From Science to Business (2235.YR.015578.1)

General information

Type:	OPT	Curs:	3,4	Period:	S semester
ECTS Credits:	2 ECTS

Teaching Staff:

Group	Teacher	Department	Language
Year 3	Jordi Vinaixa Serra	Dirección General y Estrategia	ENG

Group	Teacher	Department	Language
Year 4	Jordi Vinaixa Serra	Dirección General y Estrategia	ENG

There are no specific pre-requisites for this course.

No previous knowledge is required for this course. Just an interest in understanding entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs, and also to get acquainted with how to bring a new knowledge or new technology to the market. Although it is not necessary, It will help to have some basic knowledge of management and finance.

WORKLOAD DISTRIBUTION
This course has a weight of 2ECTS, which corresponds to 50 hours of work. This workload will approximately be distributed as follows:
- Lecture hours: 30%
- Independent student work: 20%
- Team work on study cases and other: 20%
- New Venture Creation Project (NVCP): 30%

Starting up a new business, either independent or within an already established company is an adventure that demands not only resourcefulness, but also hard work and persistence. This course seeks to acquaint and inspire you with the vibrant world of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. For this purpose, it will zero in on critical milestones and challenges faced by entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs in their start-up journey, from inception through growth and exit. It seeks to equip students with concepts, frameworks, and insights into the process of identifying a science/tecnology-based business idea and turning it into a successful new venture.

This subject will help scientist and technologist to understand how to bring a new discovery, a new technology, to the market while creating value for people and for themselves. It will also help, them to see the options and difficulties to develop a professional career as an entrepreneur.

Overall, the course seeks to inspiring participants with the vibrant world of entrepreneurship and that of scientist and technologist becoming entrepreneurs or participating in and entrepreneurial venture.

This course seeks to assist you in:
Understanding entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship.
Finding and/or developing an innovation (science/technology) based business opportunity.
Designing and validating suitable business models that can make the new venture to succeed.
Preparing and using a business plan for quantifying the resources needed by the new venture and for planning for its implementation.
Developing your skills to get funding for your venture.
Additionally, it aims to provide you with tools and practical experiences of starting up a new venture.
This course will provide you with the opportunity to develop the initial stages of a (science/technology-based) new venture.

1. THE PROCESS OF NEW VENTURE CREATION Creating a new business as a process

2. THE BUSINESSS IDEA AND THE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY How to find a business idea. How to distinguish between and idea and a business opportunity What distinguishes a market pull from a technology push business idea.

3. SELECTING THE BEST APPLICATION OF A NEW TECHNOLOGY TO DO BUSINESS WITH How to select the best (business) application of a new discovery

4. BUSINESS MODEL DESING AND CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT: LEAN STARTUP How to design a good business model to successfully bring a new technology to the market

5. PLANNING TO DEPLOY THE BUSINESS: THE BUSINESS PLAN How to plan for the deployment of a validated business model.

6. THE ENTREPRENEUR & THE INTRAPRENEUR Entrepreneurs: How are they?

The learning experience is based on a range of teaching methods that seek to foster your understanding of the entrepreneurial process and the development of your entrepreneurial skills, such as case discussions, theoretical presentations, self-directed learning based on recommended readings, role play, teamwork.

ASSESSMENT BREAKDOWN

Basic Texts:
Anthony, S. D., The First Mile: A Launch Manual for Getting Great Ideas into the Market. Harvard Business School Publishing. 2014.
Blank, S., and Dorf, B., The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-by-Step Guide for Building a Great Company. Pescadero (CA). K and S Ranch Inc. 2012.Bygrave, W. D. and Zacharakis, A. (Eds.), The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship, 3rd ed., New Jersey; John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2004.
Mullins, J.W. and Komisar, R. (2009). Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model. Harvard Business Press, Boston.
Osterwalder, A. and Pigneur, Y. Business Model Generation, New Jersey; John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010.
Read, S., Sarasvathy, S., Dew, N., Wiltbank, R., and Ohlsson, A. Effectual Entrepreneurship, Oxon; Routledge, 2011.
Ries, E. The Lean Startup, Crown Publishing. 2011.

Other recommended textbooks
Christensen, C.M., "The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business; Harper Business; Reprint edition, 2011.
Moore, G., Crossing the Chasm, Harper Business. 2002

Readings
In addition to the cases we will be discussing in class, we will provide you with a number of required and recommended readings. Additional readings or assignments will be handed out in class or placed on the subject web site. You may also be requested to search for particular readings elsewhere.

Group	Teacher	Department
Year 3	Jordi Vinaixa Serra	Dirección General y Estrategia

Group	Teacher	Department
Year 4	Jordi Vinaixa Serra	Dirección General y Estrategia