• Account for knowledge of the course’s theories of innovation and entrepreneurship. 

• Discuss the role of innovation and entrepreneurship in society. 

• Reflexively apply the course’s theoretical positions in case analysis. 

• Discuss the role of method for practicing knowledge creation with an innovation and/or 
entrepreneurship objective. 


Course Purpose and Content

The entrepreneurial process – be that the creation or the successful growth of a venture – is complex, fundamentally affected by uncertainty and involving risk. It is inescapably embedded in a specific context of time and place, framing the conditions and setting the limits of the process. For the entrepreneur the creation of a venture involves the construction of opportunity, the exploitation of resources as well as the ability to analyze market conditions and not least to make strategic decisions. In this course we will explore the context of the entrepreneurial process and the conditions it sets for making decisions and we will investigate entrepreneurial decision making in detail.

In the first part of the course we will encounter a handful of entrepreneurs acting in different industries, all trying to make new markets for their products during moments of great technological, managerial and demographic transitions. Acting within a particular historical context, each of the people succeeded in creating mass demand for new products. To accomplish this objective, each also built effective organization capable not only of meeting customers' needs profitably at a specific moment, but of continually anticipating and responding to these preferences as they developed and the broader environment changed.

In the second part of the course we will dive further into strategic decision making in entrepreneurship and encounter a handful of entrepreneurs acting in the complex setting of today. The quality of decisions made before embarking on an entrepreneurial venture and in the early stages of that venture have implications for achieving both the short-term and long-term goals of those involved in the venture. Typical strategic decisions include, for example: Whether or not to start a new organization or venture, and if so, when?  Whether to go-it-alone or with partners?  If with partners, who? and, how to divide responsibilities and equity?  Whether to copy someone else's idea or start with your own? Whether to seek investors and if so, what kind? These decisions, as well as decisions that come with growth, can have short-term and long-term consequences. The consequences might be expected or unexpected and surprising.  These can affect not only the founder(s) and the economics of the venture, but also other stakeholders including family, employees, investors, boards of directors, share-holders, business partners, and more. 

In this course we will use a case-based learning approach supported by lectures and readings from the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation theory to examine how moments of rapid, widespread socioeconomic change affects entrepreneurial opportunity; to examine how in such periods of change some have succeeded in exploiting new business opportunities; and to investigate how these opportunities grew into enduring, strategically effective organizations.

Also we will explore how cognitive processes and limitations, decision biases, and other factors such as risk perceptions impact decision processes and decision quality in the entrepreneurial venture. In focusing on decision making our learning will be augmented by lectures and readings on decision science and behavioral decision theory to examine the strategic decisions commonly faced in the early stages of entrepreneurial activities as well as decisions that often arise as ventures grow.