Syllabus

MT5008: Corporate Entrepreneurship

Wei Yu
Assistant Professor
Industrial Systems Engineering & Management
iseyw@nus.edu.sg
Office: EA-05-11

Module Description
Entrepreneurship is to the company what speed is to the athlete. In the quest for sustainable
competitive advantage, companies are finding that lower costs, higher quality and better
customer service are not enough - they must be faster, more flexible, more aggressive and
more innovative. Most managers acknowledge this, but few seem to understand how to make
it happen.
The focus of this course is on will be on understanding the firm and its environment and how
firms can build entrepreneurial capabilities, both inside and outside the corporation.
Learning Outcomes
1. Grasp the key types, processes and obstacles of corporate entrepreneurship, as well as
how to design the organization to promote such initiatives.
2. Audit the extent to which a company is entrepreneurial and provide suggestions on how
to increase entrepreneurship in the company.
3. Develop key skills in motivating technical professionals, building creative cultures in
teams and managing innovation processes in organizations.

Assessment
Class contribution – 10%
Peer evaluation – 10%
Group assignment 1 (The Entrepreneurial Audit)- 40%
Group assignment 2 (The Open Innovation Initiative)- 40%

Readings
Recommended textbooks:
 Corporate Entrepreneurship & Innovation (3rd Edition) by Michael H. Morris (Author),
Donald F. Kuratko (Author), Jeffrey G Covin (Author)
 Miles, R.E., Miles, G. and Snow, C.C., 2005. Collaborative entrepreneurship: How
communities of networked firms use continuous innovation to create economic wealth.
Stanford University Press.
 Chesbrough, H.W., 2003. Open innovation: The new imperative for creating and
profiting from technology. Harvard Business Press.
 Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, Practice, An Asia Edition (1st Edition) by Donald F.
Kuratko | Sarah Cheah Lai Yin | Foo Maw Der

1
Supplementary readings: see class schedules
Details for each assessment

1. Group assignment 1: The Entrepreneurial Audit (Deadline: noon on 26 Sep 2022)

Students will form five-person teams (depending on number of students in the class) for the
purpose of auditing and analysing a company’s corporate entrepreneurship profile. Students
need to introduce background, discuss relevant situation related to the firm’s corporate
entrepreneurship, examine the company’s strategy, structure and culture for corporate
entrepreneurship and provide guidance/suggestions. More details regarding this assignment
will be provided.
2- Group assignment 2: The Open Innovation Initiative (Deadline: noon on 18 Nov 2022)
Students will form five-person teams (depending on number of students in the class) for the
purpose of planning an open innovation initiative for their company/university/workplace.
Students need to introduce background, discuss relevant situation related to the firm’s open
innovation intensity, propose the open innovation initiative and provide rationales and plans
for the initiative. More details regarding this assignment will be provided.
3. Class contribution
Class participation is expected. Class discussion of mini cases is expected.

4. Peer Evaluation
For both group assignments, peers within each group will evaluate each other’s contribution
to teamwork.

2
 Class topics and schedules

Week Date Topic Key concepts/frameworks Recommended reading

week01 9 Aug Course introduction and  Imperatives for CE  Morris et al. 2010 Chapter 1, 2 and 4
2022 introduction to corporate  Forms of CE
entrepreneurship (CE)
(Public holiday, no class,
slides only)
week02 16 Aug Firm CE health  Frameworks to analyse  Morris et al. 2010 Chapter 3
2022 industry environment and  Steenburgh, T.J. and Avery, J., 2010. Marketing analysis
firm capabilities toolkit: Situation analysis. HBS Case, (510-079).
 Firm entrepreneurial
orientation
week03 23 Aug Finding CE opportunities  Ways to identify business  Morris et al. 2010 Chapter 12
2022 and championing CE opportunities
action  Roles in the CE process
week04 30 Aug Organizational design for  Strategic leadership for CE  Morris et al. 2010 Chapter 8 and 9
2022 CE I- firm strategy and  Firm structure and  O'Reilly III, C.A. and Tushman, M.L., 2011. Organizational
structure innovation grid ambidexterity in action: How managers explore and
exploit. California management review, 53(4), pp.5-22.
 O'Reilly 3rd, C.A. and Tushman, M.L., 2004. The
ambidextrous organization. Harvard business review, 82(4),
p.74.
week05 6 Sep Organizational design for  Reward structure and job  Morris et al. 2010 Chapter 7 and 10
2022 CE II- entrepreneurial design  Warrick, D.D., 2017. What leaders need to know about
culture and human  Entrepreneurial culture organizational culture. Business Horizons, 60(3), pp.395-404.
resource management
week06 13 Sep Barriers to and sustaining  Strategies to manage CE  Morris et al. 2010 Chapter 13 and 14
2022 CE  Control CE activities
No Class, Recess Week
week07 27 Sep Introduction to  Imperatives for CCE  Ribeiro-Soriano, D. and Urbano, D., 2009. Overview of
2022 collaborative corporate  Forms of CCE collaborative entrepreneurship: an integrated approach

3
 entrepreneurship (CCE) between business decisions and negotiations. Group Decision
and Negotiation, 18(5), pp.419-430.
 Miles et al. (2005) Chapter 2 and 4
Week08 4 Oct CCE- open innovation I  Open innovation paradigm  Chesbrough (2003) Chapter 1 and 2 and 3
2022  Types of open innovation  Laursen, K. and Salter, A., 2006. Open for innovation: the
role of openness in explaining innovation performance among
UK manufacturing firms. Strategic management
journal, 27(2), pp.131-150.
Week09 11 Oct CCE- open innovation II  Business model and open  Chesbrough (2003) Chapter 3 and 4
2022 innovation
week10 18 Oct Manage CCE I  Barriers to CCE  Miles et al. (2005) Chapter 7 and 8
2022  Ways to getting past the
barriers
week11 25 Oct Manage CCE II  Intellectual property issues  Antons, D. and Piller, F.T., 2015. Opening the black box of
2022  Other management issues “Not Invented Here”: Attitudes, decision biases, and
behavioral consequences. Academy of Management
Perspectives, 29(2), pp.193-217.
 Boudreau, K. and Lakhani, K., 2009. How to manage outside
innovation. MIT Sloan management review, 50(4), p.69.
Week 12 1 Nov Championing CCE  Negotiation skills  Influence: the psychology of persuasion / Robert B. Cialdini.
2022  Storytelling skills  The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking and
Problem Solving
Week 13 8 Nov Summary and project Summary and project n/a
2022 consultation consultation
Reading week: 12 Nov 2022 – 18 Nov 2022

Examination week: 19 Nov 2022 – 3 Dec 2022