Course Description: 


This course helps students gain an understanding of the business/marketing principles necessary to start and operate a business. Students will first learn basic economic principles related to business ownership. They will identify and assess common traits and skills found in entrepreneurs, explore business opportunities, and compare the risks and rewards of owning a business. The primary focus of the course is to help students understand the process of analyzing a business opportunity, determining feasibility of an idea utilizing research, developing a plan to organize and promote the business and its products/services, and finally, to understand the capital required, the return on investment desired, and the potential for profit. Entrepreneurship is designed for students enrolled in marketing, business, and upper-level courses who have an interest in developing the skills, attitudes, and knowledge necessary for successful entrepreneurs. The texts and performance objectives are designed to work in conjunction, and students are encouraged to participate in these associations and their respective competitions

 

The idea of starting a business is appealing to many people. This course will introduce the many aspects required to create a successful new venture. It is however, just a starting point. The outcome of this course will not be a fully researched business plan, ready to implement. The effort required for meeting such an objective would consume many months of a prospective entrepreneur's time. Rather, this course will help give students a feel for what is involved with being entrepreneurial and if the role of entrepreneur is one he or she might find appealing.

The life cycle of a start-up company from the points of view of inventors, engineers or investors includes issues of planning, dealing with legal and tax issues, financial opportunities at different stages, and sources of technical assistance. The course also examines creativity in start-ups and creative gap analysis.

 

Learning Objectives:


After completing this course, students will be able to:

• Apply the entrepreneurial process
• Analyze the feasibility of a new venture business concept
• Evaluate his or her own entrepreneurial tendency and ability
• Brainstorm ideas for new and innovative products or services
• Use a variety of feasibility tests, assess and select prospective new venture concepts for further study
• Conduct focus groups, surveys, and other methods for researching customer reaction to various new venture concepts
• Conduct a variety of secondary research activities to analyze competition, market trends, industry structures, and other issues relevant to specific new venture concepts
• Examine and analyze issues related to intellectual property protection for specific new product concepts, (e.g., patent and trade name searches)
• Create promotional items related to specific new product concepts, (e.g., advertising themes, slogans, etc.)
• Investigate state and federal regulatory requirements for specific industries by contacting relevant agencies
• Describe how to investigate financing alternatives for specific new venture concepts