COURSEWORK BRIEF FOR

GDGMSI 403: ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Assessment Details:
This course is 100% course work based, with both individual and group based forms of assessment. There
are 2 elements:
1) Assignment A (Group): 40%
a) A critical analysis of a readymade business plan for a new venture. This accounts for 30% of
the course work.
b) A 20 minute presentation of the analysis done by the group, followed by 10 minutes questionanswer session. This accounts for 10% of the course work.
2) Assignment B (Individual): 60%
a) Individual proposal and venture formation report that accounts for 60% of the course work.
b) You will have to give regular briefing on the progress of your project in weekly classes and
invite input from your classmates for improvement.

ASSIGNMENT - A (GROUP) : 40%

For this assignment, groups of students can pick up a readily available business plan and do thorough
assessment of the plan keeping in mind various issues essential to develop an ideal business plan. They
can compare the issues that should have been covered in an ideal plan with the elements covered in the
actual plan. They can find out the gaps, do critical evaluation of the plan, and can suggest ways and
means of rectifying the plan so that it meets the requirement and interest of all the stake holders. An ideal
business plan should include Executive Summary; Introduction; Product/ service Offerings; Market/
Industry analysis ( micro and macro, opportunities, and trends); Marketing Plan & Sales Forecast
(Competition, advantage, budgets, competencies. etc.); Management (Current and future); Operations
(Manufacturing); People Management; Financials (Balance sheet, profit and loss, cash flow, start up costs
etc.) and Technology (Proprietary) etc. Not only the plan should have headings/ subheadings as above, it
should contain sum & substance under each of these categories. Besides, the data and other facts should
be realistic.
Word limit for this assignment is 5000 words.

 Assignments should be posted on vle, not later than 10am on __________(9th week date to be filled
by programme office)

Course participants are required to form teams of maximum five students whose talents, skills and
knowledge (in the ideal case) are complementary. We will talk about how to form teams in class.
Extensive group work outside of class is an essential part of this course. Other factors crucial to your
teams functioning are the management and coordination of group effort by appropriate means (telephone,
e-mail, sub-group meetings, etc.). Each team will produce an original and comprehensive analysis of a
Business Plan (BP) as its major final product and will make presentations of its final version in class.
Formal Presentation
The quality of class presentations is important. This includes organization, logical flow, keeping the
presentation within specified time limits, clarity of the presentation. Finally, the ability to understand
inquiries and appropriately respond to inquiries with substantive answers is highly important.
The purpose of the exercises is to encourage creative thinking at the individual level through review of
course material, applying the concepts to real life situations and expanding imagination in order to come
up with innovative business idea(s) and look for all possible directions to scrutinize a readymade business
plan. This exercise would primarily help the students to understand the relevant entrepreneurial concepts
and apply the same to their creative business ideas.
There are two components of this assignment
a) Critical analysis of a business proposal which accounts for 30% of the course work
b) Presentation of the critical analysis which accounts for 10% of the course work

ASSIGNMENT - B (INDIVIDUAL): 60%

The overall quality and cohesiveness of the Business Plan will determine the final score for the
assignment.
The first task of each individual is to select a venture concept. To do so, you are expected to think big
and start small and identify currently unmet or inefficiently met customer needs that your start-up
addresses. Your business concept should require careful examination and definition of, among other
things, customer needs (what problem are you solving? for whom?), product and service offering, (how
will you solve it? what is your perceived value proposition?), markets and financials (bottom up, how do
you envision profiting from this concept?). In addition, your new venture should have the potential for
wealth creation beyond the prospect of providing a normal salary for its founders. If you are in doubt
whether the nature and/or scale of the venture concept that you would like to develop meets with the
requirements you are welcome to discuss it with the instructor.

Your business plan should cover the following issues, among other things, so as to make it a reference
document guiding your new venture:A. Executive Summary Clear, exciting and effective as a stand-alone overview of the venture.
B. Company, Products and Services
Description of unfulfilled need that will be satisfied (or of the future market that will be created); your
product/service concept, including estimated size of market targeted by your product/service; an overview
of how you will create and deliver value (e.g., features, benefits, technologies, current stage of
development, proprietary position, distribution channels); and a brief rundown of the key obstacles to
success (and how you will address them).
C. Markets and Strategy
Description of market opportunities: detailed descriptions of your business and revenue models, customer
and competitor analyses, industry and competitive analysis. State and justify your overall business
strategy and your competitive advantage. Explain how and why you will make it happen. Apply
analytical techniques.
D. Marketing and Operations
Plans for production/delivery of product or services, product costs, operating complexity, required
resources, and a marketing/sales strategy.
E. Management and Organization
Backgrounds of key individuals, ability to execute strategy, personnel needs, Type of business, summaries
of staffing requirements; organizational chart.
F. Financial Section
Presented in summary form . Complete analyses of financial plan, financing plan and evaluation
(quarterly for years 1 to 2, annually for years 3 to 5). Apply analytical techniques.
G. Offering
Proposal/terms to investors. Indicate how much wanted, for what use, and when it is needed. Elaborate on
ROI, the proposed structure of the deal, and possible exit strategies.
H. Milestone Events and Key Risks
Present realistic schedule of events, their anticipated timing and interrelationships between the major
events necessary to launch and grow the venture. Identify and discuss critical events and their impact
on your plan. Outline your contingency plan.
I. Viability, Brevity and Clarity
3

Is the plan written with minimal redundancy? Is it cohesive? Concise? Does it flow logically? Do the
facts lead to the conclusion? Is the plan credible? Believable?

WORD LIMIT
Word limit for this team assignment is 3000 words
Assignments should be posted on vle, not later than 10am __________(12th week date to be filled by
programme office)
.

SOURCES FOR FURTHER READINGS ON HOW TO PREPARE

A BUSINESS PLAN
Abrams, Rhonda M. The Successful Business Plan: Secrets and Strategies 2nd ed.
(Grants Pass, OR: Oasis Press 1993).
Balderson, D. W. Canadian Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management 4th ed.
(Toronto, ON: McGraw-Hill 2000).
Blawatt, K. Entrepeneurship (Scarborough, ON: Prentice Hall 1998).
Cross, W. Richey, A. Model Business Plans (New Jersey: Prentice Hall 1998).
Doyle, D. J. Making Technology Happen (Kanata, ON: Doyletech 1990).
Ernst & Young Business Plan Guide (New York: John Wiley & Sons 1987).
Forsyth, G. et al Entrepreneurship and Small! Business Development (Scarborough:
Prentice Hall 1991).
Good, W. Building a Dream (McGraw-Hill Toronto 1993).
Gumpert, David D. How to Really Create a Successful Business Plan (Boulder, CO:
Inc. Business 1990).
Jensen, K. B. Marketing Strategy for Small Business (Toronto, ON: Ryerson University
2000).
Kaplan, J. Big Plan Express (ITP 1995).
Longenecker, J. et al Small Business Management Canadian Edition (Toronto, ON:
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ITP Nelson 1998).

Longenecker, J. Moore, C. Petty, J. William Preparing the Business Plan (Cincinnati,
OH: South-Western 1995).
Pinson, L Jinnett, J. Anatomy of a Business Plan 2nd ed. (Chicago: Enterprise/Dearbom 1993).
Rich, Stanley R. Gumpert, David E. Business Plans That Win $$$: Lessons from the
MIT Enterprise Forum (NewYork: Harper Collins 1987).
Sahlman, W. et al The Entrepreneurial Venture 2nd ed. (Boston: Harvard Business
School Press 1999).
Schilt, W. Keith The Entrepreneurs Guide to Preparing a Winning Business Plan and
Raising Venture Capital (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall 1990).
Timmons, Jeffrey A. New Venture Creation: Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century
(Boston: Irwin 1999).

Websites:
These are several sites that offer information from how to go about writing a business plan to
sourcing funding and capital. There are many more sites on the web that may be of use as well.
http://www.vcapital.co.nz/resources/businessplan.asp
http://www.cecc.org.nz/main/BS-Business_Planning/
http://www.med.govt.nz/irdev/ind_dev/soucap2000/index.html#TopOfPage
http://www.state.co.nz/Business+Advice/Startup/Business+Plan.htm
http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/basic.html
http://www.businessplans.org/

Group Work Tips

All the groups should use audio-visual aids for presentations.

The groups would be declared in the class by Week 2. Groups cannot be changed without written
permission from the Dean/Registrar.

Remember what you have read about groups in this module? Groups go through various
formation stages.

In case there are issues with the working of the groups please try to manage them professionally.
However, if unable to do, please approach your module leader at an early date.

Start working early so that you can deliver your best.

The presentation has to be referenced.

If you are absent during the group presentation, you will be assigned zero for the total component
under group assignment.

LUMS MARKING CRITERIA for post-graduate Courses

An outstanding piece of work which is publishable or virtually
publishable in its own right where appropriate. The work should
provide: critical analysis of the whole range of relevant literature;
critical discussion of the nature and sources of evidence; critical
reflections of the choice of methodology; sound analysis;
presentations of conclusions where appropriate. The work at this
level should be exhibit a high degree of originality and pertinence.
Full scholarly apparatus (including referencing) should be well
presented and well written.

85-100%

An excellent piece of work, which contains a high degree of

insight, some originality and pertinence. The level of critical
analysis and reflections as applied to the literature, evidence and
analysis should be high where appropriate. Appropriate and
effective scholarly apparatus should be used and the piece should
be well presented and well written. The standard may show that
the candidate has clear potential for doctoral work.

70-84%

A good or very good piece of work, which is well planned, well

structured and pertinent. There should be critical reviews of
relevant literature and critical analysis of evidence where
appropriate. The work should go beyond taught material by
showing evidence of wide reading and/or personal insight. There
should (particularly in dissertations) be some attempt at original
contribution, though this may be more limited than in the case
above, or it may contain minor flaws. Scholarly apparatus should
be used effectively and the work should be well presented and
well written.

60-69%

An adequate and substantially correct but unimaginative response

to the question, drawing heavily on taught material. There should
be some evidence of either wide reading, critical insight or
originality, but this will be limited or somewhat flawed. Scholarly
apparatus may be used imperfectly and the quality of presentation
may be wanting

50-59%

A partial and incomplete treatment of the topic, which may

furthermore have a flaws in the argument. A mark in this range
may also be awarded where there is an absence of any critical
analysis. There should be at least an attempt to handle the
scholarly apparatus. Overall, the work would not be worthy of a
pass at masters.

40-49%

The work contains some material of relevance to some part of the

question, but is seriously flawed or thin in content. There is
insufficient understanding of the basics to allow any form of
critical analysis.

30-39%

Little work of any relevance to the question; a missed question;

analysis which is wrong and demonstrates fundamental lack of
understanding. Little written.

0-29%