Entrepreneurialist Culture-
How to Bootstrap Yourself to Success
in the 21st Century
Synopsis:
"An entrepreneur is someone who can produce two dollars of revenue for every dollar that any fool could generate," Dr. Bruce M. Firestone
Being a successful entrepreneur or intrapreneur (i.e., an entrepreneur inside a larger corporate structure) will allow you greater control over your own destiny - both professional and financial. Do you want to learn how? Join Dr. Bruce M. Firestone to:
1) study entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial companies, 2) learn to write a business plan, 3) learn bootstrap financing, 4) learn guerilla marketing, 5) learn how to get the business model right for startups so that the harder you work, the more money you make, and 6) master the steps to entrepreneurial success.
Students from Business, Commerce, Finance, Engineering, Architecture, Journalism and other fields can learn the difference between having a j.o.b. and creating significant value in a business- value that can provide you the freedom and security to realize your lifetime goals.
The class focuses on entrepreneurialist culture at the beginning of the 21st Century. The steps to success are explored with examples taken from industry and industry leaders; common traits implicit in their examples are deduced and presented for the edification of students. Business startups that use guerrilla marketing and bootstrap finance techniques are examined.
Unconventional sources of finance including finance from future clients and customers as well as suppliers and sponsors are explored. Guerilla marketing, ambush marketing and other innovative marketing techniques are discussed. Tactics and strategy for negotiating and selling will be discussed. The art of pricing and the confusion over 'marketing' versus 'selling' will be addressed. We will examine the role of markets in business success; irrational markets and imperfect markets will be discussed and methods of coping such as the use of 'fuzzy logic' will be reviewed.
You will hear top business executives describe what they did to achieve success. You will also be expected to contribute to knowledge in the under-researched and under-explored field of entreprepreneurialist culture and success.
Also, a new element of the course is: LearnByDoing.ca. Students will start their own businesses, run them during the course and make real money. To find out more, check out: LearnByDoing. In this part of the course, we will teach you how you can you really learn to be an entrepreneur. And one of the only ways to understand what it takes to run your own business is to 'Learn By Doing'.
Students will be dividing up in teams for the LearnByDoing.ca excercise and to complete their case studies. Our students do a case study of their own startups including developing an 'Instructors' Manual' for the case. (How to win a Case Study Competition).
More About the Course and its Philosophy:
Entrepreneurialist Culture is not just relevant to business and engineering students contemplating starting their own businesses. It is just as relevant to people who intend to seek employment with large companies or, indeed, are going to enter public service, Non Governmental Organizations, charities, museums, hospitals, universities, public school administration and the like. Great organizations in any field have creative, determined "heroes"- self starters and independent minded intrapreneurs who think outside the box, who have the courage to pioneer new ways of doing things. In most bureaucracies, in any sector, it is unusual to find new initiatives coming from the top down. Many organizations are excessively bureaucratic, rule-bound, process driven and frozen in time and place. Instead, instituional entrepreneurs must learn to practice anew, an old art form- guerrilla politics or, as the Japanese call it, the art of nemawashi. How did great institutions, so different from run-of-the-mill programs, like the NYC Juliard School of Music or Ottawa's Canterbury School of the Arts or Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program come into being? Often, it is people in the trenches working "below the waterline" and by stealth that achieve new ways of doing things. All such good-hearted, creative people should find that this course can help them and their respective organizations in their chosen careers.
An entrepreneur is also known as: "a person who will work sixteen hours a day for himself just so he or she doesn't have to work eight hours a day for someone else". This is a useful reminder of the personal sacrifices that entrepreneurs or would-be entrepreneurs must be prepared to make to be successful. These sacrifices should not be underestimated- their impact is significant and take a toll; people should not undertake entrepreneurial activity without giving this due consideration-- the worst situation is to start something and find that you are unable to stay the course because you are not prepared to commit the time and effort or work under those kinds of pressure or cope with the many unknowns and disappointments that you find on the road to success- which takes three times as long and costs twice as much as you expected.)
Hear top business executives describe what they did to achieve succes in our outside lecture series.
Determinants of success will be examined including taking a look at: early adoption of technological and technical advances and changes, tooth to tail ratios, debt to equity ratios, receivables and payables management, sales and distribution muscle, learning behaviour, focus and goal setting, serendipitous events, ability to capitalize, speed of execution, flexibility and coping with failure. The value of creativity and vision will be demonstrated. Human capital is the underpinning for future creation of value.
Deconstructing businesses to determine core competencies will be demonstrated. Maximizing shareholder value by divesting non-core activities and simplifying organizations to form near-virtual corporations will be discussed.
Upon seeing his very first web page, Lou Gerstner, CEO of IBM asked: "Where's the 'buy' button?"
