ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Overview:

As you read this, the managers of a new high-tech company, Optasite Inc., are striving to achieve the entrepreneurial dream. On a special website (www.amherst.umassonline.net) you will follow that company, and see their progress week by week. But you will do more than just watch. You will be actively engaged with the company, analyzing its problems, and making input. You will be participating in the world's first in-depth, real-time case study. Specific content will include the business plan, competitor analysis, risk analysis, managing growth, and new venture financing.

Method of Instruction:

Unlike traditional case studies, this real-time case will dig deeply into one company during an entire semester. At this moment, a case writer is stationed full-time at the case company. Each week the writer will provide us with the information we need to analyze a particular problem or question about the company. But our goal is not analysis for its own sake. Instead, we want to go beyond critiquing, and make valuable recommendations to the company. The company is counting on us to perform, and we want to deliver.

In addition to the case study, there will be lectures, videos, and guest speakers. At the beginning and end of the course there will be a video conference at both the beginning and the end of the course.

Required All materials will be available on a password-protected website. Payment

Materials: method will be explained in class. The cost is $50. No textbook.

The Case

Method: What is the case method? The case method is a way of teaching and

learning developed into an art form at Harvard Business School. Today,

virtually all business schools use the case method to one degree or

another. Harvard uses it exclusively.

The case method is an active approach to learning. Participants in a case

discussion are equal in the search to unravel the intricacies of an actual

business situation described in the case material. The case discussion

leader asks questions, and by these questions leads the group to a fuller

understanding of the case than any one person could achieve by himself.

The case method presumes that there is not a “right” answer, but that

participants learn by comparing their own perceptions/analyses of the case

with those of their peers. Accordingly, everyone in a case discussion is

both a teacher and a learner.

What do you the student need to do to get the most out of a case

discussion? The quality of any case discussion depends on three factors:

1) Preparation. By thoroughly studying the case material, and knowing

the facts of the story, you will be able to benefit the most from others’

comments and give back the most in the form of comments you make.

2) Willingness to participate. Don’t be shy; pitch in and offer your

perspective. You’ll never be graded down for saying the “wrong things.”

3) Expectations. Don’t expect to be told the “right” answer. Be open

to learning from the array of comments made by the professor and your

peers.

How should you prepare for a case discussion? Read the case material and study it thoroughly from the perspective of the key players in the case.

Put yourself in their shoes, and figure out both what they should do, and what you would do.

Assignments: 1) Weekly reading is indicated in the schedule. Because we are studying

the case company in real time, there may be last minute changes in the reading schedule, so watch for announcements on the course home

page. The reading consists of both case study material (information about the case company) and conceptual articles that illuminate the various issues faced by entrepreneurial companies. “Reading” will also include viewing video clips. A transcript of the video will be provided online for those students whose web connections are slow.

2) A weekly exercise will consist of a short paper. Each week the professor will announce a problem or question faced by the case company. In 2-4 pages you will summarize your analysis of that problem or question. Check the website schedule for the problem/question to be addressed. The paper will be turned in just prior to the class discussion of the case problem. The point of writing the paper is for you to establish your own opinions about the issue-of-the- week prior to hearing what your peers have to say.

3) Special analysis of a case problem. For one week during the semester (your week will be assigned in advance), you, as an individual or as a member of a team, will write a thorough analysis of that week's case issue. You will want to go beyond your usual preparation of the case, and then in class you will want to pay close attention to the discussion. Within two days after the class discussion, you will write up your analysis and submit it to the professor and to the case company.

Evaluation: 20% = Class participation

20% = Weekly paper

20% = Mid-term exam

20% = Special Case Writeup

20% = Final exam

Extra credit can be obtained by students who have a plan for starting a business and who present their plan to the class. Extra credit can also be earned by writing an in-depth case analysis for the class held during the week of Oct. 1. The best paper written from our class will be submitted to the case company. The case company will select the best paper from all the schools studying the real-time case, and award a prize to be announced.

The weekly exercise is a short paper about the case topic of the week. Superior papers receive a grade of “plus”. Papers with obviously little effort exerted receive a “zero”. Papers turned in late receive no credit.

Superior quality participation during any particular class leads to a bonus

point for that class. Absence from class results in a class participation

grade of zero for that class.

The mid-term exam, will be “open book”, and will consist of one of the case questions that was assigned and discussed during the semester. Accordingly, the mid-term exam will be an opportunity for you to present an improved, more detailed and complete version of a short paper you wrote earlier in the semester. In the mid-term exam you will show how much you absorbed from the class discussion, and how your subsequent reading and thinking has expanded your view of the particular problem.

The final exam, also open book, will be your analysis of a new question or problem related to the case company. The question will be given at the time of the exam, and will be accompanied by new material about the case company.

SCHEDULE

Because we are studying a company in real time, the following schedule may change to allow us to focus on breaking developments at the case company. So please check the “Weekly Assignments” on the home page to be sure you are doing the appropriate reading. The final assignment for the week will be posted by 6:00pm (EST) Saturday evening.

Week 1 First class meeting

Orientation to course

Description of the case company’s business model

Description of the technology (cell phone systems)

Description of the case company’s industry

Week 2 Lecture/Discussion: Evaluating a Business Opportunity

Conceptual Reading: “How to Assess Risk” plus “Evaluating a Business Opportunity” plus, "Guidelines for Outsourcing"

Case Reading: Optasite business plan

Exercise: Evaluate the risk and return of the case company. Evaluate the company's business model.

Activity:

Week 3 Lecture/Discussion: The Business Plan

Conceptual Reading: “How to Write a Great Business Plan” plus “Developing an Effective Business Plan.”

Case Reading: the case company’s business plan plus …

Exercise: Evaluate the company's plan as a document used in the capital-raising process. Does it meet the criteria for a well-written business plan?

Activity: Video conference with case company

Week 4 Lecture/Discussion: The Managerial Challenge

Conceptual Reading:

Case Reading: video clips of Optasite managers, plus…

Exercise: Evaluate the managerial team and structure. What problems and solutions do you see?

Activity:

Week 5 Lecture/Discussion: Marketing Strategy

Conceptual Reading: “Judo Strategy”, plus…

Case Reading: TBA

Exercise: Evaluate the case company’s marketing strategy.

Activity:

Week 6 Lecture/Discussion: Financial Strategy

Conceptual Reading: TBA (info about venture capital,etc.)

Case Reading: TBA (will include description of current financing

structure, and info on the company’s capital-raising activity)

Exercise: Evaluate the case company’s approach to raising capital.

Activity: guest speaker TBA

Week 7 Lecture/Discussion: Managing Growth

Conceptual Reading: “Managing Growth”

Case Reading: TBA

Exercise: Evaluate the case company’s management structure and

policies.

Week 8 Mid-term exam

The topics and cases for the remainder of the semester will be determined by developments at the case company. Most likely the topics will focus on new aspects of the basic themes covered earlier in the semester: financing the venture, managing growth, competitive strategy, marketing strategy, and, perhaps, a reassessment of the business opportunity (risks and rewards).

Week 9 Lecture/Discussion: Competitor Analysis

Conceptual Reading: “Know Your Place” (Porter)

Case Reading: TBA

Exercise: Evaluate the case company’s competitive situation.

Activity: guest speaker TBA

Week 10 TBA

Week 11 TBA

Week 12 TBA

Week 13 TBA

Week 14 TBA

FINAL EXAM date to be announced