Entrepreneurial practice

Description

This subject introduces entrepreneurship as a key driver of success in all organisations, ranging from start-ups to large, mature organisations and in both public and private settings. A strong practical focus will be taken. Students will learn from benchmarked companies and visiting speakers with entrepreneurial backgrounds about the key dilemmas encountered in the entrepreneurial process and the solutions that they can put into practice. A significant part of the course is designed around hands-on experience in an ‘incubator’ environment, where ideas are generated and refined through collaboration and iteration between all participants. Students are expected to demonstrate entrepreneurial skills and use these to take their own innovation (a solution to a real world problem) to the pre-implementation stage. Through these practical instances, students are expected to develop a broader theoretical understanding of the critical elements of entrepreneurship, including the entrepreneurial mindset, capabilities and processes, skills that range from financial acumen, through to marketing, production and scale-up, often requiring novel solutions to these matters, under conditions of high uncertainty. Frameworks will be introduced that address the whole process that cover activities from the development and selection of ideas (invention), testing their efficacy and the business planning involved to exploit those ideas (entrepreneurship). The subject will also examine how entrepreneurs can shape their organisations so that they continuously build and commercialize valuable innovations. Many of the examples will focus on how established organisations can become more innovative and entrepreneurial. Teaching Period: 27 July 2026 to 25 October 2026 Assessment Information: Description Timing Percentage Individual case study poster 1500 words Week 6 15% Group business plan (usually in groups of 3-4) 6000 words Week 12 35% End-of-semester examination 2 hours During the examination period 50%