Entrepreneurship

3 ECTS credits
86 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 4016998EER for all students in the 1st semester at a (E) Master - advanced level.

Semester

1st semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Possible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Enrollment Requirements

Studenten Handelsingenieur die dit opleidingsonderdeel opnemen, moeten geslaagd zijn voor ‘Technologisch Ondernemerschap’. Studenten Master Electrical Engineering kunnen dit opleidingsonderdeel opnemen. Studenten van andere richtingen moeten geslaagd zijn of ingeschreven voor ‘inleiding tot het bedrijfsbeheer’ of ‘Introduction to Business’ of 'Technological Entrepeneurship'. Students who want to enroll for this course, must have passed ‘Technological Entrepeneurship'.

Taught in

English

Faculty

Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool

Department

Business

Educational team

Claudia Alba Ortuno
Bart Pierre H Leyen
Nikolay Dentchev (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

15 contact hours Lecture
9 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
62 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

The objective of the course is to learn how to write a business plan.
Business plan development takes place at four main stages:

analysis of the business environment
development of a business idea to a business model
evaluations of key assumptions and their verification
development of a financial plan

Throughout these four stages, students need to gather as much as possible realistic information, need to convince others to cooperate with them, and need to adapt their business idea according to the ongoing analysis. To accomplish this, sound communication and collaboration skills need to be developed.

In the lectures, following topics will be covered:

Positive obsession to your business idea
Trends analysis and idea generation
Business model development
Business model testing
Entrepreneurial competencies
Financial planning
Risk management for operational efficiency
Resource attraction

Course material

Handbook (Required) : How to breed gazelles?, Creating business for growth, Dentchev, Vander Velpen & Izquerdo, Kluwer, 9789046559543, 2013
Digital course material (Required) : Additional material and slides uploaded, Canvas

Additional info

The textbook will be used as a guideline to develop a business plan in groups, and also to prepare for the examination.

Teaching Methods

Lecture: collective contact-dependent moments during which the lecturer engages with learning materials
Seminar, Exercises or Practicals (Practical): collective or individual contact-dependent moments during which the students are guided to actively engage with learning materials
Independent or External Form of Study (Self): independent study

This description of the teaching methods is indicative, in order to assess the expected study load.

Lecture: 15 hours (5 x 3 hours)

Practical: 9 hours

presentation business ideas: 6 hours
preparation defense business plan: 3 hours

Self: 62 hours

keeping up with the course material during the semester, amounting to 1 hour per hour lecture: 15 hours
develop business plan: 24 hours (3 days of 8 hours)
peer feedback: 2 hours
peer evaluation: 1 hour
preparation defense business plan: 4 hours
preparation exam: 16 hours (2 days of 8 hours)

Learning Outcomes

General competences

This course contributes to the competences of graduates on how to write a business plan. We approach business plan development here from a process perspective, and hence students are gaining basis competences from the different stages in the entrepreneurial process.

At the end of the course, students are able to:

analyze the business environment and identify relevant trends;
formulate key assumptions related to their business model activities;
complete financial plans based on planned activities and assumptions;
gather realistic market based information in order to develop solid business model and financial plan;
respect deadlines;
communicate and collaborate effectively with other group members.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 40% of the final mark.
Practical Exam determines 60% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Written Exam with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 40% of the final mark.

Within the Practical Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Business Plan with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 60% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

The evaluation is composed of two parts:

Business Plan Exercise (60 % of the evaluation): developed and presented in groups
Written exam, closed book (40 % of the evaluation): based on the textbook and material posted on Canvas.

For the business plan exercise (60 %), students are evaluated based on a. the process of their group assignment and on b. the quality of group assignment. The process of the group assignment is evaluated based on regular meetings with the prof and assistant, peer evaluation, and peer assessment of a draft version of the business plan. The quality of the group assignment is based on the following evaluation criteria business plan

Quality of trends analysis 15 %
Quality of analysis of key assumptions 20 %
Quality of the Business Model 20 %
Quality of Financials 15 %
Quality of Presentation 15 %
Active participation 15 % (deadlines, peer assessment, primary and secondary sources)

The written exam (40 %) is based on open questions.

Overall, the written exam aims at evaluating if students gathered sufficient knowledge on how to develop a business plan. The practical exam aims at evaluating the approach to business plan development, analytical, communication and cooperation skills

The final mark is the sum of the written exam and the the business plan exercise. Marks on the business plan can be transferred from the first examination session to the second examination session. In the second examination session, students can work individually or in smaller group on the improvement of their business plan exercise.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context