Description
This paper presents the lessons learned during the establishment of an entrepreneurship course of the Curso de Especialização em Administração Industrial (CEAI)
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
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Make Meaning: An entrepreneurship course in an Industrial
Engineering Program
Marcelo Nakagawa (POLI/USP) [email protected]
Gregório Bouer (POLI/USP) [email protected]
Pedro Paulo Prata Borges de Paiva (POLI/USP) [email protected]
Abstract: This paper presents the lessons learned during the establishment of an
entrepreneurship course of the “Curso de Especialização em Administração Industrial”
(CEAI) offered by the Industrial Engineering Department of Escola Politécnica (Universidade
de São Paulo, Brazil). One of the most traditional executive post graduation programs of
Escola Politécnica, CEAI was established in 1978 and since then, more than 11,000 students
have joined the program. Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan is currently one
of 40 courses of CEAI and it has been offered since 2003 as an elective course. The first two
editions had neither caught major attention of students nor enthusiastic approval of those who
attended them. After adjustments in teaching approach, content and students participation, this
course has left the last positions among the available courses of CEAI and it has become one
of the most popular and the best ranked in terms of student evaluation.
Keywords : entrepreneurship, teaching, methodology, restructuring
1. Introduction
Although entrepreneurship courses are quite popular and well established in
universities in the United States (Katz 2003) and in some countries of Western Europe
(Wilson 2004), they are relatively new in academic centers based in emerging countries.
Basically, only in the last decade universities in emerging countries such as Brazil started to
pay attention to entrepreneurship education. Indeed, this attention has been mainly
concentrated in business-related majors.
Considering the general context of developing countries, the emergence of
entrepreneurship education has taken place in a moment when entrepreneurship itself has
emerged as a key issue in public policies (fiscal incentives, funding programs, bureaucracy
optimization), regional development (industrial clusters, business incubators, technological
parks, local seed capital initiatives) and in the public opinion (entrepreneurship as a career
option, entrepreneurship prizes and awards, specialized media ventures).
In this context, many academic institutions have developed seminal initiatives in
entrepreneurship education. The vast majority of these initiatives have started by launching a
chair whose purpose is to write a business plan. Honig (2004) explains that the popularity of
the business plan in entrepreneurship education has many reasons:
a) Its roots in strategic planning, which scholars feel comfortable to teach about;
b) It has a specific project-oriented output (business plan) that assists with student
evaluation;
c) It has been legitimized by the literature, as a must have document for
entrepreneurs.
As a result, business plan based courses have become the most popular curricula
format in entrepreneurship education. Honig (2004) examined the 2004 college catalogs of the
top 100 universities in the United States, and he found that 78 of them offered such courses,
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
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in which business plan was typically identified as being the most important feature of the
entrepreneurship course.
Despite the popularity of business plan writing courses, it is a myopia to approach
business plan curricula as a definite entrepreneurship course. Although business plan can be
part of an academic entrepreneurship program, they are not interchangeable. Honig (2004)
alerts that business-planning education are more deeply rooted in ritual than in efficiency,
particularly in the field of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship education cannot be reduced
only to a course that explains how to write a business plan, he says.
Bearing in mind the limitations of business plan based courses, actually they have had
a ground-breaking role in establishing the foundation stone of entrepreneurship education in
academic centers. Usually, a tentative entrepreneurship education venture begins with a single
and elective business planning course. Particularly, this approach has been quite common in
non-business majors such as science and engineering. When the course is consolidated with a
successful methodology and a group of specialized scholars, more sophisticated ways of
teaching entrepreneurship materialize (e.g. entrepreneurship centers, psychology-based
entrepreneurship courses, entrepreneurial orientation for established disciplines such as
marketing or finance).
In our case, it was not different. Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan,
whose purpose was to teach students how to write a business plan in an entrepreneurial way,
was first offered in 2003, as an elective course of Curso de Especialização em Administração
Industrial (CEAI).
Launched in 1978, CEAI is one of the most traditional executive post graduation
programs offered by Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil) through its industrial engineering
school (Escola Politécnica – Departamento de Engenharia de Produção) in partnership with its
foundation (Fundação Vanzolini).
Up to now, more than 11,000 students have enrolled CEAI and the vast majority of
them have majors in engineering and science-related fields such as chemistry,
pharmaceuticals, biology and physics. Interested in enhancing their managerial capabilities,
typical students age ranges from 25 to 30s and they occupy mid management positions in
medium and large corporations.
