BSNS 4310

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

AND

SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

SYLLABUS

SEM I, 2004-2005

3 CREDIT HOURS

 

INSTRUCTOR:                   GREG HEBERLING

PHONE:                                765-641-4363 (OFFICE)    

EMAIL:                  gdheberling@anderson.edu

CLASS SCHEDULE:          Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10:00 A.M. – 10:50 A.M.

CLASS LOCATION:         ANDERSON UNIVERSITY   Hardacre Hall – Room 232

 

PURPOSE:

The major objective of this course is to develop the skills necessary to create a well thought out business plan in a form that would be presentable to a group of Private Investors, Bankers, and/or Venture Capitalists.    Meeting course prerequisites indicates exposure to the elements needed to formulate a business plan.  We will focus on the integration of that core knowledge.

 

ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:

Class attendance is vital to the learning experience of the student in this course. Therefore, students are expected to attend and participate in the class unless prevented by reasonable circumstances.  The instructor may contact students if excessive absences are apparent in order to discuss the problem.

 

GRADING CRITERIA AND SCALE:                                                             

 

*BUSINESS PLAN (WRITTEN)                                        30%                                                       

*BUSINESS PLAN (PRESENTATION)                            20%                                                       

*CRITIQUE OF EXISTING PLAN                     15%                                       

*ATTITUDE                                                                         10%

*COMMUNICATION                                                         10%                                       

*ASSIGNMENTS                                                                15%                                                                                                                       

*TOTAL                                                                             100%

100% >  A     >  93%             83% >  B-    >  80%

93% >   A-    >  90%             80% >  C     >  70%

90% >   B+   >  86%              70% >  D     >  60%                                                               86% >   B     >  83%                60% >  F      >    0%

               

Peer evaluation on the written portion of the business plan (30% of course grade) will affect individual’s grades as follows:

                If the group receives a perfect score of 100% of the points allotted to the written portion of the business plan but an individual receives an average participation grade from peer group members of 80%, the student would receive the following adjusted score. Contrast that with a peer score of 100%.

                        Raw Score     Portion of final grade     Peer Score     Adjusted Score

                             100%                      30%                         80%            24% out of 40%

    100%                       30%                       100%            30% out of 40%

            It is imperative that you communicate with one another to avoid low peer scores

 

COURSE FORMAT:

This course will be taught using a combination of business plan analysis, seminar format, and lecture. Outside speakers and articles from current business periodicals will also supplement the course, as well as relevant videos and student presentations.  Some class time will be devoted to group work on the business plan.  Students should seek the professor’s input on their plan.

 .

 

COURSE EVALUATION: BUSINESS PLAN (Written Portion) (30%)

Each student (or group approved by the professor) will develop a formal business plan.  This plan may be for a business startup in either an entrepreneurial or corporate setting.  Try to create a plan in an area, which is applicable to you. The plan will be graded on the following criteria:

 

------------Table of Contents with page references is Mandatory--------------

1.        Development of the Executive Summary

2.        Identification of the Market (Industry, Customers, Competitors)

3.        Creation of a Marketing Strategy

4.        Creation of the Financial Statements

*Balance Sheets – opening, end of year 1, and 2.  (Three balance sheets)

*Income Statements by year for years 1, and 2.

*Cash flow Statement by year for years 1,and 2.

*Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis.  Forecast the sales needed to generate the following:

                -Break-even

                -Profit of $100,000

                -Profit of $200,000

                -Profit of $500,000

              (If these profit levels are unachievable for your business, adjust accordingly)

 

 

Any pre-opening costs that would normally be expensed during operations should be capitalized on the opening Balance Sheet in organization costs and amortized over 5 years using the straight-line method of depreciation. (Do not use a contra asset account for amortization; instead write down the asset by the amount of amortization)

 

