BSc Information Technology Management for Business

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Creativity, Design & Entrepreneurship

Course unit fact file
Unit code BMAN24241
Credit rating 20
Unit level Level 2
Teaching period(s) Semester 1
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

The course unit introduces students to the related topics of creativity, design and entrepreneurship. By alternating sessions between creativity, design and entrepreneurship, students will learn how to develop a start-up using their own creativity as well as knowledge about users and changes in the global marketplace.

Pre/co-requisites

Available to students on Mgt/Mgt Specialism, IM, IMABS & ITMB. Core for BSc Mgt with ISE Specialism. This is also available to MLBM students.

 

 

Aims

Over the last decade the core of our economy has been transitioning from one of industrial might, large monolithic corporations and mass production towards one of networks, flexible enterprises comprising many smaller units and unique value. This new economy is based on innovation originating in creativity and design; it is also disrupting long-standing and established employment patterns and bringing to the fore the importance of entrepreneurship. This core unit will bring together creativity, design and entrepreneurship at the conceptual and more practical level. It aims to explore the nature, determinants and consequences of creativity, design and entrepreneurship as well as the interaction between them.
The unit is structured around the process of starting a business venture. The first five weeks will be focused on the process of using creativity and design to identify entrepreneurial opportunities that will form the basis of a start-up. This first part of the unit will discuss different kinds of creativity. Students will learn about theories of creativity and work with several tools to enhance creativity. The unit will then focus on the ways in which creativity feeds into design, discussing user-centred design, design-driven innovation and design thinking. Taking a holistic approach to design, students will learn how to move from inspiration to ideation and implementation, respectively, in order to develop a new business venture. Based on a process of divergent thinking the aim of the first part is to develop several different concepts for the business venture.
The second part of the unit will discuss the conditions under which creative ideas become commercially successful business ventures. Students will learn about the process of how to select the best creative ideas. The unit will then focus on the entrepreneurial journey of creating and validating a business model for a start-up, using insights from effectuation, customer development and the lean start-up. Based on a process of convergent thinking, the aim of the second part is to create a concrete business model using one of the previously developed concepts and validate customer interest in the value offering.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding
•    Demonstrate critical understanding of theories of creativity, design and entrepreneurship.
•    Demonstrate knowledge of the various approaches to use creativity and design to create a business venture.

Intellectual skills
•    Apply a holistic approach to developing creative and design-led ventures.
•    Apply frameworks to stimulate creativity and design thinking in the process of entrepreneurship.

Practical skills
•    Apply and develop self-directed learning to give shape to creative ideas.
•    Learn how to overcome barriers in the process of developing a business venture.

Transferable skills and personal qualities
•    Develop strategies to work creatively alone as well as with others from different national or cultural backgrounds.
•    Demonstrate skills in developing, structuring and communicating ideas in writing, discussing and presenting.

Syllabus

The course unit will cover the following topics:
1. Introduction: The need for more creative and design-led venturing in the new economy
2. Uncovering sources of creativity
3. Identifying entrepreneurial opportunities
4. What is design? An introduction to design
5. "Design Thinking" and innovating by design
6. Reading week
7. Combining and selecting creative ideas
8. Developing a venture concept
9. Generating a business model
10. Validating customer interest
11. Developing a business venture
12. Recap session

Teaching and learning methods

The unit will consist of 11 lectures of 1.5 hours each as well as 8 workshops of 1.5 hours each. The lectures will introduce the students to the main theoretical ideas behind creativity, design and entrepreneurship. The workshops aim to put the theoretical ideas in practices by doing various exercises and games to stimulate creativity, to learn how to apply design thinking and to take first steps in developing a business model for a real start-up. The last week will act as a recap session.

Assessment methods

Formative assessment: two individual assignments

-    Outline two business venture concepts developed using creativity tools and frameworks

-    ‘PechaKucha challenge’: 1-minute elevator pitch of a business model for a new venture

Summative assessment: one individual assignment (100% of the final mark)

Report: Develop a business model for a new venture using theories on creativity, design and entrepreneurship.

 

Feedback methods

Written feedback on assignments and verbal feedback in workshops.

Recommended reading

•    Kelley, T., & Kelley, D. (2012). Reclaim Your Creative Confidence. Harvard Business Review, 90(12), 115-118.
•    Amabile, T. M. (1998). How to kill creativity: Keep doing what you’re doing. Or, if you want to spark innovation, rethink how you motivate, reward, and assign work to people. Harvard Business Review, 76(1), 77-87.
•    Brown, T. (2008). Design thinking. Harvard Business Review, 84(6), 86-92.
•    Fisher, G. (2012). Effectuation, causation, and bricolage: a behavioral comparison of emerging theories in entrepreneurship research. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 36(5), 1019-1051.

 Note: A list of required readings will be provided for each session topic in the full course specification

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 16.5
Seminars 12
Independent study hours
Independent study 171.5

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Adrien Querbes Unit coordinator

Additional notes

Pre-requisites: None

Co-requisites: None

Dependent courses: None

Programme Restrictions:  BSc Management/Management (specialism), IM, IMABS, ITMB, IBFE.

For Academic Year 2023/24

Updated: March 2023

Approved by: March UG Committee

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