| Learning objectives |
At the end of the course you should be able to
reflect critically on the sustainable business model your group
will develop in this course. In particular, you will be required
to:
- Explain and understand the different meanings of sustainable
development, corporate sustainability, sustainable intra- and
entrepreneurship in the context of a sustainable business model
project.
- Operationalize a definition of sustainable entrepreneurship in
an applied research project. Differentiate between sustainable
enterprise and sustainable innovation mode and argue for selecting
one mode as the basis for your group’s project.
- Use systematic research design, logical research design and
triangulation in your sustainable business model research
project.
- Conduct extensive field research for your sustainable business
model using interviews, participant observation, and archival
research. Understand the different benefits and drawbacks of
interviewing, participant observation, and archival research for
problem definition including tools such as empathy mapping or POV
Statements.
- Describe the factors driving group work behavior and its
performance outcomes in sustainable entrepreneurship and apply
these to your group’s project experiences.
- Contrast the hybrid strategies used to identify sustainable
business opportunities and formulate a strategy for how your group
generates complementarities.
- Discuss different forms of impact investing and argue which are
most appropriate for your sustainable business model.
- Contrast different ways in which your sustainable business
model can be scaled up or replicated and determine the most
appropriate choice.
- Evaluate the applicability of sustainable impact assessment
tools and evaluate how their use affects the performance of your
sustainable business model.
- Reflect on the successes and failures in your own project work
and suggest ways to improve on failures and build on success in
future basic and applied research projects concerning
sustainability.
|
| Prerequisites for registering for the exam
(activities during the teaching period) |
|
Number of compulsory
activities which must be approved (see section 13 of the Programme
Regulations): 1
Compulsory home
assignments
The mandatory assignment is the online completion of a seizmic
business model (app.seizmic.eu) related to course topics completed
in groups.
If the mandatory assignment is not approved, the student has the
possibility to submit a new assignment with a similar scope, before
the ordinary exam.
However, it is a precondition that the student has made a
legitimate attempt when the assignment was set for the first time
unless it can be documented that the lack of
submission/participation was caused by illness or similar
circumstances.
|
| Examination |
|
Bæredygtig
entreprenørskab:
|
| Exam
ECTS |
15 |
| Examination form |
Oral exam based on written product
In order to participate in the oral exam, the written product
must be handed in before the oral exam; by the set deadline. The
grade is based on an overall assessment of the written product and
the individual oral performance, see also the rules about
examination forms in the programme regulations. |
| Individual or group exam |
Individual oral exam based on written group
product |
| Number of people in the group |
4-5 |
| Size of written product |
Max. 20 pages |
|
If 4-5 students: max. 20 pages
In special cases where an exemption for group size is granted, it
applies that a group of 3 students has max 15 pages. |
| Assignment type |
Project |
| Release of assignment |
Subject chosen by students themselves, see
guidelines if any |
| Duration |
Written product to be submitted on specified date and
time.
20 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade,
and informing plus explaining the grade |
| Grading scale |
7-point grading scale |
| Examiner(s) |
Internal examiner and external examiner |
| Exam period |
Summer |
| Make-up exam/re-exam |
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
If the student participated in the
preparation of the written project report for the ordinary exam,
but was ill during the oral exam, the retake exam will be completed
based on a resubmission of the original written project report.
If the student has not participated in the preparation of the
written project report due to illness or another reason, the
student must prepare a written project report, max. 10 pages, and
participate in the retake examination based on this project report.
If the student participated in the preparation of the written
project report, but did not pass the oral exam, this is normally
completed based on a resubmission of the original written project
report. However, the student can choose to submit a new individual
project report, of a maximum of 10
pages.
|
|
| Course content, structure and pedagogical
approach |
|
Sustainable entrepreneurship describes the discovery and
exploitation of opportunities to create business models which
address humanity’s social and environmental challenges. Sustainable
entrepreneurship generates disequilibria in market and non-market
environments, by finding ways of turning environmental and societal
problems into complementary assets. The course will develop
capabilities in sustainable opportunity identification as well as
sustainable enterprise modeling. At this point in history,
particularly due to anthropogenic climate change, there is broad
consensus that humans in aggregate need to use fewer resources,
consume less, and set humanity on a sustainable relationship with
the earth. Generally, when we ponder these sorts of changes to
human existence, we think in terms of sustainability.
