General information


Subject type: Mandatory

Coordinator: Adso Fernández Baena

Trimester: First term

Credits: 6

Teaching staff: 

Jaume Teodoro Sadurní

Teaching languages


Materials (articles, videos, guides, etc.) in English and Spanish are used during the course. 

Skills


Basic skills
  • B1_That students have demonstrated knowledge and understanding in a field of study that is based on general secondary education, and is accustomed to finding at a level that, although with the support of advanced textbooks, also include some aspects that involve knowledge from the forefront of your field of study

     

  • B2_That students know how to apply their knowledge to their job or vocation in a professional way and have the skills they demonstrate by developing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of ​​study

     

  • B3_Students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (usually within their area of ​​study), to make judgments that include reflection on relevant social, scientific or ethical issues

     

  • B4_That students can convey information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialized and non-specialized audiences

     

  • B5_That students have developed those learning skills necessary to undertake further studies with a high degree of autonomy

     

Specific skills
  • V12. Apply entrepreneurial initiative and innovation for the creation of new video games and business lines.

  • V13. Apply business vision, marketing and sales, economic analysis and technical knowledge for video game production.

Transversal competences
  • T1_That students know a third language, which will be preferably English, with an adequate level of oral and written form, according to the needs of the graduates in each degree

     

  • T2_That students have the ability to work as members of an interdisciplinary team either as one more member, or performing management tasks in order to contribute to developing projects with pragmatism and a sense of responsibility, making commitments taking into account the available resources

     

Description


The subject of "Entrepreneurship and Innovation" of the Degree in Design and Production of Video Games is part of the subjects linked to the business area that together with "Business Administration", "Business Models", "Marketing" and other subjects, aim to promote the entrepreneurial attitude among students and provide them with tools that can be useful if they decide to link to entrepreneurship on the way to incorporation into the world of work. In this case, this subject is later than the "Business Administration" (1st year) and previous to "Business Models" and "Marketing" that are taught in the following quarters of the 2nd year. It should be noted, therefore, that this subject follows a common thread on the business knowledge that students have acquired in the 1st year and does not delve into the concepts of "Business Models" and "Marketing" since it goes into detail in the following quarters of the same course.

The contents of this subject have been designed to give students an overview of entrepreneurship, from knowledge of the situation of the video game industry and the generation of ideas to the execution of the same. in a viable and sustainable way. Given the need for differentiating business projects in a highly competitive environment with companies of high innovative culture, the subject gives high prominence to the creativity and practical tools that are used today in successful companies. 

The subject has theoretical sessions, teamwork sessions, group discussions, research exercises, presentations by industry professionals, etc. In order to achieve the fundamental basis of the subject, teamwork is rewarded on the one hand, and the acquisition of theoretical knowledge individually on the other.

This subject has methodological and digital resources to make possible its continuity in non-contact mode in the case of being necessary for reasons related to the Covid-19. In this way, the achievement of the same knowledge and skills that are specified in this teaching plan will be ensured.

 

Learning outcomes


At the end of the course the student must be able to:

  • E12.1. Generate innovative ideas for video game products and analyze them as a business opportunity.
  • E12.2. Demonstrate knowledge about the creation and start-up of new businesses or start-ups.
  • E12.3. Describe benchmarks of independent video game studies.
  • E12.4. Test start-up prototypes and analyze user feedback.
  • E12.5. Develop entrepreneurial projects, taking into account the business model, its viability, the marketing and sales plan and the customer.
  • E13.1. Demonstrate knowledge about the structure and organization of a company.
  • E13.2. Use forecasting and business planning tools.
  • E13.3. Describe the basics of marketing and market research.
  • E13.4. Design a marketing strategy for a video game.
  • E13.5. Describe business models related to the video game industry.
  • E13.6. Design a business model and monetize a video game.
  • E13.7. Analyze the economic viability of a business or line of business.

Working methodology


The subject uses the following work methodologies:

Lectures, Lectures, Presentations, Video Capsules, Debates and Forums, Case Studies, Role-Playing, Collaborative Learning, Problem Solving, Critical Article Search and Reading, and Question-Based Learning, and Face-to-Face and Offline Tutoring face-to-face.

 

Contents


1. CONTEXTUALIZATION
1.1 Creative and cultural industries
1.2 Demographics of the video game industrial ecosystem
1.3 Video game development companies. The national scene.

2. ENTERPRISE SUCCESSFULLY
2.1 The measure of Success
2.2 Born Global and the video game industry
2.3 Anatomy of an entrepreneur
2.4 Lean Startups, Hacking Growth and Market Iterations

3. FINANCING
3.1 Company vs Projects
3.2 Sources of Funding
3.3 The search for funding
3.3.1 What are investors looking for?
3.3.2 The Business Plan vs. the Deck
3.4 Phases: startup, growth, expansion

4. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF THE COMPANY
4.1 What is strategy?
4.2 Mission, Vision, Values ​​and Stakeholder Theory
4.3 Strategic analysis: Internal and External
4.3.1 Resources and Capacities. VRIO analysis
4.3.2 The macroenvironment. PESTEL.
4.3.3 The microenvironment. The Goalkeeper's Diamond.
4.3.4 Internal-External Analysis. SWOT
4.3.4 Market Strategies: Differentiation, Costs and Segmentation

