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2013/2014  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
Changes in course schedule may occur
Wednesday 12.35-14.25, week 36-49
Friday 12.35-14.15 week 36
Time Table Please see course schedule at e-Campus
Max. participants 80
Study board
Study Board for BSc in Business Administration and Sociology
Course coordinator
  • Alfred Reckendrees - MPP
Administrative contact: Karina Ravn Nielsen - electives.lpf@cbs.dk or tel.: 38153782
Main academic disciplines
  • Innovation and entrepreneurship
  • Corporate and Business Strategy
  • Economic and organizational sociology
Last updated on 22-03-2013
Learning objectives
Discussing contemporary and historical cases case in connection to different theoretical approaches to entrepreneurship and innovation, the course provides the skills to better understand the dynamic of business development. The students acquire knowledge about entrepreneurship in changing historical and institutional contexts and in different types of business organizations. They develop an understanding of how complex relations between individuals, organizations, and institutions, and inner-organizational relations and technology, influence entrepreneurial decision making and the process of innovation. They learn how internationally different institutional arrangements and cultures 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 provides insights which type of economic activity can be regarded entrepreneurial.
On the practical level the students studying recent and historical cases of entrepreneurship and innovation in a global economy learn how entrepreneurs identify opportunities, how they overcome traditional markets and national borders, and how they create markets and business organizations in different national contexts.
The exam format of the course (the self-chosen case, the need for finding relevant literature, and the combination of empirical and theoretical knowledge) also prepares for the Bachelor project. This means, however, that the project development is also demanding.
This course is not an instruction in setting up new business ventures.
In order to achieve Grade 12 the student must
  • prove evidence of a comprehensive knowledge of the concepts and theories used in the course
  • demonstrate a high level of command of the concepts and theories used and of their theoretical and practical implications
  • prove evidence of empirical knowledge regarding the cases and the institutional, social, and political environments
  • be able to evaluate complex business cases with respect to the theories of entrepreneurship and innovation used in the course.
Course prerequisites
Individual preparation and group discussions before class (reading and preparation requires appr. 4h per class).
Examination
home written assignment:
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Group exam, max. 3 students in the group
The home-written assignment should be an analysis of one or more self chosen cases in regard to the topic of the course. A brief concept of the paper (3/4 page, motivation, research question, main literature) must be accepted by the teacher before the end of the teaching period.
Size of written product Max. 10 pages
Individual project, max. 10 standard pages; group assignments max. 20 standard pages.
Assignment type Project
Duration Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period December/January
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Description of the exam procedure
1. Participation in at least one group presentation in the lectures.
2. Hand-in of two short in-between assignments.
3. 1page concept for the exam project must be accepted before the end of the teaching period.
Course content and structure

Entrepreneurship and innovation changed the world and will continue to change the world. But what do entrepreneurs do? What is entrepreneurial behaviour? Can it be learned? What is innovation and how is it made? Is it possible to institutionalize entrepreneurship and innovation? How important is entrepreneurship for economic development?
The course is organized in two modules. Module I 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 international and historical perspective allows for a better understanding of the importance of innovation and how radical entrepreneurial activity changed the world (cases include: Toyota, Microsoft, HP, Zara, GE, Edison, Estee Lauder, Wedgwood, Better Place, Ford, GM, 3M, Samsung, Procter & Gamble, Philips). - In module II the students will, first, reflect theoretical and conceptual approaches to entrepreneurship and economic development, entrepreneurial behaviour, 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. Throughout the course empirical cases and theoretical approaches are discussed in close relationship to each other.
Teaching methods
The course will be taught in 15 weeks (2h each). It is based on case discussions combined with group discussions and students’ presentations; only some aspects of the course will be lectured. This implies that, in order to reach the learning aims, students must be prepared before they come to classes, and that they actively participate and contribute to the discussion.
Student workload
Lectures 15x2h 30 hours
Lecture preparation 15x4h 60 hours
Group presentation, prepartaion 5 hours
two short assignments 5 hours
exam project 115 hours
diverse 5 hours
Expected literature
Tentative Literature:
The literature and cases will be provided in a compendium. Some cases must be downloaded from the Harvard Business School homepage.

