Syllabus

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this course, students are expected to be able to

1. Recognize and discuss key concepts in entrepreneurship, and
   
2. Identify, create and evaluate entrepreneurial opportunities

Credits: 3

Schedule: 29.02.2024 - 11.04.2024

Teacher in charge (valid for whole curriculum period):

Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Apurva Ganoo

Contact information for the course (applies in this implementation): Responsible Teacher: Apurva Ganoo (apurva.ganoo@aalto.fi)
Teaching Assistant(s): Canan Keles (canan.keles@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:

  Launching an enterprise can have several advantages, such as being your own boss, realizing your own ideas and experiencing greater autonomy. However, entrepreneurship is more than founding an enterprise. It is a particular way of thinking and an approach of solving problems and can, therefore, also be practiced within large corporations. Accordingly, the course will equip students with useful entrepreneurship tools and prepare them to approach their future work with an entrepreneurial mindset.

• applies in this implementation

  General themes: The course's overall structure is situated around the topic of “value." Value creation and capture is at the core of entrepreneurship, and thus, over the 6 sessions in this course, we will dive into the different aspects of value - in the context of entrepreneurship and, particularly, high-growth entrepreneurship.

  Each lecture (3h) will be split into 2 or 3 sections.

  • First part: Fundamentals
  • Second part: Interactive Element (Workshop, Q&As, etc.)
  • Third part: Guest Lecture / Industry Perspective

  
  

  Session 1: Team Values
  

  • How to create a team of shared values and purpose (connecting to the business itself)
  Session 2: Identifying Value Part I
  
  • Design Thinking & User Understanding
    
  Session 3: Identifying Value Part II
  
  • Design Thinking & Value Propositions
  Session 4: Creating Value ('Intra'preneurship & Corporate Innovation)
  
  • What is Innovation? Can we measure it? Fostering innovation within organizations.
  Session 5: Building Value
  
  • Prototyping and Experimentation.
  Session 6: Funding Value
  
  • Funding innovation, funding options, opportunities and reasons for obtaining funding as a startup.

Assessment Methods and Criteria

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Team and individual assignments 100%

• applies in this implementation

  Assessment & Grading

  • 12% - Attendance (2% per lecture)

  • 53% - 4 x Individual Essays (7% from first two, 15% for 3rd essay, and 24% for final essay) (more details provided in the first lecture)

  • 15% - 3 x Lecture Notes (instructions provided in first lecture)

  • 20% - Team Presentation (15%) + Peer Evaluation (5%)

  Assessment for the essays will be done using the Biggs Solo Taxonomy: https://www.johnbiggs.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/solo_taxonomy.jpg
  
  
  

Workload

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  The course contains lecture as well as hands-on practice of entrepreneurial skills.

• applies in this implementation

  3 ECTS = 81h
  
  Classroom hours: 18h
  Class preparations (pre-readings, etc.): 10h
  Assignments & Deliverables: 45h
  Teamwork & Team Assignments: 8h
  

DETAILS

Study Material

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  The required readings will be made available by the instructor via MyCourses.

• applies in this implementation

  Readings

  • Week 1: Edmondson, A. (2012). Teamwork on the fly. Harvard Business Review.
    
  • Week 2: Brown, T. (2008). Design thinking. Harvard business review, 86(6), 84.
  • Week 3: Christensen, C. M., Hall, T., Dillon, K., & Duncan, D. S. (2016). Know your customers’ jobs to be done. Harvard business review, 94(9), 54-62.
  • Week 4: Blank, S. (2018). Why the lean start-up changes everything. Harvard Business Review.
  • Week 5: Johnson, M. W., Christensen, C. M., & Kagermann, H. (2008). Reinventing your business model. Harvard business review, 86(12), 50-59.
  • Week 6: Eisenmann, T. (2021). Why startups fail. Harvard Business Review.
    
  
  

Substitutes for Courses

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Substitutes for Courses

Prerequisites

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Prerequisites

SDG: Sustainable Development Goals

4 Quality Education

8 Decent Work and Economic Growth

FURTHER INFORMATION

Further Information

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Registration via Sisu ends at the time when the first lecture starts.

  Teaching Language : English

  Teaching Period : 2022-2023 Spring IV
  2023-2024 Spring IV

  Enrollment :

  This course is targeted for students of ARTS, CHEM, ELEC, ENG and SCI as well as Open University students. Degree students of the School of Business take the corresponding course MNGT-A3001.
  

  The maximum number of students is 220.

• applies in this implementation

  Attendance Policy: As there will only be six (6) lectures in total for this course, attendance is required in at least 3 out of the 6 sessions (50%). In total, attendance will be worth 12% of the grade, meaning that one (1) session is worth 2% of the course grade. 

  Please contact the teaching team as soon as possible (Apurva, Canan) in case of any issues with attendances.
  

Description