MGT Entrepreneurship (MBA) Syllabus Fall 2014

Transcription

1 GT Entrepreneurship (BA) : 1:00 2:50 p.m. 161 endoza Syllabus Fall 2014 Professor Laura L. Hollis, JD Office Hours: Office/Contact Information: Thursdays, 10 a.m. 2 p.m. 222 endoza College of Business Or by appointment (574) lhollis@nd.edu Required Texts: Kathleen R. Allen, Launching New Ventures: An Entrepreneurial Approach, 6 th ed. (South- estern/cengage, 2012) Eric Ries, The Lean Startup (Crown Business, 2011) Other readings or handouts as assigned. These will be listed in the course assignments within this syllabus, and posted on Sakai. I. Introduction and Course Objectives The quest for predictability in an endeavor as complex as innovation is not quixotic. hat brings predictability to any field is a body of well-researched theory contingent statements of what causes what and why. Executives often discount the value of management theory because it is associated with the word theoretical, which connotes impractical. But theory is consummately practical. The law of gravity, for example, is actually a theory and it is useful. It allows us to predict that if we step off a cliff, we will fall. - Professor Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business School The Innovator s Solution elcome to GT Entrepreneurship. This is a great time to be studying entrepreneurship, and to be teaching it! Although there have been courses and programs in entrepreneurship in the U.S. for over 50 years, only within the past years has the subject really gained traction. And the discipline has transformed dramatically just within the past decade. Historically, the entrepreneurship curriculum consisted of a course or two, and most of the instructors were part-time adjuncts or retired business executives. BA programs largely ignored the topic; most graduates went to work for established companies why would that be needed? But the information economy has changed everything.

2 Page 2 Respected tier-one universities now have full-time faculty in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Dozens of freshly-minted PhD s in these fields graduate each year and take their places in colleges of business, engineering, science, and the fine arts. Scholars theoretical knowledge is being added to real-world business experience. The largest multinational companies have recognized that they must innovate or die, so they value employees and managers who understand entrepreneurial thinking. The purpose of this course is to increase the awareness and understanding of entrepreneurship and its vital role in business development and economic growth, and to encourage our students not only to start businesses, but to utilize tried-and-true entrepreneurial approaches to other endeavors, including working for established enterprises and launching social ventures. Individuals with backgrounds in science, engineering, the fine arts, humanities, and social sciences as well as business - can all profit from this knowledge and use it in their professional careers and personal pursuits. Course Structure The course will present current thinking in entrepreneurship circles, and take you through some of the preliminary processes that entrepreneurs must tackle in order to launch a new venture. The texts and readings have been selected to give you the greatest possible breadth of perspectives and understanding possible in a short time. Professor Allen s text takes a generalist, academic approach. Author Eric Ries is a serial entrepreneur whose book, The Lean Startup, provides the perspective from the real world. Other assigned readings will round out your understanding. You will not be writing a full-blown business plan in this course; educators and investors have moved away from this tool, at least for early-stage ventures. Instead, the course is designed to expose you to the building blocks of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial skill sets. 1 Course Requirements/Grading Your grade in this course will be a function of your attendance and participation in class (including submission of four brief written assignments that form the basis for in-class discussion), a group presentation on one of the last two class meetings, a Final Report which 1 I encourage you to take advantage of the events and resources provided by the Gigot Center for Entrepreneurship, including the annual Ideas Challenge and ccloskey Business Plan Competition. The Gigot Center also provides access to the Irish Entrepreneurs Network and IrishAngels, a group of 350+ Notre Dame alumni and friends eager to help interested entrepreneurs move their ideas forward. If you would like to know more about the resources on-and off-campus to help you with an idea, please see me.

