AEM 3250 – Personal Enterprise and Small Business Management
Spring 2009 Syllabus
Instructor:
Deborah Streeter
Bruce F. Failing, Sr. Professor of Personal Enterprise and
Small Business Management
307 Warren Hall
255-1611
dhs4@cornell.edu
Administrative TA: Danier Bouza
db295@cornell.edu
Support Staff:
Carol Peters
clp7@cornell.edu
Team Mentors:
Marge Hubbert
mjh6@cornell.edu
Romi Kher
rk384@cornell.edu
Rachel Gordon
rmg48@cornell.edu
Mentor Resource
Specialist:
Caton McKenna
clm77@cornell.edu
Course Materials:
We will be using a textbook by Rhonda Abrams, called The Successful Business Plan. It is
available at the campus store. You will also need to buy the financial software associated with
the book.
Recommended, but not required books (used copies available at half.com):
Say it with Charts, Gene Zalasny
The Plain English Approach to Business Writing, Edward P. Bailey, Jr.
Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
Course Location and Meeting Times:
Monday/Wednesday Lecture, 12:20-1:10 pm, Warren 201
Wednesday Clinic – 2:30-4:25 pm, Warren 201
Weekly half-hour meetings between mentor and team to be arranged.
Weekly one-hour meetings of the team members themselves to be arranged.
Course Website:
http://blackboard.cornell.edu/webapps/login
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Course Content:
AEM 3250 is focused on understanding business planning for startups. Content is delivered in
various ways:
 Lecture
 Weekly clinics involving hands-on work
 5 on-line learning units completed by individual students
 10 assignments done by each team
 Video clips from Cornell’s eClips Collection (http://eclips.cornell.edu), delivered in and
outside the classroom
Course Staff:
The course staff is committed to help you with the primary activity of the course: working in a
team of three to write a full-blown business plan. The business mentors have real world
experiences with small businesses and will meet with their assigned teams once a week
throughout the semester.
This opportunity for you to be mentored by someone with real business experience has been
made possible by the financial endowment given to Cornell by the family of Bruce F. Failing Sr.
It is a privilege for both you and me. Let’s make the most of it!
I expect highly professional behavior from students in interacting with the course staff. You
will be assigned one of us as a mentor. Here are some important things to remember:
1. We want to be accessible to you, but face-to-face meetings have to be on a scheduled
basis. Due to the mentors’ busy schedules (just like yours) and other professional
commitments, your team will need to commit to a regular meeting time with your mentor.
All group members must attend every meeting.
2. Not all mentors will be present at every class, but they are fully aware of what is being
presented in lecture. At different points throughout the semester, each mentor will be
presenting during regular class sessions or at the clinics.
3. As a course staff we are committed to working as a team. Each teaching staff has his/her
own strengths. Often, we will refer problems and issues to another staff member, and we
will be in regular communication.
Course Elements:
Lecture/discussion
Attendance at lecture is a required element of the course. Because much of the most important
material covered in class will come from the lectures, you will not be able to “get notes”
afterwards from another student. Although I present material related to the business plan
process in class and business plans are the focus of the course, lectures include broader lessons
as well.
I expect all students to participate actively. For example, I like students to ask questions, make
observations, and to engage in class discussions. Participation can also take other forms: you
can write questions or comments via e-mail, talk individually with any of the mentors or me,
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and/or interact with the guest speakers. Studies have shown that students do best when they
participate actively in the learning process. If you have a phobia about speaking in class, it is a
good idea to let me know early in the semester so that we can talk about possible solutions.
Clinics
Clinics are weekly workshops where you will be doing specific tasks related to your group’s
business plan. It is the “how-to” component of this course. Attendance at the Wednesday
clinics is required, as the sessions will be extremely helpful in completing your business plan.
In previous years, only students who attended and participated actively in all clinics were the
top achievers in the course. The clinic format provides a hands-on opportunity to work out
arising problems from the work you are doing on your business plan.
Note: More than two unexcused absences from lectures or clinics will yield a score of zero in
this category.
eClips – Your Virtual Panel of Guest Speakers
We will be getting acquainted with a wide variety of entrepreneurs and their companies this
semester via an interesting multi-media project I have been working on since 1994. I have
created a large database of digital video clips, called eClips (http://eclips.cornell.edu). The
13,000+ short (1-3 minute) clips cover topics related to business and entrepreneurship and are
drawn both from in-depth interviews and formal presentations by the experts. I will be playing
short video clips from this collection in almost every lecture. Outside of class, you will be
listening to clips as part of your individual work (see below). The clips are intended to provide
a variety of views on the topics we are discussing and to help illustrate material presented in
class. During the course of the semester, the personality and history of each eClips expert will
unfold, giving you a sense of the great diversity that exists in the entrepreneurial community. If
you have a particular interest in any of the individuals, you can access any part or all of their
interviews yourself on the website. I am very interested in your reactions and your ideas about
eClips, so feel free to talk with me before or after class, or to send me a quick e-mail about how
to use this resource effectively to help you in your academic, personal and professional goals.
