Key Information
About the content
This course is aimed at everyone with an interest in entrepreneurship and innovation. This includes graduate and undergraduate students, current, past, and future entrepreneurs, managers of innovative firms, or managers in charge of leading innovation in their company. There is no formal prerequisite for this course. Throughout the course you’ll be exposed to an in-depth analysis of four applied case studies of successful ventures, as well as both theoretical and applied frameworks that will help you to better design and manage your organization. To begin, we recommend you take a few minutes to explore our website. Click on Course Content on the left to see what material we’ll cover in each of the four modules. You can also preview the assignments you’ll need to complete to pass the course. Click Discussions to see the forums where you can discuss the course material with fellow students taking the class. Be sure to introduce yourself to everyone in the Meet and Greet forum! This course should take you about 4 weeks to complete. By the time you finish it, you’ll have learned to: •Evaluate the value-creating potential of your business idea and design the business model that is best suited to capture this value • Manage talent and creativity by structuring the right incentives for existing employees as well as design strategies to retain and attract the very best talent • Design formal organization structures that fit with the strategy of your business and the culture of your organization • Understand and manage norms guiding behavior in organizations • Recognize and manage bottlenecks hampering organizational growth We really hope that you’ll enjoy the learning journey ahead. Good luck as you get started and we look forward to seeing you in class! Profs. Giada Di Stefano and Tomasz Obloj and HEC Paris Digital Learning This course is part of the HEC Paris MSc in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. If you are admitted to the online Master, your coursework will count towards your degree program.
Syllabus
WEEK 1 - Module 1: Evaluating your idea
In this module we will help you decide and analyze if an innovative business idea has potential to help you succeed the marketplace. At the end of this module, you will be able to analyze three dimensions of value: (1) Value created; (2) Value added; and (3) Value captured. Throughout the module we will illustrate the main concepts and frameworks using the case of D-Vine, the French startup that was awarded the Best Startup Award during the 2016 Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas.
WEEK 2 - Module 2: Managing people
In this module we will help you understand how to best select, motivate, and retain the most talented employees for your organization. To this end, we will focus on the role of incentives in: (1) shaping individual behavior; (2) motivating effort; and (3) aligning the goals of individuals with those of the organization. Throughout the module we will illustrate the main concepts and frameworks using a video case of a hypothetical new cook hired in a Michelin-star winning Parisian restaurant, Le George.
WEEK 3 - Module 3: Designing organizations
In this module we will help you design organizational structure and culture that promote efficient cooperation and coordination of individual efforts. To this end, we will focus in particular on the following elements of structure: (1) Organizing principle and organizational form; and (2) Allocation of authority; and the following elements of culture: (3) Norms of behavior and leadership style; and (4) Symbols and artifacts. Throughout the module we will illustrate the main concepts and frameworks using a video case Superamas, a successful French-Austrian cultural collective specializing in contemporary dance shows.
WEEK 4 - Module 4: Re-designing for growth
In this module we will help you decide how, when, and where your business has the greatest potential for growth and what are the key obstacles associated with each dimension of expansion. We will focus in particular on the following three dimensions along which you can expand your business: (1) Horizontal growth; (2) Vertical growth; and (3) Geographic growth. Throughout the module we will illustrate the main concepts and frameworks using the case of L’Atelier des Chefs, Europe’s largest cooking school specializing in over-the-lunch cooking classes.
Instructors
Giada Di Stefano
Associate Professor
Strategy and Business Policy
Tomasz Obloj
Associate Professor
Strategy and Business Policy
Content Designer
HEC Paris, founded in 1881 by the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is one of France’s oldest elite higher education Grandes Ecoles. Throughout its 130-year history, HEC Paris has consistently attracted individuals highly capable and talented, innovative and entrepreneurial, ambitious and open-minded, capable of becoming architects of a responsible world. What makes HEC unique is its conviction shared by the HEC community: knowledge determines the freedom and entrepreneurship required for a better world.
Platform
Coursera is a digital company offering massive open online course founded by computer teachers Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller Stanford University, located in Mountain View, California.
Coursera works with top universities and organizations to make some of their courses available online, and offers courses in many subjects, including: physics, engineering, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, data science, and other subjects.
Very enjoyable course some of the phrasing on the quizzes was confusing but the content and delivery was excellent. Thanks
Very complete and interesting, describing the full path of the product innovation process. The drawback of such a large cover of the innovation world is that topics are not deeply investigated. I would recommend for new comers in the innovation world and future entrepreneurs
Very enjoyable course some of the phrasing on the quizzes was confusing but the content and delivery was excellent. Thanks