The cost items on the income statement should be supported with appropriate documentation as to the reasonableness of the forecast. Detailed notes regarding reasonableness of cost estimates should also support the opening balance sheet.  Any capital acquisitions should be detailed as well.  These notes should be included in a section titled “NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS”

 

5.        Development of the operation/management plan

6.        Appendices and supporting documentation

 

With the exception of point number 4 above (Financial Statements) each group or individual will have the flexibility of creating their own table of contents for the Business Plan as long as all plans include at least the information outlined in points 1 – 6 above.  Additional sections of the plan could include items such as:

 

Critical Risks and Contingencies

Scheduling and Milestones

Summary and Conclusions

 

Each group should turn in TWO copies of the plan and it should be professionally bound.  If you need a copy for your portfolio, plan accordingly. All Plans are due on Wed, Dec 1, 2004.

 

 

COURSE EVALUATION: BUSINESS PLAN PRESENTATION (20%)

At the end of the semester (schedule to follow when groups are formed) each student or group will be required to give a brief (20minute) presentation of his or her business plan.  The context of their presentation will be that you are presenting to a commercial banker, venture capitalist, or some other appropriate source of funding to convince them to invest or loan you the required capital.  Therefore your presentation should be professional, concise, and compelling.

 

COURSE EVALUATION: CRITIQUE OF EXISTING PLAN (15%)

All students will work with a group to read and evaluate a plan that was written for this course in a previous semester.  The group will be required to informally discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the plan. 

 

COURSE EVALUATION: ATTITUDE (10%)

The professor, based upon his assessment of the contributions made by the individual to the discussion of course material and the overall attitude displayed in carrying out course requirements, will determine this portion of your grade subjectively.  Feel free to consult with the professor at any time to obtain feedback on your progress in this area.

 

COURSE EVALUATION: COMMUNICATION(10%)

Each student is expected to communicate with the professor regarding progress on completion of the business plan during the semester. 

 

COURSE EVALUATION: ASSIGNMENTS (15%)

  • Quizzes may be given on material presented in class.
  • Your group will be required to manage the compilation of the business plan as though it were a project for work.  You will be required to submit your plan of attack for completing the business plan.  There is no set format for this strategy. Turn this in by Friday September 17, 2004.
  • Each group will also be required to submit a weekly list of objectives to be accomplished which will be followed up the next week by a progress report.  These two reports must be sent to the professor via E-mail according to the schedule presented later in the syllabus.  Each week you will add to the previous weeks document so that with each week’s E-mail the professor will have all weekly objectives and progress reports submitted up to that point in the semester.  Use good thought and creativity in designing this document.  It should be easy to determine from your report how your project is progressing throughout the semester. 
  • There may be occasional out of class assignments in this area as well..
  • Each group will be required to evaluate one other group’s business plan presentation at the end of the semester.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri. Sept. 17, 2004                   Submit a plan of attack for completing the business plan.  Are you designating a leader for each component of the plan? (See items 1 – 6 above in COURSE EVALUATION: BUSINESS PLAN (Written Portion) Is there one individual acting as general manager for the project?  Will you have regular weekly meetings or meet ad hoc. Is one group member responsible for final production and binding? Even though you will be required to submit weekly objectives and progress reports, do you want to establish some strategic deadlines.  You should get the idea.  Treat this as a project assigned by the CEO.  What is your strategy? Feel free to contact the Professor if you need additional guidance.

 

Fri. Sept. 17, 2004                   Objectives to be achieved week of                  09/20

 

Fri. Sept. 24, 2004                   Objectives to be achieved week of                  09/27

                                                Progress report on objectives            

                                               

                                                (Remember, this weeks report is an

update of the document turned in on              

Sept. 17. Any incomplete objective from

9/20 should be carried forward to the

list of objectives to be completed 9/27. 

Continue this procedure all semester.

.

