BA 260: Entrepreneurship (4 h.)
Fall 2007 Course Syllabus
______________________________________________________________________________
Instructor: Geoff Archer, MEM, MBA, PhD Candidate
Office Hours: 12-2pm Monday & Wednesday - 330 Bexell
Hall
Contact: geoff.archer@bus.oregonstate.edu, Office Phone (541)737-2616
Pre-requisites: None
______________________________________________________________________________
OVERVIEW
This
course is a focused introduction to entrepreneurship, the process by which new
ideas are forged into the creation of value. Fundamentally, entrepreneurship
can be conceived as the intersection of the individual and the opportunity. As
such, the course will be focused on both evolving your individual perspective
about entrepreneurship, and taking you through the process of synthesizing and
planning to exploit an opportunity.
The
course is designed with the assumption that you have no business experience. Throughout the
semester, you will be exposed to a variety of business strategy and
entrepreneurship concepts while developing the
ability to pursue and present an entrepreneurial opportunity.
As
individuals you will read a book, several business plans and prepare a
journal. Simultaneously, you will be
working with a team to deliver and present a complete business plan for a new
venture. It is expected that you will
use a great many other resources to assist your learning, including primary
research with potential customers and partners – ‘real world’ interaction is a
must.
To
clarify, this venture does not necessarily have to be a for-profit business,
but can focus on any idea that brings people together to address an opportunity
through economic means, such as a non-profit or volunteer organization. The
philosophical assumptions of the class are that we have the option as
individuals to create a different and better future, and the act of
entrepreneurship is one mechanism to do so.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
BA 260
students will learn to:
·
Understand the entrepreneurial start-up process.
·
Identify entrepreneurial opportunities
·
Assess the feasibility of an entrepreneurial
opportunity
·
Devise a business model that exploits this
opportunity
·
Present a business plan
GRADING
I will give plus and minus grades as follows: 94
and above = A, 90-93 = A-, 87-89 = B+, 84-86 = B, 80-83 = B-, 77-79 = C+, 74-76 = C, 70-73 =
C-, 67-69 = D+, 64-66 = D, 60-63 = D-, 59 and below= F. The composition of you grade is determined
half by individual efforts and half by group efforts, specifically:
Individual
Grading
1.
Class Participation and Engagement in Learning (10%)
Quality
class participation is reflected in your insight and contribution to the class
discussion. A strong participation grade
should be a “gimme.”
In my eyes, the most important time to speak up is when we are hosting a
guest speaker (who could obviously be talking to a customer or an investor
instead).
2. Your Elevator Pitch (10%)
On the third day of class each one of you will
take the stage and make what is called an Elevator Pitch. In 30 seconds you will need to describe a business
concept, and explain who will buy it and why.
3. Personal
Entrepreneurship Journal (10%)
Entrepreneurship is an intensely personal
experience. The decision to pursue an entrepreneurial venture is bound within
your upbringing, life experiences, societal position, current employment,
potential opportunities, and psychological factors. To capture your own
thoughts around this journey, you will keep a personal weekly journal. The purpose of the journal is to clarify your
goals and expectations around entrepreneurship and to track your participation
in the class. The content is open, but
should concern the concepts we cover in class, the progress of your teams’
efforts, and your own journey in defining your entrepreneurial ambitions. Hard-copy, one-page-minimum journal entries
will be due to me in class every Wednesday. Unfortunately our large class size denies my
ability to keep this assignment electronic.
(I’ll recycle the paper at the end of the term.) I will also try to respond via email to the
best and worst entries from each week.
4.
Business Planning Peer Evaluation (20%)
Towards the end of the semester you will
evaluate yourself and your team-mates. Your grade will be based
on a 0-5 ranking of each of the following factors:
·
Great
Attendance, Timeliness, Courtesy
·
Delivered
their Fair Share of the workload
·
Delivered
Quality Work that didn’t need a lot
of edits
|
·
Contributed Important
Ideas ·
Contributed Important
Ideas |
·
Contributed
Important Work that Shaped the
project
·
Would
Team up with this person Again
Historically this grading component has been
very effective in capturing slackers.
Group
Grades
As I mentioned above, everyone in the class will
make an Elevator Pitch early on. Four person
teams (with limited exceptions made at my discretion) will then be formed
around the business concepts that you choose.
Every person in the class will therefore be on a team. All group grades will be based on both
written and/or powerpoint
versions of the four team deliverables delineated below – three main
sub-components and then eventually a complete business plan for the team’s
chosen opportunity.
The written version of each deliverable is due
in soft-copy (Microsoft Word attachment sent to geoff.archer@bus.oregonstate.edu)
at the beginning of class on the dates indicated below. 3-5 pages are expected for each
deliverable. Ideally the completion of
each of the first three deliverables will greatly ease the assembly of your
final business plan.
Every group will also present a powerpoint to the class once this
semester. Because we have such a large
class, and will have between 40 and 50 four-person teams, there is no way that
every team could also present a powerpoint
of every deliverable. Therefore we will rotate the presentation element. Presentations should be professional with powerpoint slides on a memory
stick transferred to the classroom computer before the beginning of class. Presentations should be approximately 10
minutes, including time for Q&A.
Note: For both the presenters and the audience this Q&A period is a
font of valuable, low-cost information.
Dates will be open for sign-up shortly after
teams are finalized (at the end of the 3rd week of class). Pick a date for your team’s presentation, and
stick to it.
Point-of-Clarification: If your group is not
presenting in a given week you do not have to build a powerpoint deck.
If you are presenting you do not have to submit a word document for that
deliverable.
Teams will present an analysis of the
feasibility of their business idea. At a high level it will include an
assessment of the overall market for the product or service, societal and
regulatory trends that might affect the feasibility of the idea, and a
competitor analysis.
Each team will prepare an operations plan for
their business idea, including an assessment of logistics involved, suppliers
involved, team roles and employees.
The team will present a high-level financial
analysis including required funding, break-even analysis, and projected
return-on-investment.. Pro-forma statement of cash flows
should be included and other pro-forma statements (income statement and balance
sheet) will be looked upon favorably.
The business plan is the cumulative effort of the
class and takes the place of the final exam. Written business plans are
generally between 15 and 25 pages in length.
Yours are to be turned in at the beginning of the final exam period.
The teams who will be presenting their Business
Plans in powerpoint will do
so in class in late November – see Class Schedule below. These students will do both powerpoint and the written
business plan. Every team must submit a
written business plan to complete this course.
MATERIALS
Entrepreneurship, Successfully Launching New
Ventures by Bruce Barringer and Duane
CHEATING
Please refer to the University’s policy on
cheating http://oregonstate.edu/admin/stucon/achon.htm
Statement Regarding Students with Disabilities
Accommodations are collaborative efforts between students, faculty and Services for
Students with Disabilities (SSD). Students with accommodations approved through
SSD are responsible for contacting the faculty member in charge of the course
prior to or during the first week of the term to discuss accommodations.
Students who believe they are eligible for accommodations but who have not yet
obtained approval through SSD should contact SSD immediately at 737-4098.
BA 260 ENTREPRENEURSHIP
COURSE SCHEDULE
FALL, 2007
|
Class |
Day / Date |
Class Topic |
|
1 |
9/24/2007 |
INTRODUCTION
and THE NATURE OF ENTREPRENEURIAL |
|
2 |
9/26/2007 |
SOURCES OF ELEVATOR PITCHES EXPLAINED |
|
3 |
10/01/2007 |
THE
ELEVATOR PITCH |
|
4 |
10/03/2007 |
FEASIBILITY and THE BUSINESS PLAN |
|
5 |
10/08/2007 |
BUSINESS FORMS and INDUSTRY & COMPETITOR ANALYSIS |
|
6 |
10/10/2007 |
MARKETING |
|
7 |
10/15/2007 |
MARKETING
PLAN PRESENTATIONS |
|
8 |
10/17/2007 |
MARKETING
PLAN PRESENTATIONS |
|
9 |
10/22/2007 |
OPERATIONS
PLAN Part 1 |
|
10 |
10/24/2007 |
OPERATIONS
PLAN Part 2 |
|
11 |
10/29/2007 |
OPERATIONS
PLAN PRESENTATIONS |
|
12 |
10/31/2007 |
OPERATIONS
PLAN PRESENTATIONS |
|
13 |
11/05/2007 |
FINANCE
PART 1 |
|
14 |
11/07/2007 |
FINANCE
PART 2 |
|
15 |
11/12/2007 |
FINANCE
PLAN PRESENTATIONS |
|
16 |
11/14/2007 |
FINANCE
PLAN PRESENTATIONS |
|
17 |
11/19/2007 |
BIZPLAN
PRESENTATIONS |
|
18 |
11/21/2007 |
BIZPLAN
PRESENTATIONS |
|
19 |
11/26/2007 |
BUSINESS PLAN PRESENTATION REVIEW |
|
20 |
11/28/2007 |
LAST DAY OF CLASS |
BA 260 ENTREPRENEURSHIP Daily
Assignments
|
09/24/2007 |
1A.
INTRODUCTION and 1B.
THE NATURE OF ENTREPRENEURIAL |
|
|
“Chapter 1: Entrepreneurship,
Successfully Launching New Ventures,” (B&I) Sustainable
Skateboards Flocks Sweater http://www.springwise.com/fashion_beauty/full_provenance_sweaters/index.php Flying Lawn
Chair http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2007/07/10/828456-lawn-chair-pilot-flies-with-105-balloons Treasure Dough http://www.treasuredough.com/treasure.html iPod Walking |