• 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.

Entrepreneurship and innovation changed the world and 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 done? Is it possible to institutionalize entrepreneurship and innovation? How important is entrepreneurship for economic development?

The course will discuss these and other topics on two levels. On the first level, comprehensive cases are analysed, which 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: 3M, Better Place, Edison, Google, Ford, General Electric, HP, Philips, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, Starbucks, Toyota, Wedgwood, Zara). On the second level, the students will reflect (1.) theoretical and conceptual approaches to entrepreneurship and economic development, entrepreneurial behaviour, corporate entrepreneurship (etc.) and (2.) 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.

Discussing contemporary and historical cases case in connection with 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 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, impact on entrepreneurial decision making and on 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 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 combination of empirical and theoretical texts and the comparison of different cases and situations) prepares for the Bachelor exams.

This course is not an instruction in setting up new business ventures.

Tentative Literature:
The literature and cases will be provided in a compendium. Some cases must be downloaded from the Harvard Business School homepage.

Cases
 

Bernstein, J.R. (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. 407-438 + notes.

Burgelman, R.A./P.E. Meza: Innovation at HP: The Role of the Innovation Program Office (IPO). Case no. SM172.

The Changing nature of the Music Industry, in: J. Bessant/J. Tidd (2011): Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 2^nd ed. (Chichester: Wiley & Son), 46-49.

The Dimming of the Light Bulb, in: J. Bessant/J. Tidd (2011): Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 2^nd ed. (Chichester: Wiley & Son), 240-243.

Edelmann, B./T. R. Eisenmann (2010): Google Inc. (Abridged). HBS case 9-910-032.

Exploring Innovation in Action: ‘Connect and Develop’ at Procter & Gamble, ), in: J. Bessant/J. Tidd (2011): Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 2^nd ed. (Chichester: Wiley & Son), 263-267.

Ghemawat, P. /J.L. Nueno (2006): Zara: Fast Fashion. HBS case 703497.

Hargadon, A.B./Y. Douglass (2001): ‘When Innovations meet Institutions: Edison and the Design of the Electric Light’, in: Administrative Science Quarterly 46, pp. 476-501.

Immelt, J.R. / V. Govindarajan, C. Timble (2009): ‘How GE is disrupting itself’, in: Harvard Business Review Okt. 2009.

Koehn, N. F. (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.

Lindh de Montoya, M. (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.

McCraw, T.K./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), 266-278 + notes.

New Concept Development at Philips, in: J. Bessant/J. Tidd (2011): Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 2^nd ed. (Chichester: Wiley & Son), 407-411.

Ofek, E. /A. Berkley Wagonfeld (2012). Speeding Ahead to a Better Place. HBS case 9-512056.

“Samsung: The next big bet”, in: The Economist, 1.10.2011.

Sölvell. O./M. E. Porter (2008): Finland and Nokia: Creating the World’s Most Competitive Economy. HBS case 9-702-427.

Thomke, St. (2002): Innovation at 3M Corporation (A). HBS case 699012.
 
Concepts of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Casson, M. (2010): 'Entrepreneurship: theory, institutions, and history. Eli F. Heckscher Lecture, 2009', in: Scandinavian Economic History Review 58: no. 2, pp. 139-170.

Kirzner, I.M. (2009): ‘The alert and creative entrepreneur: a clarification’, in: Small Bus Econ 32, pp. 145-152.

Lazonick, W. (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.

Rosenberg, N. (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.

Scott, A.J. (2006): 'Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Industrial Development: Geography and the Creative Field Revisited', in: Small Business Economics 26: no. 1, pp. 1-24.

Smilor, R.W. (1997): 'Entrepreneurship. Reflections on a subversive activity, in: Journal of Business Venturing 12: 5, pp. 341-346.

Schumpeter, J.A. (1942): ‘The Process of Creative Destruction Capitalism’, in: J.A. Schumpeter: Socialism and Democracy (London: Harper & Brothers), pp. 81-86.

Schumpeter, J.A. (1947): 'The Creative Response in Economic History', in: Journal of Economic History VII: 2, pp. 149-159.

Womack, J. P./D. Jones (1994): ‘From Lean Production to the Lean Enterprise’, in: Harvard Business Review, March-April, pp. 93-103.