ENTR301 - Managing Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Nil

Incompatible

MGMT311 Managing Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Teaching organisation

Unit rationale, description and aim

Innovation plays an essential role in entrepreneurial activities and in an ever increasingly complex and demanding business environment. Innovation is critically linked with for the development and sustainable growth of organisations, regions, and economies. Entrepreneurship involves identifying an opportunity and carry out innovations by making internal organisational changes, developing new technologies, discovering new sustainable products and developing new international markets that lead to prosperous businesses and create social value.Traditionally associated with new ventures and start-ups, entrepreneurial activities apply equally to the social sector organisations, government entities and large organisations. Specifically, entrepreneurship represents a strategic process that starts with individual development of concepts evolving from micro businesses to macro level innovation in corporations.

This unit will advance the theories and concepts learned in foundational management and entrepreneurship units and will apply them to the design and management of innovative new ventures and start-ups. The unit will explore the dimensions of new venture and start-up creation and growth to foster innovation. Moreover, it will examine both shareholder value approaches and the central social purpose of creating sustainable innovations that lead to social and economic conditions for shared value and greater overall societal.

This unit focuses on developing student's knowledge of innovation and entrepreneurial processes in different organisational and industry settings. The objective of this unit is to advance students' knowledge of managing the complex process of commercialising a new venture or start-up in different industries and how to address complex entrepreneurial problems.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Identify the dynamics and analyse models of innovation and entrepreneurship for a new business launch (GA4, GA5)

LO2 - Elaborate on the core concepts underpinning entrepreneurship to support continuous organisational, social, personal and professional development (GA5, GA6)

LO3 - Evaluate the innovation cycle in entrepreneurship context and suggest strategies (through effective communication) for how it can be effectively managed (GA5, GA9)

LO4 - Analyse and apply entrepreneurial responsibility to the common good, the environment and society within the prism of a local and global context (GA2, GA5)

LO5 - Assess a range of the most applicable entrepreneurial traits at the firm and individual level using reliable information and sources (GA5, GA8)

Graduate attributes

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society

GA4 - think critically and reflectively

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media

Content

Topics will include: 

• The entrepreneurial ecosystem and its components
• Creating social innovation and sustainable value
• Entrepreneurial leadership in innovative organisations
• The innovation cycle
• Entrepreneurial creativity and business planning
• Local and global entrepreneurship and implications for the common good and society
• Public sector and policy frameworks supporting entrepreneurship and innovation
• Micro business, family business and entrepreneurship
• Entrepreneurship in the social sector
• Team building and communication
• Building resilient Business Models in start-ups

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

The learning and teaching strategy is based on student engagement in the learning process by participation in workshops or equivalent and practical activities designed to reinforce learning. Workshops and equivalent support students to actively participate in the construction and synthesis of knowledge both individually and in small groups.

This unit adopts active, case study, problem-based and experiential learning approaches simultaneously to help students in acquiring and integration of knowledge and skills related to identifying and solving complicated entrepreneurial problems. Students will be able to learn the application of theories and concepts underpinning innovation and entrepreneurial processes in a series of workshops or equivalent along with the materials (videos, texts, exercises, and cases) provided through the online learning platform. Each workshop or equivalent includes mini-seminars focusing on the core theories and followed by practical exercises. Guest entrepreneurial experts might be invited as keynote speakers throughout the semester to share their practical experiences with students. In this blended mode of delivery, students- through individual and group activities - will be able to develop and accumulate practical knowledge of innovation and entrepreneurship theories/concepts. 

Mode of delivery: This unit is offered in different modes. These are: "Attendance" mode, "Blended" mode and "Online" mode. This unit is offered in three modes to cater to the learning needs and preferences of a range of participants and maximise effective participation for isolated and/or marginalised groups. 

Attendance Mode

In an attendance mode, students will require face-to-face attendance in specific physical location/s. Students will have face-to-face interactions with lecturer(s) to further their achievement of the learning outcomes. This unit is structured with required upfront preparation before workshops, most students report that they spend an average of one hour preparing before the workshop and one or more hours after the workshop practicing and revising what was covered. The online learning platforms used in this unit provide multiple forms of preparatory and practice opportunities for you to prepare and revise.

