14373 Management of Small Businesses Fall 2014 Syllabus and Course Overview
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BAEP423: Management of Small Business Syllabus and Course Overview Page 1 BAEP 423 - 14373 Management of Small Businesses Fall 2014 Syllabus and Course Overview Preliminary – Subject to Change Instructor Course Overview Greg Autry, Ph.D. BRI-1 (Bridge Hall basement) BAEP 423 surveys the challenges and skills required to launch and [email protected] operate a successful small business. Such businesses are growth Cell: 714.366.8920 (use with discretion, texting is preferred) focused others may be lifestyle focused. They may be non-profit enterprises or benefit corporations designed for a mission beyond Time Mon, Wed. 12:00-2:00PM profits. The objective of this course is to design businesses that are personally fulfilling as well as financially fruitful – an objective that must Location HOH2 be individually defined. Students will develop a realistic perspective of the skills they must master and the resources they must secure to Office Hours realize their entrepreneurial aspirations. Mon & Wed: I’m usually around between 2-3, but make an appointment when possible. Learning Objectives 1. Plan an entrepreneurial career that matches your life goals 2. Learn to identify opportunity and vet concepts 3. Learn to manage risk 4. Understand the basics of strategy, marketing and sales 5. Appreciate how legal structures and taxes impact your business 6. Learn the fundamentals of operations and accounting 7. Understand the overriding importance of strategic finance 8. Employees, family, management and leadership 9. Understand the trade offs in exit strategies 10. Have fun and no regrets BAEP423: Management of Small Business Syllabus and Course Overview Page 2 Specific Skill Goals 1. Understand how the various departments of a business operate independently yet work together to create value and profits. 2. Read and analyze financial statements. 3. Learn to find balance between lifestyle and financial goals. 4. Develop personal finance skills and learn techniques to maximize the long-term financial return from a small business. 5. Learn to understand the role of the business cycle in small business success. 6. Learn to be cool when everything goes wrong. Development of hard and soft business sKills 1. Critical Thinking: Analysis, problem solving and decision-making: a. Demonstrate primary and secondary research skills b. Analyze and critically evaluate alternative courses of action c. Find and use resources to answer your questions d. Form conclusions supported by evidence 2. Oral and written communication skills including your ability to: a. Present and participate successfully in class b. Write well-structured, clear and concise documents c. Create powerful and informative videos To achieve these objectives, a combination of methods will be used in the course, including lectures, case studies, individual projects, student presentations, a site visit (optional) and guest lectures. BAEP423: Management of Small Business Syllabus and Course Overview Page 3 Required Materials Name Cards I will endeavor to learn each student’s face and history. However, I have Required Books three classes and I’m not perfect. You MUST display your Tent Cards (name cards) every single class session until the end of the semester. If you don’t have one or loose it, make one I can read from the podium. Failure to do this everyday will ruin your class participation score. Texts I’ve assigned three books for this course. I understand that is a lot of reading and expense! I guarantee you that if you do your work, you will find that they are each worth your time and money. 1. Mariotti, Steve and Glackin, Caroline, 2013. Entrepreneurship: Starting and Operating a Small Business. 3E. Pearson. This text is referred to as “SOSB” in this syllabus. Note: If you choose to use any alternate version of this text you are responsible for making sure you are reading the correct material. I’ve not seen the 2nd edition. Some older versions of the 3rd have differing chapter numbers. Look at the chapter description. (I will NOT be assigning homework questions from the text.) If you purchase the Kindle edition from Amazon you will be fine. 2. Komisar, Randy, 2001. The Monk and Riddle: The Art of Creating a Life While Making a Living. HBS. 3. Mullins, John & Komisar, Randy, 2009. Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model. HBS. Cases and Additional Readings will be posted on Blackboard. Relevant news stories or publications by the instructor will be added as they appear. Required readings may be found in this syllabus, in the course calendar and/or via a Blackboard announcement. You are responsible for reading them all. When in doubt, email me. Communications Course communication will take place through announcements in class, emails, and Blackboard (http://blackboard.usc.edu/). Many of the emails sent by the instructor will go through Blackboard. It is imperative that you have a fully operational Blackboard account with an email address that works all the time. Keep your inbox from filling. BAEP423: Management of Small Business Syllabus and Course Overview Page 4 All material posted by the professor in BlacKboard will be assumed to have been communicated to students. Students are responsible for checking blackboard and managing the notification process. No excuses. If you wish to reach me, email ([email protected]) is my preferred method of communication, but feel free to text or call me on my cell phone (714.366.8920) if the matter is urgent. Do us both a favor and try to resolve issues well before they become a crisis. I get a lot of email and it is critical for me to sort it efficiently and correctly so that your questions get answered and you receive due credit. Please help me by always sending separate emails, with clear subject lines. 1. Don’t reply to an email on one subject to discuss a different topic. 2. Don't cover more than one topic in a single email (i.e. “I've got a question for the guest speaker AND I've got a question about the midterm AND here is my late assignment AND I’m gonna be late . ” J Technology in the Classroom Laptops - Down The professor, guest speakers and your fellow students deserve your full attention. For two hours each day, you and I will resist playing Minecraft, checking email, updating Facebook, posting to instagram, text messaging, etc. Laptops will be closed except when they are required. Notes are rarely required during my lectures. Engagement is ALWAYS required. Phones will be on silent and put away. Honestly, I’m a tech-head myself and I know that disconnecting is hard, but if you are incapable of unplugging, drop this course. End of story. A web enabled laptop, tablet or phone will be required for the midterm exam. An essay will included in the test, so consider that in the selection of your device. It is your responsibility to insure that your device is on the network, free of viruses, etc. I don’t debug Windows. Contact me Lectures and quizzes in this course will ASAP if you don’t have a suitable device. use Turning Point audience response clickers provided by the instructor. You are responsible for collecting your assigned Clickers clicker at the start of class and returning it We will be using dedicated Turning Point Clickers during class. They are after each class session. numbered and you will be using the same one each day to enable tracking of your lecture participation and to grade quizzes. It is your responsibility, as it always has been with paper, to not look at your BAEP423: Management of Small Business Syllabus and Course Overview Page 5 neighbor’s answer and to conceal your answers from roving eyes. If you pick up a second clicker to answer for a friend it will treated as a case of serious academic dishonesty. If you observe any inappropriate sharing during the quiz, notify me anonymously and I’ll review the data. If I note a statistically unusual correlation of answers between neighbors I may reassign seating. The clickers are my personal property. I’m risking them to save you money and I greatly appreciate your returning them daily. Guest SpeaKers An eclectic assortment of entrepreneurs and experts will be featured – you will have the opportunity to learn from the success and failure of others. Attendance at these sessions is critical. Do not be late or leave early when we have a guest speaker. Be prepared to ask intelligent and challenging questions. Be 100% focused and give our guests the respect their valuable time deserves. Failure to show respect to a guest speaker is the best way to receive a mark down in your class participation score. Questions: Be prepared with at least one appropriate and intriguing question for our guest speakers and submit this to Blackboard. Give a question and a brief (1-2 sentence) explanation of why you asked that question. Google these folks and find out something interesting about them. You should always be prepared to ask the speakers a good question and if the room gets quiet, I will cold call students or make these graded assignments. Thank You Note: Please write a professional thank you letter to at least one of our guest speakers. I will post a mailing address on Blackboard. Assignment Submission and Grading Policies: Electronic Submission – Save the Trees Other than the in-class assignments, student deliverables will be submitted online to Blackboard. If you are ever in doubt, email me with the attachment so you have a time stamped record of your submission. Except if otherwise noted I will never require or desire a “hard copy” of any assignment. I will not be responsible for any printed materials you claim that you handed to me.