BA History / Course details

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Entrepreneurial Skills

Course unit fact file
Unit code MCEL10002
Credit rating 10
Unit level Level 1
Teaching period(s) Semester 2
Available as a free choice unit? Yes

Overview

This unit is specifically designed so students understand the processes entrepreneurs go through when researching and developing a business opportunity for presentation to potential investors

Students will be expected to identify and develop an idea which has the potential to be commercialised. The idea will be generated through use of practical and creative techniques developed within the unit. Students will then research their idea identifying key information which would support the development of a Business Plan. This will be done through the examination of the process of commercialisation, identifying information such as the ideas' market potential, its potential strategy and its capacity for monetarisation. The output of this research will be developed into a detailed business proposal, to be aimed at potential investors,, which identifies the value and uniqueness of the identified opportunity.

Aims

By the end of the unit students will have acquired fundamental skills and understanding relating to the entrepreneurial process of generating an idea with commercial potential, creating a new venture, and working intrapreneurially (to support an existing organisation) through the development of products or services. Students will use a range of tools and frameworks both practical and theoretical to support these pursuits.

Syllabus

  • CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
  • PRODUCT AND SERVICE DESIGN 
  •  VALUE PROPOSITION DESIGN  BUSINESS MODEL GENERATION
  •  BUSINESS PLANNINGMARKETING AND MARKET RESEARCH
  • INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OPERATIONS AND RESOURCING A NEW VENTUREPRICING & FINANCIAL STRATEGIES
  • FINDING SOURCES OF FINANCE

Teaching and learning methods

The unit will be delivered through a series of formal lectures and workshops. Lectures will be used to introduce broad-level theoretical concepts and frameworks relating to entrepreneurial activities. The series of workshops will look at the use of specific tools, introduced in lectures, in more detail, evaluate and discuss case studies and will also feature a range of guest speakers who will be entrepreneurs from a range of new ventures.

The unit is fully supported via BlackBoard and copies of all the lecture material and additional supporting information is available within this environment.

Assessment methods

Formative assessment:
A short proposal of your chosen business idea presented as a set of powerpoint slides (a template for this is provided on Blackboard and must be used), the information provided should be a maximum of 500 words across all slides on the template. The proposal is not marked but feedback provided will give you an idea of your unit progress and assist you with the summative assessment.

Summative assessment assignment:

You will be required to produce a written Business Plan for your proposed new venture. The Business Plan should be a maximum of 2000 words. The expected content for the business plan will be given in the unit outline and explained throughout the unit in various lectures.

Feedback methods

Formative feedback is the feedback given to help you to develop and improve students' work with the unit of study.

Additional formative feedback is available to you through the following means:

•    Attending lectures, joining discussions about case studies and doing short work tasks set within the lecture session.

•    Your lecturer will reply to brief individual questions at the end of each lecture session, if there is time available

•    Your lecturer will provide brief replies to your e-mailed enquiry.
 
•    Your lecturer may feedback messages to the whole class via Blackboard if the point that you have raised could be of benefit to the whole class.

In this unit, a summative work assessment is marked and comments will be returned to you via Blackboard (and where

Recommended reading

Stokes, D. & Wilson, N (2021) Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship. Cengage: Andover

Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., Gregory, B., Smith. A. & Papadakos, T. (2015) Value Proposition Design: how to create products and services customers want. Wiley: New York

Osterwalder, A. & Pigneur, Y. (2013) Business Model Generation: A handbook for visionaries, game changers and challengers. Wiley: Somerset

Stutely, R. (2012) The definitive business plan: the fast-track to intelligent business planning for executives and entrepreneurs, Pearson, Harlow

 

Harris, T. (2019)Start-up: a practical guide 

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 24
Independent study hours
Independent study 76

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Adam Frost Unit coordinator
Robert Martin Unit coordinator

Additional notes

Available as a free choice option

For Academic Year 2024/25

Updated: March 2024

Approved by: UG Committee Chair


 

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