106214 - ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION

Subject type: Mandatory

Coordinator: Adso Fernández Baena

Trimester: First term

Credits: 6

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

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.

The Tecnocampus will make available to teachers and students the digital tools needed to carry out the course, as well as guides and recommendations that facilitate adaptation to the non-contact mode.

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.

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.

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

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 (Evidence of learning outcomes E12.1, E12.4, E12.5, E13.2, and E13.6) 
Purpose of the exercise: To design and document the process of creating one startup. The exercise aims to promote the reflection, application, and documentation by the student, of the basic aspects of the project in the design process of a video game startup. These basic aspects correspond to the theoretical contents of the subject and, therefore, it is a question of the students selecting and applying these contents to the activity. This activity is the antecedent of the work of end of course, so that so much groups as thematic have to correspond with the content of the following work to deliver in the process of continuous evaluation of the asignatura. 

A3. Group work: The Deck and Pitch in Publisher (Evidence of learning outcomes E12.1, E12.4, E12.5, E13.2, E13.4 and E13.6)
Purpose of work: To document and present to an investor a project in the growth phase of a startup. The exercise aims to promote the reflection, application, and documentation by the student, of the basic aspects of the project in the process of seeking funding for it. These basic aspects correspond to the theoretical contents of the subject and, therefore, it is a question of the students selecting and applying these contents to the activity. The final work is continuous with the group exercise "Startup Design", so the groups and the theme must correspond to it. The groups will have been created for the group exercise "Startup Design".

A4. Partial exam: Exam (Evidence of learning outcomes E12.2, E13.1, E13.2, E13.3, E13.5 and E13.7)
Individual partial examination of part of the syllabus. The statement of the test consists of three parts: a first part with test-type questions, a second part with practical exercises and a third part with reasoning questions.

A5. Final exam: Exam (Evidence of learning outcomes E12.2, E13.1, E13.2, E13.3, E13.5 and E13.7)
Individual final exam of part of the syllabus. The statement of the test consists of three parts: a first part with test-type questions, a second part with practical exercises and a third part with reasoning questions.

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.
• Class and homework exercises will be done in teams of 4 people. The variation of the number of components to a number of students different from the specified one will be at the discretion of the teaching staff, according to the needs of the subject / groups. The groups will be created at the discretion of the students.
• Class exercises and assignments will be delivered in digital format via the eCampus, with one week for delivery in the case of class exercises.
• The exercises and works will be solved together in the classroom and will serve to comment, analyze and generate debates in class around the contents of the subject. Thus, the development of the works contemplates tutorials during the classes where the students can ask doubts. The class will detail the frequency and its operation. Attendance at these sessions will be important in the evaluation process, in accordance with the general competencies of the subject related to organizational work, self-learning, teamwork and the ability to apply content and generate ideas.

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 15%
• A3. Group work: The Deck and Pitch to Publisher 25%
• A4. 20% partial exam 
• A5. Final exam 30%

Final grade = A1 x 0,1 + A2 x 0,15 + A3 x 0,25 + A4 x 0,2 + A5 x 0,3

Considerations:

• The exams (partial and final) must be passed with a minimum grade of five (5) to pass the continuous assessment.
• An activity not delivered or delivered late and without justification (court summons or medical matter) counts as a zero (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 zero (0). In addition, the teacher will inform the Head of Studies of the situation so that applicable measures can be taken in matters of the sanctioning regime.

Recovery:

• Students with a grade of less than five (5) in the grade of any of the exams (partial or final), may retake the subject by taking a single exam that will collect all the contents of it. The mark of the resit exam will be the final mark of the subject.
• Students with a grade of less than five (5) in the weighted mark of the evaluation activities of the first call, will be able to recover the subject by carrying out a single exam that will collect all the content of the same. The mark of the resit exam will be the final mark of the subject.
• The maximum grade that can be achieved in an extraordinary call or second call is a five (5).

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.

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.