Management 400/ENTR 510 Entrepreneurship/New Venture Creation Winter 2015 Instructor: Dr. Son Le Meeting: 8:00-9:50 PM (T, R) at COBB 219 Office Hours: 10:00-11:30 am & 1:30 3:30 pm, M T W & R Office: COBB 322 Phone: 257-3536 E-Mail: sle@latech.edu Required Texts Hisrich, R. D, Peters, M. P., & Shepherd, D. A. Entrepreneurship, 9 th ed., McGraw Hill. Course Description MGMT 400 is the continuation of MGMT 340 in the entrepreneurship sequence at the college of business. It also serves as the capstone course for those pursing a degree in entrepreneurship. This course has three major goals. First, it will help you understand the challenges and learn how to approach the process of creating and managing a new venture, which include recognizing and analyzing an opportunity, mobilizing resources, financing a new venture, and managing growth. Second, it is also designed to provide you with a cohesive set of skills to prepare a formal business plan. Third, it will seek to provide you with an opportunity to apply and integrate concepts you have learned in other business courses. To achieve the first goal, this course will introduce important concepts and cover a number of cases involving different entrepreneurial challenges and settings. To achieve the second goal, this course will guide you as you work in a group of about five to prepare and present a business plan. As you work to achieve the first two goals you will encounter a number of occasions in which you will need to recall and apply concepts from accounting, economics, finance, management, and marketing. Your ability to do so will naturally impact your success in this course. Course Specific Objectives To enhance your understanding of and passion for entrepreneurship To sharpen your ability to recognize and evaluate business opportunities To familiarize you with the process of preparing a business plan To help you learn how to prepare the components of a business plan such as management, marketing, operation, and financial plans. To help you develop skills to address various challenges in creating and managing a new venture To improve your teamwork skills that are important for successfully creating and managing a new venture To improve your ability to communicate your venture idea to potential investors and other stakeholders effectively and persuasively To integrate and apply concepts you have learned in your previous business courses. Course Grading Assignments
Exams o Midterm test o Final test 140 points 140 points Group business plan project 160 points Case summaries 40 points Group case presentation 40 points In-class assignments 40 points Class participation 40 points Total points 600 points Grading Scale Total points Grade 600-540 A 539-480 B 478-420 C 419-360 D Below 360 F Assignment Description Exams There are two exams which consist of short essay questions and problems. A make-up exam will be provided only if it is arranged in writing before the test day. Group Business Plan Project You will work in a group of five to develop a business plan. It will be a challenge to identify a viable business idea and develop a business plan within a quarter. Therefore, you have to start working on your business plan project very early in the quarter. Please make sure that you pick an idea that involves something new such as new or improved products/services or new or improved processes, and has high growth potential. You also can prepare a business plan for an existing business in the local community. In this case, you have to propose a new strategy or process for the business expansion and growth. Your business plan should not only reflect your creativity and ability to innovate, but should also reflect the business expertise you have gained as a business student. Your business plan should be as realistic as possible. Requirements of, and how to prepare your business plan will be discussed in class. Your business plan deliverable should be of sufficient quality that you feel confident to send it to actual investors and partners for financing or cooperation. Your group will make a 15-20 minute presentation of your business plan by the end of the quarter. All group members are required to participate in the presentation. Developing a business plan within a quarter is a challenging task and requires a collective effort of all members in your group. I will ask for your evaluation of your group members regarding how much they contribute to your group. You will evaluate each of your group members on a scale from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest). Your individual grade for the business plan will be the product of your group grade and the average evaluation points that your group members give you divided by 10. For example, if your group business plan project has a grade of 200, and you get
