In­nov­a­tion

Course content

Innovation has become an increasingly crucial ingredient in value generation and development of organizations. 

Entrepreneurship has been defined as the pursuit of value creating opportunities beyond the resources currently controlled. Depending on the type of value creating opportunity and the organizational setting  in which the opportunity is pursued a distinction is made between start-up entrepreneurship, social and impact  entrepreneurship and corporate entrepreneurship. Since most entrepreneurial ventures contains a relevant element of innovation, from an outcome perspective there is not much difference between Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The difference mainly lie in the management approach and techniques applied. The course will deal with entrepreneurial management from a variety of perspectives; Theoretically, Methodologically and from an application perspective.

Entrepreneurship and innovation is a key element in economic development. The course is delivered in one of the biggest and fastest growing economies in the world namely India, more specifically in SDA Bocconi Asia Center in Powai Valley, Mumbai.

The course will make use of variety of methods to illustrate entrepreneurial management theory and practice: Lectures, Case Discussions, and Company Visits and Guest Speakers. Since the Indian context, a developing country, is different from the context in which most participants operate, the course will also offer the possibility to reflect on the different managerial approaches to opportunity pursuit. 
Questions that will be answered in the course are:

• What is distinct about an entrepreneurial management approach to innovation?

• Why is entrepreneurship and innovation relevant also for existing corporations?
• What makes some managers and employees more innovative and entrepreneurial than others?
• What specific techniques exist that allow the entrepreneurial management team to manage the risk associated with an innovation project?
• How can organizations stimulate and direct the innovation and entrepreneurial activities of the corporation?
• How do we manage a project “entrepreneurially”?
• What are the “tools” that companies can use to come up with ideas for innovation