Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management MSc
2 Years Full-Time with Advanced Practice | September Start

In this module you will learn about a comprehensive range of research methods and business analytics techniques. This will equip you with the knowledge and practical skills necessary for you to conduct research at Masters’ level and prepare you to complete a Master’s Dissertation, Consultancy Project or Management Enquiry. By the end of the module you will know how to apply both quantitative and qualitative data collection and business analysis techniques. In quantitative techniques you will learn about sampling, questionnaire design, statistical inference, and hypothesis testing while qualitative techniques covered will include methods such as interviewing and focus groups. Analysis methods such as content analysis and thematic analysis will also be covered. In addition, you will gain some understanding of research philosophy (positivism and interpretivism) and research ethics and you will be able to write a research proposal to bring these ideas together.
Furthermore, this module will provide clear, critical, and analysis of data, you will also be able to consider the use of analytics implementation skills, where you will be introduced to analytics software such as SPSS. SPSS statistics analysis is one of the powerful solutions that is designed to help businesses and researchers to solve problems by various methods (geospatial analysis, predictive analytics and hypothesis testing).

Studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This

module is designed to support your transition to postgraduate level study in the use and practice of subject specific skills around assessments

and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to further develop your abilities to read and study effectively

for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your

use and application of language and communications skills suitable for a postgraduate level of study.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding postgraduate assignment briefs.

• Developing advanced academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.

• Practising advanced ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’

• Planning and structuring postgraduate level academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).

• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.

• Speaking in postgraduate seminar presentations.

• Presenting your ideas

• Giving discipline-related postgraduate level academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.

• Postgraduate level speed reading techniques.

• Developing self-reflection skills.

Historically, family businesses have been (and remain) the most prevalent form of business ownership, demonstrating distinct characteristics and spread across different national economic models and over time. Family-owned business and family entrepreneurship have played a significant role in regional, national, and international development. This module will provide students with a long-term and wide-ranging perspective on the development of family business in different international contexts across the last two centuries. It will explore key themes and core concepts relating to survival, longevity, change over time, emergent strategies, innovation, risk-taking, transmission of skills and values and emotions. In this context students will explore the key processes involved in the adaptations and adjustments to increased competition, new technologies, global transitions, and international crisis. Students will also be introduced to sources and methods for examining the development of family business and learn research methods and forms of analysis that will enhance their understanding of historical processes.

This module aims to increase your awareness and understanding of the issues and challenges of starting up and operating a small business and being entrepreneurial. As entrepreneurship requires a strong focus on practice, this will be achieved by providing you with a practical insight into setting up and trading as a small business, raising awareness of self-employment as a viable career option. You will learn about entrepreneurship as a process, the entrepreneurial person, ideation, and opportunity recognition, pitching and presenting, business planning, idea validation, resource acquisition, market analysis, customers and selling, entrepreneurial marketing, networking, and accelerators, incubation, and support. You will learn how to identify, explore, and progress your own business idea and be supported in your experience of planning this idea over the course of the module, recognising patterns and opportunities in complex situations and environments. At the end of this module, you will have a deeper understanding of real-life entrepreneurial issues and how they can be addressed. The development of entrepreneurial awareness, capability and mind-set which the module seeks to promote lends itself to application not only in new venture creation or development but also within traditional employment contexts.

This is a 20-credit module running in the second semester of the MSc Business with programme and is developed for those of you who have prior awareness of entrepreneurship and seek a deeper understanding of contemporary issues of entrepreneurship and small business subjects. The aim of the module is to introduce you to the main theoretical concepts of entrepreneurship and small business – Entrepreneurship Characteristics; Creativity; Risk and Strategic Options; Technology Innovation; Networks; Sustainability; Orientation – and show how each can contribute to the activities, success or otherwise of entrepreneurship. On completion of the module you will be able to demonstrate critical thinking skills suitable for strategic leadership roles adept at organisational change and innovation and utilise oral, written and communication skills. The content of the module comprises of a range of components which are listed below.

Entrepreneurship
Introduction to the module; Entrepreneurship; context; entrepreneurial revolution; influences; Differences between entrepreneurs & owner-managers’; characteristics and traits, skills; stakeholders; models of entrepreneurship and critical thinking & summative assessment guidance.

Strategies & Models of Entrepreneurship
The Entrepreneurial Environment, Entrepreneurial Strategies; Objectives and Competitive Advantage; Entrepreneurial Productivity & Performance.

Characteristics and Activities of Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship Traits and Behaviour; Motivations and Values; Growth & Skills; Entrepreneurial Leadership Skills; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Culture; Structure & Control; Types of Entrepreneurs including Social and Civic Entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurship Technology & Innovation
Role of technology innovation & Change; Technology Industries Leadership; High Tech; HEI-SME knowledge interactions; Entrepreneurial State; Benefits & Limitations of Open Innovation and Business Clusters, Creativity and Knowledge; Diffusion and Adoption.