an average peer evaluation of 10, you will have 200 (200@10/10) for your individual business plan grade. If your peer evaluation is 8, your individual grade for the business plan will be 160 (200@8/10). Case Summaries You have to turn in a case summary in the class that we discuss about the case as specified in the class schedule. You have to give me a hard copy of your typed case summary by the end of the class. Handwritten is not accepted and please don t tell me that you will email it or print it out to give me after the class. To prepare the case summaries, you just answer the questions in the suggestions for case summary and group presentation that I posted on Moodle. Group Case Presentation You are assigned in a group of four (not the same as your business plan group) to prepare and present a case study. You can find the presentation time and the case in the class schedule. I will give you the details regarding how to prepare your case write-up and presentation later in the class. In-Class Assignments & Participation We will spend the majority of the time in class to discuss cases. You have to read the assigned case before class. I will call on you to answer questions about the case. If you answer a question satisfactorily, you will earn 5 points out of 40 points devoted for participation. Otherwise, you will lose 5 points from you participation points. In addition, we will have some in-class group assignments. If you miss class and thus the in-class assignment, you will not get any points for that assignment. Attendance As per university policy, attendance will be checked at each class meeting. No points will be given for attendance but point deductions will be applied for absences. You have up to two absences that are not subject to point deduction. After that (from the third absence), 10 points will be deducted from your total points for each absence. Coming to class 5 minutes late will be counted as an absence for that class. Leaving class early will result in an additional 10 point deduction. If you cannot come to class for a legitimate reason per university policy, you must inform me prior to the class that you miss. Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism Policies Academic honesty as specified in the University s Academic Honor Code is expected and required of all students. Cheating on examinations and plagiarism (using other work without citing) are serious offenses and will result in a grade deduction or further disciplinary actions. Course Communication Syllabus, PowerPoint slides, grades and other class documents will be posted on Moodle. We will use Moodle for out-of class communication. You should check Moodle regularly to avoid missing any class announcements. In case of disaster and we cannot meet on campus, the class may be continued through Moodle. You should enroll in the Emergency Notification System to receive information in case of disaster or emergency. Accommodation The College of Business is dedicated to enabling each student to reach his/her potential. Any student in this course who has a disability that may prevent him/her from fully demonstrating
his/her abilities should contact me personally as soon as possible so we can discuss accommodations necessary to ensure full participation and facilitate your educational opportunities. Course Schedule Date Topic Assignment Week 1: Dec 4 Class introduction Week 2: Dec 9 Lecture and discussion: Chapter 1(Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial mindset) Dec 11 Lecture: Chapter 2 (Entrepreneurial Intention and Corporate Entrepreneurship) Chapter 3 (Entrepreneurial Strategy) Week 3: Dec 16 Lecture: Chapter 4 (Creativity and Business Idea) Case discussion Dec 18 Lecture: Chapter 5 (Identifying and Analyzing Domestic and International opportunities) Presenting your group s business ideas Week 4: Jan 6 Lecture: Chapter 7 (The Business Plan) Discussion: Business plan outline Jan 8 Lecture: Chapter 8 (The Marketing Plan) Discussion: Marketing plan Week 5: Jan 13 Exam 1 Jan 15 Chapter 6 (Protecting the Idea and Other Legal Issues for the Entrepreneur) Discussion Read chapter 1 Read A. Monroe Lock and Security Systems Read chapters 2&3 Read chapter 4 Group 1: Present case The Beach Carrier Read chapter 5 Each group submits 2 business ideas (a short written statement that describes each of their ideas and explains why it is attractive) Group 2: Present case Beijing Sammies Read chapter 7 Group 3: Present case Gourmet To Go Submit your group s business plan outline Read chapter 8 Group 4: Present case The Grill-Kleen Corporation Read chapter 6 Group 5: Present case Neomed technologies
Week 6: Jan 20 Lecture: Chapter 9 (The Organizational Plan Case discussion Discussion: Organizational plan and operation plan Jan 22 Lecture: Chapter 10 (The Financial Plan) Read chapter 9 Group 6: Present case Datavantage Corporation Read chapter 10 Week 7: Jan 27 Financial plan (continued) Jan 29 Financial Analysis Week 8: Feb 3 Lecture: Chapter 11 (Sources of Capital), Chapter 12(Informal Risk Capital, Venture Capital, and Going Public) Business plan discussion Feb 5 Lecture: Chapter 13 (Strategies for Growth and Managing the Implications of Growth) Business plan discussion Week 9: Feb 10 Lecture: Chapter 14 (Accessing Resources for Growth from External Sources); Chapter 15 (Succession Planning and Strategies for Harvesting and Ending the Venture) Discussion Read chapters 11 and 12 Read chapter 13 Read chapter 14 & 15 Feb 12 Finalize your business plan and prepare PowerPoint presentation Week 10: Feb 19 Final Exam Submit the final written business plan and the draft of your PowerPoint presentation Feb 24 Presentation Turn in your peer evaluation Week 11: Feb 26 Presentation Mar 3 Wrap up The class schedule may be changed as circumstances require