MM360-Applied Entrepreneurship
Module Provider: Leadership, Organisations and Behaviour
Number of credits: 100 [50 ECTS credits]
Level:6
Terms in which taught: Autumn / Spring term module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites:
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Current from: 2018/9
Email: n.morawetz@reading.ac.uk
Type of module:
Summary module description:
The applied entrepreneurship project is an independent, student-led project in which the student starts and manages their own operating entrepreneurial venture. It is conducted by an individual student guided by an academic supervisor and an advisory panel. The Applied Entrepreneurship project gives students the opportunity to draw on the knowledge and skills acquired throughout the taught part of the BA programme. Students will practice writing a business plan, execute lean startup experiments, seek to raise finance, research competition, register a company, engage in customer and business development, engage in product/service development, develop and execute on marketing plans, applying to recognized (social) startup accelerator programmes, present to investors, and critically assess and reflect on their entrepreneurial and managerial practice and the outcomes from the project.
Aims:
Assessable learning outcomes:
- Plan and manage an entrepreneurial project
- Design, carry out and evaluate the effectiveness of lean startup validation and market research experiments
- Apply innovation accounting methods to measure and report on progress
- Carry out competition research
- Develop financial business models and forecasts needed to raise finance
- Produce an investment rationale in the form of a business plan/pitch deck
- Present investment proposition to Henley Business Angels
- Setup and form a limited company
- Hire and manage an intern
- Critically evaluate own management practice
- Develop and acquire new skills in conducting research
- Produce a dissertation
Additional outcomes:
Students will learn to work independently under pressure of time, and to organise diverse empirical material.
Outline content:
The content of the applied entrepreneurial project will be usually illustrated by a practical component, which may be a portfolio that includes market research, design documents, product/service specifications, a business plan, financial models, customer feedback, investor feedback, pitchdecks, blog articles, snapshots of social media campaigns, as well as application forms to grants and acceleration programmes. The project work must be conducted in an ethical and professional manner. The text of the dissertation would not normally exceed 10,000 words.
Placement opportunity: Students may carry out a third of their applied entrepreneurial project by working in an entrepreneurial organisation as part of placement or internship of up to three months in duration. The placement needs to be arranged by students and requires an approval by the Programme Director who ensures that the placement enables the students to satisfy the academic requirements of Dissertation.
Brief description of teaching and learning methods:
The applied entrepreneurial project is normally conducted by an individual student, but team projects may be proposed. Projects are guided by a lead supervisor and an advisory board. The student will have regular, (bi-)weekly meetings with the supervisors and will give a monthly update presentation to the advisory board (other members of staff with expertise in entrepreneurship). The other time is for individual business development, research and study. The weighting between the written dissertation and the practical component will be agreed between the supervisor and the student, but the weighting will not normally exceed 70% for the practical component.
The student will receive additional support from HCFE in the form of:
- Free office space in the incubation centre for 12 months
- Access to free legal advice
- A presentation slot at the Henley Business Angels
- Eligibility for the HCFE China bursary
| Autumn | Spring | Summer | |
| Tutorials | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Project Supervision | 20 | 16 | 12 |
| Guided independent study | 274 | 328 | 332 |
| Total hours by term | 300.00 | 350.00 | 350.00 |
| Total hours for module | 1000.00 |
| Method | Percentage |
| Report | 25 |
| Portfolio | 45 |
| Oral assessment and presentation | 30 |
Summative assessment- Examinations:
No exam.
Summative assessment- Coursework and in-class tests:
- Students will present their project progress once per term in a board-room style presentation to the advisory board.
- Students will maintain a reflective log (blog) in which they reflect on the progress of their entrepreneurial project and their entrepreneurial practice, informed by literature. This is expected to be at least 6,000 words.
- Students will produce a summary of their entrepreneurial project that is expected to be at least 10,000 words.
Formative assessment methods:
Penalties for late submission:
The Module Convener will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:
The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/qualitysupport/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf
You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.
Assessment requirements for a pass:
A weighted average mark of 50%.
Reassessment arrangements:
By resubmission of the entrepreneurial project (with the dissertation now carrying 100% weight). Students only have the right to be reassessed once.
Additional Costs (specified where applicable):
Last updated: 5 February 2019
THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MODULE DESCRIPTION DOES NOT FORM ANY PART OF A STUDENT'S CONTRACT.