Purpose of the course
You will understand what makes Silicon Valley so different from the rest of the world. Is it because of risk-taking culture, the environment, communication and networking or access to capital?

Competences
Service business management competence
Business management competence
Internationalisation and communications competence
Entrepreneurship, innovation and working community competence

Learning outcomes
You will be able to recognize the interaction of Silicon Valley business institutions, culture, and environment with the behavior of individuals. You will also understand how the Government plays an important role in creating balanced ecosystems: policy making, role of convener, regulator, supporter, partnership building, place-making and walkable friendly neighborhoods, and connected infrastructure. You will know which sectors have drawn most venture capital and/or crowd sourced capital, and understand the process of raising early stage financing.

You will familiarize with some features of the American business culture. You will practice listening and speaking American English, and compose and deliver elevator speeches. You will be able to identify the business dynamics of cultural, gender/sexual, age-based, class, regional, national, transnational, and global identities and the similarities, differences, linkages, and interactions between them.

You will understand how social media fits into marketing, why it is important, and the applicability of various tools to use to develop a social media strategy, but also how to develop an integrated social media strategy, and how to measure social media's impact.

You will understand Importance of design and the user experience, and get familiar with theoretical versus practical application of customer service. You will also visit an exceptionally successful international start-up in Silicon Valley, a global well-known big company, and experience the excellence of services of the Californian recreation industry in the Pebble Beach area.

The course contents include the online- orientation session, pre-assignment, 10 days study tour to Silicon Valley, USA in late November, and the post-assignment.

Face-to-face learning and distance learning

Chong Moon Lee, William F. Miller, Marguerite Gong Hancock, Hnery S. Rowen (Eds.) (2000). The Silicon Valley Edge. Stanford University Press.
Ramnarayan, S. (2012). Marketing in a world of digital sharing: Are you drowning in social media noise and chaos? MARS Publishing.

You are able to communicate fluently in English

0-5

Sufficient 1
You show only a sufficient knowledge of the objectives, material and concepts, but they are in need of further clarification. You fail to show a convincing ability to apply the knowledge to real life situation nor to recognize or communicate the concepts in an effective manner. You present the results superficially, in the form of a list and insufficiently. You summarize sources that are inadequately connected to the objectives of the report. You recognize the key concepts. You write unstructured text with many different repeated language and style errors. You follow JAMK’s reporting instructions insufficiently.

Satisfactory 2
You define the objectives too broadly, but define the key concepts. You show only a satisfactory knowledge of the material and concepts but fail to show a convincing ability to apply the knowledge to real life situation nor to communicate the concepts in an effective manner. You present partly illustrated results whose connection to the development tasks remains thin. There are minor shortcomings in the reporting. You demonstrate expertise. You write partly unstructured text with occasional language and style errors. You follows JAMK’s reporting instructions with mistakes.

Good 3
You show good knowledge of material and concepts and are able to communicate these in an effective way. You define the principle objectives relevant for development work back at home. You delineate the topics form several different viewpoints and justify them. You use current, reliable international sources. You use key concepts fluently. You describe the data and its analysis sufficiently. You present conclusions and duly substantiated further action proposals based on them to your own work back at home. You demonstrate convincing expertise. You write structured text with occasional language and style errors. You follow JAMK’s reporting instructions.

Very good 4
You show very good knowledge of material and concepts. You define relevant objectives that have been delineated clearly. You delineate the topics from several different viewpoints. You choose source material that is diverse, current, reliable and relevant. You analyze and compare the key concepts of each subject and prepare summaries of them. You describes the data and its analysis systematically. You present results in a logical, well-reasoned and illustrative manner. You write text in fluent and almost error-free formal style. You follow JAMK’s reporting instructions.

Excellent 5
You define challenging objectives with a new viewpoint that have been delineated clearly. You delineate the topics of the assignments with critical justification and assessment. You show exceptional knowledge of subject material. You master consistently the key concepts defined. You discuss concepts critically and insightfully. You demonstrate the ability to apply the material to real-life situations and challenges with superior communications skills. You report convincingly, presenting a logically coherent whole. You substantiate the relationship between theory, lectures and visits with insightful and critical reasoning and interpretation. You present a carefully reasoned analysis making versatile use of the data. You demonstrate critical thinking in writing. By connecting own work and discussion of theory you present conclusions that are versatile and to the point as well as further actions and development task in your own company/organization. You follow JAMK’s reporting instructions as well as ability to connect your own work to the development of the professional work back at home organization/company.