Advanced Seminar Innovation & Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial Role Models

The module invites students to get involved with the people side of entrepreneurship. Students will learn to understand and explain entrepreneurial behavior through the stories of role models from fiction (books, novels, movies, etc.) as well as real-world examples. They will apply theoretical concepts in entrepreneurial behavior to examples, such as "The Wolf of Wall Street," "The Social Network," “Joy” as well as real-world, such as Richard Branson, Yvon Chouinard, and Melanie Perkins. Thus, the module enables students to understand key concepts in entrepreneurial behavior (such as the entrepreneurial personality, entrepreneurial decision making, founding teams) and to apply it in the analyses of the actions of role models.

The intended learning outcomes of this course are: (1) to understand important theories of entrepreneurial behavior, (2) to generate new theoretical insights from a synthesis of existing work, (3) to apply the theories in the analyses of role models, (4) to integrate different parts of the academic process into one research paper and one presentation even if these parts are provided by different members of a writing team, (5) to communicate the results to an academic audience in written and oral form, (6) to reflect on different theories and research insights in academic discussions.

The final grade is based on a research paper (~10 pages, 50 % of grade) and a presentation (10 min + 10 min interaction with the audience, 50 % of grade). The research paper and the presentation can be conducted in groups formed in the introductory session. Students working in a group need to hand in an assessment sheet with the paper which specifies students’ individual contribution to the paper. As every student will present in the final presentation, every student’s contribution is clearly identifiable, thus, students can be graded individually. The research paper allows for assessing the extent to which students are able to elaborate on complex topics in the field of entrepreneurship research. The research paper is a means to measure how students can understand previous academic literature in the field of entrepreneurship, how they can define their own research question, collect and analyze data, and the extent to which they develop a relevant, novel, and interesting contribution to entrepreneurship research. A final presentation captures students’ communicative competencies and their ability to present their findings in a comprehensible and precise way. Moreover, the interaction with the audience is related to the students’ ability to inspire a scholarly debate and involve their audience.

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The module prepares students for their Master's Thesis by introducing them to (1) searching, understanding, and analyzing academic literature, (2) the effective structuring and writing of an academic paper, and (3) giving presentations to an academic audience including subsequent discussion of their work. The module consists of an introduction to academic writing. Students can select their own role models and are supported to identify their research topics which can vary from the individual level (e.g., entrepreneurial decision making, affect, and entrepreneurial passion), the social context (e.g., founding team formation, relationship between entrepreneurs and investors, and managing employees), or the dark side of entrepreneurship (e.g., dealing with entrepreneurial failure, coping with stress, and unethical behaviors). By analyzing specific scenes, students will elaborate on theoretical construct(s) and discuss them in the paper. In feedback sessions with the instructors, the students can share their progress and can improve their academic writing. The students will learn how to present academic work and share their insights with their peers and the instructors.