Independent University Newspaper
Copenhagen Business School

Popular searches:

Independent University Newspaper

Copenhagen Business School

CBS forges powerful tools for future CSE start-ups

The research center involved with doing research about early stage start-ups at CSE (From the left: Eva Sophie Dendolla, Giulio Zichella, Carolyn Rutherford, and Toke Reichstein)

The research center involved with doing research about early stage start-ups at CSE (From the left: Eva Sophie Gendolla, Giulio Zichella, Carolyn Rutherford, and Toke Reichstein)

CBS has set in motion research that will create valuable insights for early stage CSE start-ups, generate new research opportunities for researchers, and bring about unique teaching experiences for the students.

News |   30. May 2018

David Fulop

Student Writer

Every month, a team of CBS researchers are regularly collecting data on infant start-ups at CSE -Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship. They track the companies’ changes over time and draw conclusions about the decisions being made at different stages of their existence.

Currently, the team is looking into understanding the way that entrepreneurs perceive time and how long their motivation lasts as they advance their company. Their insights will be used to map the best way to develop a start-up from their earliest stages, says Toke Reichstein, a professor at the Department of Strategic Management and Globalization.

“We can develop a taxonomy for each firm and help connect the firms that are facing the same challenges as each other. But this can also happen backwards. They can see who faced similar challenges two months ago and talk with them to gain an understanding of what they should do, or not do, based on the other’s experiences.”

“Also, by creating benchmarks, the founders have an idea of where they are standing compared to all the others. This makes them understand whether they are progressing in the right way, whether they are investing the right time, and whether they are making the right kind of choices when compared to what the rest are doing.”

Start-ups in the classrooms

Toke Reichstein and his team are also using the start-ups from CSE as inputs in their teaching. These start-ups come in as guest lecturers and explain the practicalities on the kind of challenges they are facing.

“For example, one case for an exam was about the strategic, and financial challenges that Ticketbutler, a ticketing platform for student organizations, faced. This results in a new angle on the content of the courses because the students get to work with something that is real and tangible”, says Toke Reichstein.

Students offer there inputs through case studies that are written in exams. The faculty reviews them and feeds the best ones to the start-ups involved.

Students offer their inputs through case studies that are written in exams. The faculty reviews them and feeds the best ones to the start-ups involved. (Photo: Bjarke MacCarthy)

Once the exams are graded and assessed by the faculty, the most promising reports are chosen and offer to the start-ups as a consulting report. Even though Toke Reichstein is unsure as to what degree the firms are using the exams, the start-ups at CSE seem to be keen on participating.

“That might be an indication that this is useful information that needs to be retrieved, but of course, it also means that they present their firms to the students, and some of these firms have direct customers who are themselves, students.”

Researchers are already joining

As the database grows, the team expects that more frequent and in-depth research will happen later on down the road.

The early stage decisions being made by entrepreneurs in start-ups is one area that lacks a systematic analytical investigation, says Toke Reichstein.

“If you look at textbooks on entrepreneurship, most of them build on economics and general management. Very few actually builds on what we know about decision making in the infant stages of firms,”

“We want to take steps towards getting more knowledge about this area, and I can safely say that this is a major point of interest among many researchers at the moment.”

CSE is a co-working space and incubator for early stage start-ups with founders who are, or have been, studying at CBS.

CSE is a co-working space and incubator for early stage start-ups with founders who are, or have been, studying at CBS. (Photo: Bjarke MacCarthy)

CSE helps the researchers by identifying firms that could be a promising case for teaching operation management, finance, business planning, or anything else with an entrepreneurial element in it.

“A lot of faculty at CBS is quite interested in this. All this data that we will have collected in a year’s time will be made available to all of the researchers at CBS. This will help create a better understanding of the problems that start-ups face in their early stages. CBS hopes that this will become an input to an upsurge in entrepreneurial research at CBS. But that’s a longer-term aim.”

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

CBS forges powerful tools for future CSE start-upsby

  • News

    Staff layoffs: What happens if you’re fired

    The clock is ticking. On Thursday morning (5 October), CBS employees will know if they are up for dismissal or not. But what will happen on the day? What emotional stages are you likely to encounter? And who will be there to pick you up when you are feeling the blow of being laid off? CBS WIRE has talked to HR and the consulting agency Actief Hartmanns to provide you with answers.

  • News

    Network, network, network – CBS graduates advise on getting your first job

    There are many approaches to finding your first job. Three recent CBS graduates talk about how they landed theirs. Their approaches were quite different, yet they all highlight networking as a key element.

  • News

    A-Z of the dismissals

    In these final days of September, the fate of a number of CBS employees is being decided. The final amount of money saved on salaries via voluntary severance agreements (aka redundancy packages, Ed.) and senior agreements will be known.  After this, the actual number of employees up for dismissal will be decided by management – and then the individuals will be selected.

  • News

    Layoffs break the crucial trust between organisation and employee

    CBS is laying off a number of employees soon, which will affect our university in different ways. When employees are fired without having done anything wrong, it shatters the trust between the organisation and employees, while also taking a toll on productivity, according to a CBS expert. Layoffs also affect the ‘survivors’, who are forced to adapt to a changed workload and the loss of cherished colleagues.

  • News

    Here to help – at the touch of a button and at Campus Desk

    Exam anxiety? Lost student card? I’ve wedged my car between a Fiat 500 and a lamp post, can you help? You never know what you’ll be asked next. But that’s just how the Campus Desk team like it. And if they can’t fix your problem, they’ll know someone who can. CBS WIRE asked the team about the whole range of topics they advice on every day.

  • Gif of the week
  • News

    CBS Quiz Time: Unraveling the success story

    A successful university environment such as CBS is often associated with academic pursuits, but campus life extends far beyond the classroom. At CBS Quiz Time, a student society motivated by creative thinking and social engagement, students join in a refreshing range of creativity, excitement, and social interaction. CBS WIRE talked to Celine Møller-Andersen to find out about the society’s vision, strategies and the factors that are driving its rapid expansion.

  • News

    Why so sudden? The CBS financial crisis explained

    Employees and union representatives have posed many questions in the wake of the 17 August announcement of a firing round. In this interview, University Director Arnold Boon explains how Senior Management has been working with the budget and a change of financial strategy since the fall of 2022, and why layoffs are now necessary.

Follow CBS students studying abroad

CBS WIRE collaborates with Videnskab.dk

Stay connected

Close