Course Syllabus
Contact Information
Professor Bio: Matthew Wood’s research and teaching interest include a cognitive approach to understanding how entrepreneurs evaluate new venture opportunities, understanding the nature and emergence of opportunities, and identifying the drivers of entrepreneurial action. His research has been published in premier journals such as Academy of Management Review, Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, and Small Business Economics. He was an editor at the Journal of Business Venturing and serves on the editorial review boards of several leading journals. He received his Ph.D. in business administration from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, an M.B.A. from Bradley University, and a B.S. in Physical Science from Eureka College. Prior to becoming a professor, he was an entrepreneur in the commercial printing industry.
Course Description
The primary purpose of the course is to take an entrepreneurial perspective on innovation (introducing something new to the market) and change (revision of established cultures, doctrines, and practices). The course has a specific focus on methods to achieve effective innovation and change within existing companies. Students will develop an understanding of innovation elements and dynamics, such as navigating the Innovator’s Dilemma, and use this understanding to develop the skills and processes needed to foster innovation and change within existing companies. The course emphasizes innovation as the creation of new value (new products, services, and processes with returns greater than costs of production). A key objective, then, is application of course concepts and tools toward value creation at the ecosystem level – the collection of actors and organizations within a geographic area that foster entrepreneurship – and in-turn, the manifestation of benefit from innovation activity. Students will be exposed to real world entrepreneurial ecosystems (e.g., Oklahoma City and Tulsa) and the entrepreneurs and facilitating actors embedded within them, who engage systematic efforts to enable innovation and entrepreneurship. Visiting entrepreneurial ecosystems provides students with understanding of how the environment can enable or constrain innovation and change at the individual and firm levels.
Course Delivery
Face-to-face residency week course.
Course Prerequisites
ENT 5172 is open to all matriculated graduate students. There are no prerequisites.
Course Materials
There is no textbook for the course. Course content is drawn from entrepreneurship research (theory and data) coupled with entrepreneurs' and innovators' lived experiences as recorded in various mediums (e.g., podcasts, interviews, news reports). Course material is organized via modules (see Modules tab).
Program Learning Outcomes (PLO)
- Conceive, launch and sustain successful ventures or corporate innovations through entrepreneurial thinking and action.
- Drive innovation by identifying opportunities, generating creative solutions, and implementing disruptive strategies to address new and existing business challenges.
- Strategically develop and scale new ventures or corporate innovations for long-term personal and business success.
- Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different entrepreneurial ecosystems and the role they play in fostering entrepreneurship and innovation.
- Effectively convey entrepreneurial ideas and initiatives persuasively to a variety of audiences through both written and verbal means.
Course Learning Outcomes (CLO) Alignment
| CLO | Description | PLO |
|---|---|---|
| A | Gain an appreciation for, and critically analyze your own ability to foster innovation through assessment of you own entrepreneurial mindset and participation in exercises that sharpen your personal understanding of your potential for accomplishing change. | 1 |
| B | Synthesize a basic understanding of the skills needed for creating new value through the innovation and change that flows from strategic thinking to organizational design. | 2 |
| C | Develop the skills to identify and evaluate new technologies and related markets as opportunities for leveraging innovation. | 1,2 |
| D |
Understand, evaluate, and critique the role that environments (entrepreneurial ecosystems) play in enabling innovation and entrepreneurship through real world case experiences. |
4 |
| E |
Evaluate the potential career benefits and risks of leading innovation and change. |
3 |
Grades
| Activity | Description | Points/Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Participation | 50 | |
| Entrepreneurial Mindset Reflection | 25 | |
| Evaluation of Innovation Reflection (IHub exercise) |
25 |
|
| Career Implications Discussion Board | 25 | |
| Ecosystems Analysis Paper | 100 | |
| Total | 225 |
Grading Policy and Scale
At the end of the semester, I will enter your course grade with the registrar. This grade represents my evaluation of your performance in the course. Assigning a grade that inaccurately represents your performance does you and your fellow students a disservice by lowering the value of the OU degree. Hence, the grading criterion and the grading scale presented below will be strictly followed.
- There will be no curving or rounding on the end of semester grades. Your grade will reflect your effort, preparation, and performance in the course.
- Assignment due dates and times are firm.
- Assignment submissions are to be original work produced to satisfy the requirements of this course.
- Due to student privacy issues, I do not discuss individual grades in class or other public forums. If you need to discuss grade related issues, please make an appointment.
- The percentage you earn of the possible points available for the course will be used to determine your final grade. The percentage / grade scale is presented below.
| Percentage | Letter Grade |
|---|---|
| 90–100% | A |
| 80–89% | B |
| 70–79% | C |
| 60–69% | D |
| Below 60% | F |
Course Components
Pre-Course Preparation
As a starting point, you will be required to consume course materials in preparation for class (i.e., pre-readings). You will receive a Canvas announcement that outlines the pre-reading /preparation materials.
