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2 May 2018

First semester Courses

Methods of Business Research

MBR as we call it begins to prepare you for the dissertation from Semester One. This course teaches you about research and research methods in the field of management and business. We began with a presentation on choosing a research topic, and then we were tasked with writing a 3,500 research proposal for the end of semester. In this class, you will learn everything from structuring your research question to defining your research aim, performing a literature review, and learning about the different methods of research. We also had a couple SPSS tutorials.

Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation (ENVC)

I really enjoyed this very practical course, where we learnt how to pitch a business idea. Working in groups, we came up with our idea, presented the pitch, and wrote a business plan, which was to include market testing, prototyping, and prenup. I never knew about prenups in business before I studied this course. I bet you will love this course as much as I did!

Entrepreneurial Finance

This course exposed us to basic accounting including making financial projections. We worked in groups and used excel to make five year financial projections for the new ventures that we had created in the Entrepreneurship and New Venture programme. We also learnt the nitty-gritty of financing a start-up and all about harvesting/exit strategy. The interesting thing about this course is that we just didn’t work on Excel, we had to present and justify our projections.

Managing Innovation in Context (MIC)

I enjoyed the case studies on how large/small corporations successfully incorporate innovation into their culture, while other organisations struggle to keep up with trends in innovation. Although there was no group work involved in this course, I consider it practical as it highlighted the best practices adopted by firms to manage innovation. Guest speakers were often invited to share their perspective with us on managing innovation.

Second Semester Courses

Venture Management and Growth in Practice (Core)

VMP, as we call it, was a more practical version of ENVC. The course allowed us to understand the growth phase of a start-up and the challenges they face. For ten weeks we consulted in different groups for real start-ups and at the end, we presented recommendations to our clients.

Innovation Management in Practice—Core

This course, just like VMP, is the practical version of MIC (Managing Innovation in Context). We worked in groups to consult for larger corporations in the UK, ranging from Standard Life Aberdeen to Costain. Students researched the challenges these organisations faced in managing innovation alongside their organisational culture, and then presented their recommendations.

Design Thinking (DT)—Optional

Taught in the College of Art, design thinking teaches you about the history of design and design methods, and how it applies to business models. The fun thing about this course is that you don’t take notes in class, you sketch. So, you visually note what you are learning. Don’t get the impression that you will become a product designer with this course however. Instead, it develops your critical thinking and encourages you to ask why. The first half of the course involved teaching and the second half involved working in teams to apply design methods towards developing a business model.

Organising for Social Change: Strategy, Governance & Innovation (OSC)—Optional

This course is very different from other courses in the Business School. The focus was on social enterprises; how they create value and the processes involved in ensuring they don’t drift from their mission. The style of teaching and assessment in this course is unique. The assignments were reflective logs rather than academic essays. We worked in groups with students from other disciplines in the School and across the University and consulted for different social enterprises. At the end of the project, we presented our findings in a video with an executive summary.

Technology, Entrepreneurship and Commercialisation—Optional

This course was different as the project teams were interdisciplinary, with students from informatics, business and even chemistry PhDs! The focus was on assessing the viability of a high-growth technology start-up and deciding whether to go with it. The lectures delivered a step-by-step guide to turning an idea into a detailed business plan, while involving potential consumers throughout the process. A particular challenge that all the teams faced was making sure that everyone in the team had the same understanding and ambition to work towards the common goal.

Entrepreneurial Leadership in the Social and Sustainable Enterprise—Optional

The course Entrepreneurial Leadership in the Social and Sustainable Enterprise introduced students to a wide range of organisations from charities to for-profit business. Social entrepreneurship was defined as a form of boundary-spanning innovation that is designed to meet community needs. Topics discussed in more detail included the role of sustainable leadership in social and economic transformation, and the problem of funding beyond donations and project-specific funding, which many social enterprises face. This led to the topic of social impact investing and the challenges of persuading investors to fund socially responsible companies. In this context, the difficulty involved in measuring performance and scalability in social enterprises was highlighted and discussed.

From the optional courses, I chose design thinking and Organising for social change then asked my colleagues who took Technology and Leadership to share their experience.

Adaora, MSc Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 2018