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Dilemmas and Debates in Entrepreneurship Instructor: Mr. Dirk Sonneborn & Guest Entrepreneurs Open to all students regardless of major or class standing. Students must come to class with ideas and be ready to thoroughly engage yourself in a dialog with entrepreneurs each week. Course Overview We are in the midst of a global entrepreneurial revolution. The rate of new venture start-ups, patents, new product and service introductions, technology licenses, and other indicators of entrepreneurial activity is at an all time high globally. It is a democratic revolution, in that it involves men and women from all walks of life and backgrounds. In fact, in the U.S. today, women and minorities are creating ventures at a faster rate than anyone. Entrepreneurship is defined as "the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled". At the heart of any entrepreneurial venture is an entrepreneur and his/her team. These are the individuals with the vision, the tenacity and perseverance, the adaptability, and the passion to successfully implement a novel concept. Entrepreneurs are the agents of change, the "dreamers and doers" the people that see a better way and do whatever it takes to make that better way happen. Much of what can be learned from them involves not so much their idea, but how they made it happen, how they overcame the obstacles and the negatives, how they found resources when there were none, how the brought along the team, how they dealt with personal and ethical conflicts, and more regarding implementation and growth. This is a course about dilemmas and debates. A dilemma is "an argument presenting two or more equally conclusive alternatives; a choice or a situation involving choice between equally unsatisfactory alternatives; a problem seemingly incapable of a satisfactory solution". The process of entrepreneurship involves the recognition of challenges and dilemmas, vigorous debate, and ultimately, solutions. No solution lasts long in an entrepreneurial milieu whose underpinning is "creative destruction". Yet, we will attempt to discuss a variety of contemporary dilemmas in entrepreneurship by interacting with prominent entrepreneurs and also through your own research and out of class activities. We believe that entrepreneurship is more than something one does at a point in time. It is a philosophy of life. The challenge to each student is to discover their own entrepreneurial potential and find ways to capitalize on that potential. The challenge is to build an entrepreneurial career that might include starting ventures, working for high growth ventures, taking over a family business, entrepreneuring in a large company, and/or pursuing social and non-profit entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurs you will meet in the coming weeks can help you in defining your path. Course Objectives Upon completion of this course, students will: • Have a better understanding of the entrepreneurial process as it is pursued by successful entrepreneurs; • Have a richer appreciation for their own entrepreneurial potential and how that potential can be capitalized upon; • Be able to relate their own life experiences and accomplishments to the life experiences of successful entrepreneurs; • Recognize the many dilemmas and choices that entrepreneurial individuals confront as they pursue and implement their concepts, and the fact that the 'right' course of action is rarely apparent; • Appreciate how entrepreneurs can serve as role models and sources of learning for students in terms of their professional development, regardless of the career directions that students pursue; • Distinguish entrepreneurial approaches to implementation and management of a venture from conventional management approaches; • Develop a better sense of some of the underlying characteristics, skills and behaviors of successful entrepreneurs; • Understand that successful entrepreneurship is both an individual and a team activity; Text and Materials There is no assigned textbook in this course. Students are encouraged to read applied publications such as INC. magazine, Fast Company , and Entrepreneur magazine and to look for insights in those publications that relate to the various entrepreneurs and topics involved in the course. Subscriptions to any of these publications can be gotten at a student rate. Other useful sources are www.entrepreneurmag.com , http://startup.wsj.com , www.entreworld.com , and http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/index.html and students are strongly encouraged to regularly access these sites for ideas to bring into class. Student Assessment There are no examinations in this course. The assessment will center around the student's involvement, interaction and learning from the guest entrepreneurs. Class Participation* 25% * Quality Class Participation & Advance Question Preparation (Individual Effort) The unique nature of this course places heavy responsibility on the student to get involved in the class. It is a course where you learn from leading edge entrepreneurs. But these entrepreneurs do not lecture in a traditional sense. They are here to share. As a result, students must thoroughly immerse themselves in each class, including asking substantive and provocative questions with follow up queries. If you do not participate in a significant manner you cannot pass the course. In addition, students are expected to prepare and submit at least three questions for each night's guest. The questions should be based on advance information provided. Students are expected to participate in class each night based on the advance information and on the presentation of our guest. Questions must be e-mailed before the start of class or they will not be counted. Students will receive 10 points for their questions, and 25 points each week based on the quality of their inputs into the discussion. ** Critique of a Notable Entrepreneur (Individual or Team of Two) Students in teams of two must do background research and write a 5-page (maximum length) paper on any notable entrepreneur of their choosing. Examples include Michael Dell, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, Anita Roddick, Sam Walton, and thousands of others. The paper must delve into the person, not just their accomplishments. The paper should look at the individual in terms of their character, their values, their traits, their goals and objectives, their management styles, their skills and limitations or weaknesses, their need for control, their risk tolerance, the family situation, their community focus, and so forth. Papers must be properly referenced. The entrepreneur chosen must have achieved a level of notoriety or recognition (e.g., past winners of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, or individuals recognized by their communities or nations, or individuals cited in the media). The individual can be a successful start-up entrepreneur, corporate entrepreneur or social entrepreneur. *** "Ownership" of One Nights' Class - ( Team Effort) Each team will establish a relationship with an assigned guest speaker and lead the class discussion for a night. The goal is for the team to "own" the evening. Responsibilities for each team include at least the following: 1. The team will need to do a PROMPT confirmation to the guest, using a professional letter with a copy to me (no e-mail for this letter). (Please put yourself in their position as you consider what to tell them. i.e. parking arrangements, room number, time, dress, what to expect from the evening. try to put them at ease). This should be an "administrative" letter, and will be evaluated as part of the grade. This letter should be sent as soon as your night's guest has been identified. • The team will also have a separate discussion or correspondence or site visit with the guest including what you would like the guest to cover in class. Before you make contact, I would be happy to give you my reasons for selecting the guest. (See also 3 below for what you need to get from this interaction.) • You should obtain information from item 2 above, plus other information (discussions, correspondence, meetings, internet searches or other meaningful research) about the entrepreneur, the entrepreneur's company, and/or his/her industry topic, so that the Team provides: • Appropriate advance information to classmates at least one week before your guest is to appear. Please remember that your classmates must form meaningful questions for your guest. based on what you provide them. (I suggest you also send your guest a copy of what you send the class so he/she knows what has been provided) • A formal presentation and introduction to the class on the evening of class of your guest speaker. (Appropriately dignified for the Speaker, approximately 1 minute) • Webpage Summary. A one page summary that "reports" the evening's class and what happened, what kinds of discussions, questions and what was learned in class. The page must be turned in, electronically, within two weeks of your evening and will be forwarded to Blackboard. Theoretically, at the end of the semester, there will be a summary of what happened in class, both for support of the Term Paper and for subsequent semester's prospective students. • An appropriate "Thank You" letter to your guest, within one week of your evening, with a copy to me. The letter should not be e-mail and will be evaluated as part of the grade. YOU WILL NEED TO KEEP A COPY OF THE COMPONENTS OF THE TEAM EFFORT SO WHEN ALL FIVE PIECES ARE ACCUMULATED YOU CAN SUBMIT A HARD COPY OF EACH FOR GRADING. A COMPLETE PACKAGE INCLUDES: 1. Confirmation letter; 2. Advance information provided to class; 3. Notes from class introduction; 4. Web page summary; 5. Thank you letter **** Research Paper on an Entrepreneurial Dilemma or Debate: (Individual Effort) A ten page paper is due some time after the last class and before 5 p.m. on Friday, December 12, 2003 . The paper should focus on a particular dilemma or debate entrepreneurs commonly encounter. Examples might include "the dilemma of dealing with partners versus going it alone", "the dilemma of staying married while growing a venture", "the dilemma of maintaining control while achieving growth", or "the dilemma of getting resources when you don't have any track record, money or collateral". It can be a topic of your choosing but must bring into play more than one of the guests' presentations into a cohesive discussion. This means you have to pay attention in class and must engage our speakers to your particular area or areas of interest . THIS PAPER IS NOT A SUMMARY OF THE SEMESTER'S GUEST PRESENTATIONS. You are expected to do research to support your topic. A good beginning point is to go to the on-line indexes in the Syracuse library and access ABI-Inform, where you can do a keyword search on your topic. • Sample Dilemmas The Dilemma of Experience: Should I keep my day job? The Dilemma of Partners: Can't live with them, can't live without them The Dilemma of Money and Control: Owning a little of a lot or a lot of a little? The Dilemma of Building a Team: Can engineers & scientists co-exist with marketers & accountants? The Dilemmas of Family Business:Sons & daughters, survival and succession The Dilemmas of Technology and Innovation: From concept to commercialization, from mind to market; Do customers know what they need? The Dilemma of Syracuse and New York : Can entrepreneurship flourish in a hostile environment? VII. Attendance and Tardiness Policy You will be allowed only one unexcused absence. Two unexcused absences will drop your final grade by 10 points. Three unexcused absences drop the grade by 20 points, etc. Excuses must be official. Letter from doctor, job interview confirmation letter, employer's note etc. Please don't ask me for exceptions. While I am reasonable, if it wasn't critical for your health or job, you should be in class. Learning in this course is heavily based on the classes themselves. Tardiness is not welcomed. If your tardiness causes a disruption, you will be docked points for it. Pay attention in class. Napping and indiscreet eating is also not welcome. The guests coming to our class deserve your respect and interest. In many cases, they are doing the University or me a favor. Cell phones must be turned off before entering the classroom. VIII. Academic Integrity All work in this course must be your own individual effort. Where you have a team assignment, the submitted or presented work must be solely that of the team members. Violations of this rule will be considered academic dishonesty and be referred to the Academic Disciplinary Committee. The School of Management has adopted an Academic Integrity Policy emphasizing that honesty, integrity and respect for others are fundamental expectations. The Policy requires all students who take SOM courses to certify in writing that they have read, understand, and agree to comply with the Academic Integrity Policy. SOM students should already have completed a certification statement. All non-SOM students enrolled in this course, including SOM minors, are also required to complete a certification statement available in the Undergraduate Office or the MBA Office. Completed statements are kept on file. The complete text of the Academic Integrity Policy can be found at http://sominfo.syr.edu/degree/ai_policy.html.
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