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
**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
Connections to Standards: