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JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY
COURSE CODE: "BUS 410"
COURSE NAME: "Strategic Decisions in Entrepreneurship"
SEMESTER & YEAR:
Fall 2024
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SYLLABUS
INSTRUCTOR:
Riccardo Maiolini
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS:
MW 10:00 AM 11:15 AM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS:
45
CREDITS:
3
PREREQUISITES:
Prerequisite: Junior Standing; Recommended: BUS 305
OFFICE HOURS:
To set up an appointment send an email; usually appointments are scheduled after class
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COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course considers management problems of founders, owners, managers,
and investors in startups. Acquisitions, location, organization control, labor relations, finances, taxation, and other topics of interest to entrepreneurial business management will be analyzed.
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SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
Career planning and transitioning into entrepreneurship. Intellectual capital and legal aspects of entrepreneurship. Marketing strategy and new product positioning. Competitive strategy in an entrepreneurial setting. Assembling the human resources (founders, board, technical team). Organizational design. Business models and disruptive innovation. Financing fast growth. Funding and venture capital. Leadership. Family businesses.
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LEARNING OUTCOMES:
The objective of this course is to give sufficient insight into entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial processes in order to:
· Understand the role and challenges of an entrepreneur
· Understand the difference between established firms and new ventures
· Understand how to evaluate opportunities
· Adopt entrepreneurship as a management style
· Formulate successful entry strategies
· Assess the competitive strategies of entrepreneurial firms
· Marshall resources for the new venture
· Establish entrepreneurial networking and networks
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TEXTBOOK:
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REQUIRED RESERVED READING:
RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:
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GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:
| Assignment | Guidelines | Weight |
| CLASS PARTICIPATION | Students will be evaluated on preparation, participation and interaction with other students. Repeated absences will affect the quality of the student’s performance and a penalty of up to 3 percentage points may be applied to the final course grade if the student misses more than the allowed two classes.
| 10 % |
| CASES PRESENTATION | Students are invited to organize themselves in groups; every week a group introduced the discussion on the case (as scheduled after the first lesson) through a presentation (maximum 15 minutes). After the introduction, the whole class began a discussion on the topic of the day taking comments and suggestions on the case.
Group selection and dynamics | 20 % |
| VENTURE PROJECT ANALYSIS | Every student selects a company chosen from a list of cases provided by the professor. The project will consist of three stages:
- First draft, to be submitted at the end of the third week (a 2-page outline of the proposed case and issues to be covered)
- Second draft, to be submitted at the end of the fifth week (7-10 page document, fully fleshed out).
- Third and final draft, to be submitted at the end of the sixth week. The third draft should take into account comments and suggestions made by the instructor.
| 40 % |
| FINAL EXAM | The final examination will consist on a public presentation of the final project case.
Students will be required to work in groups for this component of the course and conduct a written, in-depth analysis of a case, providing detailed recommendations and supporting them with adequate qualitative and quantitative analysis.
The maximum duration of the presentation is 10 minutes. A Q&A session with the entire class follows the presentations.
The presentation will be done by the same groups of students that discussed the cases (point 2). The professor in class will propose a list of companies. | 30 % |
-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the cour
BThis is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.
CThis is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
DThis level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
FThis work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.
-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
Repeated absences will affect the quality of the student’s performance and a penalty of up to 3 percentage points may be applied to the final course grade if the student misses more than the allowed two classes.
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ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic
dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred.
In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment,
may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of
academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student
who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from
the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation
to the President, who will make the final decision.
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STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap.
Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning
of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.
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SCHEDULE
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A detailed schedule will be provided at the beginning of the course.
| Class |
Topic |
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| 1 |
INTRODUCTION |
| 2 |
STARTING A VENTURE |
| 3 |
STARTING A VENTURE |
| 4 |
STARTING A VENTURE |
| 5 |
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY |
| 6 |
MARKETING |
| 7 |
MARKETING |
| 9 |
LEAN ORGANIZATION |
| 10 |
STRATEGY / NEW MARKETS |
| 11 |
BUSINESS MODEL |
| 12 |
BUSINESS MODEL |
| 13 |
FINANCE/VCs |
| 14 |
FINANCE/VCs |
| 15 |
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP |
| 16 |
INTERNET FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP |
| 17 |
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT |
| 18 |
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT |
| 19 |
SERIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP |
| 20 |
Final EXAM |
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