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BUSINESS PLANNING AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
PMBA 622 Section 001
Spring 2015
Professor
Clay Dibrell, Ph.D. Office: Holman Hall 337, Office Phone:
662-915-1986, e-mail:
[email protected]. I check my email every normal weekday
morning by 2:00 pm central
standard time (cst) and will try to get an answer to you within
24 hours thereafter, except during
the spring break holiday. If needed, we may also make an
appointment to speak on the phone at
other times.
Text
Launching New Ventures, 6th
Edition. Kathleen R. Allen. ISBN-13: 978-0538481793
Discovery Driven Growth. Rita G. McGrath and Ian C. MacMillan.
ISBN-13: 978-1591396857
Course description
Advanced analysis and decision making in a business setting.
Includes financial analysis,
competitive strategy and pricing, growth simulations, business
condition forecasting, and product
supply and demand projections. Competitive cases form a focal
point for course organization.
Course objectives
This course is designed to provide you with the basic concepts
and language of entrepreneurship
and corporate entrepreneurship. A primary objective of this
course is to encourage
entrepreneurial thinking and enable you to evaluate your
personal prospects for entrepreneurship.
Specifically, we will cover: what it means to be an
entrepreneur, the process of creating and
launching a new venture, recognizing opportunities in the
market, problems and solutions
associated with starting a new venture, and your propensity for
taking or avoiding risk. Similarly,
we will focus on corporate entrepreneurship and the role of
innovation in generating revenue
streams for existing companies. At the end of this course, you
will be able to recognize what it
takes to be a successful entrepreneur and corporate
entrepreneur.
Measurable student learning outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students should have the ability
to:
To describe what it means to be an entrepreneur as compared to a
corporate entrepreneur.
To understand how to create and to launch a new venture.
To understand how to initiate and to launch a new venture inside
of a corporation.
To identify and to articulate solutions to the challenges
associated with the implementation in entrepreneurial startups and
corporate entrepreneurship.
To understand the basic areas of venture finance.
Course procedures
The course will be conducted with through lectures and class
participation. Course lectures will
relate to chapter reading assignments but will not attempt to
cover all the material in the text.
Because this course is at the Masters level, it makes heavy use
of readings and group projects
designed to generate discussion of problems that you may face in
real business settings.
mailto:[email protected]
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Statement regarding students with disabilities
Any student who feels that he or she needs an accommodation due
to any disability, please make
an appointment to discuss this matter with me within the first
week of the semester. If you feel
that you may have a disability, please contact student
disability services
(http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/sds/).
Academic dishonesty
Cheating and other academic misconduct will not be tolerated.
Violations will be subject to
disciplinary actions (i.e., minimum failure of the course
activity in question with a strong
probability of failure for the course) as specified by The
University of Mississippi Handbook of
Standards
http://www.chaptertools.net/site_files/file_1231796593.pdf. As
indicated by Bob
Robinson, chair of the management department, the following
behaviors (though not an
exhaustive list) are considered to be strong breaches of
academic dishonesty for which severe
penalties would seem probable:
a. Obtaining unauthorized information.
(1). Copying part or all of a graded homework assignment from
another student.
(2). Working together on a take-home test or an assignment when
not specifically
permitted to do so by the instructor.
(3). Looking on another student's paper during an exam.
(4). Looking at your notes, or anyone else's notes, during an
examination when
not specifically permitted to do so.
(5). Use of unauthorized course textbook test bank to gain an
unfair advantage
over other students.
b. Tendering of information.
(1). Giving your work to another student to be copied.
(2). Giving someone answers to exam questions while the exam is
being given.
(3). After having taken an exam, informing another person in a
later section of the
questions that appear on the exam.
(4). Giving or selling exams to other students.
(5). Giving or selling course textbook test bank(s) to another
student.
(6). Giving or selling term papers, cases, or other assignments
to another student.
c. Plagiarism--representing someone else's work as your own.
(1). Handing in a paper purchased from a term paper service.
(2). Retyping part or all of a friend's paper and handing it in
as your own.
(3). Taking a paper from any file and handing it in as your
own.
(4). Quoting from another source on a term paper or an
assignment without citing
the source.
d. Collusion.
(1). Acting in concert with one or more fellow students to
commit any form of
academic dishonesty together.
(2). Giving your term paper, homework, case, or other assignment
to any other
student.
