Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Design thinking underpins continuous innovation, integrating the needs of people, technology and requirements for business success. In this module, you will learn how to combine creativity and innovation to tackle complex and ill-defined problems and develop inclusive, innovative propositions. You will practice a designer mindset applicable in large corporations, medium-sized organisations as well as small start-ups. As a core part of the module, you will participate in a team-based innovation challenge together with fellow students.

This module consists of two components: research methods and dissertation. The research methods taught component is designed to equip you with the additional research techniques and analytical tools necessary to undertake your dissertation which may be company based. The dissertation component consists of an extended piece of supervised independent research of around 15,000 words on a topic relating to some aspect of your master's programme. You choose your topic in the Lent Term. The focus of the dissertation is normally on issues raised in the core modules but may tackle areas of interest revealed in the optional modules that you wish to investigate in further depth. There is also the opportunity to undertake a company-based project.

The module highlights the process of innovation and new venture financing with particular emphasis on the financial needs of scaling and growth. Reflecting the pragmatic necessities and abundant uncertainties of new and fast-developing innovation projects and entrepreneurial ventures, you will be introduced to cash flow, working capital, and investment funding strategies.

Some of the best innovation comes from within an organisation. Innovation and creativity thrive in cultures based on openness, trust, and collaboration. This is an integrative module that will connect all programme learning addressing intrapreneurship and innovation at an organisational level. You will collaborate with a client organisation to appraise and enhance its innovation orientation and readiness, gain insights into innovation practices and learn about enablers and disablers of innovation.

This module complements the academic content of the programme by helping you develop important career skills such as how to present yourself on the job market and business presentation skills. The ability to present complex data in a clear, concise and convincing way is an important skill for business graduates, and in this module, we offer you the opportunity to learn and practice presentations in a safe environment.

This module aims to provide a broad overview of qualitative and quantitative approaches as used in management research, together with an understanding of the different research paradigms. This module prepares you for the independent research you will undertake for your final research project.

Innovation sets firms apart from their competitors. Innovative firms tend to design, develop, market, sell and finance products or services, tapping into undiscovered needs or addressing existing needs more effectively. But how do organisations capture, develop, embrace, and harness innovation? And how can this be established in a responsible way?

In this module, you will do a deep dive into innovation management and explore its links to responsible management.

Strategic purpose is key to organisational success. Businesses driven by purpose outperform the market over the medium to long term because they do not exclusively focus on profits. Strategic purpose requires consideration of how quality, customer satisfaction, productivity, human resource policies, and corporate social responsibility affect value creation. In this module, you will explore responsible leadership and its links to strategic purpose.

The module will provide students with an insight into the challenges for ‘born sustainable’ start-ups in creating economic value alongside the creation of social and ecological value. You will be introduced to new creative and innovative skills that can be transferred to either the start-up context or to businesses wishing to become more sustainable.

Businesses typically experience critical phases of change, causing turmoil. Managers and entrepreneurs must respond appropriately to sustain business competitiveness and survival. You will learn entrepreneurial leadership and change management skills for managing common change scenarios such as start-up, growth, business turn-around, and organisational crisis.

Family businesses are all around us, yet we often lack a good understanding of what makes them unique and sustainable. Family businesses range from large multinationals such as Walmart, Samsung, and Lego to resilient small businesses. In this module, you will learn how to work entrepreneurially and professionally in family firms to achieve long-term growth and performance.