MG 298 Entrepreneurship Course Outline and Learning Schedule Aug – Dec 2006
Department of Management Studies
Indian Institute of Science Bangalore
Faculty
Dr. Parameshwar P. Iyer
Course No MG 298
Course Name: Entrepreneurship
Course Outline and Learning Schedule
Course Purpose:
This is a course about starting and growing a high potential business. Though we
traditionally think that “small is beautiful”, the course focuses on businesses that are not
intended to be small throughout their duration Rather we hope that with hard work and
good luck, your “small” business can be expected to develop into a large and complex
enterprise. A key vehicle for this effort is the business plan. The business plan helps
you qualify the opportunity, and attract support from others. It helps engage and
energize the founding team, investors, strategic partners, and vendors for your proposed
business. An effective plan is a guide to managing the increasingly complex set of
dynamics of a start-up, by providing the mileposts, and by indicating the resources that
will be required to achieve them. Finally, it can provide a continuously updated set of
guidelines against which you can evaluate actual performance.
Objectives and “Teaching Methods”:
This course on Entrepreneurship provides you the opportunity to develop your business
plan, as well as to read and evaluate many business plans, synopses, and cases. At the end
of the course, you should have a “good” understanding of how to start a company, and
some of the issues that arise in the entrepreneurial process.
As this is a “laboratory” course, we will minimize the “lecture pedagogy” of teaching.
Instead, we will opt for a judicious combination of case teaching and guest lectures,
augmented with some experiential learning. Some of the guest lecturers may come from
outside Bangalore, and all of them will be sparing their valuable time for enhancing your
learning ability. Hence, we will expect you to be well prepared and intellectually
aggressive to maximize the benefits for all. Preparation and hands-on practice is essential
for you to get as much as possible from this course (apart from a good grade!). So, please
read the assigned portions and case(s), before you come to class. Also, ensure that you
make all your submissions of assignments (please see next Section) on time, as per the
given schedule.
Deliverables and Requirements:
The main deliverable from you (the student entrepreneur) in this course will be a business
plan, on a venture of your choosing. Since you probably will not work in isolation when
© 2006 Parameshwar P. Iyer Dept of Management Studies Indian Institute of Science
piyer@mgmt.iisc.ernet.in
MG 298 Entrepreneurship Course Outline and Learning Schedule Aug – Dec 2006
you launch your new enterprise, we will also expect you to work in teams of 3 or 4
students, to perform the following exercises:
1. to develop an idea for a new venture;
2. to research its potential;
3. to develop a business model for your venture;
4. to undertake marketing, positioning, and customer development;
5. to prepare an analysis of the financial requirements;
6. to build a financial strategy for the new venture, including incremental
appreciation of the equity base;
7. to assemble the entrepreneurial team;
8. to identify and prepare legal documents, IP policy, contracts, etc.
9. to understand the process of going public; considering the benefits and detriments
of achieving liquidity through sale or merger, and
10. to build your personal entrepreneurship strategy.
In addition to the business plan and the “deliverables” leading up to the business plan
(see below), we expect your active participation in class in the following activities:
1. raising relevant points and questions, and sharing information, about your “study
venture”, i.e. the study project you bring in to the class room as your new business
venture;
2. discussing in class the questions related to the case study scheduled for a given
class; and
3. preparing the relevant background information, related to the scheduled
presentation by a “guest speaker”, so as to be able to ask intelligent and
inquisitive questions, to stimulate class room discussions after every presentation.
At two intermediate points during the Semester, you will be required, as a team, to
prepare and present preliminary draft elements of your business plan. In addition, at the
end of the Semester, you will have to make a final presentation, both in oral and in
written form, of your final business plan. The purpose of these presentations is to provide
the rest of the class, and the instructor, an opportunity to give feedback as your study
project evolves. In fairness to each team, time limits on the schedules and durations of all
presentations will be strictly enforced.
Deliverables:
All assignments may be submitted both electronically and in hard copy. All electronic
submissions should be addressed to piyer@mgmt.iisc.ernet.in, with copies to
piyeriisc@gmail.com. For the final business plan submission, a formal power point
presentation should be given, in addition to the detailed business plan itself.