(3). Making unauthorized grade changes or tampering with grades
in any way.
(4). Encouraging or recruiting any other person to commit any
form of academic
dishonesty.
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/sds/http://www.chaptertools.net/site_files/file_1231796593.pdf
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(5). Giving or receiving information when not specifically
authorized to do so.
e. Misrepresentation.
(1). Having another student do your course work.
(2). Having someone else take an exam for you.
(3). Copy material directly from the textbook or course slides
on to your exam.
(4). Lying to a professor to increase your grade.
f. Bribery--Offering money or any item or any service to any
other person so as to gain
academic advantage for yourself or any other student.
School of Business Administration's Statement on Academic
Integrity:
The School of Business Administration upholds honor and academic
integrity in all of its
teaching, research, and service activities. All business
faculty, staff, and students are charged
with the responsibility to behave with personal and professional
integrity and to refrain from
dishonorable conduct.
Student conduct and expectations
Class members are expected to treat each other with courtesy and
respect. The outcome is not
that you have met certain minimum standards; the outcome will be
that you will leave this
course with knowledge of how to formulate and to implement an
innovation that you may utilize
in the future. Behaviors that signify to me that a student is
committed to excellence include:
1. Being prepared for group-led chapter presentations. 2.
Posting comments to the group-led chapter discussion forums. 3.
Discussing with the instructor anytime an issue is unclear.
Student expectations of the instructor
In order for this course to be a personal success for you, it is
necessary that you receive certain
commitments from me to receive maximum benefit. Just as I have
challenged you to pursue
academic excellence in this course, I must do the same, and I
commit to doing the following:
1. Keep you informed about the direction of the course including
any changes to the course calendar.
2. Be open to your ideas, opinions, and questions. 3. Be
available to discuss any problems or questions through appointments
with you. 4. Return out-of-class assignments and tests so that you
have feedback in a timely
manner.
Evaluation and grading
Students are expected to do both individual and group work.
Grades for late assignments will be
reduced by 20% for every class period submitted late, which will
be based on the assigned time
in the course schedule. Please talk to me if you have any
problems with understanding the
material or completing the scheduled
assignments/examinations.
How I Grade:
1. A = Exceptional & Outstanding Work. You have wowed me. 2.
B = Very Good Work 3. C = Average Work 4. D = Sub Par Work
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5. F = Exceedingly Poor Work.
Your grade will be composed of the following components:
1. Class Participation 10% 2. Group-Led Chapter Discussion 15%
3. Group Market Discontinuity Project
or Social Entrepreneurship Project 25%
4. Individual Business Model Summary 20% 5. Final Exam 30%
1. Class Participation: As students will lead the discussion
concerning the Discovery-Driven Growth assigned chapters, I will
grade the participation of the other non-presenting students
based on the quality of their comments during these sessions.
Each student will be required to
make one post related to group-led chapter presentation from the
Discovery-Driven Growth
text in the appropriate discussion board, as I will look at the
usage statistic as well as the
quality of the posts.
As this is an online course, I will hold live sessions through
Adobe Connect in the Virtual
Classroom. Each live session is optional attendance and will be
recorded for students to
review. These sessions will last from 6:00 pm to 6:30 pm central
standard time and are listed
on the Course Calendar in this document. During these sessions,
I will answer your questions
concerning the class.
2. Group-Led Chapter Discussion: There are several chapters,
which we will be reading throughout the term from the
Discovery-Driven Growth text. A group of up to five students
will be asked to lead the discussion on their assigned chapter.
Each group will prepare a
narrated PowerPoint presentation which they will record and
present for their fellow
students to review in preparation for the discussion. The
narrated presentation should
appear on the Monday of the assigned chapter. Likewise, each
group should provide at least
three questions to students which may be answered on the chapter
discussion board. Each
group should notify me when the presentation and questions have
been posted to blackboard,
and I will send out notification to the remainder of
students.
Groups will be graded upon the level of participation from their
peers, as demonstrated
through the comments on the discussion boards for the
presentation, the quality of additional
material which they bring to the presentation and their
creativity in presenting the chapter.