Fri. Oct. 1,     2004                  Objectives to be achieved week of                  10/04

                                                Progress report on objectives            

 

Fri. Oct. 08,    2004                 Objectives to be achieved week of                  10/11

Progress report on objectives            

 

Fri. Oct.  15,   2004                 Objectives to be achieved week of                  10/18

                                                Progress report on objectives            

 

Fri. Oct. 22,  2004                   Objectives to be achieved week of                  10/25

                                                Progress report on objectives            

 

Fri. Oct. 29,   2004                  Objectives to be achieved week of                  11/1

                                                Progress report on objectives                        

 

Fri. Nov. 05,   2004                 Objectives to be achieved week of                  11/8

                                               

 

    Note: Thanksgiving vacation is

                   Nov. 24-28

 

Wed. Dec. 1,   2004                All business plans are due(Two copies,

                                                Professionally bound)

 

 

GREAT JOB OF PERSEVERING TO THIS POINT.  YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN TO FINISH UP.  NO FURTHER OBJECTIVES OR PROGRESS REPORTS ARE DUE.

 

ALL BUSINESS PLANS ARE DUE ON

DECEMBER 1, 2004

REGARDLESS OF WHEN YOUR GROUP IS SCHEDULED TO PRESENT

 

PRESENTATIONS WILL BE SCHEDULED

                                                DEC    1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 14


    

 

Some of the following may be helpful in preparing your business plan.

 

www.bplans.com provides sample business and marketing plans along with a start-up section featuring answers to common questions about starting a company.

 

www.businessfinance.com/index.htm The site of America’s Business Funding Directory is a free database of funding sources.  The search engine asks you questions about your type of business and stage of development, then goes to work to find potential sources of funding.

 

www.ceebic.org The Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence promotes entrepreneurship and houses its own business incubator program.  It offers free counseling to anyone interested in starting a business, along with programs and seminars on such topics as how to conduct market research, how to raise capital, and how to discover business opportunities.

 

www.drapervc.com/resourses.html This resource page from Draper fisher Jurvetson, a venture capital fund, has useful links to sources of legal, engineering, general management, and industry information.

 

www.edgeonline.com The Entrepreneurial Edge Online offers financial management and assessment tools, interactive modules on various aspects of starting a business, an extensive list of links related to entrepreneurship, and a comprehensive library of books (plus relevant chapters of books you can read online for free).

 

www.entrepreneurmag.com is the Web site for Entrepreneur magazine.  It includes articles on topics such as how to write a business plan in a day, top Internet entrepreneurs and how they did it, and finding angel investors.  It also includes a bookstore and an archive library, free business forms, and information of franchising.  Bonus: Take a quiz on the site to determine if you have what it takes to succeed.

 

www.inc.com Inc. Online features articles on a wide variety of topics-for example, advertising secrets of hot start-ups, how unlikely entrepreneurs succeeded, and what happens when business partners break up.  You’ll also find a “virtual consultant” offering sources for financing, free software, and demos on general management, money management, personnel, and Web site builders, and a great online store for books, videos, and software.

 

www.sba.gov What isn’t on this site?  The U.S. Small Business Administration offers information on all aspects of business planning and extensive links to other sites.

 

www.startupbiz.com This site offers advice on every aspect of starting a business, from choosing a name to researching your idea and promoting it.  It also has a form allowing you to submit your idea to The Center for Innovation, which will provide a free critique of your idea and business or marketing plan.

 

 

CD-ROMS and Software

 

Business Plan Pro helps you create your business plan; it includes a database of banks and venture capital firms.  A best seller, it has earned some great reviews. (Palo Alto Software, $89.95, Tel. 888-PLAN_PRO, Web site www.palo-alto.com)

 

Marketing Plan Pro helps you define your market, plan a strategy, budget, forecast sales, track results, and measure success. (See above info on number and web site)

 

BIZPLAN BUILDER 5.0 SOFTWARE Comes with a text by the same name and is the world’s best-selling and award-winning software, produced by South-Western Publishing.