Entrepreneurial Foundations
This course is also an elective in the MBA program. Course code BUSS 5298.
| Check the Answers to Frequently Asked Questions for this course |
Next scheduled: This course is scheduled in SP1 (in internal face to face and on-line delivery modes) Refer to the detailed course timetables. Put the seminar and workshop dates in your diary!
If you have any difficulties in applying, or in enrolling, or wish to enrol after the cut-off date, then please contact Kellie Willason in the School of Management, preferably by e-mail, or by phone (8302 0935).
| The official timetable for this course lists classes in which "Only DCRC students can enrol". This means that you can enrol in these classes only if you have been accepted into the Graduate Certificate in Research Commercialisation. Please contact the program director for this Graduate Certificate if you have any questions about these classes or this program. |
Prerequisites: none.
Course co-ordinator: Peter Balan.
Course home page: follow this link Please note that the key dates (census and withdrawal dates) for all courses are on the "Class Timetable" page that you can access from the course home page.
Teaching and learning arrangements
The seminars for the face to face course will be delivered in intensive mode. The on-line course will be conducted over roughly the same total number of weeks as the face to face course.
Lecture/seminar sessions for internal delivery are conducted over five days, and these are followed by optional workshops conducted over the next 6 weeks (check the detailed timetable). Altogether, these formal sessions are equivalent to a standard semester-long course. Lecture/seminar and workshop sessions are supplemented by independent study, and project work. This course therefore requires 120 hours of student time - which is the same as a standard term-long course.
Please note that, although the teaching and learning arrangements may look similar to the undergraduate course "Entrepreneurial Enterprises", there are significant differences in the way that the course is developed and assessed. In addition, check the answers to FAQ for this course for detailed comments about the course.
Aim
The aim of this course is to help students develop and systematically apply an entrepreneurial way of thinking that will allow them to create and/or identify opportunities that may be commercialized successfully. Entrepreneurship is the process of seizing or creating opportunity without regard to the resources you own. It is the process of building something from nothing risk is involved.
The course is not about small business or lifestyle business management. It focuses on entrepreneurial and innovative growth-oriented businesses. The course provides a framework relevant to newly formed ventures, existing small to medium size growth-oriented ventures, and entrepreneurial ventures within larger organisations. The thinking is relevant to both family and non-family businesses.
Students are expected to apply theoretical insights to their own workplace or social environment as a living laboratory.
On completion of this course, students should be able to:
- describe the entrepreneurial process and explain how it is driven
- explain the types of attributes that many successful entrepreneurs tend to demonstrate
- carry out the process of recognising and appraising business opportunities
- obtain the necessary resources to exploiting business opportunities
- develop strategies for establishing and building entrepreneurial business ventures.
Syllabus
The nature and importance of entrepreneurship and innovation; the entrepreneurial process; the importance and management of creativity in developing business ideas; characteristics of opportunities and opportunity recognition; the entrepreneurial mind; developing entrepreneurial teams; resource requirement issues; informal and formal sources of risk capital.
Assessment
Assessment takes the following form:
- Individual assignment (1500 words): 30% of total marks
- Individual concept report (500 words): 10 %
- Individual project report (3500 words): 60%
Textbook
Timmons, JA & Spinelli, S 2009, New Venture Creation: Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century, 8th edn, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, New York, NY
References
Journal of Business Venturing
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
Journal of Small Business Management
Journal of Private Equity
Venture Capital
Inc Magazine
Red Herring
Sessions and modules
There are six lectures/seminar sessions for this course, with each consisting of several modules that each lasts about an hour. Each module has 5 main components:
1. Introduction to the topic - this addresses the topic covered by this module, how it links in with previous and forthcoming topics, resources available for it (textbook, readings, etc.), and work required.
2. Lecture on the topic. The key issues, and how they fit together. This is an overview, and does not go into detail (that is left for students reading).
3. Exercise on this topic - working alone, or in small teams, each with 3 or 4 students.
4. Feedback from teams to the whole class, with responses by lecturer.
5. Comment by lecturer on practical outcomes, contribution to theory, and answers to further questions.
Sessions and modules
| Session | Modules |
| Session 1: Entrepreneurship and innovation |
|
| Session 2: Dynamics of entrepreneurship |
|
| Session 3: Generating and screening business ideas |
|
| Session 4: Organising resources |
|
| Session 5: Practical applications |
|
| Session 6: The feasibility plan |
|
There are several optional workshop sessions following the lecture/seminar series, and these are listed in the detailed timetable for this course.
For more information about this course, please see this page of Frequently Asked Questions.