Management 010 – Entrepreneurial OrganizationsSpring 2000

Instructors: Phanish Puranam & Sendil Ethiraj Wharton Evening School

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Wharton Evening School

Management 010 – Entrepreneurial Organizations

Spring 2000

Course Description and Syllabus

Instructors:Phanish Puranam & Sendil Ethiraj

Office:2061 SH-DH (Management Dept. Suite)

Tel:898-1231

Email:

Office Hours:By Appointment

Class Hours: Mondays 6:30 to 9:10

Course Overview

Successful entrepreneurship calls for skills at innovation, strategy making, organization, financial management and a sophisticated understanding of the legal and business environment. These skill requirements hold, regardless of whether the entrepreneur is located in a small start-up firm, or in the New Business Development department of a large Fortune 500 firm. This course will lay the foundation for you to build and refine your skills in these areas; in addition, it will try to enhance your understanding of the various entrepreneurial opportunities opening up in today’s economy because of radical changes in technology. In particular we will focus on the Information Technology (computing, internet and communications) and Biotechnology sectors. While this course will in effect, be focused around entrepreneurship in High Technology domains, the lessons learned will be shown to be applicable to a wide range of industry settings.

After an introduction to the core ideas behind innovation and entrepreneurship, we will take stock of some of the key elements of our tool kit- industry analysis, basic economics, accounting, finance, and business plans. After this class, (the second) you should begin thinking seriously about your own project plans. In the third session we take an intensive look at a software start-up company, to identify the range of problems that entrepreneurial organizations are likely to face. A look at the venture capital industry concludes Part I. Part II begins with an examination of technological change, and its role in throwing up opportunities for entrepreneurship. We then focus on understanding the industry dynamics of the so called “internet space”, and of the biotechnology sector. After the mid–sem exam (March 6th), we return to these two industries to examine entrepreneurial business models which have succeeded in these settings.

Finally, in Part III we examine entrepreneurship within a corporate setting, emphasizing the fact that start-ups are not the only kind of entrepreneurial organizations. The course concludes with the presentation of individual business plans, which will be assessed by us, as well as fellow course participants.

Readings

Readings for this course are in the bulk pack. While we will seldom refer to the textbook in our classroom meetings, you are strongly advised to have a copy to guide you in your project preparation. The bulk-pack is available at Wharton Reprographics. The textbook for this class is The Business Planning Guide: Creating a Plan for Success in Your Own Business (8th Ed) by David H. Bangs Paperback - 240 pages 8th edition (June 1998) Upstart Pub Co; ISBN: 1574100998 .The readings include both conceptual material and cases. The reading list provides detailed information on the readings to be used in each class session. Assignment questions for each of the cases will be distributed in class. In addition to thinking about the answers to the specific questions for each of the cases, students should try to identify the reasons why the organization has or has not prospered, and the critical issues facing management. You are not required to bring a formal case write-up to class, but should bring your notes on the case with you for your use in class discussion.

Preparation questions for each session (except session 1) will be handed out a week in advance.

Course Requirements and Evaluation

This is a preparation- and reading- intensive class. We will assume that the essential readings have been, indeed read, and will seldom spend much time re-stating what is in them. Additionally, there are several optional readings (which you are not expected to have read for class) that may prove of interest either now, or later in your careers, as references. At any rate, you will need to have thoroughly read the case before coming to class, and also have familiarized yourselves with the analytical frameworks provided in your readings. Please make appropriate time allowances for preparing every session!

Being adequately prepared for class discussion is a key part of this course. Some class discussions may be organized in adversarial format with groups of students assigned to support different points of view. Specific responsibilities for particular questions may be assigned, and students will be asked to participate if they don’t volunteer. Finally, the instructor may ask for brief in-class written appraisals of the case specifics, which will be graded and will count towards the participation grade.

As for grading, the course requirements consist of class participation, an in class mid-term assignment and a final project which will be a business plan for a new entrepreneurial venture. The course grade will be based on the points you get for these three components, weighted 25%, 25% and 50% respectively. Part of your project evaluation will come from how you evaluate a classmates’ business plan.

Class participation: Since this course uses cases extensively, the success of the course depends on effective student participation in class discussions. In evaluating class participation, we shall be asking ourselves first of all, whether the student is well prepared and interested. Beyond that, we shall be concerned with the following questions: (1) Is the student considerate of other class members? (2) Is the student responsive to the contributions of other class members and to the general flow of the discussion? (3) Do the student's comments reflect careful analysis of the case? (4) Do the student's comments contribute to a clearer formulation of the issues in the case? Both instructors will contribute to the participation grade. (The sessions each instructor will teach are designated “PP” for Phanish Puranam and “SE” for Sendil Ethiraj in the syllabus).

In Class Exam: An in class exam covering material from the first half of the course will be held on March 6th.

Should I be taking this Course (now)?

A few final notes are due in order to help you make a choice on whether you should take the course, and if you should take it now. We do expect you to have familiarity with several key business issues, and to have fared well in the introductory management course. Also, some fundamental principles of corporate finance, accounting and economics are assumed. You should be able to understand business statistics, and interpret financial information. If you feel that you have weaknesses in these areas, feel free to consult with one of us and we will try to find the best way of dealing with them.

