Entrepreneurship and Innovation Perspectives

Introduction

This course will introduce the students to current perspectives on entrepreneurship and innovation management. In particular, interactive process perspectives will be foregrounded, alongside state of the art research on the practices, strategies and instruments of developing and scaling entrepreneurial ventures, as well as of innovating within and between established organizations. During the course the students will learn about how perspectives on entrepreneurship and innovation have changed over time, different ways of studying entrepreneurship and innovation, and, importantly, become familiar with some of the current debates. The purpose is to enable the students to better position their own research, as well as to increase their appreciation of other perspectives on entrepreneurship and innovation. They will also learn about publishing research in this domain in international journals.

Course content

1. Entrepreneurship & innovation - Process studies of innovation and entrepreneurship – theories and methods
Innovation process research; translation, complexity, practice theories. Interorganizational networks; industrial networks, social networks, innovation systems and ecosystems

2. Entrepreneurship and innovation - Instruments and practices

• Commercialization, relationship to science
  - Individual career paths-science to startups, founding or joining
  - Policy-science-industry relationships
• Intellectual property
• Venture capital and corporate venture capital
• Policy and policy instruments for innovation and entrepreneurship
• Business model innovation
• The methodology turn in entrepreneurship and innovation practice

3. Entrepreneurship - opportunities, effectuation and judgment perspectives

• Opportunity, effectuation, judgement
• How context matters; cultural entrepreneurship
• Sources of – and nascent – entrepreneurship
• Entrepreneurial teams
• Overconfidence and optimism in entrepreneurship
• Methods of entrepreneurship: Lean startup, pivot, business models

4. Entrepreneurship – processes of shaping and scaling entrepreneurial ventures

• Shaping of entrepreneurial processes
• Resources in entrepreneurship research
• Financing growth
  - Resources - financing – networks
  - Venture capital investments
  - Crowdfunding
  - Angel financing
  - Banks
• Accelerators and ecosystems

5. Innovation strategy

• Ambidextrous organization
• Interactions: Open innovation, networks, systems, etc
• Innovation and platforms

6. Innovation practices

• Organizational perspectives; practice, knowledge and learning
• Creativity, R&D
• Sources of innovation:
  - Science and technology
  - Industrial interactions
  - Scouting and acquisitions
  - Users

7. Publishing

• Experiences with publishing entrepreneurship and innovation research in leading international journals