3. Groups will need to choose either the Group Market
Discontinuity Project or the Group Social Entrepreneurship
Project
Group Market Discontinuity Project: Each group (up to four
students per group) is required
to turn in a typed 12pt Times New Roman font, double-spaced, and
must be no longer than
20 pages (not including references and appendices) identifying a
market discontinuity and
creating a strategy to exploit the discontinuity. You should
attempt to convince me of your
logic for choosing the discontinuity, and why your proposed
business plan will be effective.
You should draw on aspects of the course and your personal
experience in creating this
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document, as it will be useful in the integrative process.
Likewise, your ability to clearly
communicate and use the language of business will be considered
in your grade. I have
created an evaluation sheet to provide guidance for you, located
in the back of the syllabus.
I suggest that you choose group members which complement your
skill set, share similar
work schedules, and are compatible with you. You may wish to
find group members through
your posts on blackboard. Likewise, group participation will
count. Your group will evaluate
you on your level of participation on the group project. Their
evaluations will be used to
create a multiplier that will be employed by me to assign your
grade on the group project.
Appropriate contributions are expected from each team member and
may be enforced by
grade sanctions. Members of each research team are required to
submit a written evaluation
of their peers for their contribution to the successful
completion of their project. These
evaluations will be used to generate a multiplier used in
computing each student's grade on
all project activities. The peer evaluation sheet is provided in
the back of the syllabus.
Each group will be asked to provide evidence of progress on
their project at two times during
the semester (please see course outline for actual dates). From
your submissions, I will
provide feedback to the group on their progress. In addition, I
will keep a running set of
notes, which I will use to aid me in determining your final
grade for the project.
All material incorporated from external sources which is used in
your paper should be clearly
cited using APA format. Finally, you will need to submit a
digital copy to me and to upload a
digital copy to SafeAssignment on Blackboard to check for
indications of plagiarism.
Group Social Entrepreneurship Project: For this assignment,
social entrepreneurship is
defined as entrepreneurship-oriented practices designed to
identify and to pursue
opportunities that address economic and social problems in a
community. The online venture
challenge is designed for you to generate real revenue for a
social cause (e.g., Red Cross) by
applying the principles learned in this class and from your own
experiences. You will be
graded upon the following three components: design of your
website (20 points), financial
performance of your online venture (60 points), and your
presentation of results from your
online venture (20 points). You will have the choice of either
building the website on your
own or going with a turnkey solution
(http://onlineventurechallenge.com/). The groups will
be able to seed their projects with up to $200, which will
include ecommerce store,
marketing, and venture challenge subscription. This money will
initially come from the
group. However, the team may reimburse themselves from their
gross revenue, as it is an
expense. I will provide additional information for you in the
upcoming days describing the
project in more detail.
4. Business Model Summary: As this is an entrepreneurship
course, I would like for you to individually apply the principles
from the course readings and lecture materials assigned
from Week 1 in the course calendar up to Week 6 by creating a
business model proposal.
The summary should outline a proposed business model, which you
believe will solve a
problem in your present organization or in your community. You
may create the summary as
a traditional entrepreneur, corporate entrepreneur, or as a
social entrepreneur, which you
should clearly identify at the beginning of your summary. In
your summary, you will need to
http://onlineventurechallenge.com/
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answer the following questions: (1) What is the problem that
your product or service will
solve? (2) What is the value proposition? (3) Who are your
customers? Who will be the first
customer? (4) How will you get the product or service to the
customer? (5) Who will manage
the venture? (6) What is the feasibility of your proposed
business model being financially
viable, including the assumptions of your business model?
The summary should be two to three pages in length, 12pt Times
New Roman font, one-inch
margins, singled-spaced, and you may use bullet points when
applicable. You will need to be
parsimonious in your writing. If warranted, you may provide
additional support materials in
an appendix.
The grade breakdown for the following components is provided
below. All components
should be included and clearly identified in your
submission.
1. Identify and clearly define the problem that your product or
service will be solving. (10 points)
2. Value proposition. (10 points) 3. Define your customers. (10
points) 4. Distribution of your product or service to the customer
(10 points) 5. Founding team members (10 points) 6. Feasibility of
your proposed business model in regards to industry and
market/customer;
product/service; founding team; and financial needs assessment.
Where applicable, please
use the corresponding concepts or tools from the course
materials (e.g., affordable loss
principle; business model canvas; calculating total startup
capital needed; opportunity
portfolio). (50 points)
You will do well if:
You have a creative solution to the problem which you have
identified, which is financially viable.
