BUS 491CS: Small Business Consulting
Spring 2015
COURSE AND PROFESSOR INFORMATION:
Professor: Dr. Franck Vigneron
Office: JH 4140 Telephone: (818) 677-2018
Email: franck.Vigneron@csun.edu
Class and Schedule: Thursdays 4.00-6.45pm in JH2107
Professor’s Office Hours: Thursdays in Office from 2.15-3.45pm, and by appointment.
Course Website: http://www.vigneron.net
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
You will complete a Small Business Institute (SBI)® consulting project. The purpose of the
SBI® program is to provide high quality business consulting to small business clients who
request assistance, while affording advanced Business students experiential learning through
the field case consulting model. (More information is provided in the SBI® Student
Consultant’s Manual.)
“High quality business consulting” is comprised of:
· Direct contact between the student team and client (IMPORTANT: a minimum of six (6)
client meetings are required. Consulting sessions are defined to include both personal
visits and telephone conversations, but a minimum of three (3) client contacts should
occur as personal visits to the client’s place of business.)
· Detailed analysis of the client’s business and business problems or challenges.
· Thorough research.
· A useful and professional written report and oral presentation to the client.
For you as a student, your BUS491/SBI® project will provide you an opportunity to:
· Apply classroom/functional area knowledge, concepts, theories, and skills to actual
problems currently encountered by small business owners.
· Sharpen analytical, problem solving, decision-making, communication, and human relations
skills.
· Explore the advantages and disadvantages of a possible personal career as a small
business owner and/or manager.
· Emphasize and achieve quality and professionalism in your work.
· Experience the satisfaction of providing immediate value to a particular small business.
COURSE PREREQUISITES:
1. You must have at least a 3.0 GPA overall and in your business courses, and instructor’s
consent. (If you do not, and this is the only prerequisite not met, under special circumstances you
may be permitted to take this course with a strong letter of recommendation from a CSUN
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faculty member in your major/option. If you are trying to qualify for this course by using a letter
of recommendation, those letters must be received by the end of the first week after the
semester starts).
2. You must be a Business Administration major with senior standing (minimum 90 units)
and have accomplished significant advanced coursework in your option.
3. You must have passed BUS 302 and BUS 302L.
4. You must have a passing score on the Upper-Division Writing Proficiency Exam (WPE).
5. IMPORTANT!!! You need to be highly self-motivated and disciplined. The project will
require you to demonstrate excellent research, analysis, and communication skills. Also,
you must be well-organized, responsible, and able to work well with a team and a business
client.
TEXTBOOKS:
There is no one specifically assigned textbook for this class since projects will vary. However,
during the first week you MUST read the Small Business Institute’s®, Student Consultant
Manual. Download it from the course website, read it the first week before you meet with
potential clients, and use it as a reference as you work on your project.
Additionally, follow the Report Guidelines handout posted on the course website; and use as
resources marketing, management, finance, business law, and other textbooks from your
previous courses. A variety of books on small business and entrepreneurship are housed in
the Wells Fargo Center for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. You are welcome to use
them during my office hours and by appointment, and some are available for checkout.
Your group may also purchase one of the following instructional books to use as a resource. Use
the information below to locate these books new or used at amazon.com or another bookseller.
Art of Start : The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting
Anything (2004) by Guy Kawasaki
(ISBN13: 9781591840565)
Trade Book: Finally, your group must locate or purchase one trade book relevant to your client’s
industry or specific business needs. You may want to request your client purchase this book for
your use during the semester. The client may then retain the book.
If you are not able to identify a good book specific to your client’s industry, I suggest you purchase a
book on marketing for small business. One suggestion is Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big
Profits from Your Small Business, 4th Edition (2007) by Jay Conrad Levinson, Houghton Mifflin.
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Other books in the Guerrilla Marketing series also are excellent. You can glean great ideas for
inexpensive marketing from these books.
COURSE BENEFITS:
Your participation in this course signifies that you are a superior student, capable of
independent work of high quality. You will have the opportunity to work closely with faculty and
a member of the local business community. The project you do in this course should be noted on
your résumé. If you satisfactorily complete this course, you can expect letters of
recommendation from the faculty member(s) with whom you worked. Your satisfied client may
also give you a letter of recommendation, and some students even receive job offers.
