LFU:online

Besides the academic career, the students will receive the skills for an entrepreneurial career. Setting up a plan how to build the own company, first steps of realization of the own company and building of real entrepreneurs will be the findings of the program.

This course intends to provide an application-oriented approach to starting and running a business. It is not only addressed to business-students; an interdisciplinary composition is expressively required!

Because of this practical focus, the transfer of knowledge does not happen academically only. Speakers and guest lecturers from the industry and economy contribute to the practical approach of the chair. A direct link between theory and practice is shown wherever possible. We endeavour to make our students and graduates internationally competitive by means of the best education possible. Our scholarly activities and research go hand in hand with public and private economy, and by providing students with this connection we hope to promote their courage and the readiness for entrepreneurship.

As their theses often create results exceeding academic interest and bearing the potential to be implemented, the seminar addresses especially to doctoral candidates.

Students will be introduced to entrepreneurial tools such as the business model canvas or the lean start-up approach which will help them to translate their academic interest in a commercially viable business plan. 

The seminar program takes the students through each phase of founding a real new business venture. The seminar combines some theoretical background with “trial and error” learning taught by experienced entrepreneurs with some academic skills. That means that this seminar does not only teach entrepreneurship but give some practical guidelines how to build your own company considering the most important strategic issues involved in starting and maintaining a venture while providing students with the tools and mapped out process necessary to cultivate a new business venture. At the end of the seminar each group will present their business plan as well as their first hands-on experiences.

All participants of the seminar can contribute their own business-ideas; an arts scholar with an online business-model can concur with a computer scientist with the skills to program the idea and bring it to realization with a management student.

Besides being presented with entrepreneurship theory, students will work on a business idea and complete different assignments in a small team (2-4 students). At the end of the course students will prepare a pitch presentation to present the business idea.

Besides classical grading a peer-to-peer review will also be used to evaluate students’ work.      

Oral presentation and assignment.

Kaplan and Warren (2009) Patterns of Entrepreneurship 
Timmons (2004) Business Plans that Work
Sarasvathy, S. D. (2008) Effectuation – Elements of Entrepreneurial Expertise

Ranking of Registration: First come, first serve.