3 credits
Fall 2026 Lecture Upper Division
This course offers students the opportunity to learn and apply the core skills required to build and grow engineering- and technology-based businesses through lecture, case discussions, and weekly activities tied to a semester-long team project. Course content includes market analysis techniques to link technology attributes to opportunity and vice versa, combinatorial business design and planning methods, strategic innovation theories, competitive analysis, methods of emergent strategy and risk mitigation, as well as examination of team building, firm influence and navigation, and organizational design principles. Emphasis throughout is placed on the implications of research and development uncertainty, long-lifecycle economics, and the management of subcontracts and multi-disciplinary teams often encountered when developing and delivering complex engineering outputs. Case studies are used to contrast the challenges faced when creating new businesses (entrepreneurial) with those encountered in attempts to grow an existing enterprise (intrapreneurial). Coursework and project activities also facilitate development of business acumen, and skill building in conceptual thinking, synthesis, and persuasive communication. This course is particularly relevant for engineering students intending to progress into managerial roles in technology or R&D driven organizations. This course can be counted toward the College of Engineering Minor in Innovation and Transformational Change and the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship (BDMCE) Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Learning Outcomes1Articulate the similarities and differences between entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship.
2Employ open-ended problem-solving techniques to identify opportunities to grow or transform new or existing organizations and/or commercialize new technologies.
3Utilize and interpret qualitative and quantitative issue and market analysis methods to understand and/or quantify the level of market interest in an idea.
4Understand and apply theories of innovation to define competitive market entry strategies.
5Employ combinatorial business design methods to explore and prioritize alternative paths to achieve financial sustainability for an idea.
6Employ principles of risk mitigation and emergent strategy to define the assumptions underlying new ideas and explore paths to capture market value.
7Perform and interpret financial evaluations of new ideas and businesses.
8Interpret the tradeoffs of varying legal and management structures for a new enterprise.
9Recognize influence paths in an organization and/or market ecosystem and tailor oral and written communications accordingly.
Restrictions
made by Purdue students.