Entrepreneurial Commercialisation for New Ventures

Undergraduate course BUSS 3048 (was previously called Entrepreneurial Marketing for New Ventures)

Check the Answers to Frequently Asked Questions for this course

This course can be thought of as "marketing without advertising". It aims to develop insight and understanding into the principles and practices of marketing for growth-oriented entrepreneurial enterprises, and the commercialisation of new technology-based products and services for new business ventures that have limited resources and that target national and international markets.

A "free elective" (BUGE course): This is a business elective for students who are enrolled in degrees in the Division of Business. This is also a "free elective" for students enrolled in other divisions. This course is available to students from all campuses. You may need to check with your Program Director if you have space for such an elective in your degree, and if you are eligible to do this course (the coordinator of this course cannot check this for you). You can enrol online for this course in the same way that you enrol for your other courses. If you have any problems in enrolling, contact Campus Central. The HECS fee for this course is at 'Band 3A'.

Cross Institutional Enrolments: If you are enrolled in another university and you have space in your degree for an elective course, then you can apply through your own department to take this course as a cross-institutional transfer student. We have a number of people doing this already. You will also need to get the form signed by the course coordinator, who is located in Room 20 on Level 3 of the Elton Mayo Building at the corner of George Street and North Terrace, City West Campus.

Audit Students: If you do not have room in your degree, you can apply to attend this course as an audit student, but there is a fee attached. UniSA Campus Central (8302 0511) can provide information about this option and the fees. The HECS fee for this course is at 'Band 3A'.

Over-ride Forms: You may have a timetable clash with one of the lecture/seminar sessions, and this may stop the system from enrolling you in this course. You can get an over-ride form from the Campus Central office, complete it, sign it and give it to Campus Central staff. You do not need any other signatures. This will allow you to enrol.

Next scheduled: This course is conducted at City West in SP4. Download the detailed course timetable. Put the seminar and workshop dates in your diary! This course is run in intensive mode only (face to face). We regret that this course is not available in external or online mode.

Prerequisites: none, but you will find this course easier if you have already done Entrepreneurial Enterprises and if you have studied the Division core course 'Marketing Principles Trading and Exchange'.

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.

Course coordinator: Peter Balan.

Teaching and learning arrangements

This course is run in intensive mode only (face to face). We regret that it is not available in external or on-line mode. Lecture/seminar sessions 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 teamwork. This course therefore requires 120 hours of student time - which is the same as a standard semester-long course. Check the answers to FAQ for this course for detailed comments about course delivery.

Aim

To develop student insight and understanding into the principles and practices of marketing for two contrasting types of enterprises: both small entrepreneurial business, and high-technology ventures that have limited resources and that target national and international markets.

On completion of this course, students should be able to:

identify the problems and issues that face the entrepreneur who wishes to launch their new products or services in to national and international markets, and propose solutions
explain a range of frameworks and decision-making tools to successfully manage strategic and operational decision-making in the area of marketing in an entrepreneurial technology venture
develop a plan for a range of low-cost approaches for implementing marketing activities to reach target customers in Australia and overseas.

Syllabus

The marketing process.
Supply side and demand-side marketing.
Dealing with technology and market uncertainty.
Understanding the business and market environment.
Simple market research to understand customer and consumer needs.
Formulating marketing strategies.
Identifying and selecting lead users and co-developers.
Organising and managing the interface between marketing, research and development and production.
Low-cost approaches for effective planning and implementation of marketing activities including building value and support services around the product, reaching the target market, pricing and communications.
Relationship marketing.
Using marketing advisors and support services.

Assessment

Team project report (4000 words): 40%
Individual assignment: 10%
Final examination: 50%.

Team Project Report

The class will be given a choice of business ideas, and your team can choose one of these as the subject for your project work and project report. We recommend that your team picks one of these ideas, although you have the option of choosing your own idea. You will have access to these details at the start of the lecture/seminar series. You may have heard of the single project approach that was implemented in 2007 and 2008; this will not be used in 2009.

In 2009, teams will be required to produce the marketing plan in the form of two A3 posters to meet this assessment requirement. These posters are equivalent to the marketing plan required for previous course deliveries.

A "Plan presentation and feedback" session is scheduled for all teams to display their marketing plans, to examine what other teams have submitted, and to present the strong points of their plan to the whole class. There will also be a general discussion of the plans, including comments from the lecturer. This will be a valuable session for receiving feedback on this interesting assignment, and for learning from other teams.

Textbook

Schindehutte, M, Pitt, L & Morris, M 2008, Rethinking Marketing: The Entrepreneurial Imperative, Pearson, New York

Preliminary reading

Though none of the following books is written as a textbook, all are aimed at small business owners, and are highly readable. If you have not studied entrepreneurship before, it is recommended that you read the book by Hawken or by Kawasaki. Hawken's book applies more for small businesses, Kawasaki's for larger start-ups. If you have not studied marketing before, the Horowitz or Philips and Rasberry books are recommended. It will be helpful if you can read - or at least scan - these before the first class session.

Horowitz, Shel (2000). Grassroots Marketing : Getting Noticed in a Noisy World. Chelsea Green, Vermont. City West Library 658.8 H816.

Philips, Michael and Salli Rasberry (2001). Marketing without Advertising (3rd edition). Nolo, Berkeley, USA. City West Library 658.8 P562. 3.

Hawken, Paul (1987). Growing a Business. Simon and Schuster, New York. City West Library 658.1141 H392.

Kawasaki, Guy (2004). The Art of the Start. Portfolio, USA. City West Library 658.11 K22.

Business Review Weekly - every issue has articles on innovation and entrepreneurship.

Sessions and modules

This course will consist of seven half-day sessions. Each session will consist of three modules, with each module lasting about one hour. Each module has 5 main components:

1. Introduction to the topic - not covering anything substantive: the exact topic covered by this module, how it links in with previous and forthcoming topics, resources available for it (textbook, readings, etc.), and work required. Ends with initial questions from students.

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 groups to whole class, with responses by lecturer.

5. Comment by lecturer on practical outcomes, contribution to theory, and answers to further questions.

Details of sessions and modules

Session	Modules
Session 1: The basics of marketing	Introduction to the course (and allocation into teams) The marketing essentials Models of marketing
Session 2: Entrepreneurial marketing	Entrepreneurial aspects of marketing Entrepreneurial positioning and targeting
Session 3: Preparing for the marketing plan	The marketing planning process Secondary market research Primary market research
Session 4: Key marketing decisions	Adoption of innovation - identifying your 1st customer Specifying the product or service Distribution channels Entrepreneurial pricing Communications planning
Session 5: Getting the message to the customer	Communicating with customers Direct marketing Marketing through networks Trade shows and exhibitions Social network marketing Website marketing
Session 6: Assembling the marketing plan	Budgeting for marketing Putting together the marketing plan Course review

Workshops

Following the main sessions will be a series of workshops, in which the student teams can work together on their marketing plan. Throughout these workshops, the lecturer will be present to answer any questions and give assistance.

Frequently asked questions

This page answers most of the questions asked so far by intending students.

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