Course Outline Spring 2013

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Safdar Nazeer +92-321-5387759

nazeersafdar@gmail.com

Introduction

Entrepreneurship is an approach to management that emphasizes the pursuit of opportunity regardless of resources currently controlled. Whether you plan to start a new venture at some point in the future or to pursue a scientific career, the ability to display entrepreneurial behavior has never been more important. The aim of this course is to provide you with an exciting introduction to the theory and practice of entrepreneurship and new venture creation. The course assumes no prior knowledge of the subject and will equip you with much of the knowledge required to launch and manage a high potential new venture. Although the course is based on the latest academic research its emphasis is on the development of practical skills. Class participation is actively encouraged by the tutors and speakers.

Course Description

Studies how entrepreneurs think and act in organizing, motivating and leading high performance teams, and introducing and selling innovative science and technology-based products and services into national and international markets. Examines how entrepreneurs create and capture revenues and profits by recognizing, assessing, and marketing opportunities for new products or services based on science and technology; developing new strategies and business models; validating markets; and selling into industrial enterprises and markets.

The Course imparts knowledge about Entrepreneurial and Intrapreneurial process business cycle and general guideline for establishing a new business enterprise at a small or large level in a Dynamic Business Environment. This course also focuses on ways in which entrepreneurs recognize opportunities, generate ideas, and organize resources to plan successful ventures that enable them to achieve their goals. New Business Ventures focuses on the process of converting a venture opportunity into a sustainable, revenue generating business. The course essentially deals with the issue of how to start a business from scratch as opposed to what opportunity to pursue. Students will create a venture plan for a school-based or student-run business. Through hands-on experiences, students will have opportunities to develop the values, traits, and skills most often associated with successful entrepreneurs. The course combines case studies of entrepreneurial firms, guest speakers currently launching their own business, in-class exercises, of the new venture creation process, interviews with entrepreneurs and a term project. Student teams can choose to work on their own venture idea for the term project or compare and contrast the founding stories of two existing ventures. At the end of the course, participants should be able to understand the key strategic and organizational decisions, trade-offs, and challenges involved in launching a new venture and making it succeed in a particular market space. They should feel comfortable about embarking in an entrepreneurial career or working with entrepreneurial firms

Goals of the Course

The goal of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the wider role of entrepreneurial processes and practices in developing and growing science and technology ventures. The course aims to develop this understanding through class discussions of theories, frameworks and techniques, case studies and a ‘hands-on’ project.

Learning Outcomes

Introduction Course Description Course StructureGoals of the Course Learning Outcomes

Readings and Cases:

Learning and Teaching:

Guest speakers: Entrepreneur Interview:

Project:

Course Outline Spring 2013

By the end of this course it is expected that the student will be able to: 1. Analyze the characteristics and contributions of enterprising people;2. Compare the characteristics and contributions of various entrepreneurs3. Assess own entrepreneurial and enterprising potential4. Explain the importance of invention and innovation to venture creation5. Analyze various methods of generating ideas and identifying opportunities to satisfy needs and wants6. Generate realistic new ideas and identify possible opportunities for a school-based or student-run business7. Conduct primary and secondary marketing research to evaluate the idea or opportunity for their proposed

venture8. Describe the role of entrepreneurship in developing and growing science and technology ventures and outline

why risk and uncertainty are inherent to the process. 9. Identify entrepreneurial techniques, models and strategies used in developing and growing science and

technology ventures internationally. 10. Apply entrepreneurial processes and practices to plan and execute research commercialization in science and

technology ventures. 11. Communicate in written and verbal formats plans for how to develop and grow science and technology ventures

to the satisfaction of various stakeholders.12. To acquaint the students with the virtues of entrepreneurship for the society so as to enable them to consider it

as one of the early or late career options13. To appreciate the role of entrepreneurship in economic growth and there by personal career growth of business

managers.14. Assess the importance of having a venture plan15. Analyze the structure and content of a venture plan16. Explain how to evaluate and revise a venture plan17. Analyze the resources required to run their chosen venture18. Complete the components of an effective production plan for their chosen venture19. Complete the components of an effective marketing plan for their chosen venture20. Complete the components of an effective financial plan for their chosen venture21. Produce, using appropriate software, a venture plan for their chosen venture

Course Structure

The course focuses on the process of venture creation from the moment entrepreneurs identify a business opportunity to the moment that their new venture becomes a viable organization (defined as being cash flow positive in a defensible market position). Each session will provide learning points and frameworks that participants can use in their own venture project. It is important to note that the issues facing entrepreneurs typically tend to be multi-faceted and require a holistic perspective. So, while there is an important role for conceptual frameworks and tools, they are to be applied only to the extent that they help entrepreneurs make good decisions and realistic action plans to implement those decisions.

