Introductory description

The module will provide students with the knowledge to study entrepreneurship from the perspective of external influences on entrepreneurs and businesses. It will introduce theoretical concepts e.g. embeddedness, legitimation, competitiveness and explore entrepreneurship issues such as gender and ethnicity, internationalisation, and industry development through these theoretical lenses.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

The module attempts to bring to bear the outside influences on entrepreneurial businesses, and their development. Entrepreneurial businesses are not created in a vacuum and these aspects covered in this course indicate some of the factors entrepreneurs may need to successful deal with. The module begins with some fundamental elements of the context within which entrepreneurs create businesses. First, the social context and place with which the entrepreneur is embedded will determine the level of information that they receive and the way they might defend against malfeasance.

Second, the business will need legitimacy to enable customers, financiers and workers to engage with it, so we look at how to legitimate the business and the influence of the way a business is structured internally.

Third, the gender and ethnicity of the lead entrepreneur influences the type of business opportunities open to the entrepreneur and the resources available to exploit it. This topic also relates to the mixed embeddedness of the entrepreneur, circling back to the first week’s topic.

Fourth, the business will compete with existing firms or those firms that will follow it. How do firms sustain a competitive advantage therefore matters so we study the resource-based view.

Many firms are born global and therefore internationalization matters even for the early life-stage of the business. Traditional views are based on uncertainty but elements of the competitiveness resource-based view and embeddedness and networking are relevant in the explanations of internationalization.

Entrepreneurial businesses may have different degrees of innovation. The topic explores types of entrepreneurial innovation by entrepreneurs, including Schumpeterian and entrepreneurial orientation.

The nature of the market and industry development will influence how the business competes and whether the firms aims for a niche or the general market. When is the best time to enter a market? Industry development will also relate back to the issues of legitimacy of the industry and the type of competition expected.

Public policy is an external influence on the business which we have already seen in mixed embeddedness will examine market failure and to consider how policy is made and the critique of rational policy-making.

Finally, another influence on entrepreneurship is the family, which can illustrate the business mission. This next topic explores family firms which may reflect the differences in the governance and mission of the business.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Appreciate the different theoretical lenses by which entrepreneurship is studied e.g. organisational ecology, resource based view, institutional theory.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the drivers of growth for entrepreneurs from a theoretical perspective.
• Understand the different factors that influence successful entrepreneurship including the role of ethnicity and gender in entrepreneurship and public policy.

Indicative reading list

Books
Mole, K. and Ram, M. (2012) Perspectives in entrepreneurship: a critical approach. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Journal articles
Ahl, H. and Marlow, S. (2012) ‘Exploring the dynamics of gender, feminism and entrepreneurship: advancing debate to escape a dead end?’, Organization, 19(5), pp. 543–562.
Andersson, S. (2011) ‘International entrepreneurship, born globals and the theory of effectuation’, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 18(3), pp. 627–643.
Coviello, N. and Cox, M. (2006) ‘The resource dynamics of international new venture networks.’, Journal of International Entrepreneurship., 4(2), pp. 113–132. doi:
Drakopoulou Dodd, S. and Anderson, A. R. (2007) ‘Mumpsimus and the Mything of the Individualistic Entrepreneur’, International Small Business Journal, 25(4), pp. 341–360.

Subject specific skills

Written communication skills will be developed through the individual assignment.
Oral communication skills will be developed through seminar discussion and group presentations.
Problem solving skills will be developed through analysing business problems in case studies.

Transferable skills

Demonstrate an ability to analyse case studies and entrepreneurial concepts from different theoretical perspectives.
Demonstrate teamwork skills through developing the group presentation.
Demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate evidence and identify its strategic implications.