3 Page 3 you will submit on the last day of class, and an objective final exam. The course requirements and weight given to them are as follows: Attendance/Class Participation -- 20% Assignments see below Final Report -- 25% Final Presentation -- 25% Final exam -- 30% Total: 100% Attendance and Class Participation Your attendance and participation in class is critical. There are only 13 class meetings, so even minimal absence is problematic. Perfect attendance and respectable participation will result in an A for that portion of your grade. One missed class will not impact your grade, but two will drop the Attendance grade from an A to a B. Three absences becomes nearly one-quarter of the total number of class meetings, and so will drop the grade from a B to a C. Attendance grades are individual. (In other words, you will not be penalized if a group member is absent.) Student-led learning You will notice in the Schedule of Assignments that some class days include Student-led Learning. These are class periods where we will use the time to collaborate, share information about your projects and solicit feedback from your classmates. It is extremely important that you not miss class on those days if at all possible. In the case of unavoidable absence such as illness, you will need to arrange to make up those classmate feedback opportunities outside of class. Please be generous with your time for the benefit of your classmates who have missed class due to illness or emergency. Assignments There are four relatively short assignments associated with the class, in addition to the Final Report and Final Presentation. These are referenced in the Schedule, below, and described more fully on Sakai. Each assignment will require a written submission online. Assignments are not graded they will receive a P or NP grade. However, a late or missed Assignment will reduce your individual Attendance/Participation grade by one full letter grade. Assignment grades are given to the group. Group Presentations At the very end of the semester, each group will do a 15-minute PowerPoint/Prezi presentation in which you will present a summarized version of your Final Report. This presentation will be followed by Q&A with the class. You may sign up for a time slot using the Sign Up feature on Sakai. Grades for presentations are given to the group.

4 Page 4 Final Report The Final Report will be 5 7 pages, single-spaced, typed, in which you consolidate and integrate your work on your product idea, present your research findings, and state what your plan for the venture would be, moving forward. You will be graded on the amount of work, thought, and research that you put into the Report over the course of the semester, professional writing style, and (to a somewhat lesser extent) the strength of your idea, its fundability, and your conclusion about the venture s viability. Grades on the Final Report will be given to the group. Final Exam The final exam will be given on the allotted exam day for / classes (Thursday, October 9 th ). The exam will consist of 50 objective (multiple choice, true/false, compound multiple choice) questions, and will cover the written material assigned throughout the term. Grades on the Final Exam will (obviously) be individual. II. Schedule of Class eetings and Assignments: Class Dates 8/25 Subject atter Assignments (to be completed by this class date) EEK ONE: DEFINITIONS; ECONOIC IPACT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP; SOURCES OF ENTREPRENEURIAL OPPORTUNITIES; HUAN-CENTERED DESIGN Review syllabus, course objectives, requirements, content sequence hat is entrepreneurship? hy study it? yths and realities about entrepreneurship Hour Two: Understanding the entrepreneurial economy. hat is an entrepreneurial economy? Launching New Ventures, ch. 2, pp In-class PowerPoint Launching New Ventures, ch. 1, pp atch the short agic Sauce video produced by the Kauffman Foundation (inclass) Handout (available on Sakai): Peter Drucker, Introduction: The Entrepreneurial Economy, INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP:

5 Page 5 PRACTICE AND PRINCIPLES (NY; Harper- Collins, 1985), pp /27 Entrepreneurship and economic growth hat is innovation s relationship to an entrepreneurial economy? Innovation and creative destruction Hour Two: here do opportunities come from? hat are the sources of entrepreneurs ideas? Cultivating creativity and innovation; creativity and discovery opportunities. The iterative process of developing a solution to problems; design thinking and human-centered design Assignment #1 for onday s class: ini-case study. Find one product that was the solution to a problem. (See full assignment description on Sakai) Handout (available on Sakai): Zoltan Acs, How is Entrepreneurship Good for Economic Growth? INNOVATIONS, (inter 2006), pp Handout (available on Sakai): Joseph Schumpeter, The Process of Creative Destruction (from Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy), pp Opportunity according to Robotz (in-class video clip) [ON YOUR ON] Launching New Ventures, ch. 3, pp Handouts (available on Sakai): The Art of Innovation, by Tom Kelley, ch. 3: Innovation Begins ith an Eye. Tim Brown, Design Thinking, (HBR, June 2008) In-class exercise: Problem Identification 9/1 EEK TO OPPORTUNITY, cont d.; ENTREPRENEURIAL DECISION-AKING; THE BUSINESS ODEL Student-led learning: Each group will BRIEFLY present their assignment findings The role of opportunity; different types of opportunities. Hour Two Is entrepreneurship management? Handout (available on Sakai): Scott Shane, The role of opportunities, A GENERAL THEORY OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2003), pp The Lean Startup, Intro, pp. 1 11, and Chapter 1, Start, pp