1. Learning and Teaching:The class will meet for 3 hours weekly and 30 minutes group discussion (discussion will be on individual groups time and schedule will be preset). Class time will be used for a combination of lectures and discussions of case studies and current events. In addition to attending classes, students should be prepared to spend about another 10 hours per week on activities related to this course.2. Readings and Cases: The pedagogical materials used in the course will familiarize you with the many dimensions of the venture creation process. The readings provide ideas and suggest ways of thinking about entrepreneurial challenges. Case discussions and assignments build the intuition for how entrepreneurs go about launching new markets and organizations, and what pitfalls they ought to watch out for. Use the Harvard Business School Cases that is available on required time with instructor. Cases will be presented in the following pattern

1. Read the case very carefully 2. Prepare 15 mints presentation including all important areas of each case.3. Present at least 2-5 new and innovative business ideas from each case4. Prepare Power point Presentation for case presentation 5. No written assignment is required to submit

Course Outline Spring 2013

Note: (Case analysis will be graded on point 2 and 3)Base your new business ideas from the case study information additional research is required in group discussion.

3. Guest speakers: Based on their experience, invited speakers will discuss some of the issues they face in the start-up process. Some of them will bring real-time issues to class, which they are currently grappling with in their entrepreneurial ventures. Others will bring their years of experience as entrepreneurs and mentors to discuss the challenges of engaging in an entrepreneurial career.4. Entrepreneur Interview: The goal of the entrepreneur interview is to get a glimpse of the motivations, experiences and key learning involved in building a company from the perspective of someone who has been through that experience. You need to interview an actual entrepreneur/founder for this assignment. The goal of the assignment is to understand the experiences, motivation, and lessons learned by someone who have founded a business before.  You can choose anyone who has previously founded a new venture. The only restrictions are that he/she cannot be one of your class colleagues nor one of the class invited speakers, nor an entrepreneurs already interviewed by one of your colleagues. You can choose an entrepreneur from your own circle of friends and family contacts. However, it is more useful if you use this opportunity to establish a new relation with an entrepreneur in an industry/area that you are interested to pursue. This will allow you to extend your network of contacts and even win a mentor to help you with your entrepreneurial projects.I will compile all interviews and distribute them electronically before the final session. This will provide a very useful repository of entrepreneurial experiences that will allows us to understand better the attitudes of entrepreneurs and the challenges of venture creation. The deliverable activity is a 3 to 4 pages paper (one and half line space) with the following structure: (you can include other topics that you feel are relevant but please address the below points)

Entrepreneur information: Name, Nationality, Gender, Age, Background, etc. Name, date of founding and brief description of the founded company. Does it still

exist? Founding story: why this venture, why that particular time, what motivated to make the

jump? Who helped in the process? What were the entrepreneur’s greatest fears and desires?

What were the most surprising things and most important lessons learned about founding and running a company? What were the greatest difficulties?

What were the key reasons why the venture succeeded or failed? How important (if at all) was the entrepreneurs’ skills at building relationships (e.g. with

potential customers, investors or suppliers) for the success / failure of the venture? If s/he were to give you two tips for effective relationship building skills what would it be?

What were the most important personal lessons learned by the entrepreneur? At the end, please add a paragraph describing the two most interesting or useful take-

away for you from this interview.5. Project: The course project is an important vehicle for promoting first-hand insight into the entrepreneurial process. You will be given the opportunity to think through the strategic and organizational foundations for your own venture idea or to enhance your learning of the entrepreneurial process by analysing the developmental path followed by two new ventures from conception to an operating organization.Venture teams may be composed of three to five people. No person can belong to more than one team. The team selection is irrevocable, so ensure that every member of the group is comfortable with the contributions each member is expected to make. The project report should be under 40 pages (guideline is one-and-half space, inclusive of all appendices and references in any 11 point Times New Roman font with a one-inch margin).You may choose one of two alternative project formats: A- New Venture Design OR B- Analysis of existing Start-Up. In both cases, please email to nazeersafdar@gmail.com the details of your project by 10 am on 2nd week of the semester. You should include the following information in the body of the e-mail:

A title for the projectA list of who is on the teamDepending on the choice of project:

Course Outline Spring 2013

A. A brief explanation of the unfulfilled need that your new venture seeks to satisfy and a brief description of the product/service concept. Also describe your plans for data collection and analysis.

