INTRODUCTION TO ENTREPENEURSHIP AND CORPORATE STRATEGY
HOORCOLLEGE 1
INTRODUCTION TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND CORPORATE STRATEGY
Midterm exam (30%)
Final exam (40%)
Final assignment (30%)
Upload lecture slides beforehand: in coming two lectures: no case presentation. Time to prepare.
Prepare a real case on the concept that will be assigned. Be creative. Present in relation to the
concept: for example ideas and opportunities.
Midterm exam
Multiple choice exam
Covers the chapters and lectures, NOT the case presentation
Final Assignment: Course Project
(Written report + PowerPoint presentations)
, HOORCOLLEGE 1: INTRODUCTORY THEMES
Entrepreneurship in general
Jobs and Wozniak started working with early Apple computers in a garage. Maybe the garage is a
myth, but the entrepreneurial drive is solid and authentic.
Start-ups may require a method of their own but there are similarities between all persons that are
starting an enterprise.
We see the fails or the skills from succeeding or failing entrepreneurship. Important that they started
small and grew bigger. What are the learning points? Where does it work? Where doesn’t it? We
need to learn from the process.
Resilience and effort, entrepreneurial drive.
Do we know what entrepreneurship is?
Is entrepreneurship something that is restricted to the commercial sector (Mair & Marti,
2006)?
Is entrepreneurship restricted to small or new or owner-managed firms, or can it be
executed within existing firms (Sharma & Chrisman, 1999)?
Is innovation required, and is risk-taking a necessary requirement (Lumpkin & Dess, 1995)?
Do we only consider successful ventures (DeTienne, 2010)?
Does entrepreneurship involve the discovery (or creation) of ideas for new ventures; the
exploitation of such ideas, or both (March, 1991)?
(Davidsson, 2015)
What is entrepreneurship?
Much more than starting a company
- Employees that think for themselves
- Create new opportunities
- Doing the unexpected
Social entrepreneurship
- “Social entrepreneurship is about innovative and transformative solutions to social and
environmental problems.” (Pamela Hartigan, director of the Skoll Centre for Social
Entrepreneurship)
- Using technology for empower women in India: have their online businesses. Not really
well educated: but they can earn money. Use technology as main resource to empower
them. Also entrepreneurship.
- Artists using their skills to raise awareness of certain issues
- Making a better world with new ideas: beyond traditional concept of starting company
and earning money. Broader perspective of entrepreneurship. Think about new
perspective.
Main thing profit: but also goes beyond owners or employers and profit.
,So what is entrepreneurship about , then?
Entrepreneurship is the identification, evaluation and exploitation of opportunities.
It was out there or not and you discovered it. Either it was created or discovered. Next step:
evaluate. You evaluate in terms of demands on the market. What kind of resource will go
into that? If you don’t have resources or finance, no capital or team or knowledge about
demands and demographics: you hardly get successful. Evaluate your choices: idea looks
cool. When you evaluate the opportunity and idea: has to pass every step to be successful. If
not, not worth it. Maybe useful in another market: try to exploit it. Not talking about profit,
starting a business: talking about identifying an opportunity: new or existing: not in market:
evaluate it and exploit it when you have the right resources. If you identify, evaluate and
exploit successfully: it will be a success. If not, you will stop or start in another demanding
market.
So what is entrepreneurship about, then?
Entrepreneurship is the identification, evaluation and exploitation of opportunities
Identification
Why do some people but not others discover opportunities? Knowledge will contribute to if
you see or don’t see the opportunity. Technical or economist will see different opportunities
Opportunities as identified and created
Difference in information and cognition
Evaluation
How do entrepreneurs evaluate and choose opportunities?
Different beliefs about the value of resources
Bias, emotions, networks, resources
Exploitation
Why, when, and how do people exploit the opportunities that they discover?
Difference in the nature of opportunity
Individual differences that enable exploitation of opportunities
Opportunities
“those situations in which new goods, services, raw materials, and organizing methods can
be introduced and sold at greater than their cost of production.” (Shane & Venkataraman,
2000:220)
Entrepreneurship is essentially strategic
Especially in disruptive markets
But also in more mundane settings
Entrepreneurship
New organizations (Entrepreneurship)
Existing organizations (Corporate Entrepreneurship)
, Reasons for studying entrepreneurship
Who is an entrepreneur?
No commonly agreed definition: Could be many and multiple, depends on domain. No
standard. Lots of definitions
The Gartner Study (1990):
Analyzed
90 definitions obtained from academics and business leaders
Conclusion
No real agreement!
