Course Syllabus

Business Economics & Entrepreneurship

Rm 136

Office Hours 7:30-8:30 M-F or Tues 2:30-3:00

vinae@wellesleyps.org

This course is designed to help students evaluate the business skills and commitment necessary to successfully operate an entrepreneurial venture while reviewing the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship. Students will learn about themselves, their decisions, and their goals to determine how entrepreneurship can play a role in their lives. Students will be introduced to the concepts of entrepreneurship from an economic perspective.

Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will have reliably demonstrated the ability to:

  • discuss examples of current entrepreneurs, their companies, and their importance to the US and global economies
  • research and evaluate the personal attributes and skills that characterize the “successful” entrepreneur
  • identify and assess sources of support for small businesses and entrepreneurs
  • identify the critical factors used to identify opportunities and other business start-up ideas
  • apply basic knowledge in determining forms of ownership, functions of finance/accounting, marketing decisions, legal, operational, human resource/general management skills that are necessary to successfully launch and operate a successful new venture
  • identify the critical concepts of business planning that help create, capture, share and deliver value
  • construct the following: (1) Feasibility study (2) Prototype (3) Patent (if applicable) (4) Business plan (5) Pitch deck

Required Text

Laverty, M,  Littel, C.,  (2020). Entrepreneurship. OpenStax.https://openstax.org/books/entrepreneurship/pages/1-introduction

**Additional chapters will be introduced from selected textbooks

Course Content:

Unit 1 What is Economics?

Unit 2 Free Enterprise in the US

Unit 3 Demand

Unit 4 Supply

Unit 5 Market-Clearing Price

Unit 6 Consumers, Savers & Investors

Unit 7 Free Enterprise

Unit 8 Financing a Business

Unit 9 Production & Productivity

Unit 10 The US Labor Force

Unit 11 Competition

Unit 12 Government and US Econ

Unit 13 Financial Institutions

Unit 14 Economic Stability

 

FINAL EXAM PROJECT: Students will have to prepare a business plan for a new venture as a part of a group project/team context. Students will assume different roles within a startup and write up the appropriate sections of the business plan. 

Your plan should include:

(1) Executive Summary (5 points)

(2) Management and Organization Plan (5 points)

(3) Product/Service Plan (5 points)

(4) Marketing Plan (10 points)

(5) Financial Plan (15 points)

(6) Operating and Control Systems Plan (5 points)

(7) Growth Plan (5 points)

Appendices should include the pitch deck slides of the presentation

**Please, keep in mind that the profitability, the accuracy of financial projections, originality, and the feasibility of the business model are the key in developing a successful business plan.

 

Other topics Investigated in this course:

- The role of entrepreneurship and small business 
- The Small Business Decisions
- Personality characteristics of successful entrepreneurs
- Individual assessment of interests, skills, and personality traits
- Advantages and disadvantages of small business ownership
- Evaluation of a New Business Opportunity
- Critical factors for success
- Sources of ideas for new ventures
- Researching the opportunities
- Developing the Business Plan

 

Cell/Device policy Business Entrepreneurship
Expected behavior: [1] You are here to learn. [2] Your classmates are here to learn. [3] Real, meaningful learning is hard work. Your classroom behavior should reflect these three assumptions.
Thus, the ultimate test of anything you do in our class is: Does it help you and your classmates learn? Here are some implications of this test: [1] Any technology or device is welcome in my classroom if you are using it to learn. Conversely, using it for purposes other than learning is inappropriate. I expect that you will monitor yourself, but if it consistently interferes with learning (your own or others), these device options will be eliminated.

Connections to Standards:

COMMON CORE CONNECTIONS

NATIONAL STANDARDS