Option A- New Venture Design. Develop a strategy and organization plan for a new venture that explores a business opportunity that interests you. This option is particularly useful for students who would like to launch their own venture and intend to develop. The goal of the exercise is to lay out the central design and implementation details for a new business venture, focusing on strategic and organizational issues. The project is an opportunity for you to: 1) Explain the source of the opportunity and why it is attractive 2) Clarify the specific market addressed / customers targeted and why3) Indicate the ideal composition of the founding team and how it will be formed 4) Suggest a business model and explain why it is attractive and superior to other options 5) Indicate which identity and positioning will be adopted for the new venture 6) Explain which activities will be done inside the firm and by which priority 7) Explain which activities will be done outside the firm and how partners may be attracted8) Identify potential competitors to the new venture and explain how they may be dealt with 9) Identify key bottlenecks for the growth of the firm and how they may be addressed10) Indicate how much funding will be required and how it can be obtained 11) Identifying the central assumptions made in the venture plan and how they will be verified

B. Name of the company that the team will be studying, date of founding, brief description of product/service concept, and key challenge/decision that the team will analyse (if already selected)Option B - Analysis of existing Start-Up. The goal is to critically analyse a recent start-up (less than 5 years old) and discuss the challenges faced by the founding team in establishing the new organization. You should focus on the venture design and implementation steps and address in-depth one current business challenge of the start-up. Ideally, the data collection should include a few interviews with the members of the founding team and the data analysis should use some of the frameworks discussed in class. The report should cover the following areas:

1) Explain the source of the opportunity and why it is attractive 2) Clarify the specific market that was addressed and why. Did it change over time and

why? 3) Describe the business model and explain why it is superior to other options4) Indicate composition of the founding team and how it was formed 5) Explain which activities are done inside the firm and which activities are done outside the

firm through partners Describe how partners were identified and attracted. 6) Identify existing and potential competitors to the new venture and explain how they are

being dealt with7) Identify key bottlenecks for the growth of the firm and how they are being addressed 8) Identify the central assumptions made in the early days of the venture and how they were

verified 9) In addition, about 50% of the report (8-10 pages) should be devoted to an in-depth

analysis and your recommended solution to a current challenge or decision that the entrepreneurs are facing (the chosen challenge could be suggested by the start-up’s managers or could be a choice of the project team).

In addition please schedule a meeting with me. This will be an opportunity to discuss the status of your project and receive feedback. Naturally, we can meet more often if you wish.

You should submit a brief project document, signed by and the team members. The document should be submitted to the instructors on 2nd last week of the semester. As time is limited, your report must be

1. Concise-but-thorough2. Produced in an appropriate professional style and format3. Not more than 30 pages in length (excluding references). If essential to your arguments, your

report may be supplemented by not more than 15 additional pages of supporting evidence and exhibits.

4. You will submit: (a) one bound copies of your report including the followingi. One hard copy of your presentation slides

ii. A digital copy of your report on CD

Course Outline Spring 2013

iii. Please submit hard copies to instructor one week before the final presentation

Materials

1. TextbookWWW.THOMSONLEARNING.COM.AU/FREDERICK

Robert D. Hisrich, Michael D. Peters, and Dean A. Shepherd ENTREPRENEURSHIP: 6th

Edition. (New York: Irwin-McGraw Hill, 2001). 4th 5th and 6th Edition of this book is equally good!

Effective Small Business Management, by Hodgetts and Kuratko [Wiley] Introduction to Entrepreneurship Bruce R. Barringer R. Duane Ireland

2. Reference Books

The Entrepreneurial Mindset by Rita Gunther McGrath and Ian MacMillan, Harvard Business School Press

Entrepreneurial Management by Galvin, McGraw Hill Executive Robert D. Hisrich, ed. Entrepreneurship, Intrapreneurship, and Venture Capital.

(Lexington, KY: Lexington Books, Inc., 1986). Donald L. Sexton and Raymond W. Smilor, eds., Entrepreneurship 2000. (Chicago:

Upstart Publishing Co., 1997). Robert D. Hisrich and Candida Brush, The Woman Entrepreneur. (Lexington: Lexington

Books, Inc., 1986). Rosabeth Moss Kantor, The Change Masters. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983). Mark Van Osnabrugge and Robert Robinson, Angel Investing. (San Francisco: Jossey-

Bass Publishing Co., 2000). Many other books are also available in the market (and library).

3. Reading Materials

Reading materials will be given to the CR of the class who would be responsible to take all types of reading material from the teacher and make it available to every student.