Your work is reasonably insightful and shows a strong linkage to
the course material, such as integrating all applicable terms in
your summary from the materials covered in
class.
Your work is logical, clear, concise, and organized.
You should not directly copy material from the textbook as this
will be considered
plagiarism, and you should not share related information with
other students in the course
which have not yet taken the exam, as this is another form of
academic dishonesty. You will
submit your summary through SafeAssignment to check for
indications of cheating and/or
plagiarism.
5. Final Exam: The final exam will cover all readings and
lecture materials assigned from Week 7 in the course calendar up to
Week 15. The exam will consist of multiple choice
questions and a case analysis. The exam will be administered
online and is an open book
exam. You should not directly copy material from the textbook as
this will be considered
plagiarism, and you should not share exam-related information
with other students in the
course which have not yet completed the entire exam, as this is
another form of academic
dishonesty. I will upload your final case analysis to
SafeAssignment to check for indications
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of cheating and/or plagiarism. The exam will be scheduled for
Week 15 (see course
calendar), and I will provide additional information to you
before the exam.
Final Grade Scoring
I round up or down. Examples are listed below.
Example 1: If you earn a final grade of 79.4 for this course,
you will receive a C for the term.
Example 2: If you earn a final grade of 79.5 for this course,
you will receive a B for the term.
Negative Participation Rule: I reserve the right to lower the
final grade of any student who I
feel has had a detrimental, distracting, or negative effect on
the learning environment over the
course of the term up to one letter grade.
Final Comments
I may change the course schedule during the term. However, these
changes will be done in
consultation with the class and will be announced well in
advance. Students not reading their
emails related to notification of the date changes made to the
schedule have the responsibility for
obtaining the information regarding the changes.
I will do everything that I can to help you learn the material
and make our class a meaningful
experience. I hope that you will do everything possible to be
prepared so that you can enjoy
your learning experience.
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Spring 2015 Course Calendar
Dates Allen
Chapter
McGrath
& MacMillan
(M&M)
Chapter
Concepts Deadlines
Week 1
1/18
1 Understanding
Entrepreneurship
Week 2
1/25
2, 3 Preparing for the
Entrepreneurial Journey;
Recognizing and Shaping an
Opportunity
Self-Select Groups for McGrath & MacMillan (M&M)
Discovery
Driven Growth Presentations by
February 1st.
Sign-up for dates related to Group Chapter Presentations for
McGrath & MacMillan (M&M)
Discovery Driven Growth
Presentation. Sign-up sheet will
be through Google Docs by
February 1st.
Optional Virtual Meeting #1 at 6:00 pm cst on Monday (1/26).
Week 3
2/1
4, 5 1 Developing and Testing a
Business Model; Analyzing
the Industry and Market
Self-Select Groups for Group Discontinuity or Social
Entrepreneurship project.
Week 4
2/8
6, 7 2 Analyzing Product/Service
Design and Protection;
Building the Founding
Team; Business Model
Canvas (See Blackboard for
Slides)
Week 5
2/15
8 3 Calculating Startup Capital
Requirements Optional Virtual Meeting #2 at
6:00 pm cst on Monday (2/16).
Submit initial concept of Group Market Discontinuity Project
or
Social Entrepreneurship Project
to me by Sunday (2/22) at 11:59
pm cst.
Startup Weekend Oxford to be held Friday evening (2/20) -
Sunday (2/22).
Week 6
2/22
Business Model Summary The dropbox for the submission of your
business model summary
will become available for
students starting Sunday (2/22)
at 1:00 pm cst and remain open
until Tuesday (2/24) by 8:00 pm
cst.
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Week 7
3/1
9 Proof of Concept: A New
Approach to Business Plans Submit letter of support for the
approved group social
entrepreneurship project from the
targeted Charity to me by
Sunday (3/1) at 11:59 pm cst.
3/8 Spring Break
Week 8
3/15
10 4 Choosing the Legal Form of
Organization
Week 9
3/22
11 5 Incorporating Ethics and
Social Responsibility into
the Business
Approved Group Social Entrepreneurship Website goes
Live by Sunday (3/22) at 11:59
pm cst.
Week 10
3/29
12 6 Designing an
Entrepreneurial
Organization; Family
Business (See Blackboard
for Presentation Slides)
Week 11
4/5
13, 14 7 Planning Startup
Operations; Developing a
Startup Marketing Plan
Submit rough outline for the Group Market Discontinuity
Project to me by Monday (4/6) at
11:59 pm cst.
Week 12
4/12
15, 16 8 Funding a Startup Venture;
Funding a Rapidly Growing
Venture
Week 13
4/19
17, 18 9 Planning for Growth;
Planning for Change Group Social Entrepreneurship
Website is Closed by Sunday
(4/19) at 11:59 pm cst.
Week 14
4/26
10 Review for Final Exam and
finish any remaining topics. Optional Virtual Meeting #3 at
6:00 pm cst on Monday (4/27).
Group Social Entrepreneurship Results presentation is
presented
during Week 14. Contact Dr.
Dibrell to set a time.
Group Market Discontinuity Project due by Sunday (5/3) at
11:59 pm cst.
Please upload your Student evaluations for the Group Market
Discontinuity Project or Social
Entrepreneurship Project to the
assigned dropbox by Sunday
(5/3) at 11:59 pm cst.
Week 15
5/3
Final Exam. The final exam will become available for students
starting
Sunday (5/3) at 1:00 pm cst and
remain open until Tuesday (5/5)
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by 8:00 pm cst.
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PMBA 622
Group Evaluation for Market Discontinuity Project
Title of Project:
Group:
I. CONTENT OF ANALYSIS (90 pts)
1. Executive Summary (10 Pts) ___________
2. Background, purpose, and opportunity (10 Pts) ___________
3. Business Model Canvas (10 Pts) ___________
4. Marketing (10 Pts) ___________
5. Competition (10 Pts) ___________
6. Development, production, and location (10 Pts)
___________
7. Management (5 Pts) ___________
8. Financial section (10 Pts) ___________
9. Risk factors (5 Pts) ___________
10. Harvest or exit (5 Pts) ___________
11. Scheduling and milestones (5 Pts) ___________
II. THE WRITTEN REPORT (10 pts)
1. Clarity, Conciseness, and Completeness (10 pts)
___________
III. OVERALL GROUP SCORE ___________
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Project/Peer Evaluations
Students should recognize the extreme difficulty of passing this
course without the support of their
colleagues. However, sometimes, you may find a group member who
does not contribute in any
meaningful way to the task at hand. Student teams are
responsible for documenting the contributions of
each member to the successful completion of the group
assignment. The group has a right to terminate
(that is, to FIRE) that individual. A non-discriminatory process
should be used in this event. The
recommended procedure is as follows:
1. Team members should first issue a verbal (witnessed) warning
to the individual. The instructor should be notified immediately,
in writing, of this initial disciplinary action.
2. If this fails to resolve the problem then a written warning
should be issued to the offender listing the offenses and steps
necessary to improve performance. Again, notify the instructor
immediately.
3. If previous steps fail, then a termination notice may be
issued. All members of the involved group must then meet with the
instructor to attempt to resolve the issue. Typically, this
involves
removing the offender from the group and assigning equivalent
work to the offender.
Peer Evaluation Form
This form is to be used at the end of the course to evaluate the
contribution of your fellow team members
to the overall performance of your group. Please give these
evaluations your careful consideration as
they will be used in determining an individual's project grade,
therefore, your evaluation has direct
consequences for the final grade assigned each student in this
course. Individual evaluations will be
kept confidential.
List the names of each member of your group (including yourself)
in the spaces provided below. Now,
considering the contribution of each student in terms of (1)
proportionate participation in team activities,
(2) timely completion of assigned work, and (3) quality of work;
assign a percentage of the team grade to
each individual. For example, if a fellow team member performed
well on each category, then you might
assign them 100%, lesser contributors could be assigned lesser
percentages. A student who exceeded all
expectations in their contribution could be awarded up to 105%
of the group's grade. No more than one
student per group can receive in excess of 100%. Percentages
below 95% must be accompanied by a
written explanation of the reasons for assigning a low
evaluation to this (these) student(s). Use the back,
or separate sheets if necessary to provide necessary
documentation.
YOUR TEAMS Number_______ and PROJECT
NAME_______________________________
Percentage (0-105%) of Students' Names Project Grade Awarded
1. _______________________________ (yourself) __________
2. _______________________________ __________
3. _______________________________ __________
4. _______________________________ __________
