08 Jan At the breakeven point

MBA6710 Entrepreneurial Organizations & Small Businesses

Week 1 Project

Instructions

Aspects of Individual Creativity

As a human relations specialist at a small manufacturing firm interested in adding employees capable of conceptualizing and designing new products, you have been asked to develop screening criteria to rate new recruits on the following dimensions:

Knowledge, skills, and expertise

Drive, motivation, and perseverance (intrinsic motivation)

Creative thinking

Self-confidence, independence, and willingness to take a risk

Willingness to be flexible and seek support as required

Analyze in detail the screening criteria you will develop to rate new recruits, long with the recommendations you will make to individual departments in their quest to hire highly innovative individuals.

MBA6710 Entrepreneurial Organizations & Small Businesses

Week 2 Project

Instructions

Incorporating Innovation and Entrepreneurship into Corporate Strategy

The president of your company has recently announced the need for a greater effort to incorporate innovation and entrepreneurship into organizational strategy. The president has asked you to research the requirements necessary for this to happen. Your initial list identifies the following requirements:

Ongoing environmental monitoring

An entrepreneurial climate

Encouragement of entrepreneurial behavior

A strong customer/stakeholder focus

Analyze why each of these is important along with your plan for achieving them.

MBA6710 Entrepreneurial Organizations & Small Businesses

Week 3 Project

Instructions

The Business Plan

Design a detailed business plan for a new product, service, or business venture of your choice. This could be an idea you have been contemplating or a product presently being marketed, but your business plan must reflect the uniqueness of the idea. For example, it might involve the modification of a certain product based on the unique needs of your community or peer group. Follow the business plan outline provided in Table 8.1 of the course textbook. Be sure to include:

Title page

Table of contents

Executive summary

Description of product, service, or business

Description of industry or industry closest to your product or service

Marketing plan

Financial plan

Production plan

Organizational plan

Operational plan

Summary

Appendices (exhibits)

While it is expected that plan components may vary in length, each should contain detail commensurate with its nature and importance.

MBA6710 Entrepreneurial Organizations & Small Businesses

Week 4 Project

Marketing and Customer Analysis

Using the product, service, or business idea that you developed in the your business plan from the W3 Assignment, evaluate the factors important in conducting a detailed marketing and customer analysis, including:

Market potential

Evidence of customer interest

Relevant buying motives and customer requirements

Present and potential competitors and overall competitive intensity

Short- and long-term market influences

Market changes presently taking place

External regulations

Market history and traditions

Present and potential obstacles facing the market

Market gaps to be filled

Opportunities for partnerships with other firms in the industry

Evaluated the most viable market position for your new product, service, or business.

MBA6710 Entrepreneurial Organizations & Small Businesses

Week 5 Project

Instructions

Performance Measures

Scenario:

In your quest to encourage innovation and entrepreneurial behavior in the medium sized medical equipment company you founded five years ago, you see the need to develop specific measures of performance against which innovative products or services can be measured once they are developed

Summary:

Provide a 1-2 paragraph summary describing the medium-sized medical equipment company you founded (may create hypothetical details along with brief research about such firms). In essence, what is it? What does it do? Who are its primary customers?

Description:

Provide a 1-2 paragraph summary of recent innovations your organization has implemented (may create hypothetical details along with brief research about recent innovations in the field). In essence, what are the innovations? What are the potential benefits of such innovations? What are some of the challenges of the innovations or innovation implementation process?

Proposal of Measures:

Propose how the following financial and non-financial measures will be used to assess and evaluate recent innovations:

Financial Measures

Return on investment

Growth in market share

Profitability

Non-financial Measures

Employee loyalty and commitment

Breadth of employee participation

Employee retention

Employee willingness to change

Strategic repositioning

Competitive capabilities

Potential creation of further breakthroughs

Number of potential future innovations

MBA6710 Entrepreneurial Organizations & Small Businesses

Week 1 Discussion

As the founder and owner of an upstart electronics firm, you see the need to develop a framework for managing innovation and entrepreneurship. Address any three of the following bullet points:

How you will encourage your employees to think like entrepreneurs.

How you will identify, select, and evaluate potential breakthrough ideas.

Your system for ongoing monitoring and assessment of the external environment.

How you will determine if an idea represents a breakthrough or incremental innovation.

Your checklist of criteria for rating innovative idea

MBA6710 Entrepreneurial Organizations & Small Businesses

Week 2 Discussion

As a partner in a small communications firm, you have noticed that your fellow partners and several employees have mentioned new product ideas they felt were worth pursuing, but that none of these ideas have been pursued. Propose a formal process to determine if ideas that are presented are worthy of market testing. Include the following in your proposal:

Likely sources of new product or business ideas

Data gathering and factual analysis

Ability to make creative leaps

Need for fit with organization strengths and goals

Confirmation of commercial viability

MBA6710 Entrepreneurial Organizations & Small Businesses

Week 3 Discussion

Trace a real or hypothetical new product through the steps in the new product development process, including idea generation, concept verification and testing, actual development, and test marketing. Discuss the establishment of “go/kill” points, meaning the criteria used to determine whether to proceed with the new product idea or abandon it at various stages in the process.

The idea generation stage should include potential sources of ideas such as trend monitoring, serendipity, or customer focus groups. The concept testing stage should include possible modifications based on feedback from potential customers, such as asking customers how this new product idea compares with present ways of the need the new product is intended to satisfy.

The final paragraph (three or four sentences) of your initial post should summarize the one or two key points that you are making in your initial response.