Guest Speakers
In addition to our “virtual visitors” via eClips, I will invite various guests to present during the
semester. Please make sure to treat the speakers with courtesy. Make the most out of our
guests’ visit by:
 Preparing ahead of time by reading the bio on-line and being ready to ask some
questions.
 Arriving on time and turning off your cell phone.
 If you arrive early, please greet the guest and introduce yourself.
 Thanking the guests as you leave after class.
 Maintaining an awareness that your demeanor in class will greatly impact the
experience the guests have at Cornell and could very well influence whether or not they
return.
 Following up by email (optional) if you particularly like a guest speaker.
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Course Project: The Business Plan
(Note: for the first draft and final versions of your plan you will be submitting
multiple copies. Including the body of the plan and all appendices, plans can
be as long as 40-50 pages. Plan ahead with your other team members for the
copying expenses. If you believe you will need financial assistance, you must
inform Professor Streeter in the first four weeks of the course. )
Students work in teams of three to come up with an original business idea and write a fully
developed business plan focused on developing, funding and launching a product or service.
Teams brainstorm ideas together and then settle on a concept that all members embrace.
Writing a business plan provides you with hands-on experience with the startup planning
process. As you sit in class, listen to the panel of experts, and talk to guest speakers, think about
how the content relates to your own project, as well as your longer-term goals. A challenge for
you (being the learner) is to integrate the various parts of the course and to maximize the
relationships among all the elements. Further, the business plan will provide a group
experience for you, and each member will have an opportunity to evaluate the other members
of the team.
Assignments
There are two types of assignments for the course:
1. Individual Learning Units (online through BlackBoard)
The on-line Learning Units, accessed via the course website, are to be completed by
individual students (not by teams). Typically, the Learning Unit will refer you to the
relevant section of the textbook, introduce additional short articles or on-line resources
and ask you to listen to 3-5 eClips. The Learning Units are intended to help each team
member prepare for the next task the team will undertake.
2. Group Assignments
Each group assignment helps to build a part of the business plan. Teams hand in the
assignments, and all members of the team are expected to participate in every
assignment. The assignments are designed to keep your term project on schedule and
to help to integrate material from the text and lecture with your business planning
activities.
Peer Evaluation
Before you do any work for this course, please read the handout entitled: “A word about
Teams…” Working towards a high-functioning team will enhance your experience in the
course and is an excellent preparation for your career. Teamwork also counts as part of your
grade. Participation will, in part, be based on the peer evaluation sheets found on the course
website. If your teammates and your mentor report that you are not participating, it will
influence your grade.
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Final Grades:
Course Element
Weight
25
Final business plan
20
First draft of business plan
20
Group assignments
20
Final oral presentation
5
Participation
5
Evaluation of individual team participation (based on peer evaluations and mentor
comments)
5
Individual learning units
TOTAL
100
* Your course packet contains a separate handout with additional grading details. *
Academic Integrity:
Students should be familiar with and adhere to the Code of Academic Integrity. For example,
while group work is clearly collaborative in this course, individual work is expected to be
completed by each student without assistance from others. Violations of the Code will result in
serious consequences, including a failing grade if appropriate.
AEM Learning Goals:
AEM has adopted learning goals that we hope each student achieves while getting a degree
from our program. Each individual course will not cover all learning goals; however, through
your program of study you should be able to improve your knowledge and skills across all
learning goals.
AEM Learning Goals
Develop effective communication skills
Attain analytical and functional competency in
basic business and economic skills
Demonstrate working knowledge of ethics and
ability to apply to real world settings
Demonstrate ability to solve practical business
and economic problems and make an impact in
real world and society
Develop skills to be critical consumers of business
and economic information and research
This course contributes to the following AEM
learning goals:
Students learn to present and “pitch” their business
ideas and also to communicate effectively within a
team setting.
In writing a business plan in this class, students will
further develop competency in market research,
strategy, branding, operational analysis and financial
modeling.
Through a series of cases, we will examine the ethics
involved in creating, running and growing a business.
Students write business plans, a very real-world
exercise, requiring the application of theory and
frameworks to create solutions for real problems.
Students learn to gather market information and to
discern what is most authentic and most important.
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