This module aims to:

Demonstrate the relevance between disciplinary theory and entrepreneurship and innovation thinking within new business ventures and established organisations;

Develop students’ enterprising skills, adaptability, creativity and resilience by approaching business problems creatively and in an entrepreneurial and innovative manner;

Equip students with the necessary enterprising and interpersonal skills including teamwork, collaboration, business acumen, and commercial awareness which are relevant to their career ambitions.

(LO1) Students will be able to think creatively and innovatively, through generating multiple ideas/concepts, solutions and/or arguments in response to identified problems and opportunities.

(LO2) Students will be able to critically evaluate relevant entrepreneurial and innovation frameworks, models and tools and their application to established organisations, start-ups, and emerging growth companies in a global context.

(LO3) Students will be able to identify, analyse and respond to relevant entrepreneurial opportunities and evaluate multiple solutions to opportunities identified.

(LO4) Students will be able to evaluate information and formulate arguments individually or within a team, to facilitate decision making, resilience and flexibility when faced with change and or uncertainty.

(LO5) Students will be able to demonstrate enterprising and professional skills that are relevant to the needs of new business start-up, managers, and executives.

(LO6) Students will be able to critically reflect upon, review, and evaluate solutions and personal effectiveness.

(S1) Adaptability
Students will take part in group learning and will have the opportunity to adapt and develop their practice as a form of lifelong learning.

(S2) Problem-solving
Students will engage in a number of class and group work activities to study and analyse industry/business cases where problems are set for them to examine and solve.

(S3) Numeracy
Students will have the opportunity to develop numeracy, written and oral communication skills through group discussions, Learning Groups, and individual assessment.

(S4) Commercial awareness
The nature of the module in terms of delivery will enable students to develop skills and practical experience in the commercial functioning and understanding of complex business ecosystems in using their learning/communications environment.

(S5) Teamwork
Working within learning groups, students will experience the value of peer support and critique.

(S6) Organisational skills
This will be evident in the students’ independent organisation and management of their lecture attendance, group work, assignments and coursework and by meeting deadlines.

(S7) Communication skills
Students will be required to work together in groups to develop and deliver a group presentation which will enable them to exercise and improve their communications skills. Also, producing a well-developed report will encourage students to communicate their ideas in writing.

(S8) International awareness
Students will explore the development and challenges of entrepreneurship across different national and cultural values, contexts and frameworks.

(S9) Lifelong learning skills
Students will take part in action learning and will have the opportunity to develop and practice this method as a form of lifelong learning.

(S10) Ethical awareness
Students will gain theoretical and practical tools with which to identify, analyse and evaluate ethical challenges within and affecting entrepreneurial practice. Students will develop self-awareness of their personal values and ethical beliefs.

2 hour lecture x 6 weeks
2 hour seminar x 6 weeks
1 hour group learning x 6 weeks
120 hours self-directed learning

The active teaching and learning strategy is designed to develop students’ enterprising skills through awareness of entrepreneurship and enterprise both as a field of academic study and as an area of practice. The learning methods are therefore designed to enhance students’ understanding of the theoretical principles of entrepreneurship and allow the application of conceptual tools and creative techniques to practical business problems.

The module operates within the University’s hybrid active learning (HAL) model where students will be presented with some pre-recorded material which will be posted on CANVAS each week. The seminars, in small groups, will provide an opportunity for students to apply their learning and develop techniques that will help them in their assessments. Students will have a group work hour (unschedule d directed student hours) that they can arrange flexibly around their group’s availability (but unsupervised) so they can prepare their activities and discuss ideas with their peers.

Support clinics and a dedicated discussion board will be available for students requiring guidance with assessment queries.

Outside of the classroom, students will be expected to undertake background and follow-up readings, and to access materials via the web and the University’s CANVAS network using the remaining private study hours. Most communication and support for learning will be posted on CANVAS. Students should, therefore, access CANVAS on a regular basis. Students can also access the support the University provides for their learning via the Study Skills Web Page. Student Handbook (and Study Skills Booklet) also provides advice on the skills required for their assessments (e.g. ULMS Academic Masterclasses and/or KnowHow sessions).

The content will cover the core skills required to be enterprising (whether building a start-up from the ground up or acting as an ‘intrapreneur’ within an existing organisation or be self-employed) including entrepreneurship and innovation frameworks. Students will be able to have the fundamental knowledge of what it means to be enterprising, how to set up a business, and/or how to think intrapreneurially within existing organisations. In addition, students will learn the fundamentals of entrepreneurial and innovation thinking, the key characteristics of the entrepreneur, the role of entrepreneurship in the economy, and capital resourcing in entrepreneurship. In addition, students will learn how to apply key entrepreneurship and innovation models/frameworks such as the business model canvas to solve problems as well as develop innovative solutions to real-life business scenarios.

Overview of entrepreneurship:

Students will be introduced to the world of entrepreneurship, including different schools of thoughts and key concepts such as the entrepreneur, business opportunity and the entrepreneurial process. Key concepts will be explored such as the social psychology and traits views of entrepreneurship and the different factors that influence entrepreneurial behaviour.

Entrepreneurship and the economy:

Students will be introduced to key debates surrounding entrepreneurship and its role in economic growth, community development and job creation. Students will explore the role of start-ups in the economy, including why start-ups fail, the barriers and triggers to start-ups, and the role of the entrepreneur in the start -up ecosystem.

Entrepreneurship and opportunity recognition:

Students will be introduced to the opportunity recognition process of how entrepreneurs identify, evaluate and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities within an entrepreneurship context.

Pathways to entrepreneurship (hybrid entreprene urship, team entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, social entrepreneurship…)

Students will be introduced to the different pathways of entrepreneurship, highlighting heterogenous nature. Students will be able to gain insights into the enablers and challenges of the different pathways to entrepreneurship and how might these relate to their career aspirations. Students will be able to take the entrepreneurial Get 2 Test to explore their entrepreneurial tendencies and reflect on their experiences.

The Grand Paradox: Are entrepreneurs born or made?

Key debates surrounding entrepreneurship will be discussed, such as whether entrepreneurs are born with certain key characteristics or made thorough environmental/social factors. Drawing on entrepreneurship theories, students will be introduced to key entrepreneurial traits that differentiate entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs, followed by exploring key theoretical debates on the social aspects of entrepreneurship and th e role of culture/society in shaping entrepreneurial behaviour.

Risk taking in Entrepreneurship:

Students will be introduced to some concepts related to the ‘entrepreneur’ who plays a central role in the development of a business opportunity, how they make decisions and how they manage risks.

Starting up and Entrepreneurial planning:

Students will be introduced to key concepts related to a start-ups including definitions and triggers which may lead an entrepreneur to start up a business. Questions to be considered include, What is a start-up? When does a business opportunity trigger the decision to set up a company by an entrepreneur? Students will gain insights into the different stages for a company, their requirements and how to put ideas into action through business planning.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation:

Students will be introduced to the key concepts of innovation and different theoretical perspectives (e.g., disruptive vs in cremental innovation) and why innovation is key to the sustainability of an organisation.

Business Modelling and value creation/capture:

Students will be introduced to the concept of value and value creation and how the application of tools such as the Business Model Canvas can support the development of products/services that add value to customers. Students will explore the key blocks of the business model canvas and their interdependencies in relation to creating and capturing value through monetisation.

Capital resourcing in Entrepreneurship:

Students will be introduced to the process of exploiting opportunities, requiring organising resources, these include, but not exclusive to, funding, entrepreneurial marketing, networking, entrepreneurial leadership, bootstrapping, effectuation and stakeholder engagement.