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SW47x SYLLABUS

Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies

Course Overview

The primary objective of the course is to engage students in the modern day challenges affecting emerging economies, and to examine a range of entrepreneurial attempts to solve these problems. We hope that you will leave this course with a deeper understanding of the ways in which entrepreneurial action can effectively tackle major problems in emerging economies, by combining knowledge of historical causes, qualitative and quantitative evidence, and context-specific knowledge of the commonalities and differences across emerging economies.

This course previously ran with a more specific focus on healthcare in South Asia. For this current version, we have added a range of examples that expand the focus to emerging economies more broadly, and also a new module on Urbanization and Population Dynamics. Although many of our examples are drawn from healthcare interventions in South Asia, no prior knowledge of business, entrepreneurship, healthcare, or South Asia is required.

Schedule

This is a self-paced course.  All modules release simultaneously. You have from when the course opens until 12/1/2017 at 23:59 UTC to complete all material. 

Modules

Orientation and Introductions

Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies

Process Innovation and Scale: Tertiary Healthcare

Branding: Food Security

Metrics & Action: Maternal Mortality

Creativity: The Role of Intellectual Property Rights

Partnering and Platforms: Mass Urbanization, Temporary Urbanization & and Population Dynamics

Readings

It is highly recommended that you obtain the following books written and co-written by the lead faculty for the course.

Khanna, Tarun. (2007). Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures—and Yours. Harvard Business School Publishing (Boston, MA)

Khanna,Tarun and Krishna G. Palepu. (2010). Winning in Emerging Markets: A Roadmap for Strategy and Execution. Harvard Business Press (Boston, MA), 2010. [The early chapters of this book introduce a framework for thinking about entrepreneurial action. The rest of the book is only tangentially applicable, so library reference may suffice.]

Specific readings for each module are linked in their respective sections of the course.

Assessment

The primary mode of assessment in this course is self-assessment.  You are required to watch all of the videos and read all of the background texts/websites that are provided. There are also "Checks for Understanding," short assessments that seek to measure how well you understood the videos and other materials.

The primary goal of the course is to stimulate thought and conversation regarding potential solutions to intractable problems related to health. As such, the self-assessment of participation that appears at the end of each module is the sole factor in grading and certification; a score of 90% overall is required for certification.