Entrepreneurship is the process of identifying opportunities, creating value, organizing resources, and building sustainable organizations that solve real-world problems. Innovation is the engine that enables entrepreneurs and established companies alike to develop new products, improve processes, create better customer experiences, and remain competitive in rapidly changing markets. Together, entrepreneurship and innovation drive economic growth, organizational transformation, and long-term business success.
This course provides a practical introduction to entrepreneurship and innovation from a managerial perspective. Rather than focusing on startup myths or inspirational stories, students will learn the structured processes used by successful entrepreneurs and innovative organizations to identify opportunities, validate business ideas, develop business models, acquire customers, secure financing, manage growth, and build resilient organizations.
Students will also examine how innovation occurs within startups, family businesses, small and medium-sized enterprises, and large corporations. The course emphasizes disciplined opportunity evaluation, customer-focused innovation, strategic execution, financial sustainability, and responsible leadership. By the end of the course, students will understand entrepreneurship as a repeatable management process rather than a matter of luck or intuition.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
• Understand the entrepreneurial process from opportunity identification to business growth.
• Recognize business opportunities based on market needs and customer problems.
• Evaluate the commercial potential of business ideas.
• Develop practical business models that create sustainable value.
• Understand customer validation and market testing principles.
• Build strategies for launching and growing new ventures.
• Understand innovation as a driver of organizational competitiveness.
• Evaluate financing alternatives available to entrepreneurial ventures.
• Manage entrepreneurial risk and uncertainty effectively.
• Integrate entrepreneurial thinking into both new ventures and established organizations.
