Course

Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation

Faculty
Commerce & Business Administration
Department
Business
Course code
BUSN 3404
Credits
3.00
Semester length
15 Weeks X 4 Hours per Week = 60 Hours
Max class size
35
Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Typically offered
To be determined

Overview

Course description
This course is an introduction to the theoretical and practical aspects of the start-up and management of a new venture. Topics include: entrepreneurship, opportunities evaluation, business plan development, and small business management practices. Special emphasis will be placed on practical guidelines for small business importing and exporting.
Course content
  1. Assessing your potential:
    • characteristics of successful entrepreneurs
    • skills/knowledge required to successfully start-up and manage a new venture
    • a self assessment of entrepreneurship potential.
  2. Evaluation of a business opportunity:
    • conducting a feasibility study
    • assessing market potential
    • assessing financial viability.
  3. Preparing a business plan:
    • the business plan outline
    • a detailed description of business plan components
    • critiques of existing business plans
    • course project: select a proposed business venture and prepare a detailed business plan for class presentation.
  4. Organizing and purchasing a business:
    • forms of business ownership
    • legal requirements
    • business valuation
    • evaluating the purchase of an existing business.
  5. Franchising:
    • the franchise agreement
    • evaluating a franchise opportunity
    • establishing a franchised operation.
  6. Location analysis/leasing:
    • selecting a location
    • analyzing a lease agreement
    • buy vs lease decision.
  7. Financing a business:
    • sources of funds
    • lending criteria
    • negotiating a loan.
  8. Managing a small business:
    • Key issues in the areas of
      • marketing
      • financial
      • operations
      • human resources
  9. Importing:
    • getting started
    • paying for goods
    • Canada Customs
    • tariffs
    • Free Trade Agreement
    • import documents for goods
    • valuation: determining value for duty.
  10. Exporting:
    • to export or not to export?
    • the market study
    • making your first country visit
    • exporting entry strategies
    • promoting goods abroad
    • export financing
    • shipping goods: choosing the right transport mode.
  11. The Export Process:
    • five stages of exporting
    • export research planning
    • initial sales
    • expansion
    • investment abroad
  12. Quotation and Order Processing:
    • quotations
    • order processing
    • offers and counteroffers
  13. Arranging for Payment:
    • insurance
    • financing
  14. Preparing Goods for Shipment:
    • packaging
    • labelling
    • packing
    • marking
    • containerization
    • documentation
Learning activities
  1. Lectures
  2. Videos
  3. Cases studies
  4. Guest speakers
  5. Field trips
Means of assessment
Midterm Examination   15%
Group project and presentation   15%
Business plan and presentation   30%
Final Examination     30%
Class participation         10%
   100%
Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the successful student should be able to:

  1. assess his/her potential for an entrepreneurial career;
  2. describe the attributes, skills and knowledge required to successfully start-up and manage a new venture;
  3. evaluate a business opportunity by conducting a feasibility study;
  4. prepare a detailed business plan;
  5. describe and evaluate the legal forms of business ownership; and select the most appropriate form of business ownership in a given scenario;
  6. list and explain the primary factors to evaluate when considering the purchase of an existing business; explain and apply business valuation methods;
  7. define franchising; including explaining
    • the critical provisions of a franchise agreement,
    • the important factors to consider when evaluating a franchise opportunity, and
    • the key steps to establishing a franchise operation;
  8. describe the key factors to evaluate when selecting a business location;
  9. identify and analyze the critical provisions in a lease agreement;
  10. describe and apply effective practices related to small business management;
  11. list and explain important practical guidelines related to importing and exporting.
Textbook materials

Textbooks and Materials to be Purchased by Students

 

Forsythe, George R., Joan Mount and J. Terence Zinger.  Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development, Latest Ed., Prentice Hall.

 

FITT Skills 1: Global Entrepreneurship, Latest Ed.  Ottawa: The Forum for International Trade Training (FITT).

 

Selected readings and handouts related to importing/exporting.

Requisites

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer details for BUSN 3404
There are no applicable transfer credits for this course.

Course Offerings

Winter 2025