Office: Burkle 228 Hours: by appointment Tel (for messages)

Transcription

1 The Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management Claremont Graduate University MGT 405 ENTREPRENEURSHIP FALL 2006 Tuesdays 4 6:50 PM COURSE SYLLABUS (August 2006 subject to revision) Dr. William B. Relf Office: Burkle 228 Hours: by appointment Tel (for messages) wrelf@earthlink.net Faculty support: Edie Young, Burkle Building upper level west end, tel , edie.young@cgu.edu. 1

2 MGT 405 New Business Creation Table of Contents Page I. Course Summary 3 II. Course Objectives 3 III. Professor s Expectations 4 IV. Course Organization and Prerequisites 4 V. About Your Professor 5 VI. List of Cases used in the Course 6 VII. Suggested Readings (optional) 6 2

3 I. SUMMARY OF THE COURSE Entrepreneurship is about passion and execution. It is about excitement and perseverance; having fun and helping others; challenges and hard work; creative thinking and managed risk. The class sessions will be managed as experiences in entrepreneurship, rather than in a traditional academic format. Alternative ways of starting a business will be explored in MGT 405 Entrepreneurship. Creating your business through acquisition will be studied in MGT 412. In MGT 405 we will work on your personal plan. In MGT 412 we will learn how to write a business plan. Either course may be taken first. One is not a prerequisite for the other. Life in this class may be a little different for you. Treat it as an adventure, a personal journey Before we go further, you need to answer two questions: 1) Will you be comfortable in a class in which you must provide some of your own learning goals and your own structure? 2) You will not have information fed to you from lectures and textbooks. Can you motivate yourself and be inner directed? If you cannot answer yes to both of these questions, you should replace this class with another elective. While I welcome all students, I want you to make the best choice for yourself. We will simulate, in the class, some of the ambiguity and requirement for selfmotivation that entrepreneurs live with daily. Expect this, if you remain in the class II. COURSE OBJECTIVES Management 405: 1) Understand how to start a business 2) Create plans for your entrepreneurial journey 3) Find and test a product/service for your business 4) Develop perspectives for building an organization. In addition, in Management 412 in the spring we will: 1) Understand how to acquire a business 2) Learn how to manage your energies and how to magnify your inner strengths 3

4 MGT 405 New Business Creation III 3) Practice writing a business plan 4) Develop a global focus. PROFESSOR'S EXPECTATIONS Becoming an entrepreneur may happen at any time in your life. You may take over a family business, manage a non-profit, start an enterprise, acquire a business, or manage in an entrepreneurial firm. Whatever your course in life, your success will depend upon your values, attitudes, competencies, and ways of thinking.. As your professor, I am most concerned with your personal development. Entrepreneurs succeed because of what and who they are, not because of information and concepts they have accumulated. You will be expected to focus on increasing your capabilities, on trying a new way of thinking, and on preparing to act entrepreneurially. Entrepreneurs take initiative. You will be expected to take initiative for your learning I will look for independent thinking, creativity, enthusiasm, hard work, professionalism, compassion for all, and a willingness to engage yourself in the process of learning. The nature of the learning process requires your attendance and active participation. Your contribution is valued and important. It is as you contribute to others that you will gain the most yourself. Consequently, absences from class will affect your grade. Three absences may result in a withdrawal from or failure of the course. If you must miss a class, let me know in advance and together we will determine an appropriate makeup assignment. Peer evaluation will be used to assist the professor in the selection of the most outstanding student performances. Approximately one-third of the class will receive an A grade. I will monitor our progress in the class. If your needs are not being met, it is your responsibility to me or to meet with me during class so that we can find a time that fits your schedule, to work together to best meet your needs. IV. COURSE ORGANIZATION AND PREREQUISITES Both 405 and 412 will have the following: 1) Seminar format based on discussions and verbal reports 2) A personal growth project. Details of the project will be given in class. 3) A field study project. Details of the project will be given in class. 4) Harvard cases 5) Self selected outside readings that pertain to your personal growth and field study projects 6) A final exam 4

5 The course prerequisites are: 1) A willingness to seek your passions 2) An ability to take initiative and set goals 3) Perseverance and persistence an ability to get the job done 4) Creativity and curiosity openness to new ideas 5) A desire to increase your interpersonal skills Why no corporate management business courses as perquisites? Many of the successful entrepreneurs I have known have never been in a business school classroom. The knowledge in these courses is important. And of course it is best that you have it. But many entrepreneurs gain use of this knowledge by including members on their management team who have this knowledge, by hiring individuals who have earned their BA or MBA in business, or by hiring consultants. Then the entrepreneurs gain the basic knowledge on the job. Their entrepreneurial leadership abilities are most important. Without possession of the prerequisites listed above, I do not believe you can succeed as an entrepreneur no matter how many courses you take so we focus on these qualities. V. ABOUT YOUR PROFESSOR I have been an entrepreneur for over 50 years, and have taught entrepreneurship for 20 years. Every student is unique, with different goals and needs. We want to create and conduct these class sessions so that the course activities are customized to your individual goals and needs. There will be common assignments which I create, individual projects which you shape or create, and discussions which we create together. There have been many, many hours of field research with entrepreneurs: my suppliers, my customers, my competitors, friends and acquaintances, professional associates, etc. These hours have been supplemented by readings of research findings, business journals, biographies, and company reports and histories. During these years a constant and continuing question has been How and why do these entrepreneurs succeed (and fail)? I have concluded that there are four Platforms for Success in entrepreneurship. Understanding and building these platforms for yourself will increase your chances of entrepreneurial success significantly (not everybody succeeds, at least the first time). Our courses will focus on these four platforms as follows: Management 405 5

6 MGT 405 New Business Creation 1) Platform One==Creating an Entrepreneurial Journey 2) Platform Two==Constructing a Healthy Enterprise Management 412 3) Platform Three==Awaking Your Powers Within 4) Platform Four==Connecting with the Future We will have fun in the class. Come prepared for a challenge. VI. LIST OF CASES in course pack, and TEXTBOOK Gordon Biersch Stanford S-E-2 Heather Evans HBS Judy Wicks (A) HBS Michael Bregman HBS Midnight Networks Inc. HBS Nantucket Nectars HBS R&R HBS Howard Schultz and Starbucks Coffee Company HBS Takahiko Naraki, the three million yen entrepreneur Ivey 904M54 Nonstop Yacht, S.L. Ivey 903M35 Johnsonville Sausage Co. (A) HBS Philip McCrea: once an entrepreneur HBS Heidi Roizen HBS Textbook: Chang, Richard. The Passion Plan. Jossey-Bass, ISBN VII. SUGGESTED READINGS (OPTIONAL): 1. Drucker, Peter. Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Harper

7 2. Bhidé, Amar. The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses. Oxford Univ. Press Kawasaki, Guy. Rules for Revolutionaries: The Capitalist Manifesto for Creating and Marketing New Products and Services. Harper Business Hall, Craig. The Responsible Entrepreneur: How to Make Money and Make a Difference. Career Press: Franklin Lakes, NJ Graham, Stedman. Build Your Own Life Brand! The Free Press: New York Kragen, Ken. Life is a Contact Sport: Ten Great Career Strategies That Work. William Morrow and Company: New York Harvard Business Review on Entrepreneurship. HBR Press You may also find books and articles which interest you, so feel free to bring them to class and tell me about them. 7