Frequently Asked Questions
about the Entrepreneurial Commercialisation course
Q: What is the fee for this course?
This is a standard 4.5 unit course, as far as fees are concerned.
Q: On which campuses is the course being taught?
Only at City West.
Q: What are the prerequisites?
There are no prerequisites for this course, but if you have not taken an entrepreneurship course before, we recommend that you should study Entrepreneurial Foundations. This will help you to get full value from this course.
Q: I have already studied marketing - what would this course add?
What is special about this course is that it focuses on the new venture and small business environment. In particular, the principles of marketing are applied to the situation where you need to work out how to market a new concept or business idea, but you do not have much time, and you have very little money. This is the situation that you face when you want to market a new venture, or you are working in a small business and you need to launch a new product; in both cases you have very limited resources, and very little market information. Some people have described this course as being about "marketing without advertising", as it focuses on a range of traditional and new technology methods for communicating with customers while working with a limited budget. Many students have taken this course to supplement other marketing studies.
Q: Why would I want to do this course?
Our experience is that we have two different segments of students taking this course. One segment is very interested in the topic, wants to know about marketing in the small business and entrepreneurial contexts, and perhaps wants to complete an entrepreneurship and innovation stream. If you are in this group, you will find that this is a challenging course that will expand your knowledge and give you a different perspective on marketing studies. It will also take you through the details of implementing a professional market research study, and give you the chance to use the results produced by this study in order to write a professional marketing plan. You will find that this is a great preparation for working in the small-business or entrepreneurial business environment.
The next segment includes students who simply want to do an elective so that they can quickly complete the requirements for their degree. If you are in this group, you may find that this course is more challenging than you expect - it is a standard university course that requires about 120 hours of your time, and it cannot be completed successfully simply by coming along to a few lectures in the first week. This is a course that offers a great deal of benefit, but you must do your part by putting time and effort into the coursework, and particularly by writing the marketing plan that is a central part of this course.
Q: Is this course offered externally?
We regret that this course is available only face-to-face. It is not offered externally or online. However, some external students take this intensive course by coming to Adelaide for the 10 days of the lecture/seminar sessions.
Q: How can the course content be covered in 3.5 full days?
See the schedule for the course, or the detailed timetable. The 3.5 days are taken up with lecture/seminar sessions, and are followed by the equivalent of more than two full days of workshop sessions where you can get support from the lecturer or tutor for preparing your marketing plan. In this way, you have the equivalent of more than five full days to cover and explore the course content, and this is the same as the contact hours for a full term or semester of lecturers and tutorials.
Q: Why don't the workshops appear on the official timetable?
The university system is not really geared to present a simple view of the timetable for an intensive course. Including the optional workshops would make the timetable section of the official home page confusing, and would cause timetable conflicts that prevent students from enrolling. That is why we include the note "IMPORTANT: See timetable details at www.unisa.edu.au/cde/" on the timetable page.
Q: How much work does this course involve?
The 'rule of thumb' for business courses is that you spend 2 hours of your own time on assignments, group work, tutorial preparation and self-directed learning for every contact hour. This course is about 40 contact hours (including seminars and workshop sessions). This means that we expect that you will spend about 120 hours of your own time in attending lecture/seminar sessions and workshops, as well as developing your business idea and writing your report.
CDE staff have taught this course a number of times, and we have observed that students who are well organised seem to have few problems.
Q. How do postgraduate courses differ from courses at the undergraduate level?
Although the course schedule and list of topics may look similar for postgraduate and undergraduate courses, there are significant differences in many aspects of the course, for example, the assumptions about the students, the teaching approach used, the objectives of the course, and the assessment. Check the separate page that outlines these differences.
Q. Are course materials provided?
You receive a printed study guide of about 200 pages. This includes the course outline, copies of lecture presentations and a template for each class exercise. You will also have access to the course web site that includes supplementary readings and templates for preparing the marketing plan.
Q: Will I need to get the textbook?
People sometimes ask if it is worth getting the textbook. As we point out in the first lecture session, our task is to educate as well as to train. This means that we present current thinking in this field, and draw on research findings, as well as materials from a wide range of sources (including academic and business publications). This means that we do not lecture out of a textbook, and we do not necessarily lecture out of the study guide. We expect that you will use the text to supplement the content that is delivered in a lecture/seminar sessions, as it is just not possible to cover all of the relevant material in those sessions. That is why we go to some effort to identify a text that adds value to the course and contributes to your learning and education.
Q: Aren’t entrepreneurial marketers born? How can you teach someone to be one of these?
If you have an entrepreneurial inclination, this course will give you the knowledge and confidence to identify and evaluate a business opportunity, and how to go through the process to develop a marketing plan for a new venture based on this opportunity. It will help you to be an entrepreneurial marketer when the situation arises. It will also give you the knowledge and confidence to join a team (led by an entrepreneur) to set up a new business venture – either as a new business or within an existing organisation.
A purpose of the course is also to give students a better understanding of what it is like to work in a small business, so that these people will feel more comfortable (and be more effective) working in a small or entrepreneurial business.
Q: How is this course assessed?
There are three components: an individual assignment, a marketing plan, and a presentation of the marketing plan.
The individual assignment
This is worth 15% of the total marks. You will be given the challenge of interviewing an entrepreneur about the marketing activities that they engaged in when they started their new venture. You will then write a report, using one of the frameworks developed in the lecture series. Students find this a very stimulating and motivating exercise.
The marketing plan
Each person will write an individual marketing plan for a business idea that they have identified. This plan will be is worth 70% the marks of the entire course. You will cover key aspects of this task in your team exercises during the intensive sessions. You are to use the Word document and the Excel spreadsheet (that are provided on the course web site) to develop the report. The written report is to be no longer than 20 pages. The full specification is included on the course website.
The personal presentation
A seven to eight minute presentation of the marketing plan will account for 15% of the total marks for this course. This presentation will be scheduled about 10 days before submission of the marketing plan. The course includes a session on organising and giving professional presentations.
Q: Where is the course home page?
See http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/courses/course.asp?Course=100995