Frequently Asked Questions
about the Entrepreneurial Commercialisation course
Q: Is this a "free elective" or BUGE course?
Yes, for students who are enrolled in a program that does not belong to the Division of Business. For students in a Division of Business degree, this is a business elective.
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?
In 2009, 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 Enterprises either beforehand or simultaneously. This will make it easier for you.
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 marketing degree students have taken this course.
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 a minor in entrepreneurship and innovation. 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. 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 contributing to the teamwork 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. Some regional and interstate students take this intensive course by coming to Adelaide for the week of the lecture/seminar sessions (as well as for the written examination). They also need to be very well-organised, and make sure that they communicate frequently with their project team. However, it is important to note that the exam is offered only in Adelaide.
Q: How large are the classes?
Enrolment is limited to 150 students.
Q: How can the course content be covered in five full days?
See the schedule for the course, or the detailed timetable. The five days are taken up with lecture/seminar sessions, and these 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 team marketing plan. In this way, you have the equivalent of five full days to cover and explore the course content, and this is the same as the contact hours for a full 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 preparing for the exam, working with your team to carry out the market research required for this course, and writing your team 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. Students generally arrange to meet in their teams on a regular basis to plan and coordinate their activities and allocate tasks. They then spend time on their own doing their allocated tasks and own study.
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 feasibility plan.
Q: Will I need to get the textbook?
Students sometimes ask if it is worth getting the textbook. As we point out in the first lecture session, our task is to present current thinking in this field, and so the course content draws on research findings, as well as materials from a wide range of sources. 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.
The text for this course is one of the few books that approaches marketing from the entrepreneurial point of view. It is not large and it is easy to read. It would be a very useful addition to your library.
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 (prepared by a team of 4 or 5 students), and an exam.
The individual assignment
This is worth 10% of the total marks. You will be given four questions about the course content in the first session. You will then answer one question out of those four in half an hour during one of the later seminar sessions (referred to the detailed course timetable). This will be done under exam conditions.
The marketing plan
The class will be given a choice of business ideas, and your team will be able to select one of these as the subject for your project work and your project report. (Alternatively, your team may identify and choose your own genuinely innovative and new idea.) These ideas have been selected on the basis of their potential for development in the form of a feasibility report. There are many advantages that arise from this approach. In particular, each will be discussed during the week of seminars and exercises. This means that your team will be able to develop a very good feel for these projects during the lecture sessions, and this will make the project more interesting, and easier to deal with (than if you chose your own topic).
You will be given access to details about these business ideas before the start of the lecture/seminar series.
You will cover key aspects of the marketing planning task in your team exercises during the intensive sessions. You will be expected to meet as a team to produce your plan. You must use the Word document and the Excel spreadsheet templates (that are provided on the course web site) to help to develop your plan. The full specification for the report is included in the course website. The report is assessed as a whole - that is, a grade is given for the report, so that each team member receives the same grade for this assessment.
The exam
A two-hour written examination will be held about two weeks after the marketing plan has been submitted. Students will be given access to about 20 questions covering the course, and the exam will consist of five of these questions, of which students will be required to answer 4. This accounts for 50% of the total assessment for the course.
Q: What do I do if I have a timetable clash for the exam?
If the exam for this course is scheduled at the same time as a lecture or tutorial in another course, then we would expect you to attend the examination. If you have another examination scheduled at the same time, then apply for a deferred examination for one of the courses; do this through Campus Central. The exam is conducted only in Adelaide. Please do not contact the lecturer direct regarding these arrangements.
Q: What are the arrangements for deferred exams, or for special consideration?
If you wish to apply for a deferred examination (or for special consideration), then you need to do this through Campus Central on 08 8302 0511 within the required number of days following the examination. Arrangements will then be made by School of Management staff, and you will be advised by e-mail. Please do not contact the lecturer regarding these arrangements.
Q: How are we allocated into teams?
The lecturer will allocate the class into teams of 4 or 5 students before the start of the intensive seminar sessions. People will be chosen for teams so as to maximize the diversity of the team, based on the enrolment information we have. You will be asked to sit with your team members, as you will carry out a number of team exercises during the three days of intensive sessions.
Q: Can we form our own teams?
Team allocation reflects the workplace, where people are put together to carry out specific projects. Our experience has been that teams that are self selected do not get on as well as teams that are allocated (and this is why we go to the trouble of allocating teams). If two or three members of a project team are friends or work together, then this can put the other team member(s) in a difficult situation, or at a disadvantage, if the relationship is not well managed. In addition, if something goes wrong in the project team, the problem may be carried over into the workplace if members of the team work together.
Our view is that University offers a great opportunity to meet people from other study programs and from other countries, and the people you work with in a project team may be valuable members of your (International) network in the future.
Q: Where is the course home page?
See www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/courses/course.asp?Course=BUSS3048