ENTR 820 | Session 4 | Architectures of Service Innovation

Summary:

Service innovation is defined as improving an existing product or service and serves as a vital economic driver in advanced nations, where the service sector can account for approximately 80% of employment. Because services possess unique characteristics such as intangibility, heterogeneity, customer contact, and perishability, they are often more difficult to conceptualize and evaluate than physical goods. To manage these complexities, organizations use structured models like the Pentathlon Framework and tools such as service blueprints to map customer journeys and close the gap between customer expectations and actual delivery. While innovation styles vary by sector—ranging from servitization in manufacturing to social innovation in the nonprofit world—successful implementation requires a shift toward outside-in thinking and a clearly defined business model to ensure profitability. However, a significant barrier remains the reluctance of senior executives, who may view innovation as a financial risk. Innovators must therefore use strategic language about upselling, cross-selling, and customer retention to justify investment and secure necessary support.

ENTR 502 | Session 4 | Value Proposition, Product Development, and the Customer

Summary:

The process of value proposition design focuses on discovering and creating unique benefits for customers by identifying the specific "jobs" they "hire" products to perform in their lives. Using tools like the Value Proposition Canvas, businesses can systematically map customer profiles—including their tasks, pains, and desired gains—against a value map to achieve precise product-market fit. To validate these assumptions effectively, entrepreneurs should build a Minimum Viable Business Product (MVBP), the simplest version of a product designed to test value and secure payment while initiating an iterative feedback loop. Techniques such as "concierging" allow teams to provide personalized, hands-on support to understand unique requirements and "fake it" behind the scenes without initially overspending on complex technology. Finally, a structured Product Plan ensures long-term success by outlining how to expand from an initial beachhead market into adjacent areas, balancing functional enhancements with high-quality releases to achieve a sustainable business model fit.

ENTR 820 | Session 3 | Innovation in Context: Driving Change and Market Evolution

Summary:

Innovation is propelled by a multifaceted interplay of contextual drivers, including financial pressures for efficiency, shifting demographic and market trends, and the rapid advancement of technologies such as AI and robotics. While businesses often innovate to meet rising consumer expectations, regulatory standards, or shorter product life cycles, highly risky and expensive ventures with no immediate return on investment—such as early space exploration—are typically pioneered by governments rather than private capital, which requires a proven business case. Effective innovation management requires understanding the diffusion process of new ideas, balancing the complexity and risks of new systems, and strategically aligning innovations with a firm's core competencies and 'imitability' to ensure long-term profitability. Ultimately, proactive managerial decision-making and the adoption of models like open innovation are essential for organisations to navigate maturing markets and sustain a competitive advantage in a changing global economy.

ENTR 502 | Session 3 | Venturing from Opportunity to Market Validation

Summary:

Successful entrepreneurship begins with identifying a viable market niche or a specific problem to solve, often rooted in personal passion or experienced pain points. Centring a business on customer needs—including functional, emotional, and social requirements—is critical for driving innovation, fostering loyalty, and sustaining long-term growth. Identifying these needs requires a combination of market research, analyzing existing data, soliciting direct feedback, and monitoring social media trends to understand the "who, what, and why" of consumer behaviour. Modern businesses can significantly enhance this process by leveraging machine learning and AI tools to automate routine tasks, perform sentiment analysis, and gain deeper consumer insights at scale. To stand out in competitive markets, founders must articulate a clear product vision and positioning statement that defines their unique benefit and differentiation from existing alternatives. Finally, adopting a Lean Startup approach—prioritising "validated learning" through the build-measure-learn feedback loop—allows entrepreneurs to iterate products rapidly and pivot when necessary to avoid wasting resources on solutions that do not meet market demand

FIN 588 | Session 5 | Roche's Acquisition of Genentech - 2026

In 2008, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche proposed acquiring the remaining 44% of its fiercely independent biotech subsidiary, Genentech, offering $89 per share in a deal valued at approximately $100 billion.

This strategic move was designed to reduce operational overlap, secure unfettered access to Genentech's substantial free cash flow, and protect Roche's access to an innovative drug pipeline before a key licensing agreement expired in 2015.

However, the acquisition faced a significant valuation impasse when Genentech's special committee rejected the offer as inadequate, countered with a price of $112 to $115 per share, and refused to negotiate downward despite the burgeoning 2008 global financial crisis.

Roche's leadership, including Franz Humer and Severin Schwan, had to navigate the extreme difficulty of securing $44 billion in debt financing during a worldwide credit freeze while fearing that a hostile tender offer might alienate the star scientists and managers central to Genentech's success.

FIN 588 | Session 4 | CEO Compensation - Evidence from the field - 2022

Alex Edmans, Tom Gosling, Dirk Jenter

Summary:

We survey directors and investors on the objectives, constraints, and determinants of CEO pay. We find that directors face constraints beyond participation and incentives, and that pay matters not to finance consumption but to address CEOs' fairness concerns. 67% of directors would sacrifice shareholder value to avoid controversy, leading to lower levels and one-size-fits-all structures. Shareholders are the main source of constraints, suggesting that directors and investors disagree on how to maximize value. Intrinsic motivation and reputation are seen as stronger motivators than incentive pay. Even with strong portfolio incentives, flow pay responds to performance to fairly recognize the CEO's contribution.

ENTR 820 | Session 2 | Understanding Innovation Management

Innovation is far more than a "light bulb" moment of pure creativity; it is a disciplined management process that transforms ideas into tangible value through structured frameworks and integrated scientific, financial, and technical activities.

It encompasses dimensions beyond products, including process, business model, and service innovations, which often provide a more sustained competitive advantage because they are more difficult for competitors to copy.

To succeed, organizations must balance a portfolio of incremental, breakthrough, and radical innovations while fostering a cross-functional environment that integrates R&D, marketing, operations, and external partnerships.

Ultimately, effective innovation management—often conceptualized through models like the Innovation Pentathlon—requires aligning strategy, people, and culture to navigate the "messy" reality of feedback loops, dead ends, and environmental uncertainty.

ENTR 502 | Session 2 | Corporate Structures

A business entity is a legal designation that establishes a company's separate existence. Choosing the right structure is vital because it determines taxation, management frameworks, and the protection of personal assets.

Simple structures such as sole proprietorships and partnerships are relatively easy to form but often involve unlimited liability or lack long-term business continuity.

Conversely, Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) and corporations (C-corps and S-corps) provide greater liability protection, though they differ significantly in tax treatment, ranging from pass-through taxation to the "double taxation" faced by C-corporations.

The formation process generally involves registering with a Secretary of State, obtaining an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS, and ensuring foreign entity registration if the business operates outside its home state.

Furthermore, selecting a jurisdiction such as Delaware, Nevada, or Wyoming can offer additional strategic benefits, including enhanced privacy and more favorable tax laws.

ENTR 502 | Session 1 | Orientation Entrepreneurial Mindset

Summary:

An entrepreneurial mindset is a multifaceted set of mental attitudes and behaviors, such as resilience, adaptability, and proactivity, that drive individuals to recognize opportunities and innovate in uncertain conditions. According to the sources, this mindset is a universal necessity across all sectors, including government and large corporations, to solve complex global challenges like climate change and healthcare. Core traits include calculated risk-taking, creative problem-solving, and self-motivation, which can be cultivated by setting clear goals, networking, and viewing setbacks as learning experiences rather than endpoints. While sources debate age—suggesting that older entrepreneurs may be more successful due to industry experience and financial security, whereas 20-somethings offer fresh perspectives and have less to lose—the mindset remains a catalyst for personal and professional growth. Developing these skills ultimately equips individuals to drive positive societal change by transforming obstacles into platforms for success.

To help solidify this concept, you might think of an entrepreneurial mindset as a biological immune system for a career; instead of being weakened by the "germs" of failure or change, the mindset learns from them, becoming stronger and more capable of handling the next challenge. Please note that this analogy is my own and is not drawn from the provided sources.

FIN 588 | Session 1-3 | Foundations and Frontiers of Corporate Finance Research

Summary

This is an overview of the optional readings for Sessions 1-3. The sources examine the evolution of corporate finance from the Modigliani-Miller irrelevance propositions to complex frameworks that incorporate agency costs and incomplete contracts, where ownership is primarily defined by residual rights of control. Research indicates that a firm's capital structure is often remarkably stable over decades, typically driven by unobserved time-invariant effects or historical market timing rather than current optimal trade-offs. Debt maturity and seniority are strategically used to manage creditor conflict and control, yet shorter maturities can paradoxically worsen debt overhang during future periods of financial distress. Real-world investment efficiency is further affected by headquarters' proximity to plants and the "WACC fallacy", a common error in which managers destroy value by applying a unique discount rate to diverse projects. Furthermore, while the prevalence of secured debt has declined alongside improvements in accounting transparency, corporate decisions such as dividend payments are often driven by managers catering to fluctuating investor sentiment regarding stock characteristics.