; - conduct feasibility studies to assess the likelihood that identified opportunities could be profitably exploited; - formulate a strategy for the exploitation of an idea into a new or existing enterprise. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Nielsen, S. L., Klyver, K., Evald, M. R. & Bager, T. (2017). Entrepreneurship in theory and practice: Paradoxes in play. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. - Osterwalder, A. & Pigneur, Y. (2010). Business model generation: A handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers. John Wiley & Sons. Supplementary Readings: - Burns, P. (2016). Entrepreneurship and small business: Start-up, growth and maturity. NY: Palgrave Macmillan. - Johnson, S. (2006). Who moved my cheese? Utah: Spencer Johnson Partners. - Kirby, D. A. (2003). Entrepreneurship. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill Education. - Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., Bernarda, G., Smith, A. & Papadakos, T. (2014). Value proposition design: How to create products and services customers want. John Wiley & Sons. - Ries, E. (2017). The lean startup: How today’s entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to create radically successful businesses. NY: Currency. - Sarasvathy, S. D. (2008). Effectuation: Elements of entrepreneurial expertise. MA: Edward Elgar. - Shane, S. (2003). A general theory of entrepreneurship: The individual-opportunity nexus. MA: Edward Elgar. - Wickham, P. A. (2006). Strategic entrepreneurship. London, FT Prentice Hall. Further readings in electronic format will be provided throughout the course of the study-unit. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Workshop | |||||||||
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| LECTURER/S | Leonie Baldacchino Sandro Sant Anna |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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