Before signing up as a student in this course, you must agree to complete all of the readings and assignments, participate via the online platforms, and log-in to view at least 75% of the courses via our online platform (see below). You encourage you to register with a Gmail (Google email) account, as services used in the course may require that you have one. 

If you would like to attend but not participate, please sign up as an auditor.

Description of the Course

OBJECTIVES

This course is about the unprecedented possibilities of now. Its objective is to develop better understanding among participants of the trends that define our historical moment and the opportunities that those trends create. For each student, that conversation will be directed toward the development of a personal plan of action for entrepreneurial engagement.

BACKGROUND

Ours is arguably the most exciting era in human history. The benefits of four centuries of technological and organizational change are at last reaching a previously excluded global majority. This global transformation creates opportunities to connect and contribute that are at least as great in richer places allegedly in “decline” as they are in the (formerly) poorer ones obviously in the ascent.

However the progress of human societies is not inevitable. Expanded prosperity tomorrow depends on choices made today. In an era in which the secrets of the genetic code have been unraveled and fundamental processes of life are being newly understood, people everywhere still face a future marred by the stark realities of persistent conflict, infectious disease, water scarcity, climate change, and other global challenges.

Existing institutions and incentive structures may or may not be adequate to address these challenges. If the past is any guide, continued progress will require continued innovation—the efforts of individuals, groups, and communities who creatively employ new organizational forms, and in many cases new technology, to effect discontinuous, positive change.

This course is about such innovations and the changes that they bring about. It is less about what needs to be done, and more about how to participate in doing.

COURSE OUTLINE

This course is divided into two parts.

The first part takes an “on the ground” look at the entrepreneurial process: identifying opportunities; defining a strategy and mobilizing resources; achieving sustainability; assessing performance; and scaling for impact.

The second part of the course places the entrepreneurial process in the context of the trends that define our historical moment.

The last two class sessions are dedicated to presentations, peer-to-peer feedback, and collaboration with other interested entrepreneurs from around the globe.

For a final project, students will write a strategic plan for a new venture. These will be judged in an online marketplace by your peers, ourstide entrereneurs, mentors, and anyone with internet access.

AUDIENCE

The seminar on “Entrepreneurship and Globalization” is for global thinkers who are interested in developing their skills to act as entrepreneurial leaders, as well as for those interested in the long-term importance of entrepreneurship to the process of societal development.

The seminar will challenge policy-minded students to think creatively about potential solutions to public challenges, and entrepreneurially-inclined students to analyze the economic, social, and political context that defines entrepreneurial opportunity. Participation in the seminar will help students act as effective leaders of change through the creation of new ventures and through work in existing for-profit, non-profit, and government institutions.

The online section of this course is open to anyone who commits to completing the required readings and to engaging constructively with classmates through our online platforms. 

EXPECTATIONS

Just like in-class students, online students will be expected to complete the following requirements:

·         regular and active—even vigorous—participation in online seminars and discussions;

·         completion of all assigned readings in advance of class;

·         researching and writing two Wikipedia entries;

·         preparing an online presentation describing strategic challenges and opportunities in a particular domain of challenge and posting this for the class and the world to see. This can be a PowerPoint, or other presentation tool (e.g. prezi) turned into a video for online viewing;

·         preparing a concept statement for a new venture, or a substantial innovation within an existing institution, addressing a global challenge and described in two formats: (1) a 2000-3000 word blog post, and (2) a 2-minute video (50 percent of grade); and

·         each student is required to review and provide valuable feedback to at least one other student’s strategic plan

Students can complete work on their own, or self-organize around a particular domain of a global challenge (e.g. energy and climate; water; job creation; global public health). Students are also encouraged to seek out teammates who share an interest in a particular geographic region of the world.

Final strategic plans will be subject to high standards of rigor, practicality, and inventiveness.

COURSE PLATFORM

Online course sessions will be held on http://ashokau.org/online/, please check back before the course begins on June 4 and you will see the option for course content. You will have the option of calling in and view lectures via livestream at 7pm EST (New York) or you can watch the videos or listening to audio the next day. Students will need access to the Internet (or a 3G smartphone) and a phone or skype if they want to participate in the live sessions.

If you already use twitter, then we encouare you to participate in twitter chats happening during each cousrse starting at 7pm EST, using #AshokaUonline. 

COMMUNICATIONS

Students must be prepared to use our online platform and collaborate with others. Before emailing your instructors, please review the online platform for information first, then we recommend tweeting your instructors if you are on twitter, and emailing as a last resort. 

When sending and posting electronic versions of documents please

·         put your name and page numbers on every page, and

·         use a descriptive file name beginning with “AshokaUonline.” (For example ).

COURSE COMPLETION

Enrolled students are eligible to receive two badges for completion of the coursework. Students who are awarded both badges will receive an AshokaUonline certificate for completion of the course.