To conclude the program, students must get approval in eleven courses (at least seven
required courses and at most four elective courses) and write a final dissertation. Each course
has twelve weekly classes (3 months) and each class lasts three hours, totaling 36 hours. The
number of students per class has ranged from 20 to 30 and the minimum grade to pass the
course is seven.
Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan was planned to be the most
innovative course of CEAI. A new electronic learning platform was developed in order to
allow students to interact with online content (case studies, frequented asked questions,
question & answer tutorials, online message board, spreadsheets and guided tour to the
business plan topics), and with other students, teacher and tutor through chat boards and
electronic messages. To take advantage of such features, students had to attend six of twelve
classes virtually.
Despite the huge efforts in software development, content customization and
interaction process mapping, the first two editions of the course had neither caught major
attention of students nor enthusiastic approval of those who attended them.
Students of the first edition rated the course 7.1 (0 to 10 scale) placing
Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan in the third quartile of ranks when
compared to other CEAI courses. The second edition reached 5.7 grade, one of the lowest
rank of the program.
The easiest way would be to terminate the course. But the program coordinator, the
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
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teacher and tutor decided to make adjustments in order to allow the course to take off.
In this paper, we present some of the lessons learned in seven editions of the course
with special attention to the period between the first and the fourth editions, comprising the
course launching and the adjustment period. A brief chronological evolution of
Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan can be observed in the following table.
Table 1: Course editions and evolution of modus operandi
Period 3Q'03 1Q'04 2Q'04 3Q'04 1Q'05 2Q'05 3Q'05 1Q'06
Course Edition 1
st
2
nd
3
rd
4
th
5
th
6
th
7
th
Internet based
classes
50% 25% 16% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Traditional
classes
50% 75% 84% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Teaching
approach
Distance
learning
Distance
learning
Face-to-
face
Face-to-
face
Face-to-
face
Face-to-
face
Face-to-
face
Source: Authors
2. Justification
Despite the fact that entrepreneurship has reached strategic positions in public policies,
regional development planning and public opinion, the same is not fully true in the academia,
specially in non-business majors which have not realized that entrepreneurship education is
important for their future engineers, chemists or biologists to face new employment
challenges or capture new business opportunities. Indeed, in many leading business schools,
students keep on interested in challenging and well paid jobs in multinational giant
conglomerates.
Deliberately, academic initiatives in entrepreneurship education have started tiny; and
the business plan based course has been one of the first “entrepreneurial” courses introduced
in the curricula, usually in a tentative basis and by an open or elective course. If it fails in
getting students participation and reasonable evaluation, it can be terminated and other
entrepreneurship education ventures can be aborted. It explains the strategic importance of a
nice taking off to a pioneering entrepreneurship course in a consolidated academic program.
In this context, we believe that our lessons learned during the adjustment process can
be useful for both newcomers or established business plan courses and other entrepreneurship
educational initiatives, specially in non-business majors.
3. Method
This paper presents some of the lessons learned during the launch and adjustment
period of an entrepreneurship course. The authors of this paper, respectively the teacher, the
program coordinator and the program tutor, conducted the research on the course of the
adjustment process. It occurred mainly from the second quarter and the third quarter of 2004,
when it was planned and implemented the restructured version of Entrepreneurship:
Development of a Business Plan. Main data sources were periodical evaluation made by
enrolled students (twice per course edition), student self-evaluation conducted at the end of
the course and informal communication between educators and students.
The research process mentioned above has typical elements of an Action Research
(AR). According to Coughlan and Coghlan (2002), several broad characteristics define AR:
a) Research in action, rather than research about action;
b) Participative;
c) Concurrent with action;
d) A sequence of events and an approach to problem solving.
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
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In our study, we have conducted the research at the same time we were dealing with
the researched issue (entrepreneurship course turnaround). We also took into consideration
what Coughlan and Coghlan (2002) call AR cyclical four-step process: planning, taking
action and evaluating the action, leading to further planning and so on.
4. Launch and adjustment process
Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan was first offered in the 3
rd
quarter
of 2003. It was planned to be the most innovative course of CEAI. The main purpose of the
course was to tech students to write a business plan. To help them, a new electronic learning
platform was developed. It had allowed students to interact with online content (case studies,
frequented asked questions, question & answer tutorials, online message board, spreadsheets
and guided tour to the business plan topics), and with other students, teacher and tutor through
chat boards and electronic messages. To take advantage of such features, students had to
attend six of twelve classes virtually.
