Learning outcomes
The course aims to provide the tools needed to develop a startup business plan and effectively present it as a team. The business ideas underlying the business plans are identified and developed by the students. The primary objective of the course is to foster students' ability to understand and manage the key issues inherent in launching and subsequently developing a startup, using a practice-oriented approach. Activities are therefore primarily aimed at understanding the business planning process and its usefulness, with a focus on the uncertainty underlying the entrepreneurial process and the cognitive and managerial elements necessary to best execute entrepreneurial activity. To this end, the course is designed around the following business planning topics: identifying the entrepreneurial opportunity (from idea to concept); analyses necessary to develop an effective business plan (market, customer, and competitor analysis); formulating, strategizing, and building the business model; identifying and testing the assumptions/hypotheses underlying the business model; economic and financial projections; and presenting the business idea (elevator pitch).
Course contents
- What is a business plan?
- From Idea to Business Model: The Business Model Canvas
- Description of the business and context
- The company and the organizational model
- The potential additions
- The competition
- The supply system, communication and channels
- The marketing plan
- The value creation system and the corporate structure
- Economic and financial projections
Prerequisites
Group on the Teams platform
Student reception by appointment, to be agreed upon:
- during the lessons
- by email: tagliente@unirsm.sm
via Teams group chat.
Reading/Bibliography
- Teaching materials and cases prepared by the teacher
- Recommended texts:
• for the creation of the Business Model Canvas: Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y, (2019) Creating Business Models, LSWR Editions (or previous editions published by John Wiley & Sons.)
• for the drafting of the Business Plan: Borello, KA, (2015) Excellent Business Plan, seventh edition, Hoepli
Or
Parolini, C., (2020) Business planning. From the idea to the entrepreneurial project, 3rd edition (or previous editions), Pearson
Teaching methods
- Theoretical lessons
- Classroom exercises
- Development of group projects and their periodic review
- Case studies
- Presentations and testimonials
Assessment methods
The exam will consist of groups of students presenting the business plan of a hypothetical startup.
Students who are unable to form a group may proceed to individually draft the business plan or ask to take a written test on the issues covered in the study programme.
Additional info
Group on the Teams platform
Student reception by appointment, to be agreed upon:
- during lessons;
- by email: tagliente@unirsm.sm;
- via Teams group chat.