StartUp Badge: Awarded to students who complete the first part of the course on the entrepreneurial process including establishing on online presence and demonstrating competence with collaborative tools

The Coming Prosperity Badge: Awarded to students who complete the second part of the course on global trends including completion of a personal plan of entrepreneurial action

Entrepreneurship and Globalization Course Certification: Granted to students who have been awarded both course badges

COURSE MATERIALS

Required

There are three books required for this course. If you live somewhere and cannot accesss these books, we will provide you with a list of readings and articles available online that you can read as a subsititue. 

John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison (2010), The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion, New York: Basic Books. ISBN-10: 0465019358

Eric Reis (2011), The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, New York: Crown Business. ISBN: 978-0307887894

Philip Auerswald (2012), The Coming Prosperity: A Guide to Opportunity in the Age of Entrepreneurship, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978-0199795178

All three books are available in multiple eBook versions, as well as hard copy. (You do not need a Kindle reader to view it; it is possible to download a Kindle reader to your computer.)

We will distribute other readings via Google Drive, or you can visit the links provided at each week’s reading below. Once you sign up for the course, we will send you an invitation to join our dropbox folder (using the email you provide us when you sign up).

Professional Ethics: Policy on Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the use of another’s words or ideas presented as one’s own. It includes, among other things, the use of specific words, ideas, or frameworks that are the product of another’s work. Honesty and thoroughness in citing sources is essential to professional accountability and personal responsibility. Appropriate citation is necessary so that arguments, evidence, and claims can be critically examined.

Course Outline

INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE

Session 1 (June 4): Creating Social Value

Special Guest

Umair Haque @umairh

Required Readings

Auerswald, Philip (2009). “Creating Social Value,” Stanford Social Innovation Review, Spring, pp. 51-55. http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/ourmeetings/2010/pdf/2009SP_Feature_Auerswald.pdf

Karnani, Aneel (2007). “Microfinance Misses its Mark.” Stanford Social Innovation Review, Summer: 34-40. http://www.ssireview.org/images/articles/2007SU_feature_karnani.pdf

Baumol, William J. (1990). “Entrepreneurship: Productive, Unproductive, and Destructive.” The Journal of Political Economy 98, no. 5, part 1: 893-921. http://faculty.washington.edu/latsch/SISAF444_Baumol_Entrepreneurship.pdf

Class: Introductions to the course and chat on twitter

Recommended Reading

Umair Haque (2011), Betterness: Economics for Humans, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. http://hbr.org/product/betterness-economics-for-humans/an/11135-PDF-ENG

PART I: THE ENTREPRENEURIAL PROCESS

Session 2 (June 6). Defining a Strategy and Mobilizing Resources

Special Guest

Matt Flannery @mattflannery

Required Readings

Case: Kiva.org

Flannery, Matt (2006). “Kiva and the Birth of Person-to-Person Microfinance.” Innovations (2:1/2): 31-56.

Austin, Rob (2006). “Kiva as a Test of Our ‘Societal Creativity.’” Innovations (2:1/2): 57-62.

Flannery, Matt (2009). “Kiva: Four Years After” Innovations special edition for Skoll World Forum 2009: pp. 31-56.

The Power of Pull: Chapter 2-3.

Video

First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy: http://youtu.be/fW8amMCVAJQ

Online: Identifying shared areas of interest; forming teams.

Session 3 (June 11). Student Entrepreneurship

Lecturers: David Miller and Erin Krampetz

Required Readings

The Lean Startup: Part I

The Power of Pull: Chapters 4-5.

Session 4 (June 13). Realizing Opportunities

Case: Institute for OneWorld Health

Required Readings

Gates, Bill (2007). “Address at Harvard.” Innovations, 2:4, pp. 59-71. pp. 3-9. http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/itgg.2007.2.4.3

Hale, Victoria (2007). “Seeking a Cure for Inequity in Access to Medicines.” Innovations, 2:4, pp. 59-71.

Wesley Yin (2007). “Solutions and Challenges to Curing Global Health Inequality.” Innovations, 2:4, pp. 72-80.

The Power of Pull: Introduction and chapter 1.

Video:

Michael Wolff—Intel “Visual Life”: http://youtu.be/BTfAzjBTokc

Victoria Hale—Skoll Foundation “Uncommon Heroes”: http://youtu.be/GMyqugXlMqA

Deadline: Individual concept sketches due (100 words max)

Online: Impact investment simulation.

Session 5 (June 18). Lean Startup Methodology 

Lecturers: David Miller and Michael Youngblood

Required Readings

Lean Startup: Part II

Deadline: First Wiki entry or enhancement due.

PART II. ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN A HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Session 6 (June 20). Technology and Long-Run Growth

MIXED MEDIA CLASS: PODCAST + 1 HOUR ONLINE SESSION + TEAM MEETINGS

Required Readings

The Coming Prosperity: Chapter 1.

