MST-23406 New Venture Creation: from Idea to Business Plan

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English

Assumed knowledge on:

Msc students MME (specialization: Management, Innovation and Life Sciences) and MFT (specialization: Food Innovation and Management) can follow this course. Furthermore, all Msc students with an interest to learn more about innovation, knowledge management and entrepreneurship can join this course. This course is also part of the Master Track Entrepreneurship. For more information see the Master Track Entrepreneurship webpage.

Continuation courses:

Other courses from the Master Track Entrepreneurship. For more information see the Master Track Entrepreneurship webpage

Contents:

In the course New Venture Creation: From Idea to Business Plan, students with a real or potentially innovative business idea are guided in the process of elaborating their idea, analyzing its future market potential, and preparing and writing a business plan. During the course students will develop a business plan for a new enterprise based on their own innovative idea. This plan should be feasible and have the potential to generate substantial revenues, cash and profits. The venture should be able to provide a competitive remuneration for the founders.
The purpose of this course is to give students insight into the processes underlying entrepreneurship in independent or autonomous start-ups and future medium sized companies. There will be a special focus on opportunity identification and business case simulation, and other skills relevant for planning a new business venture (e.g. creativity, market testing, impression management, etc.). The course reviews different approaches to feasibility analysis that can be carried out before the potential entrepreneur embarks on preparing the full-blown business plan. The course then introduces students to the financing of the start-up, where to go for start-up and growth capital, with special emphasis on bootstrapping and venture capital. Franchising, licensing, acquisition of an on-going enterprise and new product development represent different specific strategies various entrepreneurs have used to start and/or stimulate the growth of their businesses.
Students are expected to prepare by already bringing an individual innovative business idea to the beginning of the course. Only selected ideas will be further developed in the group work. The selection is done by students' voting.

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- to explain the specifics of new venture creation at different settings;
- to apply strategic and organisational insights to the start-up and growth processes of new firms;
- to select ideas for innovation and to identify business opportunities in order to commercialise them through a new organisation;
- to explain now the actual value of a business plan: what it can and cannot do (i.e. the do's and don'ts of business plan writing);
- to demonstrate how all the various aspects of new venture planning contribute to solid and robust business plans that are both promising, feasible and viable;
- aqcquire presentation skills and apply them in the context of developing an innovative idea into a full blown business plan.

Activities:

The following teaching formats will be used:
- lectures: discussing the relevant literature in the field of new venture creation and new venture planning; guest lecturers from venture capital firms, entrepreneurs, incubators;
- case discussions, not only to reflect on the applicability of theories and concepts in the domain of new venture planning, but also to act as a mirror on developing and selecting ideas and structures for a new business by the various groups;
- group work, writing a business plan for a start-up.

Examination:

- individual assignment (business pitch) (20%);
- business plan and presentation (group) (40%);
- written exam with open and or close or multiple choice questions (40%);
Each component requires a minimum of 5.50 to pass.

Literature:

The following literature is optional: Spinelli, S., Adams, R., 2012. New Venture Creation. Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century, 9th Ed.. McGraw-Hill: New York.
In addition, relevant articles will be provided. Furthermore, after each lecture a PowerPoint presentation on the subject will be posted on Blackboard.