School of Business and Leadership
Syllabus
BUS 490: Senior Seminar with a focus on Innovative Business Models
Spring 2009
INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION:
Instructor:
My Office Location:
Michelle D. Jones, Ph.D.
Monday and Wednesday from 12pm to 2pm. I am on campus most days and can definitely
schedule another time to meet with you if these limited office hours do not fit with your
schedule. Please feel free to email me or otherwise talk to me to schedule a time to meet that
works for you.
McIntyre 111A
Contact Information:
E-Mail:
mdjones@ups.edu
Phone:
253.879.3499
Office Hours:
DESCRIPTION OF COURSE:
This capstone course provides an understanding of business issues and offers the student an opportunity to integrate
knowledge acquired in the prior coursework. It has as its primary objective the development of skills in business analysis and
research. Students will make reasoned judgments and defend those judgments through discussion and analysis. Issues and
course format may vary from section to section.
Prerequisites: BUS 205, 305 or 320, 310 or 335, 315; one Category A (business) Elective; one Category B (humanities or
social science) Elective; and senior standing.
FOCUS OF THIS COURSE:
The focus of this section of senior seminar will be on innovative business models that individuals entering into the
present business environment should be familiar with. In particular, we will focus on the following areas: the
addition of a focus on sustainability to traditional business models, co-operative business models, the fair trade
movement, and the role of informal organizations in various settings.
REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS:
 We will be reading a variety of types of materials during the semester including books, articles and case studies. We will
also rely on watching a few films as an introduction to various concepts. I will provide all the materials you need except
for these two books, so please get a copy of these for yourself. Here is a starting list of books we will be reading this
semester which we may choose to add to as we get interested in new topics or case studies.
1) Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Choinard
2) Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin (also available in Audiobook format)
A LITTLE ABOUT MY TEACHING PHILOSOPHY:
I see my role in this course as a guide for our class discussions about these topics. It is up to all of us (you and me
both included) to create a learning environment where we can have meaningful discussions and tie the new
information we are learning in with what we already know and think. I expect you to take on some responsibility for
making sure the class is providing you with opportunities to learn the way you know you learn best and also take
some responsibility for making the course meaningful to you. I will provide you with the support and
encouragement and resources you need to make that happen.
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WHAT WE WILL BE DOING IN THIS COURSE:
Reflection Essays: The course will be divided into four sections (see schedule below for a delineation of the four
sections and topics contained within each section) and each member of the class will be asked to choose three of the
sections on which to write reflection essays. In your reflection essay, you should focus on capturing your thoughts
on the particular topic you are writing about (e.g., the co-operative business model, the fair trade movement, etc.). In
each of your reflection essays, please also provide one new example relevant to the topic that we did not discuss in
class. You are also encouraged to take a critical look at the benefits and disadvantages inherent in the business
approach you are writing about. In other words, this essay should be primarily a venue in which you capture your
personal thoughts on the topic and provide a new example, however, you are also encouraged to include some form
of research/investigation component in the essay. It should be an essay based on your thoughts and reflections, not a
research paper. These essays will be due at the end of each section of the course. There is no specific format for
these essays, but please limit the number of double spaced pages you write to a minimum of 5 pages and a
maximum of 10 pages. Please submit these essays on Blackboard through the Digital Dropbox for our course so we
can save paper and I can read them online and return them to you via email. Please make sure the files you upload to
the dropbox have either a .doc or a .rtf file extension.
Innovation Presentation: Each member of the class will give a short (approximately 10-15 minutes) presentation
on a topic of their choice that illustrates an innovative model of doing business or an innovative concept that he or
she feels the rest of the class should learn about. We will discuss this more as a class sometime around the middle of
the semester and possibly make a list of topics we might want to learn more about and then ask for volunteers from
the class to present on these topics.
Participation: This course is dependent on the participation of everyone in the class in our discussions. Your
participation will be assessed every day in class based on whether you are in attendance and to what extent you
contributed to our discussion and helped to move the discussion forward and in new directions (as opposed to
merely re-stating what others in the class said).
Above and Beyond: The learning environment in this course will depend on us all being involved in the process.
Everyone in the class should feel free to bring new cases and/or examples to the class’ attention for our learning
purposes. For example, if you know of an organization you believe the rest of us should know about, please tell us
about it, give us an article to read, suggest a film that we should watch, invite a guest speaker to the class, or set up a
field trip to visit that organization. I will do this too, of course, but since I am new to the Pacific Northwest, it is
likely that you know of organizations in the area that I am unfamiliar with that we would all benefit from learning
about, so please bring those examples to our attention.
