Entrepreneurship: it's all about creating value

Full course description

BUS3005 - Entrepreneurship, it’s all about creating value

Today countless innovative business models are emerging. Entirely new industries are forming as old ones crumble. Upstarts are challenging the old guard, some of whom are struggling feverishly to reinvent themselves. How do you imagine your organization’s business model might look two, five, or ten years from now? Will you be among the dominant players? Will you face competitors brandishing formidable new business models? Which trends can make your business more challenging? Or, which trends do you miss right now? And how to deal with social media and the connection towards the consumer segments?

The scale and speed at which innovative business models are transforming industry landscapes today is unprecedented. For entrepreneurs, executives, consultants, and academics, it is high time to understand the impact of this extraordinary evolution. Now is the time to understand and to methodically address the challenge of business model innovation. Ultimately, business model innovation is about creating value, for companies, customers, and society. It is about replacing outdated models.

But how can we systematically invent, design, and implement these powerful new business models? How can we question, challenge, and transform old, outmoded ones? How can we turn visionary ideas into game-changing business models that challenge the establishment—or rejuvenate it if we ourselves are the incumbents? Can we keep up with changes and how to make sure companies follow their strategies for longer than one year?

In this course we will look in to these issues, guided by Alexander Osterwalder’s book Business Model Generation. It will be an interactive course which there isn’t one right answer. However, this course will give you tools how you can (or must) rewrite your business model by breaking down patterns and routines. To do so we also take a look at some trends, especially the arise of Corporate Social Responsibility (or Social Entrepreneurship). What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and what are the implications of companies want to implement it? In particular: does CSR effect business results? How can CSR help businesses to create, deliver and capture value?

This course consists of 32 class hours divided over 3 weeks. Students earn 6 ECTS credits when they obtain a passing grade.

General disclaimer: on-campus education and activities, as well as trips and visits related to the course are conditional. E.g. (Dutch) travel advice should be positive regarding the region that will be visited and institutions should be able to accept visitors. In case a proposed activity, trip or visit cannot continue due to circumstances, (online) alternatives may be organized.