Welcome to BUS653: Innovation and Entrepreneurship Launch

Specific information about this course and its requirements can be found below. For more general information about taking Saylor Academy courses, including information about Community and Academic Codes of Conduct, please read the Student Handbook.

Course Description

In this graduate-level course, take the next steps to launch or continually grow your business.

Course Introduction

This course takes you from the business plan phase, where you developed a business plan, to the next step in your business: launch and growth by considering ethics, innovation, strategic management processes, and change management. In this course, you will learn how to apply ethics and social responsibility in your business, which has many advantages as you grow. You will also learn about diversity since you will likely be hiring people as you grow. You will also learn about innovation and how to harness the power of innovation to create a steady stream of new ideas for your business. We will also address lifecycles and how you might use different strategies at each lifecycle stage of your business. We will also address some of the strategies organizations use for growth. In our third unit, we will focus on turning your business plan into tools you can use for strategic management, such as creating a vision and mission. As with any growing business, applying change management concepts and strong decision-making skills can assist you in creating your strategic plans and setting goals. In our last unit, we will address concepts related to growing your business, such as ensuring your marketing plan is on track to obtain financing for growth.

This course includes the following units:

  • Unit 1: Ethics in Entrepreneurship
  • Unit 2: Innovation and Growth
  • Unit 3: Strategic Management for the Entrepreneur
  • Unit 4: Change Management and Decision-Making
  • Unit 5: Growing Your Business

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

  • Explain the methods that can be implemented into an entrepreneurial venture to focus on ethics and corporate social responsibility;
  • Formulate plans for organizational innovation and growth;
  • Develop and design strategic plans;
  • Propose a change management plan for a new start-up business; and
  • Determine growth strategy methods for an entrepreneurial venture.

Throughout this course, you will also see learning outcomes in each unit. You can use those learning outcomes to help organize your studies and gauge your progress.

Course Materials

This course's primary learning materials are articles, lectures, and videos.

All course materials are free to access and can be found in each unit of the course. Pay close attention to the notes that accompany these course materials, as they will tell you what to focus on in each resource and will help you understand how the learning materials fit into the course as a whole. You can also see a list of all the learning materials in this course at this link.

Some parts of this course may have been created or reviewed with the support of artificial intelligence (AI). To make sure you receive accurate, high-quality, and academically sound learning materials, all AI-assisted content is carefully checked and approved by Saylor Academy's faculty and subject matter experts.

Evaluation and Minimum Passing Score

Only the final exam is considered when awarding you a grade for this course. To pass this course, you will need to earn a grade of 70% or higher on the final exam.

Your score on the exam will be calculated as soon as you complete it. Be sure to study in between each attempt! If you do not pass the exam, you will not complete this course or receive a certificate of completion. You can attempt the exam as many times as you want.

There are end-of-unit assessments in this course that are designed to help you study and do not factor into your final course grade. You can take them as many times as you want until you understand the concepts they cover.

You can see all of these assessments at this link.

Continuing Education Credits

The certificate earned by passing this self-paced course displays the program hours you completed and continuing education credits (CEUs). CEUs document successful completion of courses that are designed to improve the knowledge and skills of working adults. Many industries value CEUs, and now your certificate reflects them clearly, and they may be used to support career advancement or to meet professional licensing standards. This course contains 4.6 CEUs.

Tips for Success

BUS653: Innovation and Entrepreneurship Launch is a self-paced course, meaning you can decide when to start and complete the course. We estimate the "average" student will take 46 hours to complete. We recommend studying at a comfortable pace and scheduling your study time in advance.

Learning new material can be challenging, so here are a few study strategies to help you succeed:

  • Take notes on terms, practices, and theories. This helps you understand each concept in context and provides a refresher for later study.
  • Test yourself on what you remember and how well you understand the concepts. Reflecting on what you've learned improves long-term memory retention.

Technical Requirements

This course is delivered entirely online. You will need access to a computer or web-capable mobile device and consistent internet access to view or download resources and complete auto-graded assessments and the final exam.

To access the full course, including assessments and the final exam, log into your Saylor Academy account and enroll in the course. If you don't have an account, you can create one for free here. Note that tracking progress and taking assessments require you to log in.

For more details and guidance, please review our complete Technical Requirements and our student Help Center.

Optional Saylor Academy Mobile App

You can access all course features directly from your mobile browser, but if you have limited internet connectivity, the Saylor Academy mobile app provides an option to download course content for offline use. The app is available for iOS and Android devices.

Download on Google Play Download on the App Store

Fees

This course is entirely free to enroll in and access. All course materials, including textbooks, videos, webpages, and activities, are available at no charge. This course also contains a free final exam and a free course completion certificate.