6 Page 6 9/3 Entrepreneurial thinking: effectual versus causal decision-making. Assignment #2 for ednesday s class: Each group will decide on their product/business idea. (See full assignment description on Sakai) Student-led learning: Each group will BRIEFLY present their selected problem and related product idea hat is a business model? Building a business model from a concept statement ; elements of feasibility analysis ; the value chain, revenue sources, expenses and cost drivers, and competitive strategy. Hour Two: hat assumptions are you making in your business model? (hat do you think your product will be? ho do you think your customers will be? hat do you think your business model will be?) Handout (available on Sakai): Saras Sarasvathy, hat akes Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurial? (Darden Business Publishing, 2009) Launching New Ventures, ch. 4, pp The Lean Startup, ch. 4, Experiment, pp (Zappo s, HP, and the Village Laundry Service) 9/8 Assignment #3 for onday s class: Students will prepare a preliminary In-class PowerPoint. Business odel Concept Statement. (See full assignment description on Sakai) EEK THREE - ADAPTING THE BUSINESS ODEL; CUSTOER FEEDBACK; PIVOTS ; STRUCTURAL IPEDIENTS TO INNOVATION The earliest customers: ho are they? hat do they want?; inimum Viable Product, beta-testing, earlyvangelists, and the innovator-user feedback loop; Hour Two: Student-led learning: Each group will discuss the preliminary assumptions from their business model concept statement, and how they plan to test them. The class will provide feedback. Launching New Ventures, ch. 5, pp The Lean Startup, ch. 3, Learn, pp The Lean Startup, ch. 5, Leap, pp The Lean Startup, ch. 6, Test, pp No additional reading for this class segment.

7 Page 7 9/10 Adapting your business model; pivot or persevere Hour Two: Start-ups vs. established companies; customers and structural impediments to innovation; disruptive versus sustaining innovations; intrapreneurship Assignment #4 for onday s class: Students will conduct preliminary customer inquiries and/or observation exercises to obtain real-time feedback. (See full assignment description on Sakai) The Lean Startup, ch. 8 Pivot (or Persevere), pp Handouts (available on Sakai): Clayton Christensen, The Innovators Dilemma, Introduction (pp. i xxxi). Clayton Christensen, The Innovators Solution, Chapter 7, Is your organization capable of disruptive growth? pp EEK FOUR ARKET AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS 9/15 9/17 9/22 Student-led learning: Each group will BRIEFLY discuss the results of their preliminary customer feedback exercises. Industry and competitive analyses Launching New Ventures, ch. 5, pp Launching New Ventures, ch. 5, pp Hour Two: The Lean Startup, ch. 7, easure, pp easuring success: innovation 148 accounting; meaningful metrics versus vanity metrics. Hours One and Two: No additional reading for today s class. Student-led learning: In-class discussion and feedback about market, industry, and competition as regards each group s product idea. EEK FIVE FUNDING AND CAPITALIZATION; LEGAL ISSUES: CHOICE OF ENTITY Hour One and Two: Launching New Ventures, ch. 15, pp Bootstrapping, equity and debt financing, other resources. 9/24 Hours One and Two: Legal Issues: Choice of entity Launching New Ventures, ch. 10, pp

8 Page 8 9/29 EEK SIX LEGAL ISSUES: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY GROUP PRESENTATIONS Legal Issues: Intellectual Property Patents Launching New Ventures, ch. 6, pp In-class PowerPoint Hour Two: Legal Issues: Intellectual Property Copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets Launching New Ventures, ch. 6, pp In-class PowerPoint 10/1 10/6 10/8 TH 10/9 Group Final Presentations (sign up on Sakai) EEK SEVEN GROUP PRESENTATIONS, FINAL REPORTS and FINAL EXA Group Final Presentations (sign up on Sakai) No class study day FINAL EXA