Course Description:
Entrepreneurship involves among other things development of ideas
and the
creation of a new firm. Founders and startup teams often believe
that planning
or development beyond the initial paperwork is a waste of time.
Planning in such
settings are often ad hoc and something that takes place in the
spur of the
moment. Most newly established firms do not even have a formal
statement that
expresses their business opportunity. They often cannot account for
what makes
the opportunity sustainable/unique, what the firm’s goal is, or how
this goal will
be realized. Such reflections unfortunately are only considered
once the firm is
need of external capital. Even then such reflections tend to be
superficial.
It is possible that action is more important than planning in newly
started
firms. The ability to assess a newly started firm critically and
formulate formal
plans is nevertheless of the utmost importance. It basically allows
the
entrepreneur or the team to present the opportunity, the product,
the plan and
the vision in a convincing fashion. This is essential for
attracting external funding
both at the early and later stage of development. It also allows
the entrepreneur
and the entrepreneurial team to better secure other stakeholders
necessary for
developing the firm. The overall goal of this course is to give
students the
necessary tools and competences that allow them to write meaningful
and useful
business plans. To ensure that students have an understanding for
the different
business models and how these fits into the business plan. The goal
is to give
students practical and theoretical insights and tools for
conducting in-depth
invitations into new businesses and business opportunities and to
develop
business plans that are reflective, credible and meaningful.
Course Contents:
The entrepreneurs or the startup team is the focal point of the
course. The
course consists of two integrated parts. First, lectures and
dialogue about
theoretical and empirical studies giving the students the
foundation to
understand business planning. Second, exposure to exercises
allowing students
to reflect and discuss details of the taught materials. These
exercises are a
combination of hypothetical examples and business plans used to
establish new
businesses. The lecturers are organized so that they refer to
specific parts of a
business plan. This allows students to focus on a narrowly defined
subject and
not creating excess complexity in each lecture. Integration with
guest lecturers
allows students to test the taught theory and literature against
experience.
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Sylllabus:
Session 1: Importance of business plans and their
role(s)
Readings:
- Barringer, B. R. (2015). Preparing Effective Business Plans
– An entrepreneurial Approach. Pearson Education Limited,
Chapter 1-2
- Sahlman, W. A. (1996). Some thoughts on business
plans. Harvard Business School Publ.
- Delmar, F., & Shane, S. (2003). Does business planning
facilitate the development of new ventures?. Strategic
Management Journal, 24(12), 1165-1185.
Further Readings:
- Shane, S., & Delmar, F. (2004). Planning for the
market: business planning before marketing and the continuation of
organizing efforts. Journal of Business Venturing, 19(6),
767-785.
- Karlsson, T., & Honig, B. (2009). Judging a business by
its cover: An institutional perspective on new ventures and the
business plan. Journal of Business Venturing, 24(1),
27-45.
- Zott, C., & Amit, R. (2007). Business model design and
the performance of entrepreneurial firms. Organization
Science, 18(2), 181-199.
Session 2: Industry, market and technology
analysis
Readings:
- Barringer, B. R. (2015). Preparing Effective Business Plans
– An entrepreneurial Approach. Pearson Education Limited,
Chapter 5-6
- Slater, S. F., & Olson, E. M. (2002). A fresh look at
industry and market analysis. Business Horizons, 45(1),
15-22.
Session 3: Marketing and team analysis
Readings:
- Barringer, B. R. (2015). Preparing Effective Business Plans
– An entrepreneurial Approach. Pearson Education Limited,
Chapter 7-8
-
CASE: Jean, M. (2014). Sweet Leaf Bath Co. Ivey
Publishing
Further Readings:
- Beckman, C. M. (2006). The influence of founding team company
affiliations on firm behavior. Academy of Management Journal,
49(4), 741-758.
- Beckman, C. M., Burton, M. D., & O'Reilly, C. (2007).
Early teams: The impact of team demography on VC financing and
going public. Journal of Business Venturing, 22(2),
147-173.
Session 4: Operations and Product
Development
Readings:
- Barringer, B. R. (2015). Preparing Effective Business Plans
– An entrepreneurial Approach. Pearson Education Limited,
Chapter 9
Session 5: Guest Lecture
Session 6: Finance and financial
projections
Readings:
- Barringer, B. R. (2015). Preparing Effective Business Plans
– An entrepreneurial Approach. Pearson Education Limited,
Chapter 10
-
CASE: Hart, M., Roberts, M. J., & Stevens, J. D.
(2005). Zipcar: refining the business model. Harvard
Business School Pub.
Session 7: Business models
Readings:
- Zott, C., Amit, R., & Massa, L. (2011). The business
model: recent developments and future research. Journal of
management, 37(4), 1019-1042.
- Magretta, J. (2002). Why business models matter.
Harvard Business Review, May 2002, 86-92
- Shafer, S. M., Smith, H. J., & Linder, J. C. (2005).
The power of business models. Business horizons, 48(3),
199-207.
- Casadesus-Masanell, R., & Ricart, J. E. (2007).
Competing through business models. Handbook of Research on
Competitive Strategy.
Session 8: Business model innovation
Readings:
- Zott, C., & Amit, R. (2008). The fit between product
market strategy and business model: implications for firm
performance. Strategic Management Journal, 29(1), 1-26.
- St. Gallen Business Model Navigator - working paper
(2016).
Session 9: Guest lecture (exam cases)
Session 10: Review, wrap-up and exam
presentation
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