Your posting should be about 1 page (400 to 500 words) in length.

MBA6710 Entrepreneurial Organizations & Small Businesses

Week 4 Discussion

The following are common organizational barriers to innovation and entrepreneurial behavior:

Lack of management commitment

Vague or missing measures of performance

No incentives for success

Penalties for failure

Resistance to change (desire to keep a narrow market focus or cling to present products)

Conversely, the following are characteristics of organizations that encourage innovation and entrepreneurial behavior:

Supportive

Protective

Tolerant

Trusting

Sharing

Experimental

Discuss your current organization or one with which you are familiar, whether local, regional, national, or international in scope, in terms of these negative and positive organizational traits as they relate to innovation and entrepreneurial behavior.

The final paragraph (three or four sentences) of your initial post should summarize the one or two key points that you are making in your initial response.

Your posting should be about 1 page (400 to 500 words) in length.

MBA6710 Entrepreneurial Organizations & Small Businesses

Week 5 Discussion

Discuss opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship in emerging global markets, particularly those with a growing middle class, or those where harsh economic conditions dictate the need for innovation if basic human needs are to be met.

What steps must be taken to encourage innovation in these markets?

Will the same incentives and techniques be effective in all emerging markets?

What can be done in instances where government does not encourage or is even hostile to entrepreneurship?

Design and present a list of talking points you might use when you meet with industry and government leaders in one of these markets as you attempt to build a creative mind-set among local civic leaders, businesses, and citizens.

The final paragraph (three or four sentences) of your initial post should summarize the one or two key points that you are making in your initial response.

Your posting should be about 1 page (400 to 500 words) in length.

MBA6710 Entrepreneurial Organizations & Small Businesses

Week 1 Knowledge Check

Question 1

Being creative seems to be a major characteristic that entrepreneurs have in common.

Question 1 options:

True

False

Question 2

A true entrepreneur thinks outside the box and often has started their dreams as home-based businesses.

Question 2 options:

True

False

Question 3

Many entrepreneurs who are naturally creative chose not to pursue higher education.

Question 3 options:

True

False

Question 4

In most cases, entrepreneurs are not looking for status; they just have a vision or a dream that they want to pursue.

Question 4 options:

True

False

Question 5

Most entrepreneurs don’t know why or how to write a business plan.

Question 5 options:

True

False

MBA6710 Entrepreneurial Organizations & Small Businesses

Week 2 Knowledge Check

Question 1

Just saying “I want to make a lot of money” is really not a good purpose for starting a specific business.

Question 1 options:

True

False

Question 2

Being the first to offer a particular product or service assures business success.

Question 2 options:

True

False

Question 3

In the late 1970s, K-Mart tried to offer food in its retail store locations, but at that time, the results suggested consumers were not ready to buy everything in one store.

Question 3 options:

True

False

Question 4

There are many ways to acquire information about the desires and likes of a consumer.

Question 4 options:

True

False

Question 5

Small businesses and entrepreneurs both search for a competitive advantage as they create and offer a product or service.

Question 5 options:

True

False

MBA6710 Entrepreneurial Organizations & Small Businesses

Week 3 Knowledge Check

Question 1 (1 point)

When you start a business, you need to create a written document that will guide you in the development of the new venture.

Question 1 options:

True

False

Question 2 (1 point)

All small business owners and entrepreneurs start their businesses with a business plan.

Question 2 options:

True

False

Question 3 (1 point)

A business plan is a “living” document, which means it will not need to be revised in the future.

Question 3 options:

True

False

Question 4 (1 point)

It is best to work purchase a standardized, prewritten plan rather than to write your own business plan.

Question 4 options:

True

False

Question 5 (1 point)

It is important to remember that a business plan should not be so long that people lose interest in reading it.

Question 5 options:

True

False

MBA6710 Entrepreneurial Organizations & Small Businesses

Week 4 Knowledge Check

Question 1 (1 point)

Marketing is the intentional and thorough process of finding out what customers want.

Question 1 options:

True

False

Question 2 (1 point)

When analyzing issues such as market segmentation, branding, intellectual property, and franchising, one of the MOST important is the research and analysis required to define a target market for your product/service.

Question 2 options:

True

False

Question 3 (1 point)

Submitting noteworthy events (e.g., a new acquisition, employee promotion, or a new product or location) to local newspapers can be an inexpensive way to promote an organization.

Question 3 options:

True

False

Question 4 (1 point)

The main function of coupons is to encourage consumers to choose a particular product over another or to encourage new consumers to try the product.

Question 4 options:

True

False

Question 5 (1 point)

Human capital is critical to the success of any organization whether larger or small.

Question 5 options:

True

False

MBA6710 Entrepreneurial Organizations & Small Businesses

Week 5 Knowledge Check

Question 1 (1 point)

Cash flow reflects the relative movement of money into or out of the business.

Question 1 options:

True

False

Question 2 (1 point)

A pro forma financial statement is a document used by a start-up organization to provide a realistic idea of its financial condition as it seeks funding.

Question 2 options:

True

False

Question 3 (1 point)

From the balance sheet and the income statement, it is possible to analyze ratios.

Question 3 options:

True

False

Question 4 (1 point)

The industry standards that categorize comparative ratios for different businesses are a decisive way for investors to analyze the health of a business.

Question 4 options:

True

False

Question 5 (1 point)

At the breakeven point, the sales equal the total costs of an organization.

Question 5 options:

True

False