Finally, the pace will be quick and the class will require your undistracted attention. We will cover a wide range of topics in a relatively short time. If you think that you will have a very tight schedule and might have to miss classes, it may be hard for you to catch up. Also, as much of the course is based on cases, missing classes will not be without consequences. Even though the instructor will make any effort to accommodate legitimate individual problems, the course structure leaves little leeway for maneuvering. Up to two (justified) absences will be allowed. If, for any reason, a student has to miss more than two, his or her class participation score will be reduced accordingly. So please take these factors into account when deciding whether to take this course!

Other resources:

*Jenkins, Michael, “Starting and Operating a Business in (your state)”

(basically a start-up kit for new ventures in each state)

*Tiffany, Paul, “Business Plans for Dummies”

*Inc magazine (lots of hands on information)

*See also Research Guide 19 at Lippincott Library

*Small Business Support Center (215) 790-5004

1315 Walnut Street, 5th floor

*Levinson and Godin, “The Guerilla Marketing Handbook”

* The entrepreneurship club

* (Small Business Administration)

Course outline

PART I : ENTREPRENEURSHIP -THE FUNDAMENTALS

Session I January 17Introduction and Course Overview

PP & SEInvention, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

Readings (To be handed out in class):

1.One key or two for the car? Innovation is unwanted.

Optional Readings

1.The anatomy of successful innovations

Discussion Preparation:

  1. Are you currently involved in an entrepreneurial venture? Do you plan to be in the near future/have been in the past? Come prepared to describe this venture to your classmates in about 5-10 minutes.
  2. Think through what the terms entrepreneurship, innovation and invention mean to you. How are they distinct?

Session II January 24Taking stock of our toolkit

PP Industry Analysis, Accounting & Finance, Business plans

Readings:

1.Interpreting Financial Statements

2.Analyzing the Industry Environment

3.Guide to Case Analysis

Optional Readings:

1.Textbook, introductory chapters.

Session III January 31 Conceiving and Managing Entrepreneurial Organizations

SE

Case: Vermeer Technologies A, B, & C

Session IV February 7Venture capital: Financing entrepreneurial organizations

PP

Guest Speaker

(One page project outline due today)

Part II: ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN HIGH TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRIES

Session V February 14Technological Change & Entrepreneurial Opportunity

SE

Readings:

  1. Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave, Bower and Christensen
  2. Increasing Returns and the New World of Business. W. Brian Arthur

Case:Plus Development Corp. (B)

Session VI February 21The Internet

SE

Readings:

  1. The Worldwide Web and Internet Technology, Technology Note
  2. Internet-based Electronic Commerce in 1997: A Primer

Case:Excite Inc.

Session VII February 28 Biotechnology

PP

Readings:

1.Biotechnology strategies in 1992

  1. What you can learn from managers in Biotech

Optional Readings

  1. Genzyme Genetics

Session VIII March 6Mid Semester Exam (in class)

March 13NO CLASS (Spring Break)

Session IX March 20On-line Retailing

SE

Readings:

  1. Note on Marketing and the World Wide Web
  2. Retailing: Confronting the Challenges that Face Bricks-and-Mortar Stores

Case:Leadership Online: Barnes & Noble vs. Amazon.com (A)

Session X March 27 Entrepreneurial Research Organizations

PP

Readings:

  1. Profiting from technological innovation: implications fro Integration, Collaboration, Licensing and Public policy
  2. Technology Partnerships between Smaller and Larger Firms: Some Critical Issues

Case : The Genetics Institute

Optional Readings

1.Cooperative Strategies for Emerging Technologies

PART III: ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN A CORPORATE CONTEXT

Session XI April 3Managing growth in hi-technology businesses

SE

Case:Infosys Technologies Limited (A)

Session XII April 10Corporate venturing strategies

PP

Reading:

1.Managing the internal corporate venturing process.

Case: Cisco Systems Inc.

Optional readings:

Innovation & Corporate Strategy: Managed Chaos.

Session XIII April 17th Project Presentations

PP & SE

Session XIV April 24th Project Presentations (contd.) and course wrap-up.

PP & SE Projects Due today.

NO FINAL EXAM-ENJOY YOUR SUMMER!

BULK PACK LIST: Management 010 – Spring 2000
Entrepreneurial Organizations– Wharton Evening School –
Phanish Puranam & Sendil Ethiraj
  1. Syllabus and Course Description
  2. The anatomy of successful innovations
  3. Interpreting Financial Statements
  4. Analyzing the Industry Environment
  5. Vermeer Technologies A, B, & C
  6. Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave, Bower and Christensen
  7. Increasing Returns and the New World of Business. W. Brian Arthur (96401)
  8. Plus Development Corp. (B).
  9. The Worldwide Web and Internet Technology, Technology Note
  10. Internet-based Electronic Commerce in 1997: A Primer
  11. Excite Inc
  12. Biotechnology strategies in 1992
  13. What you can learn from managers in Biotech
  14. Genzyme Genetics
  15. Note on Marketing and the World Wide Web
  16. Retailing: Confronting the Challenges that Face Bricks-and-Mortar Stores
  17. Leadership Online: Barnes & Noble vs. Amazon.com (A)
  18. Profiting from technological innovation: implications fro Integration, Collaboration, Licensing and Public policy
  19. Technology Partnerships between Smaller and Larger Firms: Some Critical Issues

20.The Genetics Institute

  1. Cooperative Strategies for Emerging Technologies
  2. Infosys Technologies Limited
  3. Managing the internal corporate venturing process.
  4. Cisco Systems Inc.
  5. Innovation & Corporate Strategy: Managed Chaos.

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