Curricula

Objectives

The course is geared towards individuals planning to develop and launch their own businesses. The course should help students identify a successful entrepreneur’s characteristics and coach them in some basic business skills, teaching them to write a business plan, launch a new venture, identify market opportunities, create a business plan, and build a competitive advantage.

Applied Business Skills (IBBUS)
Apply disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge to analyze business challenges and global trends in entrepreneurship to propose or put into action a business plan for a company start-up.

Content

The core parts of the course include Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship, Sources of opportunity recognition, creativity and idea generation, Competitive analysis, Business Model Development, Feasibility Analysis, Writing and pitching a business plan.

Learning materials and recommended literature

Recommended literature:

- Barringer, B.R. & Ireland, R.D (2019), "Successfully Launching New Ventures", Pearson, 6th edition.
- Osterwalder, A. & Pigneur, Y (2011), "Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers", Pearson.
- Ries, E. (2011), “The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses”, New York: Crown Business.

Teaching methods

- Synchronous and asynchronous teaching

- Two in-person sessions
-Four asynchronous sessions: course slides, group homeworks for a new venture creation, a final exam (Quiz), oral presentation.

Practical training and working life connections

The course aims to provide basic skills and knowledge for starting up a company

Exam dates and retake possibilities

Detailed and up-to-date information is available in the course workspace.

Alternative completion methods

Detailed and up-to-date information is available in the course workspace.

No alternative completion methods other than available through the NEOLMS course workspace.

Student workload

-Thursday 28-April: Assignment 1 deadline (Group homework): “Your ideal customer”, to be submitted no later than 28-April, on the class platform

-Thursday 12-Mai : Assignment 2 deadline (Group homework): Build a concept test for your new venture. The results of your concept test (Interviews with 15 people) are to be submitted no later than 12-Mai on the class platform

-Thursday 19-Mai: Assignment 3 deadline (Group homework) to be submitted no later than 19-Mai on the class platform: Sketch-up a business model canvas for your new venture

-Thursday 26-Mai: Assignment 4 deadline (Group homework): Analyse your competitive advantage and build a competitive analysis grid for your new venture. To be submitted no later than 26-Mai on the class platform.

-Thursday 02-Juin: Assignment 5 deadline (Group homework): Build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for your venture to be submitted (no later than 02-June) on the class platform

-Thursday 02-Juin: Assignment 6 deadline (Group homework): Prepare a video for your pitch (12 slides ppt, 10 mn) and post it on the platform no later than 02-June

Content scheduling

Session 1: Thursday 21-April (in person) 1,5 hours:

- Course practicalities: timings, objectives, format, evaluation
- Introduction to Entrepreneurship

Session 2 : Thursday 28-April (in-person):

- Recognizing opportunities and generating ideas

 Explain the difference between ideas and opportunities
 Identify and describe the Roots of Opportunity
 Discuss the personal characteristics of entrepreneurs that contribute to their ability to recognize business opportunities
 Evaluate a business idea

Session 3 : Thursday 12-May (asynchronous):

- What a feasibility analysis is and why is important?

 Describe the purpose of a product/service feasibility analysis and the primary issues that should be considered in this area
 Describe the purpose of industry/market feasibility analysis and the primary issues to consider in this area
 Explain the importance of financial feasibility analysis and list the most critical issues to consider in this area

Session 4: Thursday 19-May (asynchronous session):

Developing an effective business model

 Describe business models and discuss their importance
 Prepare a Business Model Canvas
 Explain the components of the Business Model Canvas that entrepreneurs can use to develop a business model for their firm


Session 5: Thursday 26-Mai (asynchronous session):

- Building a competitive advantage

 Your competitive advantage
 Identifying competitors
 Competitor analysis


Session 6: Thursday 02-June (asynchronous session) :

Pitching a business idea

 The lean startup methodology
 Pitching a business idea

Assignment 5 deadline (Group homework):

- Build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for your venture to be submitted (no later than 02-June) on the class platform (10%)

Assignment 6 deadline (Group homework):

- Prepare a video for your pitch (12 slides ppt, 10 mn) and post it on the platform no later than 02-June (10%)


Final exam: [Quizz] (30mn) (10%) on 02-June (time to be communicated later)

Further information for students

-All assignments posted on the platform are weighted between 5% and 20% of the final grade

-Oral presentation (last session): 10%

-Final Exam (Quizz): 10%

Evaluation scale

0-5

Evaluation criteria, satisfactory (1-2)

Applied Business Skills- You show some ability to apply disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge in order to analyze business challenges and global trends, to propose or put into action practical business solutions based on the findings

Applied Business Skills- You show basic ability to apply disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge in order to analyze business challenges and global trends, to propose or put into action practical business solutions based on the findings

Evaluation criteria, good (3-4)

Applied Business Skills- You clearly show ability to apply disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge in order to analyze business challenges and global trends, to propose or put into action practical business solutions based on the findings

Applied Business Skills- You clearly show ability to apply disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge in order to analyze business challenges and global trends, to propose or put into action practical business solutions based on the findings

Evaluation criteria, excellent (5)

Applied Business Skills- You show excellent ability to apply disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge in order to analyze business challenges and global trends, to propose or put into action practical business solutions based on the findings

Evaluation criteria, pass/failed

N/A

Prerequisites

None

Further information

Detailed and up-to-date information is available in the course workspace.