How this all translates into grades: I will keep a spreadsheet throughout the semester which you are welcome to ask
for updates on whenever you would like. For each thing you complete (reflection essays, innovation presentation, an
above and beyond thing, participating in class discussions), I will record a “check mark” indicating you get credit
for that element of the course. If you do that thing exceptionally well, you will get a “check plus” instead. If you do
the thing poorly, you will get a “check minus” instead. The reflection essays and the innovation presentation will
count double, so each one of those things will be worth two check marks instead of one.
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At the most basic level, you can earn 37 check marks for completing the basic components of the course – assuming
you complete all these things and get all checks with no pluses or minuses (27 days of class attendance/participation
in discussions, 4 reflection essays which each count double for 8 total check marks, and 1 innovation presentation
which also counts double for a total of 2 check marks). Each “check plus” will count for double points and each
“check minus” will count as half the number of points. If, for example, you get a check plus on a reflection essay,
you will get 4 “points” for that assignment. If, on the other hand, you get a check minus on a reflection essay, you
will earn a total of 1 point for that assignment (a check would earn you 2 points). The same basic idea will be used
for participation and attendance. If you are not in class, you earn no points for the day. If you are in class, but don’t
participate during a discussion at all, you would earn ½ point, if you make a minor contribution to a discussion, you
earn one point, if you are integral to the class discussion, you will earn two points for that day. The sum of the check
marks that I record throughout the semester will approximately translate into grades using the following chart:
Number of Check Marks Earned
More than 50
45-50
40-45
40
35-40
30-35
25-30
20-25
15-20
Fewer than 20
Approximate Letter Grade
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD
F
NOTE: This is approximately how I expect the grade distribution to look at the end of the semester, however, it is possible there will be some
slight variations in this distribution. As always, it is at the instructor’s discretion to determine what numerical score is equivalent to what letter
grade at the end of the semester. My method is to create a distribution of all the grades in the course and look for “natural breaks” in the
distribution and use those “natural breaks” to determine differences between letter grades. For example, if the maximum number of check marks
earned in the course is closer to 45 instead of 50, then I may adjust the entire scale upwards.
Schedule of Course Topics and Assignment Due Dates
Week One:
 No Class on January 20th – Watch the Presidential Inauguration Events instead
 January 21st/22nd: Review of the syllabus and introductions
 During these first few weeks of class, be reading “Let My People Go Surfing”
Week Two:
 January 26th/27th: Continue with introductions and list organizations we might be interested in learning
more about during the semester
 No Class on January 28th/29th
Section One: Sustainability
Week Three:
 February 2nd through February 6th: Read Preface and Chapter One from “Ecology of Commerce” by Paul
Hawken (posted on BlackBoard) and discuss in class
Week Four:
 February 9th through February 13th: Read and Discuss our reactions to Patagonia’s sustainability efforts as
described in “Let My People Go Surfing”
Week Five:
 No Class on February 16th/17th due to President’s Day
 February 18th/19th:Watch videos in class from New American Dream and discuss
Reflection Essay on Sustainability due on February 23rd
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Schedule of Course Topics and Assignment Due Dates (Continued)
Section Two: Co-operatives
Week Six (February 23rd through February 27th):
 Read two chapters on Blackboard about the history of co-ops in the Americas and the philosophy behind
co-ops
 Discuss what it means to be a co-op and the various common forms of co-ops
Week Seven (March 2nd through March 6th):
 Watch “The Take” which documents the rise of some worker co-operatives in Argentina and discuss in
class
Week Eight (March 9th through March 13th):
 Guest speaker(s) from local co-op(s)
Reflection Essay on Co-operatives due either before we leave for Spring Recess (March 13 th) or when we return
(March 23rd)
March 16th through March 20th: No Class – Spring Recess
Section Three: Fair trade
Week Nine (March 23rd through March 27th):
 Watch “Buyer Be Fair”
Week Ten (March 30th through April 3rd):
 Guest speaker about fair trade issues and efforts
Week Eleven (April 6th through April 10th):
 To Be Determined
Reflection Essay on Fair Trade due April 13th
Section Four: Other stuff – NGOs, microcredit, volunteer organizations, etc.
Week Twelve (April 13th through April 17th):
 Discuss our reactions to the story of how Greg Mortensen used an informal organization to make change in
the world as told in “Three Cups of Tea”
Week Thirteen (April 20th through April 24th):
 Read and discuss case “ACCION International” and short articles about Muhammad Yunus about
microfinance/microcredit (posted on Blackboard)
Reflection Essay on an Other stuff topic due April 27th
Section Five: Innovation Presentations
Week Fourteen (April 27th through May 1st):
 Each member of the class will get approximately 10 to 15 minutes to make a presentation to the class about
an innovative business or organizational model or idea that he or she thinks the rest of us should learn about
Week Fifteen (May 4th through May 8th):
 Each member of the class will get approximately 10 to 15 minutes to make a presentation to the class about
an innovative business or organizational model or idea that he or she thinks the rest of us should learn about
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