5. INNOVATION
5.1 Types of innovation: Company / Product, Process and Paradigm
5.2 Proactive and reactive motives. Why innovate?
5.3 The creative process. How to innovate?
5.3.1 Design thinking: inductive, deductive and abductive reasoning
5.3.2 Open innovation
5.4 Barriers to innovation
5.5 Ethics in Video Game Design

6. CONSTITUTION OF STARTUPS - NATIONAL OVERVIEW
6.1 Type of company. The legal form.
6.2 Prior needs. Legal aspects.
6.3 Resources, tax procedures, costs and time of constitution

7. GROWTH AND EXPANSION
7.1 Proactive and reactive motives. Why expand?
7.2 Growth: amateur, indie and development company
7.3 Take the pulse of quality: veteranism, projects, awards and own funds
7.4 Methods of expansion: Organic Growth, Acquisitions and Mergers, Strategic Alliances, Cooperative Networks, etc.
7.5 The international, global, multinational, transnational company
7.6 The smart company and the virtual company

 

Learning activities


With the aim of collecting evidence of the achievement of the expected learning outcomes, the following activities of an evaluative nature will be carried out (related to all the common competences):

A1. Exercises in class or at home: Exercises (Evidence of learning outcomes E12.2, E12.3, E12.4, E13.2 and E13.5)
Practical analysis exercises, some of them based on real cases, starring video game companies nationally and internationally, dealing with strategic decisions or ending in success or failure. Usually supported by texts, viewed in class: videos or presentations in PWP. The directed activities serve to evaluate the attitude towards learning. At the end of the activities the student must have a speech to comment on decisions about product creation and design and business ideas. However, the student should be able to analyze new cases independently with a more technical and scientific view.

A2. Group work: Startup Design and Investment Round (Evidence of learning outcomes E12.1, E12.4, E12.5, E13.2, E13.4 and E13.6) 
Purpose of the exercise: To design and document the process of creating one startup and present to an investor.

A3. Final exam: Exam (Evidence of learning outcomes E12.2, E13.1, E13.2, E13.3, E13.5 and E13.7)
 

General criteria of the activities:

  • Teachers will present a statement for each activity and the evaluation and / or rubric criteria, in class and through the virtual campus.
  • The teacher will inform of the dates and specifications of delivery of the activities, although it is the responsibility of the students to attend to any modification of dates or formats of delivery.

Evaluation system


The grade of each student will be calculated following the following percentages:

  • A1. Exercises to be done in class or at home 10%
  • A2. Group work: Startup design and investment round 40%
  • A3. Final exam 50%

Final grade = A1 x 0,1 + A2 x 0,4 + A3 x 0,5

Considerations:

  • It is necessary to obtain a grade higher than 5 in activity A2, and a grade higher than 4 in activity A3 to pass the subject. Otherwise, recovery will be required.
  • An activity not delivered or delivered late and without justification (court summons or medical matter) counts as a 0.
  • It is the responsibility of the student to prevent plagiarism in all its forms. In the case of detecting plagiarism in any activity, regardless of its scope, it will correspond to having a grade of 0. In addition, the professor will communicate to the Head of Studies the situation so that applicable measures are taken in the matter of sanctioning regime. .

Recovery:

  • The students with a qualification inferior to five (5) in the final note of first announcement, will be able to recover the asignatura by means of the realization of an only examination that will collect all the content of the same. 
  • The maximum grade that can be achieved in an extraordinary call is a five (5).

REFERENCES


Basic

RIES, E. (2011). The Lean Startup. NY: Crown Publishing Group.

Bies, B. (2017). Indie Gaming: Finding Entrepreneurial Success in Video Games. New Degree Press

Porter, ME (2008). Competitive strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. Simon and Schuster.

Chesbrough, HW (2003). Open innovation: The new imperative for creating and profiting from technology. Harvard Business Press.

Complementary

Gabrielsson, M., & Kirpalani, VM (2004). Born globals: how to reach new business space rapidly. International Business Review, 13 (5), 555-571.

Porter, ME, & Advantage, C. (1985). Creating and sustaining superior performance. Competitive Advantage, 167.

DEV. White Paper on the Spanish Development of Video Games. http://www.dev.org.es/es/publicaciones

Grant, RM (1991). The resource-based theory of competitive advantage: implications for strategy formulation. California management review, 33 (3), 114-135.

Sean, E. & Brown, M. (2017) Hacking Growth: How Today’s Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success. NY: Currency. 

Brown, T. (2008). Design thinking. Harvard business review, 86 (6), 84.

URBANO, D. (2005): The creation of companies in Catalonia: support organizations and attitudes towards entrepreneurial activity. CIDEM study collection. Center for Innovation and Business Development.

DEV. The 3D of Video Game Financing. Link: http://www.dev.org.es/es/3dfinanciacion

URBANO, D. & RODRIGUEZ, L. (2010): Guide for the elaboration of a business plan. Department of Labor. Government of Catalonia. 

Welch, DE, & Welch, LS (1996). The internationalization process and networks: A strategic management perspective. Journal of International Marketing, 11-28.

Lewis, JD (2002). Partnerships for profit: Structuring and managing strategic alliances. Simon and Schuster.