Syllabus

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students gain a topical overview of current scholarly and policy discussions about sustainable entrepreneurship, and learn to analyse the social and ecological sustainability of current business practices. Based on individual learning interests, students are able to engage in real-life sustainability research, consultancy or start-up projects. They learn to identify practical challenges for developing sustainable business solutions, and to present their solutions to different stakeholders, such as entrepreneurs, civic society organizations and policy makers.

Credits: 6

Schedule: 23.10.2023 - 04.12.2023

Teacher in charge (valid for whole curriculum period):

Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Patrick Shulist

Contact information for the course (applies in this implementation):

Patrick.shulist@aalto.fi

CEFR level (valid for whole curriculum period):

Language of instruction and studies (applies in this implementation):

Teaching language: English. Languages of study attainment: English

CONTENT, ASSESSMENT AND WORKLOAD

Content

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  The course focuses on the role of entrepreneurship in the transitioning towards a more socially and ecologically responsible world. The course is based on two core pivots: 1) why entrepreneurship is important for sustainability, 2) how sustainability-oriented entrepreneurship differs from "traditional" entrepreneurship.  To accomplish this, we will explore the entrepreneurial process (e.g. ideation, venture creation, initial market entry, early growth, and late growth) with a focus on how the components of that process change by including sustainability considerations.  Understanding these differences fundamentally necessitates understanding the complexity of sustainability-oriented value propositions, as well as the increased importance of gaining support from other ecosystem actors.

  A unique feature of the course design is the strong emphasis on problem-based learning through a group course project where students get to work on the real-world challenges of start-ups and other entrepreneurship actors. Students are also encouraged to use the course as an opportunity to explore their own start-up ideas.

• applies in this implementation

  I am excited to have you in this course. The world faces extensive sustainability issues and requires massive systemic change if we are to make a better world, both socially and environmentally.

  This course is broken down into two parts. Sessions 1-4 look at the ‘big picture’ of systems change. Given that the majority of the world’s economic activity happens through markets, it is critical to understand the role that market-based activity might have in causing this change. Though we will briefly talk about corporations, our primary focus is on entrepreneurship, as entrepreneurship is how new ideas enter the marketplace, and how society is pushed to change.  Of course, other actors - such as governments, NGOs, and academia - are also important, but they are not the focus of this course. When examining systems change, we will be very pragmatic about what is, and is not, possible. Make no mistake, systems change is hard.

  In session 5-12, we will change the level of our analysis, moving from the systems level down to the venture level. Here, our focus is understanding how and why sustainable entrepreneurship is hard for companies; it is critical to systems change, but it is hard. Indeed, entrepreneurs encounter a multitude of tensions whilst trying to use their ventures to cause systems change. For instance:

  ·       Though there are ‘win-wins’ out there, there are inevitably trade-offs between social, environmental, and financial goals; a venture may have to sacrifice some environmental value if it is to be financially sustainable.

  ·       There are temporal trade-offs; a venture that favours financial viability in the short term may be better positioned to accomplish social or environmental goals in the long term

  ·       Ventures must set boundaries on the system that they want to change; the world is full of problems, but systems change is hard, and a venture that tries to change too many things at once is almost certainly destined to fail. This may mean that ventures pay little attention to some issues that are very important, but are beyond their core focus

  With these tensions in mind, this course will take a pragmatic approach. Above all else, I want you to understand that sustainable entrepreneurship is brutally difficult (this is, after all, the third time I’ve mentioned difficulty). If it were easy, many systems would have been changed by now. We need to recognize this difficulty, because only once we recognize this complexity that we can address it.

  Finally, also note what this course is NOT doing: it is not helping you design your own sustainable start-up.  For this type of hands-on activity, check out these courses:

  • TU-E4200: SDGs as Business Opportunities
  • TU-E4100: Startup Experience
  
  

Assessment Methods and Criteria

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Individual and group work
  

  Exam
  

• applies in this implementation

  Component	Percent of Final Grade	Due Date
  Individual Work	65%
  Pre-session assignments	20% (10x2%)	Due before start of sessions
  Exam	45%
  Group work	35%
  Create Group		November 1st
  Group contract		November 6th
  Report	20%	November 17
  Presentation	15%	Scheduled in class, sessions 9, 10, and 12
  Peer evaluation		December 9th

  
  

Workload

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Contact teaching

  Independent work

DETAILS

Study Material

• applies in this implementation

  see full syllabus in MyCourses

  Course Syllabus
  

Substitutes for Courses

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Substitutes for Courses

Prerequisites

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Prerequisites

FURTHER INFORMATION

Further Information

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Teaching Language : English

  Course that may be completed several times

  Teaching Period : 2022-2023 Autumn II
  2023-2024 Autumn II

  Enrollment :

  Students are admitted to the course in the following priority order: 1) Creative Sustainability / Management and International Business students, 2) BIZ exchange students, 3) other students.

• applies in this implementation

  see full syllabus in MyCourses

  Course Syllabus

  
  

  As there is usually more interest in the course than spots available, if you are enrolled via Sisu in the course, you will need to confirm during the week before the course that you do in fact want to attend.  In years past, 8-10 people have not shown up for the course, which has meant 8-10 spots are wasted.
  

Details on the schedule

• applies in this implementation

  Session #	Date	Day of week	Sesstion name
  1	23-Oct	Monday	What is sustainable entrepreneurship?
  2	25-Oct	Wednesday	Systems change: What is it, and why is it important?
  3	30-Oct	Monday	Systems change using markets: The role of corporations
  4	1-Nov	Wednesday	Systems change using markets: The role of entrepreneurship
  5	6-Nov	Monday	Iteration in Sustainable Entrepreneurship
  6	8-Nov	Wednesday	Group Work time
  7	13-Nov	Monday	Competing goals and trade-offs
  8	15-Nov	Wednesday	Complexity along the value chain
  9	20-Nov	Monday	Presentations
  10	22-Nov	Wednesday	Presentations
  11	27-Nov	Monday	Impact versus scaling
  12	29-Nov	Wednesday	Simulation + Presentations

  
  

Description