Breaking news:
To quote a student participant: ‘Beginning with theory is fine to understand the goal of the module, but practising is the better way to improve us in entrepreneurship’. (RSA post-module survey)
91% agree and strongly agree: “Participating in this (innovation and entrepreneurship) module has stimulated my interest in new business enterprise”: (ESDES post-module survey).
The Brief:
‘Experience starting your own business.’
The big question posed was: how to encourage more graduates into exploring enterprise and experiencing a business start-up.
Target Users:
Working in partnership with The RSA People & Profit team, the challenge was to create a simulation experience flexible for anyone thinking of starting their own enterprise – from a social enterprise through to an IP/technology-based build-to-sell company.
Solution & Method:
The LD author and development team created:
Enterprise Explorer: choose the type of business you want to explore.
The simulation starts with participants selecting a “style” of business:
- Lifestyle business
- Social enterprise
- For profit, scalable business
- IP/technology-based build-to-sell
The simulation enables participation on individual or team basis. Participants then progress through the multimedia simulation which takes them through four phases:
- Enterprise Start-up
- Enterprise Planning
- Driving performance to deliver financial and non-financial outcomes
- Building value, continuation or exit strategies
Desired Experience / Learning Outcomes:
- Participants should be able to explore and experience a range of potential enterprise types
- Understand the demands and issues involved in starting up and running different types of enterprise
Results:
The Enterprise Explorer simulation beta has been tested at three ‘proof of concept’ pilots at:
- The RSA with 100 undergraduate students from over 15 UK universities
- ESDES University, Lyons, France, with 30 masters business studies students
- University of Bristol, School of Economics, Finance and Management with 40 undergraduate students
The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive:
Clive Kerridge, University of Gloucestershire, course leader at ESDES: “The simulation adds the ‘doing’ to an understanding of innovation and entrepreneurship theory”.
Claire Spencer, Bristol University: “What I find interesting about the Enterprise Explorer simulation is that it gives participants a realistic experience of what it really feels like to think about, choose a business type and start a business of your own”.
The simulation has gone through a further design iteration and will be ready for release in September 2014.
Uses:
The simulation can be:
Curricular courses: easily embedded in enterprise courses via the LD simulation management platform, access either individually or team-based, with the timetable scheduled to suit the course and a range of assessment options.
Extra-curricular: the simulation can also be used on an extra-curricular basis with individual participants progressing at their own pace.
