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Entrepreneurship and innovation education has derived from established university curriculum and the context is set of concepts and tools used in the corporate world. The challenge of transforming a start‐up company into a business success needs different capabilities. It goes beyond the development of an idea and writing‐up a comprehensive business plan. This study analysed over 200 technology‐driven companies which have been created under the formal requirement of a business plan competition since 1996. The objective was to identify drivers for innovation and success. From the results, an agenda of entrepreneurial and innovation education was derived and is discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the innovation capabilities of Chinese enterprises. It is important to understand these innovation capabilities and to find how they might relate to promoting innovativeness.

In this paper, data obtained from a survey of enterprises in the Chinese provinces Liaoning and Henan are analysed using multiple regression to ascertain how facets of innovation capabilities might enhance the likelihood of innovation success. Analysis is conducted for innovation defined as incremental, radical and the total of both.

It is found that focusing on customers tends to reduce innovation for Chinese companies, whilst competitor orientation, knowledge enhancement and management capability are associated with enhanced innovative ability.

There are many determinants of innovation, notably as skills and attributes of the individual entrepreneur. In this paper the focus is on organisational facets and not on those of the individual. The paper shows the importance of monitoring competitors, as well as managing and enhancing knowledge.

The paper reports the analysis and extent of different capabilities for successful innovation from a unique data set from two provinces in China.

After completion of the case study, students will be able to identify the strategic key components of the Woolah tea brand through the business model canvas framework, to evaluate the major challenges faced by different stakeholders, to analyse the potential effects of bagless tea dip innovation and understand the principles of design thinking and its application in developing innovative solutions, to assess the strategic framework of Woolah tea brand to scale up its business and operations and to align the Woolah tea brand’s sustainability practices with a triple bottom line approach and contribution to UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Upamanyu Borkakoty and Anshuman Bharali, the founder duo of Woolah tea, began their entrepreneurial journey on a noble note. They recognised that plastic tea bags, which customers worldwide consume, create harmful health effects in the form of microplastic. They aimed to provide an authentic and sustainable tea experience while making it microplastic-free. When the world is heading towards securing a sustainable future, they envisioned adding a feather to it by proposing their Truedips. The USP of their product is Truedips – a tea ball they prepare by compressing one bud and two premier leaves. The founders were convinced that their innovative idea of tea consumption would provide customers with an authentic and exhilarating experience. However, there were dilemmas and roadblocks. They faced roadblocks related to the farmer’s traditional approach to growing tea, untrained tea growers, lack of financial assistance and customer readiness for a bagless tea experience. The dilemmas they faced related to their customer acceptance of their idea and the price affordability of the product. The big question hovering around was the customer’s feedback and acceptance of the product.

This case study suits graduate and postgraduate business administration students and other management programmes. The case study can also be used for business, marketing, design thinking, innovation and and social entrepreneurship courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The purpose of this paper is to describe an innovative approach to overcoming a common dilemma in designing negotiation simulations – that of situating a simulation in a real-life or fictitious context. This binary choice, which the authors call the negotiation designer’s dilemma, has profound implications for the types of learning activities and outcomes that can be integrated into the overall learning experience. As a way of overcoming the trade-offs inherent in this dilemma, the authors developed what they term hybrid simulations, which blend elements of fact and fiction in its contextual design in a particular way.

The authors were part of a negotiation simulation design team that used Design Thinking to understand the negotiation designer’s dilemma and to prototype and test a corresponding solution.

This paper demonstrates the benefits, potential applications and the how-to of hybrid simulations within the context of two such simulations the authors have designed at two different Swiss business schools. This paper concludes by discussing the potential and limitations for the application of hybrid simulations, as well as areas of potential further development.

The concept of a hybrid negotiation is a novel design trick that can be used in a variety of negotiation simulation contexts.