Despite all efforts in developing a new platform to help students to develop an
entrepreneurial business plan, the first two editions of Entrepreneurship: Development of a
Business Plan failed in getting students approval and participation and the course had to be
restructured.
To restructure the course, we have decided to join what Honig (2004) called
“conventional entrepreneurship business planning education” to what McAdam & Leitch
(2005) defined as “active learning in entrepreneurship education”. The first two editions of
the course were typical “conventional entrepreneurship business planning education” if we
considered that they were structured in such a way that students may interpret
entrepreneurship as a linear process according to a step-by-step development of a business
plan. The new modified version of Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan
considered the active participation of students in generating discussions and in evaluating
works of their classmates and their own tasks. This new approach has created an open and
dynamic environment for discussing business planning in an entrepreneurial way.
In a such way, we tried to deal with the two dimensions mentioned by Nonaka (1994)
in the process of knowledge creation: explicit and tacit knowledge. According to this author
(Nonaka 1994, p 16), while “explicit” or codified knowledge refers to knowledge that is
transmittable in formal, systematic language, the “tacit” knowledge has a personal quality,
which makes it hard to formalize and communicate. Nonaka (1994) mentions that tacit
knowledge is deeply rooted in action, commitment, and involvement in a specified context.
Our first challenge was to deal with the modus operandi to be adopted. And the initial
change concentrated in reducing the number of internet-based classes. In the first two edition,
six of twelve classes of Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan were based on
distance learning tools, where students interacted with an e- learning platform. By answering
questions raised by the platform, analyzing cases and filling forms, students could develop
their business plans. Questions could be answered by an online FAQ (frequent asked
questions) tutorial, by the teacher who was available by chat according to a scheduled agenda
and by a tutor who could be contacted by chat, message board or electronic message.
As the virtual platform had not got significant approval of students (average grade of
6.0 out of 10.0) and the distance learning features such as chat and message board had
obtained modest student evaluations (average grades of 4.3 and 4.8, respectively), we decided
to reduce the number of virtual classes (see Table 1) and increase the number of traditional
face-to-face classes. Since the fourth edition, all classes have been face-to- face based.
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
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Table 2: Syllabus comparison
Original version After turnaround
1. Course presentation (F)
2. Business concept: products and
services (D)
3. Strategy, market and competition (D)
4. Marketing and sales (D)
5. Team and operations (D)
6. Financial planning (D)
7. Fund raising and valuation (D)
8. Working session (F)
9. Working session (F)
10. Invited lecturer (F)
11. Working session (F)
12. Business plan presentation (F)
1. Course presentation and introduction
to entrepreneurship I (F)
2. Introduction to entrepreneurship II (F)
3. Business concept: products and
services (F)
4. Strategy, market and competition (F)
5. Marketing and sales (F)
6. Team, operations and business model
(F)
7. Financial planning (F)
8. Lecture of entrepreneur (F)
9. Business plan review (F)
10. Fund raising and valuation (F)
11. Executive summary (F)
12. Business plan presentation (F)
Notes: F = Face-to-face class D = Distance learning
This decision allowed us to introduce new information content and new features of
active learning. Moreover, Nonaka (1994) clarifies that interactions between individuals, such
as the face-to- face classes, typically plays a critical role in the amplification and development
of new knowledge.
Core body of information of business planning was maintained and the virtual
platform was adopted as a “learning center” where students could interact with online
information to improve explicit knowledge of business planning. It has also been used by
students to upload required homework and receive individual feedbacks of their progress.
During the first edition of the newly modified course (in fact, the third edition –
3Q’04), students were allowed to follow the original version. In other words, students could
develop their business plan entirely through the virtual platform. Attendance at the face-to-
face classes was not compulsory for those who chose the original version.
The second challenge was more complex to solve. Considering that the name of the
course was Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan, how to integrate the subject
entrepreneurship with an ordinary 3- month business plan module?
The easiest way to solve this issue was to eliminate the term entrepreneurship and
concentrate efforts in the formal business planning topics. But it would get rid of the original
essence of the course, which was to help students to adopt a “more” entrepreneurial discipline
in their career development through business planning skills. In addition, this modification
could place the course in the “more of the same” discussion if compared with other CEAI
courses where elements of business planning are also discussed.
