- UCAS course code
- NR11
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
BA Modern Language and Business & Management (French)
- Typical A-level offer: ABB
- Typical contextual A-level offer: BBC
- Refugee/care-experienced offer: BBC
- Typical International Baccalaureate offer: 34 points overall with 6,5,5 at HL
Course unit details:
Creativity, Design & Entrepreneurship
Unit code | BMAN24241 |
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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 their creative and entrepreneurial mindset. As an application, participants will use their own creativity and knowledge about users and changes in the global marketplace to propose a new and realistic business venture that will solve customer problems and challenge business-as-usual.
Pre/co-requisites
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. 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, to develop a new business venture. Based on a process of divergent thinking the aim of the first part is to ideate and refine several concepts for a 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 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 building on unique and diverse perspectives.
• Demonstrate skills in developing, structuring and communicating ideas in writing, as well as discussing and presenting.
Syllabus
Example 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. Combining and selecting creative ideas
7. Developing a venture concept
8. Generating a business model
9. Validating customer interest
10. Developing a business venture
11. 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 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 final 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’: elevator pitch of a business model for a new venture during the final workshop
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 | |
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Lectures | 16.5 |
Seminars | 12 |
Independent study hours | |
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Independent study | 171.5 |
Teaching staff
Staff member | Role |
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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 2024/25
Updated: March 2024
Approved by: March UG Committee