© 2006 Parameshwar P. Iyer Dept of Management Studies Indian Institute of Science
piyer@mgmt.iisc.ernet.in
MG 298 Entrepreneurship Course Outline and Learning Schedule Aug – Dec 2006
Schedule of Business Plan Deliverables
Assign # Due Date
Description
% grade
1
19-09-06 Preliminary identification of the business concept including 5%
Business Product or Service Discipline;
Target Market;
Potential Scale;
Principal Resources Needed; and
Team Composition (one paragraph biography of each member)
2
26-09-06 Marketing, positioning, and customer development
5%
(Clearly identify who is your target customer, how you will
build a lasting relationship with the customer, and the means
adopted for delivery of the business product or service)
3
03-10-06 Presentation #1 in class of the first part of the business plan, 5%
covering the Opportunity and the Marketing sections
(about 30 minutes for each team, maximum of 10 power point
slides)
4
31-10-06 Financial requirements analysis, including five year financial 10%
forecasts with supporting assumptions Outline of the financial
strategy and gradual building of an appreciating equity base
5
07-11-06 Presentation #2 in class of the second part of the business plan, 5%
covering the Financial Analysis and Financial Strategy sections
(about 45 minutes for each team, maximum of 15 power point
slides)
6
14-11-06 Assembling the entrepreneurial team, firming up the legal, IP, 10%
and contractual issues. Putting the finishing touches to the
business plan. Identifying potential financiers, including venture
capitalists and angel financiers. Structuring the “final deal”
7
28-11-06 Final written business plans by each team, including:
20%
corrected versions of all previous assignments; all supporting
data and documents; and the final set of power point presentation
8
05-12-06 Final oral presentations of business plans, covering the
Opportunity, Marketing, Financial Analysis and Strategy,
Team Building, Legal, and VC Structuring (about 90 minutes
each team, maximum of 30 power point slides)
20%
TOTAL: 80%
© 2006 Parameshwar P. Iyer Dept of Management Studies Indian Institute of Science
piyer@mgmt.iisc.ernet.in
MG 298 Entrepreneurship Course Outline and Learning Schedule Aug – Dec 2006
Required Readings and Materials:
The textbook for this Course shall be:
1. Thomas W. Zimmerer and Norman M. Scarborough, Essentials of
Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management, Prentice Hall India, New
Delhi 2005.
Other reference books on Entrepreneurship are as follows:
1. William D. Bygrave, Editor. The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship, Second
Edition. John Wiley and Sons, New York. 1997.
2. Robert D. Hisrich and Michael P. Peters. Entrepreneurship, Fifth Edition. Tata
McGraw Hill. New Delhi, 2002.
3. Steven C. Brandt. Entrepreneuring: The Ten Commandments for Building a
Growth Company. Addison Wesley Publishing, Reading, MA. 1982.
4. David D. Bodde. The Intentional Entrepreneur. Prentice Hall India, New Delhi.
2004.
Some good general references on general management with relevance to this Course
are as follows:
1. Tom Peters. The Circle of Innovation, Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1997
2. John Drew. Readings in International Enterprise, Routledge, London 1995
3. Prem Vrat, K.K. Ahuja, and P.K. Jain. Case Studies in Management, Vikas
Publishing House, New Delhi, 2002
Evaluation and Grading:
The Course grading shall be based on the following:
1. Group Exercise: Business Plan as per the schedule given earlier: 80%
2. Individual Class participation, Quality of Case Analysis, etc. : 20%
Total: 100%
© 2006 Parameshwar P. Iyer Dept of Management Studies Indian Institute of Science
piyer@mgmt.iisc.ernet.in
MG 298 Entrepreneurship Course Outline and Learning Schedule Aug – Dec 2006
Learning Schedule:
Lecture # Week # Date
1.
#1
2.
#2
3.
#3
4
#4
5
#5
6
7
8
#6
#7
#8
9
#9
10
#10
11
12
#11
#12
13
#13
14
#14
15
#15
Topic(s)
Remarks
05-08-06 Introductions, Basics of Entrepreneurship,
Selection of Business Venture,
Preliminary Identification of the Business Concept
05-09-06 Creating the Opportunity. Foundation
Concepts, Living Business Model, Market Insights,
Technology Insights, Technology and Business
12-09-06 Marketing: The Entrepreneurs’ Perspective; Space and
Dynamics of Market Performance; Market Planning and
Technology Marketing
19-09-06 Evolution and Competition in Technology Markets;
Dynamic Structure and Phases of Technology Based
Innovation Markets; Case Studies of the Ice Harvester and
EnerTech Environmental Inc.
26-09-06 Guest Lecture: NS Raghavan Cell for Entrepreneurial
Learning
03-10-06 Class Presentation #1 of the first part of the Business Plan
10-10-06 Class Test #1
17-10-06 New Venture Finance: An Entrepreneur’s Perspective; Cash
in the New Enterprise; Financial Strategy for Entrepreneurs;
Public Technology Development: Government Support
24-10-06 Financial Requirements Analysis; Five year Financial
Forecasts; Professional Venture Capital
31-10-06 Building Competitive Advantage from Intellectual Capital;
Creating and Protecting Intellectual Property; the Patent
Process; Business Value of Patents
07-11-06 Class Presentation #2 of the second part of the Business Plan
14-11-06 Assembling the Entrepreneurial Team; HR Issues in Creating
Entrepreneurial Success; Participative Management and Team
Building
21-11-06 Corporate Entrepreneurship; Support Infrastructure;
Administrative Services; Personal Entrepreneurship Strategy
28-11-06 Discussion of the Final Business Plan Plans of each
Entrepreneurial Team
05-12-06 Final Class Presentations of the Business Plans
© 2006 Parameshwar P. Iyer Dept of Management Studies Indian Institute of Science
piyer@mgmt.iisc.ernet.in