Syllabus

Title
0487 E&I Project 3: Business Planning
Instructors
Erik Kommol, M.Sc., Klaus Marhold, Ph.D.
Type
PI
Weekly hours
2
Language of instruction
Englisch
Registration
09/18/20 to 09/21/20
Registration via LPIS
Notes to the course
Dates
Day Date Time Room
Thursday 10/01/20 08:00 AM - 09:00 AM TC.4.01
Thursday 10/15/20 09:00 AM - 06:00 PM Online-Einheit
Friday 10/16/20 09:00 AM - 04:00 PM D5.1.003
Thursday 10/22/20 04:30 PM - 06:00 PM Online-Einheit
Thursday 11/05/20 04:00 PM - 05:30 PM D5.1.003
Thursday 11/19/20 04:00 PM - 05:30 PM Online-Einheit
Thursday 12/10/20 02:00 PM - 06:00 PM Online-Einheit
Thursday 01/07/21 04:30 PM - 07:00 PM Online-Einheit
Thursday 01/21/21 02:00 PM - 06:00 PM Online-Einheit
Thursday 01/21/21 05:30 PM - 07:00 PM Online-Einheit
Procedure for the course when limited activity on campus

Certain elements will be held online. Meetings with project partners on the second day of the kickoff will be held in small groups  offline on Campus following all applicable COVID rules of WU.

 

INFORMATION REGARDING THE LITERATURE TEST

The literature test (1.10.2020 8am) will be held physically on Campus WU. PHYSICAL ATTENDANCE FOR THE LITERATURE TEST AND BOTH KICK-OFF DAYS IS MANDATORY.

Contents

In E&I Business Planning, students work on the concrete implementation of a business idea and write a business plan for a real start-up, a founder team, or an established firm. In that process, students learn how to manage and work purposefully on an entrepreneurial project, with an end result that is initially completely open.

The course starts with a kick-off event. During these 1.5 days, students form teams, select a project, get to know their project partner, learn about theory and tools useful for a business plan, and directly apply theory and tools to the project. The aim is to learn why business plans are created, which elements are part of a business plan, which methods and tools can be applied, and what constitutes a good business plan.

During the semester, teams have individual coaching sessions with the lecturers and external coaches. Coaching sessions are agreed upon individually with the lecturers and external coaches. Additionally, there are four topic-specific workshops. Final business plans (around 30-40 pages) will be presented in form of an end presentation to the lecturers and the project partner at the of the semester.

Independent team work is required.

 
Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to learn how to write a business plan based on theoretical input and practical application. This is one of the most important pillars in entrepreneurship training. To achieve the learning outcome, students will closely work togther with idea providers and start-ups whose innovative business ideas are about to be implemented. Through the interaction with lecturers, external coaches, and project partners, students get insights into the field of entrepreneurship and innovation.

After successfully completing the project course "Business Planning", students will have learnt and/or applied the following competences and skills:

Technical and professtional skills:

  • conceptualize an innovative business idea
  • analyse and assess the marketability
  • develop a suitable business model
  • write a business plan
  • develop a finanical plan
  • learn how to create a pitch deck
  • review and further develop approaches and assumptions with iterative tests and feedback loops

Transferable skills:

  • experience group processes and dynamics in heterogeneous teams and reflect on them
  • independently structure and handle complex innovation projects in teams
  • practice project management skills and train communication skills
  • create result-oriented presentations and reports
  • identify synergy effects in interdisciplinary collaboration and learn how to benefit from them

In addition, students will have...

  • trained their skills in dealing with a real innovation project and gained experience with tolerance for ambiguity
  • trained and expanded their skills in professional written and oral communication
  • learned how to use complex and effective tools (e.g. databases) for researching and obtaining data for a task
  • trained how to present information convincingly.
Attendance requirements

To complete this course with a positive grade, students must attend 80% of scheduled classes.

Mandatory attendance: literature test (1st of October), kick-off meeting (15th and 16th of October), E&I Touchdown (21th of January).

Teaching/learning method(s)
  • Self-study literature package including performance assessment at the beginning of the semester (the literature list can be found in the download area on Learn@WU)
  • 1,5 day kick-off event with theoretical input, project selection, project partner meeting, and networking
  • Teamwork during the semester
  • Work on a real project in your project team under the guidance of the lecturers and with support of external coaches
  • Collaborate with a project partner
  • Milestone meetings with the project partner
  • Workshops on several topics (e.g. financial planning, growth hacking)
  • Presentation and discussion of results
  • Business Plan in form of a written report and a final presentation
Assessment

The final grade in the course will depend on:

10% Literature test (literature according to Learn@WU)

10% Active participation (during workshops, coachings, and kick-off )

30% Working documents (two working papers and one mid-term presentation)

15% End presentation

20% Final business plan

5% Touchdown (adherence to deadlines, quality of pitch)

10% Reflection paper

Additionally, there will be mid-term and end of term peer ratings of the team members which may result in individual up- or downgradings.

Literature test: The aim of the compulsory literature test (1.10.2020 betweeen 8.00am and 9.00am) is to examine the necessary basic as well as specific knowledge in order to successfully work on your project.

If the literature test is not successfully passed, the Analyst Support Program (ASP) will be automatically applied. Within the Analyst Support Program, an individual performance has to be carried out in the further semester course, instead of the group work. In case of non-participation (only due to illness), a medical certificate must be presented. An alternative date will be offered for this purpose. You will receive detailed information about the content and location of the test after registration to the course.

Attendance: In order to successfully pass this course, your absence is limited to 20% of our appointments. Please note that the attendance of the literature test, the kick-off and the E&I Touchdown (21th of January) is mandatory!

Readings
1 Author: Diverse
Title:

Basic literature package for all project courses

 

Please note that you might access the literature only from within WU or by using the VPN connection. See here for more information:https://www.wu.ac.at/it/instructions/vpn/?login=0


Publisher: Learn@WU
Remarks: Please find the list of literatures in the "Downloads" area
Content relevant for class examination: Yes
Content relevant for diploma examination: No
Recommendation: Essential reading for all students
2 Author: Diverse
Title:

Course-specific literature for "Business Planning"


Publisher: Learn@WU
Remarks: Please find the list of literatures in the "Downloads" area
Content relevant for class examination: Yes
Content relevant for diploma examination: No
Recommendation: Essential reading for all students
Prerequisites for participation and waiting lists

Students enrolled in the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Specialization Program.

Please note that course registration is binding. The moment your registration is received, it is regarded as a clear commitment on your part. Students cannot transfer to another course (once the add/drop period is over) with no exceptions, as it would be unfair to other students (who might not have gotten into the course of their choice because of the spot you registered for). The number of students accepted to the course will only be expanded if there is no space in any other course 4/5.

Availability of lecturer(s)

erik.kommol@wu.ac.at

klaus.marhold@wu.ac.at

Other

ATTENTION – The abovementioned dates can change!

These dates are agreed either individually with lecturers and partner companies or take place off-campus. This is not uncommon in innovation projects. Detailed information regarding dates will be provided during the kick-off.

The literature (basis for the literature test) is available to download on learn@wu. (https://learn.wu.ac.at).

Additional information on MyLEARN.

Attention: the obligatory literature test will be held on 1.10.2020 between 8 and 9 am. Course participation is only possible by passing the literature test – if you cannot attend the test, we kindly ask you to not register for this course. Detailed information regarding contents and location of the test will be provided after the registration phase for this course.

The literature test in this course overlaps with other courses within Course 4&5 of the specialization Entrepreneurship & Innovation. A parallel attendance of these courses is not possible.

Last edited: 2020-09-17



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