Blended Mode

In a blended mode, students will require intermittent face-to-face attendance determined by the School. Students will have face-to-face interactions with lecturer(s) to further their achievement of the learning outcomes. This unit is structured with required upfront preparation before workshops. The online learning platforms used in this unit provide multiple forms of preparatory and practice opportunities for you to prepare and revise. 

Online Mode

In an online mode, students engage in asynchronous learning and participate in the construction and synthesis of knowledge, while developing their knowledge. Students are required to participate in a series of online interactive activities to enhance their learning including knowledge checks, discussion boards and self-paced exercises. This approach allows flexibility for students and facilitates learning and participation for students with a preference for virtual learning.

Assessment strategy and rationale

In order to pass this unit, students are required to demonstrate mastery of all learning outcomes and achieve an aggregate mark of at least 50%. Marking will be in accordance with a rubric specifically developed to measure student levels of achievement of the learning outcomes for each item of assessment. Students will also be awarded a final grade which signifies their overall achievement in the unit.

The assessment strategy for this unit helps students develop their knowledge and skills in entrepreneurship and innovation to the point where they can present and defend a novel idea in the form of start-up/business proposal. Assessment 1 – Portfolio of Engagement. Students will present their knowledge of entrepreneurship and innovation theories through online activities. Assessment 2 – New venture pitch/presentation. Using knowledge acquired from assessment 1, students will further develop their understanding of the managerial aspects of entrepreneurship and innovation, theories and practice by analysing the external micro and macro business environments, develop an opportunity and utilising media, offer a new venture pitch that can capitalise the opportunity. Students will need to record an audio-visual presentation of their idea. Assessments 3 – New venture proposal in the format of a report. Write a detailed business proposal utilising the data, and facts and defend the viability the new venture proposal.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Bessant, J.R & Tidd, J 2018, Entrepreneurship, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN: 978-1-119-22186-9

Kennard, M, 2021, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. United Kingdom: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Bessant, J & Tidd, J 2015, Innovation and entrepreneurship, 3rd edn, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ.

Matthews, CH & Brueggeman, R 2015, Innovation and entrepreneurship: a competency framework, Routledge USA, New York.

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Further references

Drucker, P 2015, Innovation and entrepreneurship, Routledge Classics, London.

Kiesner, F. 2010, Creating entrepreneurs: making miracles happen, World Scientific Publishing Company, Singapore.

Kshetri, N. 2014, Global entrepreneurship: environment and strategy, Routledge USA, New York. Tidd, J & Bessant, J 2014, Strategic innovation management, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ.

Owen, R, Bessant, J & Heintz, M 2013, (eds) Responsible innovation: managing the responsible emergence of science and innovation in society, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ.

Extended reading

Breuer, H & Ldeke-Freund, F 2016, Values-based innovation: innovating by what we care about, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingtstoke, England.

Erixon, F & Weigel, B 2016, The innovation illusion: how so little is created by so many working so hard, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.

Halkias, D & Thurman, PW 2012, Entrepreneurship and sustainability: business solutions for poverty alleviation from around the world, Routledge, Farnham, England.

McAdam, M 2014, Female entrepreneurship, Routledge USA, New York.

Scarborough, N 2013, Essentials of entrepreneurship and small business management, Global Edition, Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Terziovski, M (ed) 2009, Energizing management through global innovation and entrepreneurship research and practice, Routledge Taylor & Francis, New York.

Journals

Entrepreneurship Research Journal

European Journal of Innovation Management

Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice

Industrial Marketing Management 

Innovation Policy and the Economy

International Journal of Entrepreneurship Theory and Research

Journal of Business Strategy 

Journal of Business Venturing

Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation

Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Journal of Product Innovation Management 

Journal of Small Business Management

Journal of Social Entrepreneurship

Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal