COMM 382 Syllabus - Summary Economics Of Entrepreneurship And Innovation PDF

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COURSE INFORMATION Course title: Economics of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Course code: COMM 382 / COMR 382 Credits: 3 Session and term: 2019W2 Class location: HA243 Section(s): 201 Class times: Tuesdays and Thursdays 09:3010:50 Course duration: Jan 6 - Apr 8, 2020 Pre-requisites: Division: Strategy and Business Co-requisites: n/a Economics INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION Instructor: Steven Minns BEng CEng MICE DIC MBA PhD Phone: 604 822 3149 Office location: HA270 Email: [email protected] Office hours: Wednesdays 16:30-17:30 COURSE DESCRIPTION Having the capacity to innovate is critical to entrepreneurial success. This course builds on the fundamentals of economics, entrepreneurship and strategic management that you have learnt in previous courses and presents concepts most relevant to innovation-driven enterprises: those ventures that have potential for high revenue growth and that are increasingly important in today’s knowledge economy. We will study the opportunities associated with disrupting existing market environments, and the internal challenges of building new organizational capabilities. We will also look closely at the role of innovation in business in general. You will learn a number of conceptual models and the course involves extensive classroom discussions of business case studies to understand the application of theory and to develop critical thinking skills. The course also includes a strong experiential component, comprising inclass exercises and simulations. COURSE FORMAT This course is structured using a combination of lectures, case discussions and simulations. Refer to schedule for more details. LEARNING OBJECTIVES This course is intended to provide students with conceptual frameworks and applied tools for managing innovative ventures. Among other things, students will learn to  Analyze the underlying economic forces that generate entrepreneurial opportunities and that provide new ventures with the potential to succeed.  Design competitive strategies for taking advantage of entrepreneurial opportunities and for introducing innovations into markets.  Recognize disruptive innovation and the threats and opportunities it represents.  Be equipped to meet the challenges of enterprise growth.  Differentiate the distinctive roles played by start-ups and established firms in the process of commercializing innovations.

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Syllabus  

Assess the requirements to appropriate the value from innovation and to plan for the protection of intellectual property. Negotiate roles and rewards within founder teams.

ASSESSMENTS Summary Component Case memos Group Exercises Class participation Final exam Total

Weight 20% 20% 20% 40% 100%

Details of Assessments Participation Class participation is very important in this course, and accounts for 20% of the grade. I view class discussion as a way of learning from each other: you can learn a lot from listening to your fellow students; and you can learn a lot from thinking about the comments you want to make in class yourself. Most importantly it encourages you to think critically. Participation marks depend on attendance, class conduct and the frequency and quality of classroom contributions. Your conduct in class is very important for your participation grade. Whilst in class you are expected to be focused on class and be willing to question and contribute to discussions. The use of electronic devices (including laptops) is not recommended and the use of laptops and phones in class will result in significant deductions to your participation grade. If you feel strongly that you would like to take notes on your computer, please discuss this with me. Finally, ensure that you have a name “tent” visible at all times to help me to get to know you and make sure you bring an iClicker. Case memos There will be a total of 7 case studies, and you can hand in (electronically) a case memo for each case. A case memo consists of one or two pages and will provide answers to the study questions posted on Canvas. Marks from your 6 best case memos will contribute to your final grade (20% of overall evaluation). Case memos are graded in 5% increments (80%, 85%, etc). Simulations During the course you will be participating in three strategic innovation simulations, developed by Harvard Business School: Breaking News, Crossing the Chasm and Back Bay Battery. You will do the simulations in groups in class. For each simulation, one member of the group will be responsible for registering on the Harvard Business Publishing website and inputting the decisions made by the group. There is a $10-$15 fee for each simulation that will need to be shared between the members of the group. I will send a URL link which will enable you to register. The first two simulations (GE1 and GE2) simulations are worth 2.5% each and the third simulation (GE3: Back Bay Battery) is worth 5%.

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Syllabus Crossing the Chasm (GE1) Many new products and ventures fail in the marketplace. One reason for this is that most innovations fail to make a mark in the mainstream market. This simulation allows you to experience the frustrations and challenges of taking a disruptive innovation from initial success with early adopters to widespread adoption by the mainstream market. You will play the role of executives in a self-driving vehicle technology firm that has garnered significant attention from the early adopter market but is struggling to break in to the mainstream market. Investors are now looking for exponential growth through mainstream adoption. You will be tasked to assess the market segments that have shown interest in selfdriving vehicles (SDVs), develop the appropriate product solution for their selected segments, and achieve the growth promised by the technology. Breaking News (GE2) You will manage the innovation process for a struggling newspaper. You will need to develop new ideas to counter the company’s declining sales, subscriptions, and web traffic. Working with limited time and budget, you must decide how to source new ideas and where to set priorities. You will then need to review the resulting list of ideas, evaluate and test them, and submit the best possible innovation strategy to the CEO. You will gain experience of managing innovation in an organization and the tradeoffs between different types of innovation. Back Bay Battery (GE3) You will form part of the management team of a nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery manufacturer. You will be responsible for determining the appropriate level and timing of R&D expenditures for both the existing NiMH technology and a new ultracapacitor energy storage technology. To be successful, you will need to formulate a comprehensive strategy and then adapt it as you adjust to the dynamic marketplace. You will need to identify the most critical pieces of data for analysis and make decisions in an uncertain environment. Marks will be based on your performance in the simulation. There are two criteria that form the basis of the assessment: Cumulative profit over the duration of the simulation and “health of the business” in the final period. You will start by running a series of practice rounds in the simulation to gain familiarity with the business, the market and the interface. The simulation will then be reset and changed to “advanced” mode, where you will also need to make sales predictions. Other group exercises There will be two other exercises which you will do in groups – a negotiation exercise (GE4: UpDown) and a short 5 minute presentation (GE5: Musings of a Queen). The in-class negotiation exercise (GE4) is worth 2.5% and the short presentation (GE5) is worth 7.5%. In summary, there are a total of five group exercises, including the simulations, worth a total of 20%. Bonus marks As we go through the course, I will show some videos and we’ll read some short articles which illustrate key concepts and their practical application to firms and industries. I encourage you too to try and find relevant videos and articles, as a key aspect of this course is learning from each other! Anyone who forwards a video or article that is subsequently used in class will get 1 bonus mark on their final grade. 3 COMM/R 382

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Syllabus Video clips should be no more than 5 minutes in length and articles no more than 2 pages. When you email me, give a brief explanation of its relevance to the course (i.e. state relevant concept/s) and make sure you include “COMM382 bonus shot” in the title. Exam The final exam will contain a mix of multiple choice and/or short-answer questions and longer questions. You will be tested on the material from lectures and the required readings, including the cases.

LEARNING MATERIALS Required: There is no required textbook for the course, but there are required readings which are listed below under “Reading package”. Some of the materials (the cases) must be purchased through the Ivey Publishing website as a course package and some are available on Canvas. Access to the simulations is obtained by registering at the Harvard Business Publishing web site. Further details will be provided in class. Estimated cost of required materials: $60 (cases) and $15 (simulations) Technology Requirements: iClickers to be brought to every lecture. One person per group will need to bring a laptop when doing the simulations. Additional materials recommended but not required: n/a Reading package 1.) 2.) 3.) 4.) 5.)

“R&R”, HBS Case 9-386-019 “Ingvar Kamprad and Ikea”, HBS Case 9-390-132 “Linear Air” Creating the Air Taxi Industry” HBS Case 9-808-107 “Icebreaker: The China Decision”, HBS Case 9-806-195 “Killing Craigslist: Entrepreneurship in the Online Apartment Rental Market” HBS Case 9-912009 6.) “Bang & Olufsen: Design Driven Innovation”, HBS Case 9-607-016 7.) Not used. 8.) “Negotiating Equity Splits at UpDown” HBS Case 9-809-020 9.) “Technology Strategy for Managers and Entrepreneurs” by Scott Shane – Chapters 2 and 10 (p1628, 37-42) 10.) “The Legal Protection of Intellectual Property” Chapter 6 from New Business Ventures and the Entrepreneur by Roberts, Stevenson, Sahlman, Marshall and Hamermesh 11.) “Profiting from technological innovation” by David Teece, Research Policy, 1986 12.)“Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave” by Joseph Bower and Clayton Christensen The cases (readings 1-7) are available on the Ivey Publishing web-site (link will be provided by email). Readings 8-11 are available on Canvas. 4 COMM/R 382

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Syllabus COURSE-SPECIFIC POLICIES AND RESOURCES Missed or late assignments, and regrading of assessments Missed or late case memos will score zero unless otherwise agreed. Note that the deadlines for case memos are the start of the class in which we will be doing the case discussion (see schedule for further information). Academic Concessions Valid, formal, academic concessions that are made through the UGO will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Generally, accommodation(s) available for cases of valid academic concessions will involve reweighting to other course components. Other Course Policies and Resources For further information on the use of electronic devices in class and the use of iClickers, see earlier under the section “Participation”. UNIVERSITY POLICIES AND RESOURCES UBC provides resources to support student learning and to maintain healthy lifestyles but recognizes that sometimes crises arise and so there are additional resources to access including those for survivors of sexual violence. UBC values respect for the person and ideas of all members of the academic community. Harassment and discrimination are not tolerated nor is suppression of academic freedom. UBC provides appropriate accommodation for students with disabilities and for religious observances. UBC values academic honesty and students are expected to acknowledge the ideas generated by others and to uphold the highest academic standards in all of their actions. Details of the policies and how to access support are available on the UBC Senate website at https://senate.ubc.ca/policies-resourcessupport-student-success. Academic Integrity The academic enterprise is founded on honesty, civility, and integrity. As members of this enterprise, all students are expected to know, understand, and follow the codes of conduct regarding academic integrity. At the most basic level, this means submitting only original work done by you and acknowledging all sources of information or ideas and attributing them to others as required. This also means you should not cheat, copy, or mislead others about what is your work. Violations of academic integrity (i.e., misconduct) lead to the breakdown of the academic enterprise, and therefore serious consequences arise and harsh sanctions are imposed. For example, incidences of plagiarism or cheating may result in a mark of zero on the assignment or exam and more serious consequences may apply if the matter is referred to the President’s Advisory Committee on Student Discipline. Careful records are kept in order to monitor and prevent recurrences.

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Syllabus

COURSE SCHEDULE (Subject to change with class consultation) Week of January 7

Tuesday

Readings

Introduction Part 1: Key economic concepts

January 14

Thursday

Part 2: Entrepreneurship strategy and the challenges of enterprise growth

Key economic concepts

R&R case* 1

Entrepreneurship strategy: Industry and competitive analysis January 21

January 28

February 4

Entrepreneurship strategy: Resources and capabilities. Boundaries of the firm. Capability formation and accessing resources. Entrepreneurship strategy: Competitive Advantage – Cost and differentiation Part 3: Innovation – Appropriating value and protecting intellectual property

Ikea case*

Linear Air case*

Simulation: Crossing the Chasm (GE1)

2

3

9, 11

Profiting from innovation: appropriating value February 11

February 18 February 25

Patents, copyright and trademarks. Non-legal mechanisms. Licensing and litigation.

No class – reading week Part 4: Technological change and disruptive innovation Innovation strategy.

Icebreaker case*

4, 10

No class – reading week

Simulation: Breaking News (GE2)

Idea generation and adapting to change. March 3

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Online businesses – markets, strategy,

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Craigslist Case*

5

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Syllabus networks and platforms. Network effects.

March 10

Technological evolution. Industry evolution Part 5: Innovation in established firms Organisational inertia. Creative industries.

March 17

No class – BBB simulation practice

March 24 Simulation debrief. Introduction to GE5

March 31

Founder roles – UpDown case* and negotiation (GE4)

Bang and Olufsen case* Introduction to GE3 Simulation – Back Bay Battery

Simulation – Back Bay Battery (GE3) Evaluation round

6, 9

12

Part 6: Launching an entrepreneurial venture Presentation preparation (GE5) Founder roles – UpDown case and negotiation (Debrief)

8

Presentation preparation April 7

The pitch (The Musings of a Queen) In-Class Exercise (GE5).

No class – term ends April 8

Final review

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