Fall 2011 Entrepreneurship project

Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management. The project is divided into five phases, Refer to pp.145-147 Phase one: 5 marks (Due date: 8.10.2011) This phase should cover:
I.

Executive Summary (should not exceed 2 pages)

A. Company name, address, and phone number B. Brief description of the business, its products and services. C. Brief overview of the market for your products and services. D. Brief overview of the strategies that will make the firm successes. E. Brief statement of the financial request and how the money will be used. F. Charts or tables showing the financial forecasts. II. Vision and Mission statement

A. Entrepreneurs vision for the company. B. What business are we in? C. Values and principles on which the business stands. D. What makes the business unique? What is the source of competitive advantage? III. Company History

Company History (for ongoing companies) or Start-up Plan (for new companies) IV. A. Business and Industry Profile Industry analysis 1. Industry background and overview 2. Growth rate. 3. Key success factors in the industry.

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Fall 2011 Entrepreneurship project

B. V. A. 1. 2. 3. 4. B. C.

Stage of growth Companys Product or Services Description Production or service feature Customer benefit Warranties or guarantees Unique selling proposition (USP) Patent or trademark protection Description of production process (if applicable) 1. Raw material 2. Costs 3. Key suppliers.

D.

Future products or service offerings.

Phase two: 10 marks (Due date: 27.10.2011) This phase should cover: VI. Business strategy.

A. Desired image and position in market. B. SWOT analysis C. Competitive strategy (Cost leadershipDifferentiation- Focus) VII. Marketing strategy A. Target market complete demographic profile B. Customers motivation to buy. C. Market size and trends how large is market, is it growing or shrinking? D. Advertising and promotion Media used, frequency of usage, and plans for generating publicity

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Fall 2011 Entrepreneurship project

E. Pricing Cost structure, desired image, and comparison against competitors F. Distribution strategy Channel of distribution, and sales techniques/ incentives

Phase three: 5 marks (Due date: 30.11.2011) This phase should cover: VIII. Plan of operation A. Form of ownership chosen and reasoning. B. Company structure (organization chart) C. Compensations and benefits packages. IX. Competitor analysis

A. Existing competitors Who are they? Their strengths and weaknesses B. Potential competitors: Companies that night enter the market Who are they? Impact on the company if they enter X. Description of management team Key managers and employees Phase four: 10 marks (Due date: 10.12.2011) This phase should cover:
XI.

Field Study. (Should not exceed 2 pages)

At this stage, the group is required to visit the company to collect information about the company from one of the key persons in the company with more focus on the problems that the company faces as a small business.

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Fall 2011 Entrepreneurship project XII.

Literature Review. (Should not exceed 3 pages)

At this phase, the group is required to access the online resources provided by the university (Ebscohost), collect a minimum of three articles (they must be printed and attached to this phase), these articles represent similar cases to the problem discovered in (XI) from the company under study. The group has to analyze these articles with self contribution.

Phase five: 10 marks (Due date: 17.12.2011) This phase should cover, while the group is required to attach all previous phases with modification required from the instructor: XIII. Financial forecasts A. sheet, B. C. Financial statements Income statement, balance and cash flow statement Break even analysis Ratio analysis with comparison to industry standards

XIV. Loan or investment proposal. A. Amount requested. B. Purposes and uses of funds. C. Repayment or cash out schedule exit strategy XV. Conclusion and Recommendations. The group can benefit from the articles they used before in stating relevant recommendations to the stated problems mentioned earlier.

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Fall 2011 Entrepreneurship project

Appendices, including Marketing research, financial statements, organization charts, articles, and other items
XVI.

General rules: 1. Each group has to deliver and sign for draft submission to the T.A. 2. As University regulation, 10% of the marks will be deducted as a penalty, for each delayed day. 3. To ensure academic honesty, all required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review, and the similarity between students will not be acceptable. 4. Each submitted paper should includes: A Cover Sheet: Course code, Instructor name, T.A name, Project title, Students full name and ID, Table of Content with page numbers, References using APA style. 5. As University regulation, each group has to keep all the drafts to be submitted with the final phase, and a CD includes soft copy of all drafts including the total one.

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