Course unit details:
Tools & Techniques for Enterprise
| Unit code | MCEL30002 |
|---|---|
| Credit rating | 10 |
| Unit level | Level 3 |
| Teaching period(s) | Semester 2 |
| Available as a free choice unit? | Yes |
Overview
The unit examines the ways that entrepreneurs (or intrapraneurs) assess potential business opportunities using a range of simple business tools and models. The unit encourages students to make reasoned business decisions based on evidence available to them that may help them start their own businesses and/or increase their employability.
Pre/co-requisites
This unit cannot be studied with MCEL30031 or MCEL30001.
Aims
The unit aims to:
• To explore the role of entrepreneurs in society.
• To examine the processes involved in taking an idea and developing it into a business proposition.
• To understand the market for a business proposition and how to position the proposition within that market.
• To inspire students to passionately embrace enterprise as an essential component of their development.
Syllabus
The unit focuses on analysing the steps needed to take an idea and shape it into a viable business proposition. The unit looks specifically at the entrepreneurial process - i.e. how an entrepreneur assesses an opportunity, the resources and the team available to develop a sustainable business strategy. The importance of entrepreneurship (both economically and socially) is covered and reference is made to enterprise within existing organizations (denoted intrapreneurship).
The following will be covered:
Enterprise and the Knowledge Economy
The External Environment
Opportunity Recognition and Evaluation
Introduction to Marketing
Market Research Processes
Business Strategy
Business Models
Social Enterprise
Entrepreneurs, Resources and Teams
Teaching and learning methods
Lectures
The unit will be delivered as a series of lectures with case studies and in-class activities for students to work on both alone and in small informal groups.
Employability skills
- Other
- A range of pertinent skills: time management, critical thinking, information literacy, report writing (distinct from essay writing) and making decisions based on incomplete evidence or information are required.
Assessment methods
Summative assessments:
Assignment: Business report (20%) 500 words
Examination (80%) 2 hours
Feedback methods
• 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 are a few minutes to spare.
• 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.
Recommended reading
Reading References
Main Texts
Enterprise: Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Concepts, Contexts and Commercialisation by Robin Lowe and Sue Marriott Butterworth Heinemann 2006
Lowe, Robin, and Sue Marriott. Enterprise: Entrepreneurship and innovation. Routledge, 2012.
Recommended Reading
Exploring Corporate Strategy’ Gerry Johnson, Johnson, G., Whittington, R., Regnér, P., Angwin, D., & Scholes, K. (2020). Exploring strategy. Pearson UK.
Malhotra, Naresh, Dan Nunan, and David Birks. Marketing research: An applied approach. Pearson, 2017.
Kotler, Philip, and Gary Armstrong. Principles of marketing. Pearson education, 2010.
Doyle, Peter, and Philip Stern. Marketing management and strategy. Pearson Education, 2006.
Study hours
| Scheduled activity hours | |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 22 |
| Independent study hours | |
|---|---|
| Independent study | 78 |
Teaching staff
| Staff member | Role |
|---|---|
| Lee Webster | Unit coordinator |
Additional notes
For Academic Year 2024/25
Updated: March 2024
Approved by: March UG Committee