Study Topics by Week

Week Topics to be Covered

An introduction to the CONCEPTS!Week 1 Entrepreneurship: an introduction (Comparison with Business and New

Venture Creation Concepts)Week 2 The Nature and Importance of EntrepreneurshipWeek 3 The Entrepreneurial and Intrapreneurial Mind

The Individual EntrepreneurWeek 4 Technological Revolution and Small BusinessWeek 5 1st Mid Term Exam

Opportunities for getting into BUSINESS!Week 6 Creativity and the Business IdeaWeek 7 Starting a new firm or Buying an existing business

Operating a FranchiseOpening a Home Based Business

Week 8 Developing a Business Plan

Course Outline Spring 2013

Week 9 The marketing planThe organizational plan

Week 10 2nd Mid Term Exam

Managing OPERATIONS!Week 11 Sources of Capital

Determining location and layoutSelecting the legal form of an organization

Week 12 Understanding the MarketWeek 13 Pricing for Profit

Promotion and Personal sellingCustomer Credit

Week 14 Financial statements and record keepingFinancial analysis and budgeting

Week 15 Entrepreneurial Strategy: Generating and Exploiting New EntriesWeek 16 Final Exam

Changes to SyllabusThis syllabus is subject to change during the semester. This will depend on the class’ attitude, teacher’s perception of the mindsets of the students, and campus policy! Materials from different books will be discussed during the class. Announcements in class take precedence over any other communication or procedure.

Suggested Web Sites:www.shell.livewire.com www.tameer.org.pk www.smeda.org www.intilaqa.org http://mauritius.shell-livewire.com

Online MagazinesCanadian Business www.canadianbusiness.comEntrepreneur Magazine www.entrepreneur.comNelson Thomson Business website www.business.nelson.comRealm Magazine www.realm.net

Government of Canada Resources Business Development Bank of Canada www.bdc.caBusiness Plans www.businessplans.comCanada Business Service Centers www.cbsc.orgHuman Resources Development Canada www.hrdc-drhc.gc.caStatistics Canada www.statcan.caYouth Employment Information www.youth.gc.ca

Online NewspapersGlobe and Mail www.globeandmail.comNational Post www.nationalpost.com

VideoStarting Your Own Business Copyright 1998 National Foundation for Teaching EntrepreneurshipEntrepreneurship for Canadians: The Spirit of Adventure, a CFEE project

Movies Social network

Course Outline Spring 2013

Web ResourcesEntrepreneurship Focused PeriodicalsPeriodical Web Site Address

American Venture www.avce.com

Entrepreneur www.entrepreneur.com

Fast Company www.fastcompany.com

Home Business Magazine www.homebusinessmag.com

Inc. www.inc.com

Industry Week www.industryweek.com/

Information Week www.informationweek.com

Minority Business Entrepreneur www.mbemag.com

MIT Technology Review www.technologyreview.com

Private Equity Week www.pewnews.com/

San Jose Mercury News www.mercurynews.com/

Small Business Opportunities www.sbomag.com

Wired www.wired.com

 Entrepreneurship Focused Web Sites (general information) Web Site Web Site Address

All Business www.allbusiness.com

BizStats.com www.bizstats.com

Bizwomen.com www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen

Business 2.0 www.business2.com

BusinessFinance.com www.businessfinance.com

Business Owner’s Toolkit www.toolkit.cch.com

Business Resource Center www.morebusiness.com

Business Week Small Business www.businessweek.com/smallbiz

Center for Women’s Business Research www.womensbusinessresearch.org

Entrepreneurship (Kauffman Foundation) www.entrepreneurship.org

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor www.gemconsortium.org

Harvard Business School Entrepreneurs www.hbs.edu/entrepreneurs

Idea Café www.businessownersideacafe.com

Making It! www.makingittv.com

National Federation of Independent Businesses www.nfib.com

Peerspectives www.peerspectives.org

Red Herring www.redherring.com

Course Outline Spring 2013

SEC Filings www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml

Small Business Advisor www.isquare.com

Small Business Resources www.smallbusinessresources.com

Small Business Trends www.smallbiztrends.com

STVP Educators Corner (Stanford) http://edcorner.stanford.edu

U.S. Small Business Administration www.sba.gov

The Wall Street Journal Small Business www.startupjournal.com

Yahoo! Finance http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/index.html

