Management 400/ENTR 510
Entrepreneurship/New Venture Creation
Winter 2015
Instructor:
Dr. Son Le
Meeting:
8:00 - 9:50 PM (T, R) at COBB 219
Office Hours: 10:00 - 11:30 am & 1:30 – 3:30 pm, M T W & R
Office: COBB 322
Phone: 257-3536
E-Mail: sle@latech.edu
Required Texts
Hisrich, R. D, Peters, M. P., & Shepherd, D. A. Entrepreneurship, 9th ed., McGraw Hill.
Course Description
MGMT 400 is the continuation of MGMT 340 in the entrepreneurship sequence at the college of
business. It also serves as the capstone course for those pursing a degree in entrepreneurship.
This course has three major goals. First, it will help you understand the challenges and learn how
to approach the process of creating and managing a new venture, which include recognizing and
analyzing an opportunity, mobilizing resources, financing a new venture, and managing growth.
Second, it is also designed to provide you with a cohesive set of skills to prepare a formal
business plan. Third, it will seek to provide you with an opportunity to apply and integrate
concepts you have learned in other business courses. To achieve the first goal, this course will
introduce important concepts and cover a number of cases involving different entrepreneurial
challenges and settings. To achieve the second goal, this course will guide you as you work in a
group of about five to prepare and present a business plan. As you work to achieve the first two
goals you will encounter a number of occasions in which you will need to recall and apply
concepts from accounting, economics, finance, management, and marketing. Your ability to do
so will naturally impact your success in this course.
Course Specific Objectives
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To enhance your understanding of and passion for entrepreneurship
To sharpen your ability to recognize and evaluate business opportunities
To familiarize you with the process of preparing a business plan
To help you learn how to prepare the components of a business plan such as
management, marketing, operation, and financial plans.
To help you develop skills to address various challenges in creating and managing a new
venture
To improve your teamwork skills that are important for successfully creating and
managing a new venture
To improve your ability to communicate your venture idea to potential investors and
other stakeholders effectively and persuasively
To integrate and apply concepts you have learned in your previous business courses.
Course Grading
Assignments
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Exams
o Midterm test
o Final test
140 points
140 points
Group business plan project
Case summaries
Group case presentation
In-class assignments
Class participation
Total points
160 points
40 points
40 points
40 points
40 points
600 points
Grading Scale
Total points
600 - 540
539 - 480
478 - 420
419 - 360
Below 360
Grade
A
B
C
D
F
Assignment Description
Exams
There are two exams which consist of short essay questions and problems. A make-up exam will
be provided only if it is arranged in writing before the test day.
Group Business Plan Project
You will work in a group of five to develop a business plan. It will be a challenge to identify a
viable business idea and develop a business plan within a quarter. Therefore, you have to start
working on your business plan project very early in the quarter. Please make sure that you pick
an idea that involves something new such as new or improved products/services or new or
improved processes, and has high growth potential. You also can prepare a business plan for an
existing business in the local community. In this case, you have to propose a new strategy or
process for the business expansion and growth. Your business plan should not only reflect your
creativity and ability to innovate, but should also reflect the business expertise you have gained
as a business student.
Your business plan should be as realistic as possible. Requirements of, and how to prepare your
business plan will be discussed in class. Your business plan deliverable should be of sufficient
quality that you feel confident to send it to actual investors and partners for financing or
cooperation. Your group will make a 15-20 minute presentation of your business plan by the end
of the quarter. All group members are required to participate in the presentation.
Developing a business plan within a quarter is a challenging task and requires a collective effort
of all members in your group. I will ask for your evaluation of your group members regarding
how much they contribute to your group. You will evaluate each of your group members on a
scale from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest). Your individual grade for the business plan will be the
product of your group grade and the average evaluation points that your group members give you
divided by 10. For example, if your group business plan project has a grade of 200, and you get
an average peer evaluation of 10, you will have 200 (200@10/10) for your individual business
plan grade. If your peer evaluation is 8, your individual grade for the business plan will be 160
(200@8/10).
Case Summaries
You have to turn in a case summary in the class that we discuss about the case as specified in the
class schedule. You have to give me a hard copy of your typed case summary by the end of the
class. Handwritten is not accepted and please don’t tell me that you will email it or print it out to
give me after the class. To prepare the case summaries, you just answer the questions in the
“suggestions for case summary and group presentation” that I posted on Moodle.
Group Case Presentation
You are assigned in a group of four (not the same as your business plan group) to prepare and
present a case study. You can find the presentation time and the case in the class schedule. I
will give you the details regarding how to prepare your case write-up and presentation later in the
class.
