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Fraser International College
Canadian Business Fundamentals (BUS200)
Fall 2023 In-person Full Term
INSTRUCTOR: Ilia Bykov
I am a BUS200 & BUS216 Instructor as well as a Student Mentor at FIC
since 2015. I have a combined Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in
Linguistics & Education from Russia. I came to Canada to study Business
Administration at FIC & SFU. I have extensive experience in Photography
Stock Trading, and Real Estate. I am eager to share my experiences with
you and support you in any way I can. Feel free to reach out at any time
and ask me anything.
OFFICE HOURS: Wednesday, 9:30am-10:30am (PDT), Zoom link:
https://navitas.zoom.us/j/98168786327
Office hours will be conducted in Q/A form, the instructor will not proofread assignments before
submission, feel free to use Peer Education.
EMAIL: ibykov@learning.fraseric.ca
Prerequisites: None
Objectives:
This introductory course will explore the fundamentals of modern business and organizational
management. Working with case studies, students will build upon the basics of revenue,
profits, contribution and costs, as well as integrate advanced aspects of business models,
innovation, competitive advantage, core competence and strategic analysis. Working
individually and in teams, the goals of this course are to enable students to:
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obtain “fundamental business knowledge”;
•
obtain a holistic understanding of the foundational concepts of organizations;
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formulate and communicate ideas in a clear, concise, evidenced-based manner;
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contribute collaboratively and effectively to complete a team project; and
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understand the elements of business strategy and strategic analysis.
Required Text:
Business Essentials. Ebert, Griffin, Starke & Dracopoulos
10th Canadian Edition. ISBN 978-0-13-736902-7
(please see a guide on how to purchase it on Moodle)
Copyright © 2023 by Fraser International College: All the materials provided by the
instructor via Moodle, email, messaging apps, Zoom, etc. are subject to Copyright Law: All
rights reserved. Students are not permitted to reproduce, distribute, and/or transmit the
materials without instructor’s explicit written permission (ex: sending files to other students,
uploading them onto websites other than Moodle, sharing print-outs, etc.)
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Course Assessment:
5% Online Quizzes (6 quizzes based on textbook and/or HBR)
10% Individual Assignment – Presentation and Reflection paper
12% Mini assignments (3)
18% Group project – case presentation and team paper
5% Participation
20% Midterm Examination
30% Final Examination
Grading Details
On-line Quizzes (5%)
Most weeks will have a quiz on the material to be discussed in class in Moodle. You will have 6
days to do the quiz when it goes live. You will have a 15 minute time frame and one attempt.
There is no opportunity to write quizzes after the deadline and if you miss a quiz, unfortunately,
they are not able to restart. If the computer system crashes while you are doing your quiz, you
need to provide a screen shot showing the system failure and identifying your student number
and then alternatives will be considered. Without this, there will not be an opportunity to factor
the results.
Individual Assignment (10%):
The individual assignment will be an individual presentation completed throughout the
semester. You will either have a few topics to choose from, companies to evaluate or concepts
to discuss. Your presentation time will be 5 minutes in length. Included with this presentation
will be a 2- page individual reflection paper that you will provide summarizing your presentation
and the experience. The 2-page paper is due the same day you present. Late submissions will
lose 10% and every day after that 5% will be deducted.
Mini Assignments (12%)
There will be 3 mini assignments. Please refer to the table below for dates. Each mini
assignment will be worth 4%. The assignment to be completed during a specific time. You will
have 1 hour to complete it. If you do not submit by the deadline, you don’t get a mark for that
assignment and there are no make ups.
Group Project (18%)
You will also be given the opportunity to work in a team in order to prepare a case study. Each
group will present in class. The case presentation is an opportunity for you to learn about a real
life organization and to gain some practical experience working in a team setting. This is also
the opportunity to bring in all the course learning together to solve the issues with the
organization.
The purpose: first, presentation skills are foundational for both academia and business. There
is simply no substitute for gaining practice at giving presentations in front of a group. Second,
the case study is an opportunity for you to apply the concepts you will have learned in the
class to a real organization. Third, the case presentation will allow you to develop your skills in
working with others. Teamwork is becoming an increasingly important part of how work is
managed in organizations and the case presentation will help you to develop the ability to
organize and manage a team project.
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Each team member is expected to contribute equally to the group effort. Groups should
attempt to resolve problems with non-contributing members themselves – learning to manage
group process problems is part of your assignment. In the event that the group has been
unable to resolve the problem after several reasonable attempts, they should report the
problem to the instructor. Problems in teams will be resolved on a case-by-case basis, but all
students should be aware that, in the event someone fails to contribute, all team members may
be required to fill out an intra-team evaluation, rating the contribution of each group member to
the case study itself. The grade of any non-contributing team member will be lowered. A
separate hand out will be provided that outlines the requirements for the case presentation and
how you will be graded.
Participation (5%)
Participation is the class engagement piece. Your participation in class will be assessed
throughout the course. Attendance/participation will be taken based on completion of
interactive class activities within the timing specified.
Midterm Exam (20%)
Your midterm will be made up of short answer questions and you will be allowed 1 page of
paper notes double sided but no devices. The exam will be in person that draws material from
Chapters 1 through 5 (inclusive) and duration of time to do the exam will be provided.
Questions can also be taken from the HBR articles and Business Model Canvas. The exam is
scheduled for week 6.
Final Exam (30%)
Your final exam will be made up of short answer, calculation question, possible definition
question and a mini case. You will be allowed 1 page of paper notes but no devices. The final
exam will be in person that draws from all course material after the midterm. Questions can
also be taken from the HBR articles. The format will be a combination of short answers,
calculation questions and a mini case.
How can you do well in this course?
• Watch all lectures and prepare to participate
• Allocate 2-4 hours a week out of class time for this course
• Read the textbook and/or HBR article before class as assigned
• Do the assigned homework
• Take notes during lectures and ask for clarification
• Come to the office hours to talk about the course
Missed Classes:
Please note that if you miss more than three classes without a Declaration of Illness Form and
adhering to the FIC illness policy, you may not be permitted to write the final exam (F for the
course). Attendance is very important in order to pass this course. Being late for more than 5
minutes will be considered “H” (Half-attendance). You will lose 1% of your participation mark if
you miss a class, and 0.5% if you are late.
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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY
Academic Integrity refers the values on which good academic work must be founded: honesty,
trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. Academic integrity includes a commitment not to
engage in or tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation or deception. Such acts of
dishonesty violate the fundamental ethical principles of the College community and
compromise the worth of work completed by others.
Students found to have breached the regulations related to any form of academic misconduct
including but not limited to plagiarism and cheating will be subject to the following measures:
• First Offence: Awarded “0” for the assessment and given a permanent record on their file
• Second Offence: Awarded “0” for the course, regardless whether the offence was
committed in the same course or another course
• Third Offence: Risk expulsion from FIC and the cancellation of Study Permit
It is solely the student’s responsibility to be aware of Academic Integrity Policy and
consequences of violating it. The policy is available at: http://85401dc13f6ba5867f46aacfababc729cd49a24606938417f53d.r33.cf6.rackcdn.com/FIC_Academic_Integrity_Policy.pd
f
The use of technology to produce content for your assignments that is not specifically listed in
the syllabus as permissible is strictly prohibited. All submissions for grading must be your own
work. This specifically includes a prohibition on artificial intelligence writing software such as
ChatGPT as it will interfere with the learning objectives outlined for this course.
COMMUNICATION
My goal as an FIC instructor is to be flexible, supportive, available, and helpful. I welcome and
encourage students to make use of office hours. If you would like help with assignments, want
to discuss ideas, talk about the readings or have any concerns do not hesitate to speak to me.
Email: expected response time: 48 hours
Before emailing me please check:
1. Syllabus
2. Assignment description documents on Moodle
In each email please include the subject line as follows: BUS200 Section # / Team # / Legal
name / Topic of email.
Please do not ask me:
• What is my grade for … ? – all grades appear on Moodle once I finish marking
• Can you please check my assignment? – yes, during office hours only
• When is your office hours? – see syllabus
• When is the due date? – see description of the assignment
I will not be responding if you do not follow the guidelines. Thank you for respecting my time :)
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BUS200 Schedule
W1
Sep 6
W2
Sep 13
W3
Sep 20
W4
Sep 27
W5
Oct 4
W6
Oct 11
W6
TBD
What is a Business?
Chapter 1
Economic Environment:
The Big Picture
Chapter 2
Ethics and Values in
Business & Global
Business
Starting a Business:
Entrepreneurship and
Business Model Canvas
Global Business
Chapter 3 and
(HBR) Managing
Oneself
Chapter 4
Quiz 2 on
Chapter 3
Quiz 3 on
Chapter 4
Mini #1
Chapter 5
No class
Midterm Exam (p. 3)
(Chapters 1-5, Bus
Model Canvas, HBR)
Chapter 6 & 9 (p.184198)
and (HBR) What makes
a leader Article
W7
Oct 18
Managing a Business &
HR
W8
Oct 25
Operations
Chapter 10
W9
Nov 1
Understanding
Accounting, Money and
Banking/Finance
W10
Nov 8
Product Development
Parts of Chapter 11
(p.240-250), 14 &
Chapter 15
Chapter 12 and (HBR)
Core Competence
Article
W11
Nov 15
W12
Nov 22
W13
Nov 29
Quiz 1 on
Chapter 2
Pricing and Promotion
Group Presentations
Due (or W13)
Final Exam (or W14)
Chapter 13
Quiz 4 on Chapter 6
Quiz 5 on Chapter 10
Mini #2
Mini #3
Quiz 6 on Chapter 13