 Entrepreneurship Focused Web Sites (specific information) Web Site

Web Site Address

BizPlanIt www.bizplanit.com

BizStats www.bizstats.com

Board Member www.boardmember.com

BPlans www.bplans.com

Business Plan Archive www.businessplanarchive.org

Business Plan Writing Help Center www.growthink.com/helpcenter.html

BusinessFinance.com www.businessfinance.com

Business Owners’ Idea Cafe www.businessownersideacafe.com

Center for Business Planning www.businessplans.org

Center for Rural Entrepreneurship http://www.energizingentrepreneurs.org/

Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization www.c-e-o.org

E2 Environmental Entrepreneurship www.e2.org

Coolbusinessideas www.coolbusinessideas.com

Evan Carmichael www.evancarmichael.com

Fambiz.com (family business) www.fambiz.com

FindLaw http://biz.findlaw.com

Franchise.com www.franchise.com

Franchise Direct www.franchisedirect.com

Franchise Opportunities http://www.franchiseopportunities.com/

Garage Technology Ventures www.garage.com

Inc. 500 www.inc.com/resources/inc500/index.html

International Franchise Association www.franchise.org

InternetNews.com www.internetnews.com/bus-news

Marketwatch From Dow Jones www.marketwatch.com

MegaLaw www.megalaw.com

Money Tree Report www.pwcmoneytree.com

NASDAQ www.nasdaq.com

Course Outline Spring 2013

National Business Incubation Association www.nbia.org/

National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance www.nciia.org

National Inventor Fraud Center www.inventorfraud.com

National Venture Capital Association www.nvca.org

Service Corps of Retired Executives www.score.org

SiliconValleyWatcher www.siliconvalleywatcher.com

Startup Review www.startup-review.com

The Capital Connection www.capital-connection.com

The Center for Venture Research http://wsbe.unh.edu/cvr

Tradepub http://internet.tradepub.com

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office www.uspto.gov/

Valuation Resources www.valuationresources.com

Yahoo? Finance http://finance.yahoo.com

 Entrepreneurship Focused Blogs

BlogWeb Site Address

A VC—Musings of a VC in NYC http://avc.blogs.com

Action Talk http://actionstalk.com/

Ask the VC http://www.askthevc.com/blog/

Be Excellent http://sixdisciplines.blogspot.com

Ben Casonocha http://ben.casnocha.com/

Campus Entrepreneurship http://campusentrepreneurship.wordpress.com/

Canadian Entrepreneur http://canentrepreneur.blogspot.com/

Duct Tape Marketing Blog http://www.ducttapemarketing.com

EarlyStageVC http://earlystagevc.typepad.com

Entrepreneur Magazine www.entrepreneurs-journey.com

Feld Thoughts http://www.feld.com/wp/

Grade A Entrepreneurs http://delbourg-delphis.com/

Guy Kawasaki’s Blog http://blog.guykawasaki.com/

Innovation.Net Weblog http://venture2.typepad.com/innovationnet

John Battelle’s Searchblog http://battellemedia.com

Life Beyond Code http://www.lifebeyondcode.com/

Outside the Valley www.outsidethevalley.com

Paul Allen www.paulallen.net

Redeye VC http://redeye.firstround.com

Seth Godin Blog www.sethgodin.com/sg/

SiliconBeat www.siliconbeat.com

Small Business Labs http://genylabs.typepad.com/small_biz_labs/

Course Outline Spring 2013

Social Entrepreneurship Blog www.socialroi.com

Start-Up Guide http://startupguide.typepad.com

Texas Startup Blog http://texasvc.weblogswork.com

The Entrepreneurial Mind (Dr. Jeff Cornwall) http://www.drjeffcornwall.com/

The Heart of Innovation http://www.ideachampions.com/weblogs/

Up and Running (Tim Berry) http://upandrunning.entrepreneur.com/

Vartornews TV http://vator.tv/news

VenturBeat www.venturebeat.com

VentureBlog—A Random Walk Down Sand Hill Road www.ventureblog.com

YoungEntrepreneur www.youngentrepreneur.com/blog

 Entrepreneurship Focused PodcastsPodcast Web Site Address

Harvard Business IdeaCast http://hbsp.libsyn.com/rss

Inc. “Inside the Issue” www.inc.com/podcasts

Innovate http://innovate.blogspot.com

Killer Innovations http://www.techtrend.com/blog/

Small Business Trends www.smbtrendwire.com

Stanford Educators Corner http://ecorner.stanford.edu/podcasts.html

Startupnation.com www.startupnation.com

This Week in Technology www.twit.tv

Time Business Podcast www.time.com/time/podcasts

Venture Voice http://www.venturevoice.com

 Entrepreneurship Focused Scholarly Journals

Journal Web Site Address

Entrepreneurship & Regional Development

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/08985626.asp

Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1042-2587

Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research www.babson.edu/entrep/fer/

Journal of Business Venturing www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08839026

Journal of Small Business Management http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0047-2778

Small Business Economics http://www.ingenta.com/journals/browse/klu/sbej

Strategic Entrepreneurship Journalhttp://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/113412125/home?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

The Journal of Product Innovation Management

http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0737-6782

Venture Capital http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/13691066.asp