Participation (50 pts)
This course is experiential by design, and you will get much more value from the course if you are an active participant. Therefore, it is expected that you will actively contribute to the conversations, discussions, and activities. It is especially critical that you participate in the debrief sessions that are embedded in course activities (e.g., IHub activity, visiting ecosystem partners and companies, etc.). Therefore, 30 points of the participation grade is allocated to engagement in debrief sessions, while 20 points is allocated to engagement in class discussions. At the end of the course, I will reflect on and evaluate the degree to which you actively contributed to the class discussion and activity debrief sessions. Participation is as much about the quality of engagement as it is the quantity of engagement – share your thoughts, ideas, and insights accordingly.
Entrepreneurial Mindset Reflection (25 pts)
In this assignment, you will explore and reflect upon course concepts, relating them to your experiences. You will consider how what you have learned might influence your approach in the future. The objective is to deepen your understanding of entrepreneurial thinking, self-awareness, and personal growth. The reflection is a written essay that will be submitted in Canvas.
Evaluation of Innovation Reflection - IHub exercise (25 pts)
In this assignment, you will explore and reflect upon course concepts, relating them to your experiences from the IHub exercise. The IHub exercises are an experiential learning activity designed for you to practice the generation and implementation of innovation while working in teams. You will consider how what you have learned might influence your approach in the future. The objective is to deepen your understanding of the practical challenges associated with leading innovation and change, which includes locating and appealing to a market while working with limited resources. The reflection is a written essay that will be submitted in Canvas.
Discussion Board: Career Implications of Leading Innovation (25 pts)
In this assignment, you will explore and reflect upon course concepts, relating them to your own career. This assignment will guide your learning process to ensure you can think critically about the risks and benefits of leading innovation and change when operating as an employee within an existing company. The reflection is a discussion board set up on Canvas.
Ecosystems Analysis Paper (100 pts)
The Ecosystems Analysis (EA) is an initial screening of a specific entrepreneurial ecosystem. The EA requires the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data related to a specific ecosystem (e.g. geographic location such as St. Louis) in terms of its ability to support the implementation of a specific innovation. An innovation that using course concepts and tools, you identify as attractive relative to its potential success as new product or service offering. The project is research intensive and requires leveraging what you learned on field visits to the OKC and Tulsa ecosystems. . The tools, models, and concepts introduced throughout the course will serve as the basis of the analysis. The deliverable for this assignment is a written EA report that will be uploaded in Canvas. The assignment will be team-based. A separate document that provides details instructions and an outline for the report will be posted in Canvas.
Course Policies
Communication
- Email correspondence with the professor and your fellow students is to be professional. The tone and language should be respectful, and messages should be concise.
- Emails received during the workweek (M-F) will receive a response within 12 hours. Emails received on the weekend will receive a response within 24 hours.
Late Policy
Assignment due dates and times are firm. Late assignments will not be accepted.
Plagiarism
It is the responsibility of each student to be familiar with the university policies and procedures affecting academic integrity. Plagiarism, or any form of cheating, involves a breach of student-teacher trust. This means that any work submitted under your name is expected to be your own, neither composed by anyone else as a whole or in part, nor handed over to another person for complete or partial revision. If words are written by someone else the should be put in quotations and marked with the proper citation. For more information about plagiarism, watch this video and then take this short course offered by University Libraries.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence
The Entrepreneurship and Economic Development Division faculty recognize the increasing role of generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) in entrepreneurship and innovation. Division faculty therefore encourage the transparent, responsible, and ethical use of AI tools.
In this course, AI is viewed as a potentially useful tool to inform and help you develop vital skills such as ideation and decision-making. Hence AI use is allowed, but you must follow these guidelines for appropriate AI use:
- Instructions: Use of AI tools will be specified in course materials (e.g., assignment instructions). Assignments may have different instructions regarding its appropriate use in the situation/context. Students are responsible for understanding and following provided instructions regarding the use of AI in each assignment.
- Transparency: Use of AI tools must be transparent. You must acknowledge in all assignments the use of AI tools. Minimally, students are expected to report when and how AI tools were used in the completion of assignments. If you use AI tools such as ChatGPT, Google Bard, Bing Chat, etc.—you should include a “Use of Artificial Intelligence” statement at the end of your assignment (i.e., on the last page or slide). In the statement, include which AI tool(s) you used, which significant prompt(s) were used, and a brief description of how you used the AI-generated results to advance your own work. Also include a statement acknowledging that you take full responsibility for the content included in submitted work.
- Accountability: Students are responsible for all assignment content regardless of its source. In using AI tools, understand that you are responsible for any fabricated, inaccurate, biased, or otherwise flawed content you submit. Therefore, it is the student’s responsibility to additionally consult sources outside of AI to ensure the information is accurate before including AI generated content in assignments.
Confidentiality
To enhance the learning experience and obtain the maximum value from this entrepreneurship course, innovations and related business ideas may be discussed and shared during the semester. Sharing your concept is an important part of entrepreneurship, but equally important is protecting your innovations and business ideas. To create a protected and comfortable classroom environment for sharing and discussing innovation, it important to understand that your enrolment in this course prohibits you from using others ideas without proper consent. This includes sharing innovation and related business ideas discussed in the classroom with anyone outside of the class.
University Academic Policies and Student Support
Access the University Academic Policies Document.
Course Summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
|---|---|---|