Peer Review

Entrepreneurship and Innovation Toolkit

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Jan 27, 2020 by Business

Bookmark

Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

This book is designed for upper-year undergraduate students and graduate students studying fundamental entrepreneurship concepts. It covers the entrepreneurship ecosystem at a macro- and micro-level perspective and analysis. Each chapter is designed to address pre-determined learning objectives, followed by a descriptive and comprehensive explanation on the topic highlighted, summarized by a series of pertinent questions and discussions for in-depth understanding and further research.

It can be used as a textbook for an Entrepreneurship class or individual chapters can be used to supplement another textbook. The book can be read online or can be downloaded in a variety of formats.

Type of Material:

Open (Access) Textbook

Recommended Uses:

Use as main textbook in class
Could use specific chapters as supplement to class.
individual self-paced study

Technical Requirements:

Can read online or download as PDF, ePub.
Used Chrome to access

Identify Major Learning Goals:

Receive overview of entrepreneurship and of the language of entrepreneurship
Apply current concepts in entrepreneurship to the evaluation of entrepreneurs, their ventures, and the venturing environment.
Develop skills, including the capability to add value in the new venture sector of the economy.
Acquire and practice evaluation skills useful in consulting, advising, and making new venture decisions.
Discuss opportunity recognition concepts and methods as developed and/or advocated by leading thinkers like Drucker, Mitchell, Schumpeter, and Vesper
Describe what design thinking is
Apply design thinking to develop and assess new venture ideas
Apply analytical skills to assess how the nature of entrepreneurial environment can influence entrepreneurial outcomes
Apply the right tools to analyze each of the societal, industry, market, and firm levels to evaluate entrepreneurial and other business opportunities
Describe the considerations associated with a variety of strategic approaches to entrepreneurship

Target Student Population:

College Upper Division, Graduate School
General Business course
Management course
Entrepreneurship course

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

General understanding of business concepts.
Relevant computer skills

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

Very comprehensive
Heavily referenced
Relevant information- up to date
Quotes at the start of each chapter that set the scene
Many applications for it, in terms of informing lecture material
Provides a good starting point in the concept and ideas of entrepreneurship

Concerns:

Mix between American and British English used
A glossary would also be useful.
A number of notable key authors in the field were missing.
Would have expected more of the stages of the innovation process to be captured
A deeper explanation on many topics could have enhanced a lecture or classroom discussion
A simple quiz (online or offline) at the end of each chapter can further strengthen comprehension on the subject matter.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

Modularity of this text is great
Chapters are structured well
Chapters build on other chapters
Individual chapters could be used as supplement
Flow of and sequence of learning material promotes knowledge acquisition.
Conceptual understanding is built upon previous chapters or learning segments.

Concerns:

Terms, concepts and theory needs a laddering process in order to scaffold and build a students schema in the principles of entrepreneurship
A quiz of guide for discussion would enhance the materials
Text is laden with terminology, mostly pulled from the literature,
Chunking the content into smaller sections would be more appealing to a university student.
Could be better explanations of some of the tools.
Restructuring the chapters might provide a better experience for the students.
Topic areas sometimes felt like they were delivered in note form, with long lists and bullets

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

Book is well organized
Various formats of book are available
Good instructions for how to use it
Easily accessible
Textbook has clear and consistent layout

Concerns:

Could use more color, definition or utilization of graphics to get the tools, charts and graphs to stand out.
Single spacing also seems like a deterrent to read in sections and add to the readers comprehension.
Different color headers, or font size could add to the appeal
Lack of consistency in the way that the figures are displayed

Other Issues and Comments:

Textbook material can be cross-referenced with other similar learning material either via links, socialmedia or appropriate apps.

Creative Commons: