COURSE INFORMATION Course Title: ENTREPRENEURIAL MANAGEMENT

Code	Course Type	Regular Semester	Theory	Practice	Lab	Credits	ECTS
BUS 204	C	4	3	0	0	3	5

Academic staff member responsible for the design of the course syllabus (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature)	NA
Main Course Lecturer (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours:	Assoc.Prof.Dr. Alba Kruja akruja@epoka.edu.al , Friday 09:30-11:30
Second Course Lecturer(s) (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours:	NA
Teaching Assistant(s) and Office Hours:	NA
Language:	English
Compulsory/Elective:	Elective
Study program: (the study for which this course is offered)	Bachelor in Business Informatics (3 years)
Classroom and Meeting Time:	E 314 Monday 09:45 - 12:30
Code of Ethics:	Code of Ethics of EPOKA University Regulation of EPOKA University "On Student Discipline"
Attendance Requirement:	yes
Course Description:	The course explores the foundation and management of start-up businesses. It concentrates on initial strategy, location, financing, staffing, daily activities, controls and taxes. Students develop a business plan for a start-up business. This course describes the basic forms of small business ownership and identifies the necessary financial competencies needed by the entrepreneur. It further utilizes information, financial estimates and projections, logic and critical thinking needed to recognize opportunities and to address small business problems in a multicultural, ethical and legal and competitive global environment.
Course Objectives:	This course maps out a journey of skill-building, analysis, and experience that prepares students for careers as entrepreneurs, or intrapreneurs in corporate environments to create value as they launch innovative projects at work! The skills learned in this course are particularly important as most students do not immediately start businesses out of university, but instead go to work for someone else, learn an industry, and eventually launch a venture as they develop a network and expertise. This experience forces students to test the classroom learning by engaging real customers with real ideas and real solutions. Students actively experience the highs and lows of creating and capturing value, not passively learn about others who have. Experiential learning techniques are critical to this course because they increase student engagement and excitement as students build knowledge by doing. It helps students gain transferable skills they can use to create significant value in their workplace!

BASIC CONCEPTS OF THE COURSE

1	Survival businesses—provides its owner just enough money to put food on the table and pay bills (handyman, part-time childcare)
2	Lifestyle businesses—provides its owner the opportunity to pursue a certain lifestyle and make a living at it (clothing boutique, personal trainer)
3	Managed Growth businesses—employs 10 or more people, may have several outlets, and may be introducing new products or services to the market (regional restaurant chain, multi-unit franchise)
4	Aggressive Growth businesses—bringing new products and services to the market and has aggressive growth plans (computer software, medical equipment, national restaurant chain)
5	A business model is a firm’s plan or recipe for how it creates, delivers, and captures value for its stakeholders. The proper time to develop a business model is following the feasibility analysis stage and prior to fleshing out the operational details of the company. A firm’s business model is integral to its ability to succeed both in the short and long term.
6	Feasibility analysis is the process of determining whether a business idea is viable. It is the preliminary evaluation of a business idea, conducted for the purpose of determining whether the idea is worth pursuing.
7	An industry is a group of firms producing a similar product or service, such as music, Pilates and Yoga studios, and solar panels. Industry Analysis is business research that focuses on the potential of an industry.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week	Topics
1	Introduction to Entrepreneurship & Overview of Course Syllabus - Ch1 - pp. 2-33 - Student learning outcomes  Understand your motivations for wanting to start your own business  Critically assess the resources you would bring to your business  Critically assess whether you have entrepreneurial character traits
2	Pilot your Purpose - Ch1 - pp. 2-33 - Student learning outcomes  Understand your motivations for wanting to start your own business  Critically assess the resources you would bring to your business  Critically assess whether you have entrepreneurial character traits
3	Finding your Business Idea - Ch2 - pp. 34-69 - Student learning outcomes  Critically assess the dimensions of your creative potential  Develop your creativity and discovery skills  Scan the environment for business opportunities  Come up with a business idea by either creating or spotting an opportunity
4	Finding your Early Adopters & Customer Interviewing - Ch3 - pp. 70-105 -Student learning outcomes  Define and describe your market or industry  Assess the degree of competition in your market/industry and the likely effect on profitability  Undertake a SWOT analysis on yourself and your competitors  Review future trends in your industry and assess how they might affect you  Critically evaluate whether your business idea matches your aspirations
5	Building Business Models - Ch4 - pp. 106-139 - Student learning outcomes  Understand the meaning of the terms ‘effectuation’ and ‘lean start-up’  Understand the importance of developing a planning framework for your new venture and how a business model is developed and used for this purpose  Understand the different sorts of business models that have been developed  Understand the characteristics of a good business model
6	MVPs & Prototypes - Ch5 - pp.140-173 - Student learning outcomes  Identify the values on which your start-up is based  Develop a vision for your start-up and write its mission statement  Identify and describe your target customer segment(s)  Understand the importance of values-driven marketing and the social and commercial benefits of CSR  Develop a value proposition for your product or service, appropriate for each target market segment  Understand how to develop a brand identity consistent with your value proposition  Decide whether your business is to be a commercial or social enterprise
7	Testing & Experimenting in Markets - Ch6 - pp. 174-204 - Student learning outcomes  Understand the difference between features and benefits, and how features might be engineered to provide valued benefits for customers  Understand how to develop a marketing mix that supports your brand identity and delivers your value proposition to your target customer segments  Decide on your channels of distribution  Set your selling price(s)  Use profit data to make commercial decisions
8	Midterm Exam
9	Planning for Entrepreneurs - Ch7 - pp. 205-233 - Student learning outcomes  Understand the customer buying process and how the marketing mix can be used to encourage customers to become repeat customers and advocates of your product/service  Understand how to find prospective customers throughout your distribution chain  Enhance your face-to-face sales skills  Write a press release  Draw up a communications campaign that helps launch your business  Develop a marketing strategy that launches the business
10	Revenue Modelling - Ch10&11 - pp. 293-372 - Student learning outcomes  Identify the key activities needed to launch and operate different sorts of business  Prepare Gantt charts and undertake critical path analysis  Undertake a risk management process that identifies, assesses, mitigates and monitors the risks faced by business  Understand how risk might be reduced through networks and partnering, financial and legal structures and appropriate approaches to financing the venture  Understand the importance of keeping contribution margins high and fixed costs low  Identify the critical success factors and strategic options for your business
11	Anticipating Failure - Ch12&13 - pp. 373-441 -Student learning outcomes  Understand the relevance and importance of different measures of financial performance  Develop the financial forecasts for your new venture – income statement, breakeven, cash flow statement and balance sheet  Evaluate these forecasts of financial performance  Understand how companies are valued  Understand how financial information can be used to monitor and control performance
12	Financial Modelling - Ch14 - pp.442-463 --Student learning outcomes  Undertake a strategic review  Explain the purpose, structure and content of a business plan  Draw up a business plan for your new venture  Recognize the information needs of bankers and equity investors  Be able to present the plan effectively
13	Pitching & Storytelling
14	Project Presentations

Prerequisite(s):	No
Textbook(s):	Neck H.M., Neck C.P., Murray, E.L., Entrepreneurship: The Practice and Mindset, 2nd edition, 2022 Burns R., New Venture Creation: A Framework for Entrepreneurial Start-Ups, 2nd Edition, 2021
Additional Literature:	Hisrich R., Ramadani V., Effective Entrepreneurial Management: Strategy, Planning, Risk Management & Organization, Springer
Laboratory Work:	NA
Computer Usage:	Lap-Top
Others:	No

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

1	Analyze and evaluate the process of entrepreneurship and ways to manage it.
2	Recognize the entrepreneurial potential within yourself and others in your environment.
3	Identify the many ways in which entrepreneurship manifests itself, including start-up contexts, corporate contexts, social contexts, public sector contexts, and others.
4	Prepare feasibility studies to distinguish between ideas and entrepreneurial opportunities and determine the profitability of a business venture.
5	Manage the practical challenges of starting/acquiring, operating, financing, and marketing a successful small business including the elements of a business plan.
6	Design, develop and present a business plan including the skills required for practical business writing, analysis, and presentation before critical reviewers.
7	Build skills required for working as teams to develop a business plan which represents a realistic business situation that could be implemented if a student, student team, or other entrepreneur chose to do so.

COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO... PROGRAM COMPETENCIES (Blank : no contribution, 1: least contribution ... 5: highest contribution)

No	Program Competencies	Cont.
Bachelor in Business Informatics (3 years) Program
1	Identify activities, tasks, and skills in management, marketing, accounting, finance, and economics.	5
2	Apply key theories to practical problems within the global business context.	5
3	Demonstrate ethical, social, and legal responsibilities in organizations.	5
4	Develop an open minded-attitude through continuous learning and team-work.	5
5	Integrate different skills and approaches to be used in decision making and data management.	5
6	Combine computer skills with managerial skills, in the analysis of large amounts of data.	5
7	Provide solutions to complex information technology problems.	5
8	Recognize, analyze, and suggest various types of information-communication systems/services that are encountered in everyday life and in the business world.	5

COURSE EVALUATION METHOD

Method	Quantity	Percentage
Midterm Exam(s)	1	20
Presentation	1	10
Project	1	30
Final Exam	1	20
Other	1	20
	Total Percent:	100%

ECTS (ALLOCATED BASED ON STUDENT WORKLOAD)

Activities	Quantity	Duration(Hours)	Total Workload(Hours)
Course Duration (Including the exam week: 16x Total course hours)	16	3	48
Hours for off-the-classroom study (Pre-study, practice)	16	2	32
Mid-terms	1	15	15
Assignments	7	2	14
Final examination	1	16	16
Other			0
Total Work Load:			125
Total Work Load/25(h):			5
ECTS Credit of the Course:			5

CONCLUDING REMARKS BY THE COURSE LECTURER

https://epoka.edu.al/mat/codes/01-Code%20of%20Ethics.pdf