Sustainable entrepreneurship will give you the opportunity to
both define sustainability and design a business model for an
organization or a startup to implement your idea of
sustainability.
The course Sustainable Entrepreneurship will be divided into
three sections. In the first section, students will learn basic
research design and design thinking as it relates to sustainability
and then craft independent research projects which result in a
robust and rigorous problem definition. In the middle section of
the course, students will undertake group independent research on
the topic of their choosing in order to develop a business model
addressing the issue selected. In the final section of the course,
students will analyze their research data and then design and
present their sustainability solution.
Sustainable entrepreneurship will be highly interactive and
assignment based. Students will have the opportunity to try out and
workshop everything they learn in the class. Most of the
course's time will be spent in this sort of applied learning.
Given that, attendance, diligent coursework, and participation are
all essential parts of learning in Sustainable
Entrepreneurship.
The course is taught and examined in
English.
|
| Description of the teaching methods |
| Teaching will be a combination of lecture,
discussion, workshop, and laboratory methods. |
| Feedback during the teaching period |
| Feedback will be constant in the course, as every
class meeting will contain workshop elements. Also, students will
have the opportunity to receive feedback on their midterm
assignment. |
| Student workload |
| Contact Hours (lectures) |
60 hours |
| Group-based research project resulting in a sustainable
business model (field research and work via app-seizmic.eu) |
120 hours |
| Class preparation (assigned readings in the syllabus) |
149 hours |
| Examination Hours |
80 hours |
|
| Expected literature |
|
Schifeling, Todd, and Sara Soderstrom. "Advancing reform:
Embedded activism to develop climate solutions." Academy of
Management Journal 65.6 (2022): 1775-1803.
Dyllick, Thomas, and Kai Hockerts. "Beyond the business case
for corporate sustainability." Business strategy and the
environment 11.2 (2002): 130-141.
Vedula, et al. 2022. "Entrepreneurship for the
public good: a review, critique, and path forward for social and
environmental entrepreneurship research." Academy of
Management Annals 16(1): 391-425.
Hockerts, Kai, and Rolf Wüstenhagen. "Greening Goliaths
versus emerging Davids—Theorizing about the role of incumbents and
new entrants in sustainable entrepreneurship." Journal of
business venturing 25.5 (2010): 481-492.
Bansal, P., & Song, H. C. (2017). Similar but not the same:
Differentiating corporate sustainability from corporate
responsibility. Academy of Management Annals, 11(1),
105–149.
Rawhouser, Hans, Michael Cummings, and Scott L. Newbert.
"Social impact measurement: Current approaches and future
directions for social entrepreneurship
research." Entrepreneurship theory and
practice 43.1 (2019): 82-115.
Hockerts K. 2015.”How Hybrid Organizations Turn Antagonistic Assets
into Complementarities,” California Management
Review, 57(3): 83-106, 2015.
Klofsten, M., Kanda, W., Bienkowska, D., Bocken, N., Mian, S.,
& Lamine, W. (2024). Start-ups within entrepreneurial
ecosystems: Transition towards circular
economy. International Small Business Journal,
02662426241227520.
Kannampuzha, Merie, and Kai Hockerts. 2019.
"Organizational social entrepreneurship: scale development and
validation.” Social Enterprise Journal, Vol 15(3):
290-319.
Choi, Nia, and Satyajit Majumdar. 2014. "Social
entrepreneurship as an essentially contested concept: Opening a new
avenue for systematic future research." Journal of
Business Venturing 29(3): 363-376.
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