Entrepreneurial Networks and Open Innovation
Understanding Social Networks and their contribution to Entrepreneurship. Weak and Strong Ties; Enterprise Partnerships & Policy; Public Entrepreneurship; Business Ventures; Motivation & Engagement.

Public Sector Entrepreneurship
Social Innovation; Public Sector Entrepreneurs; Regional Policy.

International Entrepreneurship
Globalisation & International Entrepreneurship; International Start-up; Models of Internationalisation; Influence of Networks and Learning Theories.

Entrepreneurial Orientation
Entrepreneurial Synergies ; Psychological Orientation ; Gender in Entrepreneurship.

Critical Thinking Skills
The module seeks to foster your critical thinking, analytical, synthesis and reflection skills through developing your awareness of contemporary issues of entrepreneurship and small business to ensure a critical appreciation of the entrepreneurship and small business field of study.

In this module you will gain a comprehensive understanding of the nature and practice of innovation and creativity and how it can be applied in the innovation process, whether within the context of a new venture or an existing organisation. The module will cover theories relating to innovation and its management within a strategic management context. This will be combined with an introduction to processes of stimulating creativity in a variety of business contexts. The module will seek to facilitate the development of practical skills to promote creative thinking through practice-based elements in which real world problems are introduced for the testing of creative teamworking techniques.

This module uses entrepreneurship and innovation challenges to develop your professional mindset, capabilities and attributes. Each challenge will involve you working in teams to achieve specified aims and will focus around contemporary real world socio-economic problems identified in the local community, internationally and within the business community. During the module you will analyse your entrepreneurial mindset and capabilities and develop key skills around entrepreneurial learning. You will build on this understanding of your entrepreneurial self to one where you can assemble and work with teams to complete entrepreneurship and innovation challenges.

You will be involved in 4 challenges and be supported through lectures and seminars that will deliver relevant theory and practice on: entrepreneurial mindset and capabilities; how to work effectively within dynamic teams; how to adopt a design-ethos in problem solving; and in how to lead entrepreneurially. During the process you will use your understanding of your entrepreneurial self to to enhance your skills profile in relation to the global graduate market.

This module examines the role of public policy in the innovation process and the support of entrepreneurship. It will help you to understand how policy can support the innovative firm and the ways in which businesses can interact with public sector and research organisations to facilitate innovation. Innovation takes place across heterogeneous networks, with firms making use of public sector infrastructures, collaborating with universities and responding to regulations and procurement processes initiated by government. You will learn about the ways in which governments seek to encourage innovation through actions at a local, national and international scale, and the multi-level systems of innovation which have developed across the world.

The module is delivered through a lectures and workshops, covering the following issues:

• Typologies and rationales for government intervention in innovation
• The entrepreneurial state
• Systems of innovation at national and regional level
• Public research and innovation support programmes such as Horizon Europe and national grant schemes
• Regional innovation strategies
• Clusters and cluster policies
• Smart specialisation
• Intellectual property regulations and policies
• Public procurement and innovation
• University-industry links and policies
• Science parks, science cities and innovation accelerators
• Responsible Research and Innovation in public policy
• Case study of the bioeconomy
•

Through this module you will have a deeper understanding of the drivers of innovation and the role of the state, and be better able to make effective use of external innovation resources or to move into a public policy role.

This module will consider entrepreneurship in developing and emerging economies. The importance of developing entrepreneurial activity in the developing world/emerging economies is identified. Historic and live cases of entrepreneurial practice are identified in the context of sustainable international development and the Sustainable Development Goals.

During the module you will explore: entrepreneurial models for developing/emerging economies; the importance of entrepreneurial activity for developing/emerging economies in terms of stimulating economic growth, innovation, competitiveness, and alleviating poverty; barriers to entrepreneurship in developing/emerging economies; drivers to entrepreneurship in developing/emerging economies.

This module aims to provide you with the knowledge and skills to understand how digitalisation, across the whole economy and government and the third sector, has resulted in wide-spread changes. These changes have led to wide-spread benefits, but also a series of challenges that impact on the ability of individuals and organisations to benefit from the digitalisation that is occurring.

The module is delivered through a lectures and workshops, covering the following issues:

• The scale and scope of electronic commerce
• ICT-mediated business models
• Digital platforms – growth, ‘winner takes all’ strategy and strategies
• Models of information systems within organisations
• Digitalisation – drivers, challenges and changing socio-technical structures
• Data – monetisation, flows, uses within organisations

Through this module you will gain skills to enable you to analyse and appreciate the emergence and development of digitalisation within organisations. On completing the module, you will appreciate the scope and dynamism of digitalisation.