Cases
J.R. Bernstein(1997): ‘Toyota Automatic Looms and Toyota Automobiles‘, in: T. McCraw (ed.), Creating Modern Capitalism. How Entrepreneurs, Companies, and Countries Triumphed in Three Industrial Revolutions, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press),  pp. 398-438 + notes.
J. Bessant/J. Tidd (2011): Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 2nd ed. (Chichester: Wiley & Son), several short cases and extracts.
R. A. Burgelman/P.E. Meza: Innovation at HP: The Role of the Innovation Program Office (IPO), Stanford Graduate School of Business case no. SM172
A. Farhoomand (2011): Microsoft. Is the Creative Spark Burning Out? (Asia Research Centre. University of Hongkong) HKU 914.
P. Ghemawat, J.L. Nueno (2006): Zara: Fast Fashion, HBS case 703497.
J.R. Immelt, V. Govindarajan, C. Timble (2009): ‘How GE is disrupting itself’, in: Harvard Business Review Okt. 2009.
A.B. Hargadon/Y. Douglass (2001): ‘When Innovations meet Institutions: Edison and the Design of the Electric Light’, in: Administrative Science Quarterly 46, pp. 476-501.
N. F. Koehn: Estee Lauder and the Market for Prestige Cosmetics, HBS case no. 801362
N. F. Koehn (1997): ‘Josiah Wedgwood and the First Industrial Revolution’, in: T. McCraw (ed.), Creating Modern Capitalism. How Entrepreneurs, Companies, and Countries Triumphed in Three Industrial Revolutions, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press), pp. 17-48 + notes.
M. Lindh de Montoya (2000): ‘Entrepreneurship and Culture: The Case of Freddy, the Strawberry Man’, in: R. Swedberg (ed.), Entrepreneuership. The Social Science View, (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 332-355.
T.K. McCraw/R.S. Tedlow: ‘Henry Ford, Alfred Sloan, and the Three Phases of Marketing‘, in: T. McCraw (ed.), Creating Modern Capitalism. How Entrepreneurs, Companies, and Countries Triumphed in Three Industrial Revolutions, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press), 266-300 + notes.
E. Ofek, A. Berkley Wagonfeld (2012): Speeding ahead to a Better Place, HBS case 512056.
Stefan Thomke (2002): ‘Innovation at 3M Corporation (A)’, HBS case 699012. 

Concepts of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
M. Casson (2010): 'Entrepreneurship: theory, institutions, and history. Eli F. Heckscher Lecture, 2009', in: Scandinavian Economic History Review 58: no. 2, pp. 139-170.
Peter F. Drucker (1993): Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Practice and Principles, New York: Harper; select chapters.
G. Dosi (1982): 'Technological paradigms and technological trajectories', in: Research Policy 11, pp. 147-162.
W. Lazonick (2005): 'The Innovative Firm', in: Fagerberg, D.C. Mowery, R.R. Nelson (ed.): The Oxford Handbook of Innovation (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 29-55.
N. Rosenberg (2000): ‘Innovators and “mere imitators” ‘, in: N. Rosenberg: Schumpeter and the Endogeneity of Technology: Some American Perspectives (London: Routledge), pp. 58-78, footnotes, pp. 113-116.
J.A. Schumpeter (1942): ‘The Process of Creative Destruction Capitalism’, in: J.A. Schumpeter: Socialism and Democracy (London: Harper & Brothers), pp. 81-86.
J.A. Schumpeter (1947): 'The Creative Response in Economic History', in: Journal of Economic History VII: 2, pp. 149-159.
A.J. Scott (2006): 'Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Industrial Development: Geography and the Creative Field Revisited', in: Small Business Economics 26: no. 1, pp. 1-24.
S. Shane/S. Venkataraman (2000): 'The Promise of Entrepreneurship as a Field of Research', in: Academy of Management Review 25: no. 1, pp. 217-226.
R.W. Smilor (1997): 'Entrepreneurship. Reflections on a subversive activity, in: Journal of Business Venturing 12: 5, pp. 341-346.
Last updated on 22-03-2013