Supplementary Reading

John Maynard Keynes (1930), “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren” http://www.econ.yale.edu/smith/econ116a/keynes1.pdf

Martin Weitzman (1998). “Recombinant Growth.” American Economic Review (86:2): pp. 331-360. http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3708468/Weitzman_RecombinantGrowth.pdf [read pages 331-336]

Letter from Norbert Weiner to Walter Reuther, August 13, 1949. [URL to come]

Session 7 (June 25). The Power of Population

Required Readings

The Coming Prosperity: chapter 2

Video

Hans Rosling, 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes: http://youtu.be/jbkSRLYSojo.

Supplementary Reading

Thomas Malthus (2008 [1796]),  An Essay on the Principle of Population, Oxford UK: Oxford University Press; chapter 1. http://www.econlib.org/library/Malthus/malPlong1.html

Jeffrey Frankel (2010). “The Natural Resource Curse: A Survey.” Harvard Kennedy School Faculty Research Working Paper RWP10-005, February. http://web.hks.harvard.edu/publications/getFile.aspx?Id=504

Session 8 (June 27). Entrepreneurship and Governance

Required Readings

Case: Roshan/entrepreneurship in Afghanistan

Karim Khoja (2008). “Connecting a Nation: Roshan Brings Communications Services to Afghanistan.” Innovations (4:1), pp. 33-50.

Iqbal Z. Quadir (2008). “Foreign Aid and Bad Government: Helping Entrepreneurs is the Right Approach,” Wall Street Journal, January 30. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123327734124831471.html

Erik Malmstrom and Jake Cusack (2010). “Afghanistan’s Willing Entrepreneurs: Supporting Private-Sector Growth in the Afghan Economy.” Washington, DC: Center for a New American Security. Full text available at http://www.cnas.org/node/5346.

The Coming Prosperity: chapter 4.

Audio

Erik Malmstrom and Jake Cusack, remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on November 18, 2010, available at

http://csis.org/multimedia/snapshot-challenges-and-hope-private-sector-developmentafghanistan

Deadline: Individual concept draft due (500 words max)

Offline: Provide feedback to students’ concept draft. Provide feedback to the students who share your interests (instructors to introduce).  

Session 9 (July 2). Order and Adaptability in Human Societies

MIXED MEDIA CLASS: PODCAST + 1 HOUR ONLINE SESSION + TEAM MEETINGS

Required Readings

The Coming Prosperity: chapters 6-7.

Supplementary Readings

Joseph A. Schumpeter (1928). “The Instability of Capitalism.” The Economic Journal (38:151), September; pp. 385-386.

Stuart Kauffman (1995). “Technology and Evolution: Escaping the Red Queen Effect.” McKinsey Quarterly (1): pp. 119-129.

July 4: US HOLIDAY, NO CLASS

Session 10 (July 9). Supply Chains of Opportunity

Required Readings

Case: Aravind Eye Hospital

V. Kasturi Rangan and R. D. Thulasiraj (2007). “Making Sight Affordable,” Innovations (2:4): pp. 35-49.

Case: The Microconsignment Model

Greg Van Kirk (2010). “The MicroConsignment Model: Bridging the ‘Last Mile’ of Access to Products and Services for the Rural Poor,” Innovations, Winter (5:1): pp. 101–127

The Coming Prosperity: chapters 9-10.

Supplementary Readings

Aneel Karnani, “Reducing Poverty through Employment.” Working paper, University of Michigan, Ross School of Business, March 2010.

Video

Bethlehem Alemu:

http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/international/2010/06/02/av.beth.alemu.solerebels.bk.a.cnn

Leila Jannah, TEDxSiliconValley: http://youtu.be/1Ce9EfF2lHE

Village Reach, Skoll Uncommon Heroes: http://youtu.be/zu005ZHzabc

Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, 2010, “Supply Chains of Opportunity”: http://livestre.am/nVeg

Deadline: Second Wiki entry due

In class: Team updates.

Session 11 (July 11). Migration and Diaspora Engagement

Readings

Michael Clemens (2010). “A Labor Mobility Agenda for Development,” Center for Global Development Working Paper 201, January. http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1423717

The Coming Prosperity: chapter 11.

Supplementary Readings

Amartya Sen (2002). “Globalization: Past and Future,” Ishizaka Lectures (Tokyo), February 18. [Reading packet]

Ravi Jagannathan, Mudit Kapoor, and Ernst Schaumburg (2009) “Why are we in a recession? The Financial Crisis is the Symptom not the Disease!” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 15404, October. (read for general intent, not details)

Video

Vivek Wadhwa, TEDxEmbarcadero: http://youtu.be/Ti3pexQ3HaM

In class: Individual updates.

CONCLUSION

Sessions 12 (July 18): Lean Startup workshop: Minimal Viable Product

The Lean Startup: Part III

Sessions 13 and 14 (July 24 and 26): Presentation of strategic plans (videos)