Remember, however, that your Confidentiality Agreement prevents you from accepting any
compensation for this project. You must wait until after the project is completed before you
accept a job or other offer that would give you a vested interest in your client.
GRADING:
Grades will be determined primarily by evaluation of your report by your faculty advisor(s), with
consideration of input from your client. Grades given individual team members may be adjusted
to compensate for the quality of individual contribution and participation, as per peer
evaluations by your team members and your weekly consultancy logs. Individuals who fail to
work cooperatively with their team, miss client meetings, substantially fail to contribute to the
finished project, and the like, may receive a failing grade in the course, even if the project as a
whole as completed by other team members is strong.
It is expected that each consultant (that’s you!) will exhibit a mature and professional approach
to research and problem solving in connection with your project. Failing to engage in sufficient
primary and secondary data gathering, lack of rigor in analyzing your client’s situation, sampling
fewer than a reasonable and statistically reliable sample, and the like, constitutes grounds for
failure.
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In determining the grade for the final report, the following five factors will be of primary
importance:
1. What degree of competence and professionalism is exhibited in the report?
2. How intensive a treatment was the project given? Was the problem(s) under review
thoroughly investigated and analyzed?
3. What is the quality of the recommendations? Do recommendations truly address the
critical issue(s) and problem(s)?
4. Can the recommendations be feasibly implemented? Are the recommendations
appropriate and practical to be utilized at this point in time? How can your client get
from “here” to “there?”
5. How well organized and readable were first drafts? How much thought and preparation
was apparent regarding organization, format, grammar, spelling, clarity of expression,
etc.? Were necessary changes and further improvements made in subsequent drafts?
Was the team proactive in putting forth the effort required to deliver a professional
quality report and presentation?
NOTE: Grades of Incomplete (I) will be given only when there are exceptional and
uncontrollable circumstances, and sufficient progress has been made in the course. An
Incomplete will result in a grade penalty of one letter grade per month the report is delayed.
Remember, your client is anxiously awaiting your analysis and recommendations!
TIPS FOR SUCCESS:
BUS 491 is an intensive course demanding motivation and self-discipline. I cannot overestimate
how important it is that you stay on track with your project. It will be tempting to “put out
fires” and devote your attention to perhaps the more immediate demands of other courses, your
place of employment, and your family. I understand this pull. However, you and your team must
not procrastinate. Timely and sustained effort throughout the semester is required to
ultimately deliver a quality project to your client. Please check in with your faculty advisor(s)
regularly. We can help provide motivation and encouragement as well as constructive
suggestions!
You need to allow plenty of time for your initial drafts to be reviewed and revised. Because of
the public relations and obligations involved in providing consulting to members of the business
community, we must require an extremely high standard before any project is submitted to
a client. We have never received a first draft that was acceptable without substantial
revisions. Take advantage of your faculty advisor(s), the Learning Resource Center, and each
other to improve the quality of your written work. You will be required to provide rewrites
until your report is of high professional quality.
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ACADEMIC HONESTY:
Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Any form of academic dishonesty will result in
a failing grade for the course, and will be reported to the University for discipline. The
most common types of academic dishonesty in courses of this type are:
·
Fabrication – “intentional falsification or invention of any information or citation in an
academic exercise” (CSUN’s definition) – this includes falsifying research data and
falsifying sources of information.
·
Plagiarism – “intentionally or knowingly representing the words, ideas, or work of another as
one’s own in an academic exercise” (CSUN’s definition) – this includes failing to acknowledge
a direct quote with quotation marks and citation, and failing to cite a source of paraphrased
material.
GRADING CONTENT:
A balance of 50% written and 50% oral grades will measure your overall entrepreneur
performance this semester.
GRADES
•
10% = Mini Quiz – 40 questions in 40 minutes.
•
30% = Final Presentation – 20 minutes presentation to the client, plus questions.
•
40% = Report – final document given to the client.
•
20% = Fast-Speech – short 60 seconds investor pitch and 5 minutes PPT overview.
"Students with disabilities must register with the Disability Resources and
Educational Services office and complete a services agreement each semester.
Staff within the DRES will verify the existence of a disability based on the
documentation provided and approve accommodations. Students who are approved for
test taking accommodations must provide an Alternative Testing Form to their
faculty member signed by a DRES Counselor prior to making testing arrangements.
Disability Resources and Educational Services is located in Bayramian Hall, room
110. Staff can be reached at 818.677.2684."