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2012/2013  BA-HASOC_VEIG  Entrepreneurship and Innovation in a Global Perspective. Concepts, Development, and Challenges

English Title
Entrepreneurship and Innovation in a Global Perspective. Concepts, Development, and Challenges

Course information
Language English
Exam ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Bachelor
Duration One Semester
Course period Autumn, Spring
Spring schedule:
Wednesday 11.40-14.25, week 6,8-16.
Time Table Please see course schedule at e-Campus
Max. participants 60
Study board
Study Board for BSc in Business Administration and Sociology
Course coordinator
  • Alfred Reckendrees - Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy
Administrative contact: Karina Ravn Nielsen - electives.lpf@cbs.dk or tel.: 38153782
Main Category of the Course
  • Innovation and entrepreneurship
  • Corporate and Business Strategy
  • Economic and organizational sociology
Last updated on 25-10-2012
Learning objectives
Using theoretical approaches and historical analysis, the course provides the skills to understand the dynamic of business development. The students acquire knowledge about entrepreneurship in different historical and institutional contexts and in different types of business organizations. They develop an understanding of the complex relations between organizations, individuals and institutions, and of inner-organizational relations that influence entrepreneurial decision making and the process of innovation. And they learn about internationally different institutional arrangements and cultures that influence both entrepreneurship and innovation. The course deepens the understanding why and how entrepreneurial activity is important for economic development (and that it can be disastrous, too), and it will provide insights which type of economic activity can be regarded entrepreneurial.
On the practical level the students, by studying historical and recent cases of entrepreneurship and innovation in a global economy, learn how entrepreneurs identified opportunities, how they overcome traditional markets and national borders, and how they created markets and business organizations in different national contexts.
In order to achieve Grade 12 the student must be able
  • to identify the relevant problems within entrepreneurial research and innovation studies
  • to prove evidence of a comprehensive knowledge of the concepts and theories of the course
  • to demonstrate a high level of command of the concepts and theories used and of their theoretical and practical implications
  • to prove evidence of understanding the historical case studies and different international social and political environments
  • to evaluate complex business cases with respect to the theories of entrepreneurship and innovation in a specific historical and institutional setting
Examination
home written assignment:
Type of test Home Assignment
Marking scale 7-step scale
Second examiner No second examiner
Exam period December/January and May/June
Aids Open Book, Written and Electronic Aid is permitted
Duration Please, see the detailed regulations below
Home-written assignment, max. 10 standard pages; group assignments max. 20 standard pages.
Assessment is carried out by one internal examiner. 7 point scale.
The home-written assignment should be an analysis of one or more self chosen new cases in regard to the topic of the course.
Prerequisites for attending the exam
Participation in group presentations in the lectures.
Course content

Entrepreneurship and innovation have changed the world and they will change the world again and again. But what makes an entrepreneur and what do entrepreneurs do? What is entrepreneurial behavior? Can it be learned? What is innovation and how is it made? Can entrepreneurship and innovation be institutionalized? How important is entrepreneurship for economic development?
The course is organized in two modules. In module I the students will, first, reflect theoretical and conceptual approaches to entrepreneurship and economic development, entrepreneurial behavior, corporate entrepreneurship (etc.) and second, approaches to innovation (e.g. types of innovation, processes of innovation, organization of innovation). Finally, the relationship between entrepreneurship and innovation and the concept of the innovative firm will be critically discussed.
Module II consists of the analysis of comprehensive cases that are specifically written for the discussion of entrepreneurial activity and innovation. The cases cover different historical epochs, different national environments and companies in different markets and of different size. The historical perspective allows for a better understanding of the importance of innovation and how radical entrepreneurial activity changed the world.
Teaching methods
The course will be taught in 10 weeks (3h each). It is based on lectures combined with case discussions, students’ presentations and group discussions. Participation in a students’ group that provides a presentation and elaborates a concept for the home-written assignment is expected.
Expected literature

Tentative literature:
The cases will be provided in a compendium or they must be downloaded from the homepage of Harvard Business School.

· Bhattacharyya (2006): ‘Entrepreneurship and Innovation: How Leadership Style Makes the Difference?’ VIKALPA 31: 1, 107-115.
· Casson, M. (2010): 'Entrepreneurship: theory, institutions, and history. Eli F. Heckscher Lecture, 2009', Scandinavian Economic History Review 58: 2, 139-170
· Dosi, Giovanni (1982): ‘Technological paradigms and technological trajectories’, Research Policy 11 (1982), 147-162
· Lazonick, W. (2005): ‘The Innovative Firm’, in: The Oxford Handbook of Innovation, ed. by J. Fagerberg, D.C. Mowery, R.R. Nelson (Oxford: University Press), 29-55.
· McFazean, E. / O’Laughlin, A. / Shaw, E. (2005): ‘Corporate entrepreneurship and innovation part 1: the missing link, European Journal of Innovation Management 8: 3, 350-372
· McFazean, E. / O’Laughlin, A. / Shaw, E. (2005): ‘Corporate entrepreneurship and innovation part 2: a role- and a process-based approach, European Journal of Innovation Management 8: 4, 393-408
· Nelson, R. R./Winter, S. G. (1977): ‘In search for a useful theory of innovation’, Research Policy 6, 36-76
· Pavitt, K. (2005): ‘Innovation Processes’, in: The Oxford Handbook of Innovation, ed. by J. Fagerberg, D.C. Mowery, R.R. Nelson (Oxford: University Press), 56-85.
· Schumpeter, J.A. [1928] (2003): ‘Entrepreneur’. Translated by M. C. Becker and T. Knudsen, in: Austrian Economics and Entrepreneurial Studies. Advances in Austrian Economics 6: 235–265
· Schumpeter, J.A. (1942): Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. Chapter: The Process of Creative Destruction, London 1942, pp. 81-86.
· Schumpeter, J.A. (1947): ‘The Creative Response in Economic History’, Journal of Economic History vol. VII (1947), no. 2, pp. 149-159.
· Schumpeter, J.A. [1949]: ‘Economic Theory and Entrepreneurial History. Change and the Entrepreneur’, reprinted inSchumpeter, J.A. (1989): Essays. On Entrepreneurs, Innovations, Business Cycles, and the Evolution of Capitalism, ed. by R.V. Clemens (New Brunswick / London: Transaction Publishers) pp. 253-271.
· Scott, A.J. (2006): ‘Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Industrial Development: Geography and the Creative Field Revisited’, in: Small Business Economics 26: 1-24
· Shane, S. / Venkataraman, S. (2000): ‘The Promise of Entrepreneurship as a Field of Research’, in: Academy of Management Review 25: 1, 217-226.
· Smilor, R.W. (1997): ‘Entrepreneurship. Reflections on a subversive activity, in: Journal of Business Venturing 12: 5, 341-346
·  Zhao, Fang (2005): ‘Exploring the synergy between entrepreneurship and innovation’, in: International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research 11: 1, 25-41.
Last updated on 25-10-2012