ENSI207: Entrepreneurship: Discovery and Practice

• Terms Taught: Michaelmas Term only.
• US Credits: 4 semester credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS
• Pre-requisites: No prerequisites

Course Description

The module will develop an introductory understanding of entrepreneurship as well as introducing you to experience a range of entrepreneurial skills (creativity, accessing resources, building networks and creating value) to enable to you understand key aspects of the entrepreneurial process. These skills will be transferable to many contexts, whether you wish to open your own business, be entrepreneurial in your career, or for working within Government or social enterprises.

Educational Aims

By the end of the module you should be able:

• To critically discuss the role of entrepreneurs in society and their importance to the economy.
• To apply key techniques in venture creation, such as creativity, opportunity recognition and presentation of business ideas.
• To formulate a coherent and well-founded case to investors to back a new venture or project.
• To understand how appropriate resources to launch new products or a new business can be acquired and mobilised.
• To distinguish between the different stages in the process of entrepreneurship and business growth.

Outline Syllabus

Example of topics covered:

• Week 1: Introduction to the module and to entrepreneurship
• Week 2: Creativity, opportunities and entrepreneurship
• Week 3: Resources for entrepreneurship
• Week 4: New venture creation and business start-up
• Week 5: Growth through entrepreneurship
• Week 6: Learning to be an entrepreneur
• Week 7: Learning from failure, and learning through reflection
• Week 8: Social and Community-Based entrepreneurship
• Week 9: Entrepreneurship in diverse business settings
• Week 10: In-Class test

Assessment Proportions

• Online Test: 30%
• Portfolio: 70%

ENSI210: Entrepreneurial Mindset

• Terms Taught: Lent / Summer Terms only.
• US Credits: 4 semester credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS
• Pre-requisites: No prerequisites  

Course Description

Building upon Entrepreneurial Learning theories, this course prepares you to understand the core dimensions of an entrepreneurial mindset and guides you to find and assess opportunities, seek answers, gather resources and implement solutions regardless of you specific context or institutional constraints.

Educational Aims

The course aims to:

• Explore the concepts of entrepreneurial mindset from a critical, challenging and contemporary perspective.

• Examine how entrepreneurial mindset is not exclusive to the most common entrepreneurial context (startup) but pervades many other entrepreneurial contexts (large and small organizations, charities and social enterprises and governments).

• Help develop an understanding of how entrepreneurial learning is a core dimensions of entrepreneurial mindset.

• Encourage reflective practice amongst course members.

• Introduce and encourage an awareness of qualitative research amongst students.

Outline Syllabus

Example of topics covered:

The intended outline is as follows:

• Week 1 - Introduction to the course: defining entrepreneurial mindset
• Week 2 - The core of entrepreneurial mindset: How entrepreneurs learn and develop
• Week 3 - Entrepreneurial learning from role models
• Week 4 - Entrepreneurial learning in communities
• Week 5 - Entrepreneurial learning through experience
• Week 6 - In class test based on a live interview with an entrepreneur in residence
• Week 7 - Interview analysis
• Week 8 - Analysing Interview Data
• Week 9 - Writing a research report
• Week 10 - Conclusion

Assessment Proportions

• Presentation: 40%
• Individual report: 60%

ENSI211: Business Start-up

• Terms Taught: Lent / Summer terms only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS
• Pre-requisites: No Pre-requisites

Course Description

To give students an advanced understanding of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship in the complex context of new venture creation, to increase students' ability to develop and communicate new business ideas using opportunity business models and to enhance students' knowledge of digital marketing in the context of business start-up.

***Second year courses: “No pre-requisites”

***Final year courses: "Pre-requisites: 101/207 or 30 credits of ENST second year modules or relevant experience (speak to module convenor)

Educational Aims

On successful completion of this module students will be able to: Demonstrate an advanced understanding of the new venture creation process by researching, developing and effectively communicating complex new business ideas.

Outline Syllabus

Detailed syllabus:

Week 1. Introduction: Learning from business start-up. Entrepreneurial learning outcomes from new venture creation exercise. Integration with group and individual assessments.

Week 2. Individual: Beyond the 'heroic' entrepreneur. The relevance of the psychological and behavioural approaches to understanding the entrepreneur in relation to business start-up. Reflection on personal enterprise abilities. Group formation.

Week 3. Visions: Creating new ventures. Distinct approaches to an entrepreneurial vison: the emergent vision, business plans and the entrepreneurial opportunity business model. Dimensions and drivers that underpin the exploitation of an entrepreneurial opportunity.

Week 4. Opportunities: Nurturing creativity and innovation. Different ways in which opportunities are recognised, evaluated and developed into viable business propositions. Significance of innovation and the complex relationship with creativity and entrepreneurship.

Week 5. People: Leading teams and networks. Contribution of leadership, teams and networks to business start-up. Process of developing entrepreneurial networks during the new venture process.

Week 6. Presentations: Pitching a new business idea to demonstrate an advance understanding on the new venture process and opportunity business models.

Week 7. Markets: Understanding customers and competitors. Challenges faced by entrepreneurs in new markets and how these relate to mainstream marketing approaches. Entrepreneurial marketing practices in the context of business start-up.

Week 8. Digital marketing: Understanding social media for enterprise. Integrated entrepreneurial marketing practices including digital and social media marketing in business start-up.

Week 9. Operations: Implementing technologies, processes and controls. Importance of information systems to improve internal processes, customer relationship management and extending the enterprise to gain competitive advantage. & Accounts: interpreting financial performance. Financial forecasting and key performance indicators.

Week 10. Finances: raising capital for new ventures. Type and sources of funding for business start-up. Banks, business angels, venture capitalist, crowdfunding, factoring, trade investment, flotation and exit.

Assessment Proportions

This module provides the opportunity for students to develop their research, critical analysis and writing skills individually and in a group. Enterprise needs to be experienced and reflected upon to get full understanding of the complex new venture creation process. Group work will increase understanding of effective team performance. In addition, the individual essay will develop the students’ research and analytical skills, drawing on their understanding of the current literature and contemporary challenges in the context of business start-up. These will contribute the effective communication skills.

ENSI217: Personal Leadership Development

• Terms Taught: Michaelmas term only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites: No Pre-requisites

Course Description

The aim of this module is to help students understand the contexts of leadership and to develop their own personal and professional leadership philosophy. Students will be exposed to the major leadership models and real-life case studies and will take self-assessments on a variety of leadership measures. They will also learn about the importance of personal characteristics to leadership and will engage in activities designed to increase their leadership skills. In particular, this course will help students develop resiliency, emotion regulation and management, grit and perseverance, and emotional intelligence competencies. Responsible, authentic, ethical, and empathic leadership will be a theme throughout the module, as will diversity and gender. Students will also be taught about how to lead in the digital age and about how this influences leadership processes.

Educational Aims

Upon successful completion of this module students will have:

- The skills necessary to lead themselves while pursuing challenging and difficult goals

- The skills necessary to lead others

- A personal leadership style that includes ethical and authentic leadership

- The ability to work with men and women in a diverse world

Outline Syllabus

This module will consist of lectures, workshops, and individual and group self-assessments. A major aim of the module is to help students develop their personal and professional leadership style. The lectures will inform students about different leadership approaches. Individual and group activities will allow students to assess their skills and leadership styles and the workshops will give students a chance to work on developing their leadership skills and abilities.

The module will have 10 lectures or their content in alternative format, such as short, topic-specific videos when a flipped classroom of blended delivery method is used, and 10 workshops. Unmarked formative activities (such as personality and leadership style inventories that provide feedback), non-marked group presentations, and reflective exercises will give students developmental feedback throughout the term. The 2 marked assignments will consist of (1) a student group presentation (video or in-person) on an assigned reading, and (2) an end-of-term essay on a leadership topic.

Assessment Proportions

Unmarked formative activities (such as personality and leadership style inventories that provide feedback), non-marked group presentations, and reflective exercises will give students developmental feedback throughout the term. These activities will aid students in developing their own personal and professional leadership style.

The 2 marked assignments will consist of (1) a student group presentation (video or in-person) on an assigned reading (30%), and (2) an end-of-term essay on a leadership topic (70%). The group presentation will allow students to further develop their leadership skills by giving them practice in working in groups, and it will also develop their public speaking skills, a key skill for leaders. Moreover, it will help them master the content of the article they will present, since making a presentation on a topic encourages active learning of the material. The end-of term essay will also require students to actively engage with the course material, engage in critical thinking, and further develop their written communication skills.

ENSI218: Social Innovation Challenge

• Terms Taught: Lent / Summer terms only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites: No Pre-requisites

Course Description

This course will be of benefit to those students who may set up their own entrepreneurial businesses but equally will be of benefit to all in terms of developing skills in leading as applied in a context of planetary and community stakeholder engagement and consider the impact that can be achieved through social innovation.

Educational aims

This module has two primary aims: first, to provide students with a broad theoretical and practical understanding of social innovation; and second, to develop understanding of how innovation can be integrated into an organisation’s business model. Lastly, the module will give students an awareness of the leadership and team behaviours that will enable a business to succeed beyond financial profit.

Educational Aims

- Understand the different perspectives on social innovation and sustainable business

- Critically appraise the context generating interest in social innovation and more sustainable approaches to business

- Describe how social innovation can be developed within organisations, and in particular entrepreneurial ventures

- Analyse and critically appraise the degree to which an organisation has embraced social innovation practices

- Critically reflect on and develop insights into organisational behaviour from past situations that the students have experienced at the individual, group and organisation-wide levels

- Apply this knowledge to a case and effectively argue points that will enhance social innovation

Outline Syllabus

This module will consist of lectures, workshops, and individual and group assessments. A major aim of the module is to enable students develop their understanding of principles and theories of social innovation, and apply tools as part of a process to establish meaning and relevance. The lectures will communicate foundational theories and concepts. Workshops will enable students to engage in conversation, debate, probe deeper into the module material and generally gain a deeper understanding of the issues. Workshops will also provide a space for working in teams on the group assessment. Individual and group activities will allow students to assess the skills the knowledge and skills they are acquiring in social innovation.

The module will have 10 weekly sessions labelled as lectures, workshops and possibly a review/sweeper session. Unmarked formative activities such short quizzes, polls, will be used to provide students with visibility on their degree of comprehension.

Assessment Proportions

Group Report -- Assessment of learning on social innovation in an organisational context. Students are required to assess and analyse a case study using the Good Dividends framework (ie Audit Tool, Purpose Tool, House Tool and Balanced Measures), The report is the culmination of work through the module with an aim to scope out the possibilities of aligning social innovation to the business model. The report will be in the form of a ten slide Powerpoint presentation, and each slide will have an accompanying half-page of descriptive text.

Reflective Essay – An individual assessment of learning and the ability to convey ones understanding of issues related to the responsibilities of leadership as presented in this module and the implications on business value and society. In particular, the essay will highlight any change of views that have come during the module and why. Reflecting on the content of the course, students are required to write with clarity and depth on the key aspects of leadership.

ENSI321: Gender and Entrepreneurship in a Global Context

• Terms Taught: Lent / Summer terms only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites: No Pre-requisites

Course Description

The aim of this module is to:

Provide you with an insight into the diversity of the entrepreneur and the embeddedness of entrepreneurship within gendered economic, political and societal contexts.

Go beyond the theories of entrepreneurship and provide you with real-life experience (as consultants conducting ‘Diversity Cultural Audits’ in businesses) which develops your skills in identifying and exploring the impact of gender and diversity on models of business.

Review and critically analyse the controversial facts and fictions presented in the media, policy and everyday societal attitudes to management and entrepreneurship.

Highlight the importance of gender and diversity within organisations for their sustainability and prosperity in an increasingly globalised world.

Raise the your awareness of the arguably “Western” lens underpinning entrepreneurship and enrich your global entrepreneurial knowledge beyond their home borders.

***Second year courses: “No pre-requisites”

***Final year courses: "Pre-requisites: 101/207 or 30 credits of DESI second year modules or relevant experience (speak to module convenor)

Educational Aims

On successful completion of this module students will be able to...

- Develop an alternative gendered and socio-political insight into the importance of entrepreneur and employee diversity in an increasingly globalised world.

- Apply critical and analytical skills appropriate to different themes and contexts of entrepreneurship

- Apply their knowledge to current case studies and present evidence of the impact of gender and diversity on entrepreneurship in a global context.

Outline Syllabus

The course will incorporate the following areas of literature:

The historical foundations and modern day contemporary conceptualisations of entrepreneurship and its gendered implications.

• An overview of gender and its conceptualisations in the context of the module.
• The gendered nature of sector and industry contexts and its effects on entrepreneurship, SME development and sustainability.
• Entrepreneurial motivations and subsequent construction of entrepreneurial identity and social enterprises.
• Global contexts; Comparing gender and entrepreneurship in different cultural and societal contexts across the developed and developing world.

In addition: Through an overview of the UK’s Equality Act 2010, The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (with a focus on achieving Goal 5: gender equality and Goal 8: work & economic growth) and the GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) the students will engaging in an analysis of case studies and critically review the progress of these policies across various country contexts.

Indicative content:

Week 1: Foundations of entrepreneurship: history, policy and gender (Introduction to the literature and course)

Week 2: Gender, management and leadership in entrepreneurship (exploring the worldwide trend of women and other minorities’ struggles in challenging stereotypes, obtaining capital/finance, building networks etc.)

Week 3: Sector and Industry contexts (examining the effects of gendered education and job segregation on entrepreneurship, and subsequently, the economy)

Week 4: Methodological approaches to entrepreneurship research (highlighting methodological limitations on researching gender and entrepreneurship and its impact on accurate knowledge production and policy development)

Week 5: Group project preparation: Gender and Diversity Cultural Audit Project

Week 6: Entrepreneurial motivations (going beyond the mainstream ‘push-pull’ model and examining the diversity in opportunity recognition through a lens of necessity, emancipation, flexibility for fatherhood/motherhood etc.)

Week 7: Intersectionality in entrepreneurship (exploring how the issues of class, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation and religion intersect with gender and inform entrepreneurship in a global context).

Week 8: Gender, development and social entrepreneurship (exploring opportunities and challenges of social entrepreneurship and micro-financing in developing countries)

Week 9: Reflections on gender and entrepreneurship: from theory to policy and practice (review of UK, EU, UN equality polices and GEM reports)

Week 10: Group project presentation: Gender and Diversity Cultural Audit Project (delivery of group assessment)

N.B: The course will be supported by guest speakers and Entrepreneurs-in-Residence. Furthermore, the lectures and seminars will carry a thread of exploring entrepreneurship and employment/management as a potential future goal and identifying of support and/or development needed based on each student’s profile and context.

Assessment Proportions

Group work Project: Gender and Diversity Cultural Audit. A Culture Audit is a tool usually (used by independent consultants) to uncover unconscious cultural biases and other barriers to diversity within organisations. It offers a substantive method for entrepreneurs to monitor how well their organisation is doing with regard to achieving its diversity and inclusion objectives using quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews with their employees to benchmark progress and inform strategy design. The audit can cover a range of diversity issues such as gender equity, age and generational differences, sexual orientation, flexibility and work/life and parental transition, ethnicity and religion and disability. For their group project, the students will carry out the audit on an organisation (of their choice or EiRs) as consultants to the business owners. This will enable students to observe personally and learn directly from entrepreneurs’ management experiences of implementing and supporting diversity. It will also develop their appreciation of the opportunities and challenges entrepreneurs may encounter during this process.

Reflective essay/report: The report is a portfolio reflective piece, which enables students to reflect on the course materials, their cultural audit experience and their understanding of gender and diversity in entrepreneuring globally and how this will impact them should they become entrepreneurs. They will also engage with appropriate academic literature and media publications, policy implications and everyday societal attitudes to enterprise and entrepreneurship in a global context.

ENSI325: Entrepreneurial Finance and Business Planning

• Terms Taught: Michaelmas term only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS
• Pre-requisites: No Pre-requisites

Course Description

To introduce students to a range of traditional and emerging approaches to venture finance.

To highlight the importance of cash flow and related financial determinants of venture survival, growth and investment readiness; alongside phenomena that can confound normal investor and investee behaviours.

To explore a range of approaches to business plans and planning.

In the above, to present theoretical understanding, policy and institutional practices, and practitioner approaches.

Educational Aims

Students who pass this module should be able to:

• Identify, propose and defend appropriate venture funding mechanisms for different organisational requirements, focused on start-up, growth and other life cycle stages. In doing this, they should demonstrate the judicious application of coherent and detailed knowledge of the theory and practice of business planning and entrepreneurial finance.
• Demonstrate their ability to deploy established techniques of analysis through the critique and evaluation of funding requests.
• Thus, be better able to develop their own investment proposals and / or to appraise proposals put before them.

Outline Syllabus

This module will give students understanding of the nature and characteristics of financial planning and management in the broad context of entrepreneurship and small business. The module is focused on understanding the process of new venture financing and the finance needs of growth and responses to other managerial contexts. There will be an emphasis on cash flow and working capital management, and on investment strategies. The module covers typical funding sources, challenges and strategies. The module will cover debt and equity finance, bootstrapping and crowdfunding, plus other sources of funding. The module will also introduce a variety of approaches to business planning and the production of business plans, from pre-startup through growth stages of a venture. Practitioner perspectives will be introduced throughout the module. Students will also encounter business plan appraisal, including approaches used by different types of funder and the influence of heuristics, biases and other factors in play in investor decision making. Workshops will be aligned with the weekly lectures. The module will include both theoretical and practitioner perspectives.

Assessment Proportions

Students will be given a case study to analyse in a critical essay.

Business planning coursework has traditionally - in Lancaster and more widely - required group work and the production and presentation of a business plan. Student feedback perennially shows the pros and cons of this approach, with free rider or diverse contribution levels being a frequent cause of student complaints. Across our degree(s), students enjoy frequent group-based assignment and experiential opportunities. For these reasons, and given the added jeopardy posed by final year group work, this module will require individual submissions. Further, this new module recognises that the mere production of a business plan is no longer sufficiently challenging to students. Instead, the module will require critical analysis of a case, which may require, for example, discrimination between funding requests or offers of finance, or a similar task which places students more fully into the venture finance continuum.

The essay format will require students to conduct and present rigorous case analysis and will offer abundant scope for them to demonstrate supporting scholarship. The rationale for this format is therefore to develop in students the better critical ability to act as scrutineers or self-scrutineers of funding requests, where traditional 'make a present and defend a business plan' approaches encourage them to become uncritical or only partly critical champions of their plan.

NB: Students will still have opportunities to engage in aspects of business plan in their programme production through, for example, their elective choice of a business plan format on ENSI308 (the Entrepreneurship programme dissertation module), or in extra-curricular activity.