The importance of real clients and customers, real cash flow can not be underestimated. Everyone in your business is in sales, from the receptionist to your accounting team to your CEO. Believe it or not, your accounting team can be one of the best lead generators- you can reverse sell to your suppliers. Why should the Ottawa Senators have a plumber or electrician fix something if they aren't a season ticket holder too? Sales is the teeth in your orgnization. Everything else is tail.
"I hate selling," says Serence CEO Allan Wille, "but I love helping people buy." (Read 'Solution Selling' by Michael Bosworth for more on this approach to sales.)
Entrepreneurs are people who generally prefer to build their own businesses rather than buy existing ones. It takes a special talent to do either but these are probably different types of skill sets. Managers and turn around artists are better suited to buy existing businesses. Entrepreneurs want to build something new. As Michael Dell put it (April 2001), entrepreneurs prefer to "buy their competitors, one customer at a time."
We will also look at the opportunities to create 'no money down startups'. We will stress the importance of having real clients and real customers and real cashflow and real profits. If you have cashfow, you will get financed today, not the other way round. Because of the importance of the Internet, we will also be looking at how to incorporate the web into your business model.
"And many of my basic management beliefs- things like competing hard to win, facing reality, motivating people by alternately hugging (not literally, ed.) and kicking them (again, not literally, ed.), setting stretch goals, and relentlessly following up on people to make sure that things get done- can be traced to her (his mother, ed.) ...," Jack Welch, retired CEO of the largest industrial company in the world, 2001.
The course will also explore "Future Vision" with a view to assisting the student in constructing a mental map of the way the world works. The would-be entrepreneur will be encouraged to locate a business in industries where "all boats are rising". New economy sectors will be examined The appropriate role for governments will be reviewed and the politics and conflicts that surround entrepreneurialist culture as it comes into conflict with bureaucracy and other forces opposed to new ideas and concepts will be an underlying theme of the course. Methods for coping with opposition from political cadres, special interest groups, entrenched competitors and the media will be dealt with.
Click here for more about the positives and negatives of becoming an entrepreneur. As an entrepeneur, you will need to develop your leadersip skills. You can never really get away from the expectations and leadership burden that others will place on you. (See also former student, Steve Mitchell's essay on Leadership.)
As Jerry McGuire (Tom Cruise) said in the film of the same name: "We live in a world of tough competitors." It's true, entrepreneurship is tough- your competitors want to eat your business by taking your customers away from you, one at a time. And no one will respect you for trying hard; they will only respect you if you succeed. Read what Yoda has to teach entrepreneurs about the difference between trying and succeeding. So a career in entrepeneurship requires that you be able to deal with stress and still be able to perform at a high level every day.
This course is all about bringing together students from many disciplines- we have students from Business, Engineering, Journalism, English, Architecture, Computer Science and Inter-Disciplinary Studies too. We are like the Lunar Society of Birmingham (so called because in the 18th Century, one did not venture out at night unless there was a full moon to light the way). What a Society it was- James Watt (inventor of the steam engine), Josiah Wedgewood (known for his pottery), Charles Darwin's grandfather and many others. They got together to cross-polinate ideas, talk about technical improvements, have philosphical discussions and challenge each other to do more and to do the impossible.
Starting a new business is like that- impossible. As Bob Seager said in one of his great songs: "I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then." If entrepreneurs knew how difficult it would be to start a business, how long it would really take, how much money would actually get used, how much risk they were actually taking, how much jealousy and envy and bad press they would see along the way and what a huge personal sacrifice it would involve, they would never start up the mountain.
Entrepreneurialist Culture and the Entrepreneurship track have already spawned many successful startups.
The comparison to the esteemed Lunar Society is a bit premature (actually, it is preposterous) but the goals are the same-- support the development of entrepreneurial endeavours by a better understanding of the culture of entrepreneurship, its philosphy and tools. At the end of the course, students will be in a different space where they can see (in the Carlos Casteneda manner of seeing) the possibilities.
The course will also bring forth a number of case studies from certain industries including real estate, e-commerce, e-business as well as the entertainment industry and others.
Want to know more about Technology in this Course?
Web Enabled Assignments:
The web is a very important tool for creating additional value for students. Students will be encouraged to create and maintain their own personal web sites and post their materials there. It is a way for students to collect their IP (Intellectual Property) over their careers and create value over time that is or may become independent of hourly effort.
The entrepreneur is full of
boundless confidence:
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More Factoids for Entrepreneurs
Example:
Q. Did you know that the builders of the Titanic engaged in some great Guerrilla Marketing?
A. The fourth smokestack on the Titanic was a fake; it was designed to make the public think the boat was even faster and larger than she was and, hence, get more Press coverage, attract more paying passengers and at higher prices too.
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Assignment Schedule 2008
The course is mainly essay based and project based; but there will also be an in-class final exam.
Assignments include:
Student Questions (5%)
Bull Durham Bio (5%)
A choice of one of the following:
PB4L Essay (15%), (You must research and write up a successful micro business, started for less than $15,000. It must be a real business not a hobby and is must be something that could be replicated; i.e., does not depend on unique skills of the individual such as a great athelete or artist. You must include the business model in your write-up.)
or
A wikipedia entry on a topic relevant to Entrepreneurialist Culture (to be pre-approved by the lecturer) (15%)
or
An entry for the EQ Journal Blog on a topic to be pre-approved by the lecturer (15%)
(Here are some Essay Topics you can choose from for your PB4L Essay, your Blog Entry or your Wikipedia Entry.)
PWS (5%)
Business Model Competition (15% for Business Model, 10% for Presentation and 15% for Case Study), (Your Learn By Doing Practicum is to be done in teams of from two to four students. You should prepare a business model for a business that you could self launch using bootstrap capital and guerrilla marketing. You should divide your team into management, finance, product management (inlcuding R& D as well as product/service development and liason with marketing and sales), marketing and sales and test launch your product by exposing it to real clients and customers and then write up your results.) (See for example: http://qwantz.com/ and http://gradeatechs.com/) (Student Case Studies)
Final Exam (30%)
Students Submit their Bull Durham Bios* and Student Team Formation for Learn
by Doing Exercise/Business Model Competition [Second Class]
(* As part of your Bull Durham Bio, please show your ECQ Test Score. Sample Bio: Ryan Ross)
Student Questions are due [Third Class]
Students Present their Business Models for their Learn By Doing Exercise and
Business Model Competition Entry for comments and suggestions [Third Class]
Students Submit a 4 to 6 page essay on a Personal Business for Life (PB4L) [Fourth Class]
| PB4L- Sample Student Work |
Deleeuw Contracting
by
Mary Ellen Matsui, March 2007
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| Bull Durham Bio- Sample Student Work |
My Bio
by
Martin G. January 2007 |
SCHEDULE FOR BUSINESS MODEL COMPETITION
(http://www.dramatispersonae.org/BusinessModelCompetition/DescriptionUOBizModelCompetition.htm)
1. Submission: expression of interest—Second Wednesday in January. (All students in ADM3396) [Second Class]
2. Submission of one page business model—First Wednesday in February. [Fifth Class]
3. Final revisions—Third Wednesday in February.
4. Announcement of Six Finalists—last day in February. [Seventh Class]
5. Competition—First Wednesday in March. [Eigth Class]
There will be three prizes for the top business models:
1st place—GOLD MEDAL and $750
2ND place—SILVER MEDAL and $500
3RD place—BRONZE MEDAL and $250
4TH place, 5TH and 6TH places—HONORABLE MENTION.
SCHEDULE FOR WES NICOL COMPETITION
(http://www.dramatispersonae.org/WesleyNicolBusinessPlanCompetition/UOttawaWesleyNicolBusinessPlanCompetition.htm)
Awards are $5,000 for first place, $2,000 for second place and $1,000 for third place. The winner is eligible to compete against more than 15 other Canadian University teams in the national finals held each year in Ottawa, Canada at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier.
Students are encouraged to submit their business models to the UOttawa SOM Business Model Competition which will serve as an entry into the Wesley Nicol Competition as well. Students are also encouraged to participate in the Elevator Pitch competition hosted by the UOttawa Entrepreneur's Club.
Submission: expression of interest—Second Wednesday in January.
Submission of one page business model—First Wednesday in February.
Final revisions of business model—Third Wednesday in February.
Announcement of Six Finalists for business model competition—last day in
February.
Business Model Competition—First Wednesday in March.
Submission of Final Business Plan—Friday following Business Model
Competition.
Announcement of Five Finalists for Wes Nicol Competition—Monday following
Business Model Competition.
UOttawa Wesley Nicol Business Plan—Second Wednesday in March.
National Finals—May 6, 2008. Frank McKenna will be Keynote Speaker this year. Frank McKenna will be the Keynote Speaker in 2008.
There are now six universities in Southern Ontario (Waterloo, Western, Brock, McMaster, Guelph and Wilfrid Laurier) that will be holding a Regional Competition this coming year. The two best teams from this competition will be invited to Ottawa. The other four teams will be invited from the remaining universities: Carleton, Ottawa, Manitoba, Toronto, Queens, Alberta, Acadia, probably UBC and York, and possibly one or two more.
The ultimate goal is to have twenty-four leading universities in Canada that participate in the Competition.
The objective of the Wes Nicol Entrepreneurial Competition is to encourage and stimulate new venture creation in Canada. Consequently, the competition is particularly interested in the submission of plans that have the potential of becoming a commercial reality. Only plans that are in their initial version are eligible for the Wes Nicol Award. There are many other competitions available to the more polished presentations by students experienced in the world of business-plan competitions. While students with experience in this world are welcome, venture-creation plans that have been rehearsed at previous competitions are not.
This year, each Local Competition not participating in the Southern Ontario Regional Competition must complete their competitions by March 17th, 2008 with winning business plans emailed or couriered to us and in our hands by March 24th. The four invited teams will be selected and announced not later than April 5th.
The National Competition and Gala Dinner will take place on Tuesday, May 6th 2008. As in previous years, the winning teams arrive the day before the event, (May 5th). The 2-day program and schedule will be basically the same as in previous years.
Final in-class Exam [Last Class]
Student PWSs and Case Study Hand in. Please note that your final case study submissions are not due on the day of your presentation but are due one week after the last class. This will give you some time to edit and improve your material before final submission. Your material should be uploaded to your Personal Web Site (PWS) and provide the instructor with your URL. You should also deliver a hard copy and a CD to Bruce Firestone. [One Week after Last Class]
Lecture Plan 2008 (subject to change):
Week 1: Introduction to Course. What is a Business Model- a Definition. Getting the Business Model Right, GTBR. Learning about Pixie Dust. Differentiated Value- Another Look. Differentiated Value and Bootstrapping. Custom Outputs from Standard Inputs and Processes-- Moving up the Food Chain. (Read Purple Cow by Seth Godin for examples of how many buinsesses have successfully differentieated themselves, sometimes with simple but subtle changes to their products, services or business models). Business Model Example: i-SoldIt.com. Business Model Transformations- Amazon, Google, eBay Transform their Business Models by Reversing out the Work. Walton International- Land Development Company. The Perfect Business Model: "Will Work 4 Food". Using the Business Model Generator, BMG Landing Page, BMG. BMG Media Release. Simple Rules to Begin Your Entrepreneur Career. (To be followed with the 25 Steps to Entrepreneurial Success later in the course.) Developing your value proposition- how to use the Callahan/MacKenzie model with a few examples that include not only a tech biz but also a services biz oriented to SMEs plus how to write up a 'case study' where it is your own work you are writing up (i.e., a learn by doing exercise). The Ten Most Important Things You Need to Do to Create a Successful Startup. Adding 'Pixie Dust' and selecting your next startup. 'Renovating' your business model from time to time. Any firm with a business model stable for nearly 20 years (an exceptionally long time) may be in need of a 'renovation': http://www.dramatispersonae.org/MediaTrainingBusinessModelChange.pdf). Get going: "The longest journey is the one you never start": "Don't beg for permission, ask for forgiveness!" Outlining of assignments. (Dr. Bruce M. Firestone)
Week 2: How to really sell. Tips on Negotiating and Selling plus Hints about NLP, Neuro Linguistic Programming. Negotiating and Selling. What Do Clients Really Want? The High Trust Model: Secrets to Attracting (and Keeping) Clients for Layers and Accountants. Ethics and Trust. The Ethics of Pre-Selling. Firestone's Three Laws of Power Selling. Solution Selling. Creating Your Own Clients. Zombie Companies. Art of Pricing. Negative Cost Selling, An example: Blue Heron Storage Corp. (Dr. Bruce M. Firestone)
Week 3: . Developing a mental map of the way the world works. The Bootstrap Entrepreneur. Start with nothing. Build and Hold- the Difference between Getting Rich and Being Wealthy. Why Businesses Really Fail. (Dr. Bruce M. Firestone)
Week 4: Bootstrap Marketing and Financing, No Money Down Startups , Bootstrap Capital, Summary of Sources of Bootstrap Capital, Merchant Cash Advances: Another Form Of Bootstrap Capital, 10 Reasons Not to Use Venture Capital, Fixing Venture Capital, The Bootstrapper's Bible by Seth Godin, (Read a Brief Review of The Boostrapper's Bible), Defining your Core Competencies.
Week 5: Case Studies. Measuring the benefits and costs of new startups and projects using analytical tools like Internal Rates of Return (IRR), the power of leverage and goal setting using a Reverse IRR Model. Measuring the Internal Rate of Return for a new project or start-up. Debt versus equity. Sub-debt. IRR for different components of financings. Getting your media relations right. Pioneers Get Shot at. Litigious Society. Truth/Smart Truth. (Dr. Bruce M. Firestone)
Week 6: Guest lecturer. Student-led Lecture.
Week 7: Marketing by Media Release. See for example: "CEO Killed in Corporate Mutiny". Uncovering Core Competencies, Networking, Gizmos and Gadgets Selling Your Business (Dr. Bruce M. Firestone)
Week 8: Creditor Proofing. How to value a personal services business and demonstrate your value proposition as well as add to your PBS (Personal Balance Sheet): Example A) The Starchitect, Gary Smith; Example B) Prince. Followed by instruction to the students on how to create and understand balance sheets and income statements. Students will be exposed to financial statements for a technology startup, a products company plus a services company and will be given the exercise of creating one of their own from the data provided. Students should also create their own Personal Balance Sheets. Students can use this as a tool to track their own personal Asset growth, keep track of liabilities, manage their personal affairs better and they may need it too for bank loans and other types of financing. There will be a discussion about why students should build and maintain their Personal Web Sites over their careers. We will also look at the possiblity that it might also be a wise choice to develop a Personal Business too, one in which we have no partners, no Bank financing and one we can keep for life. Perhaps every man, woman and child on the planet should have a Personal Business for life? See things like: 10 Totally Stupid Online Business Ideas That Made Someone Rich (e.g. the Million Dollar Homepage/Santa Mail); Startups That Work: Surprising Research on What Makes or Breaks a New Company (Hardcover) by Joel Kurtzman (Author), Glenn Rifkin (Author), 2005: (Have a map/Get great people/Create value/Cash flow is king/Select a fast growing market/Defend your competitive position/Build a great business model). Stages of an Entrepreneur's Life. The Best Partner is no Partner: Blog Entry and Spreadsheet.
Week 9: Great Guerrilla Marketing for SMEEs and startips- from Handbills to PR Stunts and More. Guerrilla Marketing, 33 Guerrilla Marketing Techniques, Reverse Mareting, Guerrilla Marketing and Gift Card Programs. (Learn the right way to do Guerrilla Marketing and the wrong way. Student Works Painting and Window Medics have trouble with their spelling. Also, check out Wendy's Reverse Marketing; i.e., their pseudo win-a-million-dollar contest.) Stupid Marketing Surveys. Tag Lines. More Tag Lines. Creativity, Ordered Thinking, Business Ethics, Crisis Management (Dr. Bruce M. Firestone)
Week 10: 25 Steps to Entrepreneurial Success (Dr. Bruce M. Firestone). Cubicle Hell: The Importance of Sound HR Policies, Harnessing the Internet. The Purpose of Life. Future Vision (Dr. Bruce M. Friestone)
Week 11: Case Study and Business Plan Presentations (Dr. Bruce M. Firestone)
Week 12: Case Study and Business Plan Presentations and in-class exam. ( Dr. Bruce M. Firestone)
Students are encouraged to submit examples of pixie dust, anti-pixie dust, smartest (and dumbest) guerrilla marketing campaigns and sources of bootstrap capital. They may also comment on existing blog entries on the EQ Journal Blog.
You may also elect to submit an example of a "Magic Marketing Button". The MMB is the one thing above all others that appears to drive the marketing program for a company- it must generate real sales leads and must be effective in this regard (i.e., the number of leads generated for dollar invested produces a satisfactory ROR, Rate of Return). For College Pro Painting, for example, its MMB appears to be their lawn signs. For Canadian Tire, it is their Canadian Tire money.
Examples of the above must be submitted by email to the lecturer.
Note your examples must be must be new Pixie Dust, Bootstrap Capital or GM (Guerrilla Marketing). Check out results so far:
http://www.dramatispersonae.org/PixieDustResults.htm
http://www.dramatispersonae.org/AntiPixieDustResults.htm
http://www.dramatispersonae.org/BootstrapCapitalSources.html
http://www.dramatispersonae.org/GuerrillaMarketingTechniques.html
Students will be expected to be able to master rudimentary web development skills and post their assignments to their personal web sites. Personal web sites are an important tool for career development. Each student is encouraged to prepare their own site; to keep it updated throughout their careers, to keep their cv's current, to post their writings there and to generally use it to further their own personal goals and also to push the frontiers of knowledge and, ultimately, to leave behind, perhaps, something worthwhile for future generations. Students may choose to give their sites a name that conveys meaning to them and reflects their views and outlook. It is strongly suggested that you do not use your personal name for this purpose.
Personal Web Sites 2004
Students are encouraged to learn commercial programs like Net Objects Fusion, Corel Web Designer, Macromedia Dreameaver, Microsoft Front Page or any other suitable program for creating web pages. You are not expected to do more than create "10 cent" web pages, at least to begin with.
Course material and essay assignments are based on original material from the lecturer. Students in the past have chosen from a list provided by the lecturer. Students have self-selected their essay topics with the prior approval of the lecturer. Here are some examples of student essays: sample student essays
However, students may elect to write an essay on a Personal Business for Life (PB4L). That is students can find, research and write-up a home-based business that meets the following conditions: a) it is successful, b) it can be started for less than $10,000 (although we will look at startups with somewhat more capital requirements), c) it can be run from the home, d) it is legitimate.
More and more, people seem to need to develop a personal businesses for life; something they can fall back on in hard times. My son, Matthew started his own at age 13 (see www.StreetPaddleTennis.com)- it taught him a lot and he makes a few dollars from it too. I told Matthew that he can run this PB forever and, if he sticks with it, it will put him thorugh University and, anyway, it's a great sport.
The student essay will also include a business model for the PB4L. The student essays will be put online and be freely available to the Universe of Internet Users to peruse and duplicate too if they want to- it will be a social and economic contribution by the student to the general welfare of society.
Case Studies
Your project assignment will include a case study of your Learn by Doing practicum. Each case study will include comments by the student entrepreneurs on how to improve, change, re-engineer or introduce innovation into their case study with a view to improving their results. Case studies will be submitted in writing, posted to your PWS and presented at the end of the course.
Check out: Student "Elevator" Pitches for Business Plans and Case Studies (the Work Plan)
You must demonstrate your ability to solve problems. Your oral presentation must show your ability to think laterally and creatively, see the non-obvious and present your ideas in a convincing manner. Think-on-your-feet presentation of material will be an important output for students.
Case Studies we may look at in class include: GradeAStudent.com, Sci Fi Channel, NHL.com, National Hockey League Television Marketing, webcasting and ottawasenators.com, iFinanSys.com, Arrow Head Springs, Molstar, Amazon.com, Terrace Corporate Centres, Grocery Express, amphitheatre design, Corel Centre, Busnell Communications, Rentalex Tool and Equipment, Ottawa Business Journal, duplex and triplex housing, Friendship Windmill, Dunrobin Lake, Robertson Mews, Disney Paris, Kanata North, Water Safari Park and others.
The Transitus Case Study
The Ottawa Senators and Palladium Case Study
Student Case Studies
Check out: the Case Study Annex- Learn how to research and write a case study by answering three main questions: 1. What's the problem? 2. What are the alternatives? 3. What are your recommendations?
Doing a case study is more like short story writing- you want to take the reader 'there'. You need to paint a picture of the cast of characters; it is a style of writing that is more casual, more of a conversation style and, maybe, tougher to write than a more polished, formal style which is required for most business and research applications.
Also, while it is preferrable to conduct your interviews in person, if you need to do some interviews over long distance, you may conduct them by telephone or by using one of the instant messenger services. Interviews conducted using, for example, AOL Instant Messenger have been very successful- there is interaction but at the same time people are forced to write their answers and, voila, you get surprising depth. You can also save the interviews and provide transcripts where appropriate. These can be interesting reading on their own. Telephone and email interviews are the least prefered method of conducting case study interviews.
You should develop a 'paragraph plan for your case study.
You may 'double-end' your learn by doing practicum by developing a business plan on it for submission to the Wesley Nicol Business Plan Competition. Prizes for the best business plan amounts to $6,000.
You will also be asked to complete and present a 90 to 120 second 'Bull Durham' bio of yourself defining who you are, where you want to go, what you want to achieve and what your motivations are. This exercise will help you determine whether you are suited to an entrepreneurial career. Try to summarize at the end of your Bull Durham Bio what it is you want from your life and career. Perhaps it is more quality time with your family or more time at the beach that you really want. If so, that might be a perfectly valid lifestyle choice but it might also be quite incompatible with life as an entrepreneur making, as Steve Jobs once put it, "insanely great products", which also usually involves insane working hours too.
| This is a lttle bit like the Monty Python Skit about the Black Knight. The Black Knight wanted to keep on fighting his reluctant opponent even after both his arms and legs had been hacked off in 'lucky blows'. "Come back and I'll naw you!" he screamed at the advancing white knight. Entrepreneurs are a lot like this- they find it difficult to give up. |
You will also be asked to submit a one page summary of the top three key points for guest speakers in the course.
Additionally, you will be responsible for submitting two questions of your own in a student-led lecture concerning entrepreneurialist culture. You will submit your questions by email and they will form the basis of one lecture devoted to answering students' queries by the lecturers.
For the LearnByDoing Practicum, we divide up the class into teams and you create a business model, start, execute and write up a case study on.
BONUS MARKS: Students are encouraged to submit examples of pixie dust, anti-pixie dust, smartest (and dumbest) guerrilla marketing campaigns and sources of bootstrap capital. Each interesting submission entitles the student to a bonus mark of 1% (for a maximum of five entries or five percent).
Grading
For the grade in the "A" range, the instructor will have judged the student to have satisfied the stated objectives of the course in an outstanding to excellent manner; for the "B" range, in an above average manner; for the "C" range, in an average manner with C- being the lowest acceptable grade in the Program's Core courses; for the "D" range, in the lowest acceptable manner in non-Core courses, and for "F", not to have satisfied the stated objectives of the course. Grades will be assigned as A+ (90-100%), A (85-89%), A- (80-84%), B+ (77-79%), B (73-76%), B- (70-72%), C+ (67-69%), C (63-66%), C- (60-62%), D+ (57-59%), D (53-56%), D- (50-52%), F (0-49%) and ABS. (Please refer to the Calendar for regulations concerning grades, appeals and other program requirement information.)
Each grade will be based upon a comparison (1) with other students in the course and/or (2) with students who have previously taken the course and/or (3) with the instructor's expectations relative to the stated objectives of the course, based on his/her experience and expertise.
(Please note that plagiarism is not permitted; you may not use of anther's work without acknowledgment. Internet plagiarism is as detectable as other forms. )
Attendance
Attendance is required for all classes. The Lecturer will be available for office consultations for one hour after each class.
(Students, please note that a recently adopted policy requires any questionnaires that you develop for your case studies or any other purpose related to this course or any other at the University have to be cleared through the Ethics Committee of the Schoo of Businessl. Please forward your request to Shibu Pal and Professor Cray. They make up the committee.)
About Bruce M. Firestone:
Short Form Resumé of Dr. Bruce Murray Firestone, B. Eng. (Civil), M.Eng.-Sci., PhD.
Guest Lecturers
Students may be introduced to guest lecturers who bring day-to-day experience in industry or in government to the classroom.
Bibliographyand Readings: Entrepreneurialist Culture
Art of War- The Oldest Military Treatise in the World, Translated from the Chinese by Lionel Giles, Sun Tzu Wu, The Military Service Publishing Company, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1944.
Blown to Bits, Philip Evans and Thomas S. Wurster, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 2000.
Case Research: The Case Writing Process, Third Edition, Michiel R. Leenders and James A. Erskine, Research and Publications Division, School of Business Administration, The University of Western Ontario, 1989.
Business: The Ultimate Resource, Daniel Goleman et al, Perseus, 2002.
Co-Creating Unique Value with Customers, The Future of Competition, C.K. Prahalad and Venkat Ramaswamy, Harvard Business school Press, 2004.
Co-opetition', Brandenburger and Nalebuff, Harvard Business School and Yale School of Management. (See also Co-opetition Interactive).
Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers, Geoffrey A. Moore, Harper, 1999.
Guerrilla Publicity, Jay Conrad Levinson, Rick Frishman and Jill Lublin, Adams Media, 2002.
Inside the Tornado: Marketing Strategies from Silicon Valley's Cutting Edge, Geoffrey A. Moore, HarperCollins, 1999.
International Journal of Entrepreneurship Education (IJEE), Senate Hall Academic Publishing.
Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation, James M. Utterback, Harvard Business School Press, 1994.
Purple Cow, Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, Seth Godin, Penguin Group, New York, 2002.
'Solution Selling', Michael T. Bosworth.
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson, Bantam Books, New York, 1992.
Struck by Lightning-The Curious World of Probabilities, Jeffrey S. Rosenthal, Harper, Toronto, ON, 2005.
Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive, Harvey MacKay, Ballantine Books, N.Y., 1988.
Tax Planning for You and Your Family 2008 by KPMG Consulting.
The Ingenuity Gap: How can we solve the Problems of the Future, Thomas Homer-Dixon, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2000.
The Lazy Investor by Derek Foster.
The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, Amar V. Bhide, Oxford University Press, 1999.
The 10 Immutable Laws of Power selling, the Key to Winning Sales, Wowing Customers, and Driving Your Profits Through the Roof, James A. DeSena, McGraw-Hill, 2004.
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade by Pietra Rivoli, John Wiley and Sons, New Jersey, 2005.
Unleashing the Killer App: Digital Strategies for Market Dominance, Larry Downes, Chunka Mui, Nicholas Negroponte, Harvard Business School, 1998.
What They Don't Teach You at the Harvard Business School, Mark H. McCormack, Bantam Books, New York, 1984.
What They Don't Still Teach You at the Harvard Business School, Mark H. McCormack, Bantam Books, New York, 1989.
Why Things Bite Back- Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences, Edward Tenner, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1996.
Other Suggested Readings
A Better Place to Live- Reshaping the American Suburb, Philip Langdon, University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, 1994.
A Geography of Time- the temporal misadventures of a social psychologist, Robert Levine, Basic Books, HarperCollins, New York, 1997.
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, Penguin Group, New York, 1957.
Boom, Bust & Echo 2000, Profiting from the Demographic Shift in the New Millennium, David K. Foot with Daniel Stoffman, Macfarlane, Walter & Ross, Toronto, 1996 & 1998.
Cities and the Wealth of Nations- Principles of Economic Life, Jane Jacobs, Random House, New York, 1985.
Creating a New Civilization, Alvin and Heidi Toffler, Turner Publishing, Atlanta, 1994.
Energy in a Finite World- A Global Systems Analysis, Report by the Energy Systems Program Group of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Wolf Häfele, Program Leader, Ballinger, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1981.
Fixing Broken Windows- Restoring Order and Reducing Crime in Our Communities, George L. Kelling and Catherine M. Coles, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1996.
Getting to Yes- Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Roger Fisher and William Ury, Penguin Books, New York, 1991.
Home from Nowhere- Remaking Our Everyday World for the 21st Century, James Howard Kunstler, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1996.
How to Win Friends & Influence People, Dale Carnegie.
Lost Rights- the Destruction of American Liberty, James Bovard, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1994.
Managing for the Future, Peter F. Drucker, Penguin Group, New York, 1992.
Ottawa Senators Hockey Club- Official Application, National Hockey League Plan of Sixth Expansion, Terrace Investments Limited, Ottawa, 1990.
Secrets of Power Negotiating, Roger Dawson.
Shifting Gears, Nuala Beck, HarperCollins, Toronto, 1992.
Small is Stupid- Blowing the Whistle on the Greens, Wifred Beckerman, Redwood Books Limited, Trowbridge, 1995.
The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs, Vintage Books, Random House, New York, 1961.
The Diamond Age- or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, Neal Stephenson, Bantam Books, New York, 1995.
The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand, Signet Books, New York, 1943.
The Geography of Nowhere- the Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape, James Howard, Kunstler, Touchstone, New York, 1993.
The Little Book of Business Wisdom, Peter Krass.
The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov, Harvill Press, London, 1967.
The Power of Focus: How to Hit Your Business, Personal and Financial Targets with Absolute Certainty, Jack Canfield.
Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill.
Index
Bankruptcy
Bootstrap Finance
Bootstrap Marketing
Case Studies- how to research and write a case study
Case studies will include: Sci Fi Channel, NHL.com, National Hockey League Television Marketing, webcasting and ottawasenators.com, iFinanSys.com, Arrow Head Springs, Molstar, Amazon.com, Terrace Corporate Centres, Grocery Express, amphitheatre design, Corel Centre, Busnell Communications, Rentalex Tool and Equipment, Ottawa Business Journal, duplex and triplex housing, Friendship Windmill, Dunrobin Lake, Robertson Mews, Disney Paris, Kanata North, Water Safari Park and others
City-states
Competition- niche markets and trends
Corel Centre
Creativity, lateral thinking and value creation
Creativity and creation of value
e-business
e-commerce
Education, Value of
Entertainment Economics
Ethics
Financing and capital markets- bootstrap financing/bootstrap business startup/bootstrap marketing
Future vision
Government subsidies
Intellectual property
Internal rates of return projects
IRR- value of education as an example
IRR Calcs- How to really Measure Rates of Return
Internet is Eating a Hole in the World Economy- deflation because of the net; collpase of currencies and r.e. prices are related to early adopters of tech in USA
Legal Issues
Lenders, financial ratios, access to funds
Lost Rights
Marketing, market share, bootstrap marketing
Metaverse
Negotiating, selling
Option agreements
Politics and entrepreneurialist culture
Pricing, the art of
Revenge effects
25 Steps to Entrepreneurial Success
Tooth to tail ratios
Web Strategies
Some Helpful Site Links
Test Your Entrepreneurialist Culture Quotient
getting the business model right for startups
art of pricing
'Zombie' Companies
litigous society
smart truth
positives and negatives
core competency
selling your business
ordered thinking
guerrilla marketing
reverse marketing
No Money Down Startups
Data Backup
Making Money on the Internet
data backup
Student Personal Web Sites: Winter Term 2002
Copyright. Dr. Bruce M. Firestone, Ottawa, Canada. 2005
Online tools for Canada incorporations and much else besides: http://www.strategis.gc.ca.
Excellent resource for Ottawa business news - updated daily: http://www.ottawabusinessjournal.com.
Networking for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs-find jobs, find launch clients, find contracts and contractors, find help, solve problems, have fun: http://www.exploriem.org.
Great overall web site for business information plus web hosting and domain names: http://www.nobleoak.com.
Great motivational web site: http://www.yoursuccessstore.com.
Metro Suburban Realty Ltd. - great resource for office rentals: http://www.metro-sub.com.
Web design, development and applications: http://www.envisiononline.ca.
Promotional products: http://www.brymark.com.
Log On
DramatisPersonae.org
Exploriem.org