In-Class Assignments & Participation
We will spend the majority of the time in class to discuss cases. You have to read the assigned
case before class. I will call on you to answer questions about the case. If you answer a question
satisfactorily, you will earn 5 points out of 40 points devoted for participation. Otherwise, you
will lose 5 points from you participation points. In addition, we will have some in-class group
assignments. If you miss class and thus the in-class assignment, you will not get any points for
that assignment.
Attendance
As per university policy, attendance will be checked at each class meeting. No points will be
given for attendance but point deductions will be applied for absences. You have up to two
absences that are not subject to point deduction. After that (from the third absence), 10 points
will be deducted from your total points for each absence. Coming to class 5 minutes late will be
counted as an absence for that class. Leaving class early will result in an additional 10 point
deduction. If you cannot come to class for a legitimate reason per university policy, you must
inform me prior to the class that you miss.
Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism Policies
Academic honesty as specified in the University’s Academic Honor Code is expected and
required of all students. Cheating on examinations and plagiarism (using other work without
citing) are serious offenses and will result in a grade deduction or further disciplinary actions.
Course Communication
Syllabus, PowerPoint slides, grades and other class documents will be posted on Moodle. We
will use Moodle for out-of class communication. You should check Moodle regularly to avoid
missing any class announcements. In case of disaster and we cannot meet on campus, the class
may be continued through Moodle. You should enroll in the Emergency Notification System to
receive information in case of disaster or emergency.
Accommodation
The College of Business is dedicated to enabling each student to reach his/her potential. Any
student in this course who has a disability that may prevent him/her from fully demonstrating
his/her abilities should contact me personally as soon as possible so we can discuss
accommodations necessary to ensure full participation and facilitate your educational
opportunities.
Course Schedule
Date
Week 1:
Dec 4
Topic
Assignment
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Class introduction
Week 2:
Dec 9
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Lecture and discussion:
Chapter 1(Entrepreneurship
and entrepreneurial mindset)
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Read chapter 1
Read “A. Monroe Lock and Security Systems”
Dec 11
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Lecture: Chapter 2
(Entrepreneurial Intention
and Corporate
Entrepreneurship)
Chapter 3 (Entrepreneurial
Strategy)
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Read chapters 2&3
Lecture: Chapter 4
(Creativity and Business
Idea)
Case discussion
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Read chapter 4
Group 1: Present case “The Beach Carrier”
Lecture: Chapter 5
(Identifying and Analyzing
Domestic and International
opportunities)
Presenting your group’s
business ideas
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Read chapter 5
Each group submits 2 business ideas (a short
written statement that describes each of their
ideas and explains why it is attractive)
Group 2: Present case “Beijing Sammies”
Lecture: Chapter 7 (The
Business Plan)
Discussion: Business plan
outline
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Read chapter 7
Group 3: Present case “Gourmet To Go”
Submit your group’s business plan outline
Lecture: Chapter 8 (The
Marketing Plan)
Discussion: Marketing plan
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Read chapter 8
Group 4: Present case “The Grill-Kleen
Corporation”
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Read chapter 6
Group 5: Present case “Neomed technologies”
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Week 3:
Dec 16
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Dec 18
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Week 4:
Jan 6
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Jan 8
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Week 5:
Jan 13
Jan 15
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Exam 1
Chapter 6 (Protecting the
Idea and Other Legal Issues
for the Entrepreneur)
Discussion
Week 6:
Jan 20
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Lecture: Chapter 9 (The
Organizational Plan
Case discussion
Discussion: Organizational
plan and operation plan
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Read chapter 9
Group 6: Present case “Datavantage
Corporation”
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Read chapter 10
Jan 22
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Lecture: Chapter 10 (The
Financial Plan)
Week 7:
Jan 27
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Financial plan (continued)
Jan 29
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Financial Analysis
Week 8:
Feb 3
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Lecture: Chapter 11
(Sources of Capital),
Chapter 12(Informal Risk
Capital, Venture Capital,
and Going Public)
Business plan discussion
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Read chapters 11 and 12
Lecture: Chapter 13
(Strategies for Growth and
Managing the Implications
of Growth)
Business plan discussion
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Read chapter 13
Lecture: Chapter 14
(Accessing Resources for
Growth from External
Sources); Chapter 15
(Succession Planning and
Strategies for Harvesting
and Ending the Venture)
Discussion
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Read chapter 14 & 15
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Submit the final written business plan and
the draft of your PowerPoint presentation
Turn in your peer evaluation
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Feb 5
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Week 9:
Feb 10
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Feb 12
Week 10:
Feb 19
Feb 24
Week 11:
Feb 26
Mar 3
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Finalize your business plan
and prepare PowerPoint
presentation
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Final Exam
Presentation
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Presentation
Wrap up
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The class schedule may be changed as circumstances require