In order to add the entrepreneurship concept to the syllabus of Entrepreneurship:
Development of a Business Plan two new major changes were made. The first one was
concerned about how to motivate students to believe in entrepreneurship. The second change
handled how to let students experience the alternative entrepreneurial orientation.
Keeping in mind these points of reference and the academic limitations, a new scope
was designed to restructure the course as observed in the next figure.
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
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Figure 1: New course scope after turnaround
Source: Authors
In this new scope, at first, students must believe that entrepreneurship makes sense for
them. In the original scope, we observed a modest level of motivation (6.0 average grade)
when asked if the acquired knowledge had potential application for them. For this reason, the
three classes of the modified course are dedicated to inspire students to act as entrepreneurs
by working three enthusiastic aspects:
a) Personal relevance: Students are invited to discuss seriously the real role of
entrepreneurs for countries: Why ten of the ten biggest US companies were
founded by entrepreneurs while in Brazil this figure falls to only two
companies; why the newest fast growing companies are typical entrepreneurial
companies, and so on.
Students are also invited to chat why entrepreneurship can make sense for
them; why they were educated to get a good job; what is the quality of their
employment now and in the future; why it is necessary to think about a “plan
B”; why do they live for.
b) Innovative company with meaning: Students must believe that are many real
business opportunities and that they are able to develop innovative ways to
capture them. In addition, students ought to create a business concept that takes
advantage of the identified opportunity. In special, this business idea must
make meaning for them. And make meaning for an entrepreneur is not about
money, power or prestige according to Kawasaki (2004). In his book The art of
the start, Kawazaki (2004) says that among the meanings of “meaning” are to:
?? Make the world a better place;
?? Increase the quality of life;
?? Right a terrible wrong;
?? Prevent the end of something good.
Personal relevance
Innovative company with
meaning
Slingshot approach
• Business description
• Strategy
• Market & competition
analysis
• Marketing & sales
• Team & business model
• Financial planning
• Valuation
• Executive Summary
Alternative
Entrepreneurial
Orientation
Motivation Business planning New option
Original version scope
New scope after turnaround
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Danko (2005) has also raised the question of reframing entrepreneurship as a
social change agent. This author has demonstrated that when there is a shift in
mindset away from a transactional view of the role of business in society to a
transformational one, many students engage the process of entrepreneurship in
a personally meaningful way.
In our case, innovation and make meaning discussions have brought new
motivational factors to students start thinking about entrepreneurship.
c) Slingshot approach: Usually students learn “how to use bazookas” by studying
strategies of global giant companies. Although examples of Coca-Cola and
Unilever are quite interesting, entrepreneurs must craft strategies with few and
limited resources. In this context, students must learn how to launch and
develop a company by using accessible “weapons”. Moreover, students find
out that the vast majority of the founders of global giant companies have
started their companies with almost “no money”. The slingshot approach
raised the personal relevance of entrepreneurship for our students because they
realize that bootstrapping could be a real option for them.
After including new motivational elements to the course scope, the second major
change to deal with was how to let students experience the alternative entrepreneurial
orientation. It was a real big challenge because the course was new and with no consolidated
connection with other courses; it has a limited amount of time (twelve classes with 3 hours
each); and it is attended at night (19:30 to 22:30) for students who work the whole day.
In this case no full solution was put into practice. Partial solution was delivered by
adopting a short theatrical play at the end of each class. Students are divided in pairs and each
pair is asked to identify an innovation opportunity for a given entrepreneurial and successful
Brazilian company. Each pair must prepare a 3-slide work presenting the entrepreneur history,
the company evolution and the innovation business idea. Before the presentation, the teacher
chooses a student that will act as a “devil” and other that will act as an “angel”. Role-play of
the “devil” is to find reasons why the business idea will go wrong, and the “angel” has to
support the proposed innovation. Initially, the pair interacts with the “devil” and “angel”; and
after with the entire class. The purpose of this play is let students to:
a) Identify innovation opportunities for a successful company;
b) Model and plan the opportunity;
c) Be in touch with inspiring histories of Brazilian entrepreneurs and companies;
d) Develop a persuasive presentation;
e) Train elevator pitch;
f) Test an idea in public;
g) Deal with unfavorable judgments;
This theatrical play has also helped students in enhancing skills to present their
business plans in the last class, when analysts of venture capital firms are invited to judge
“entrepreneurs” and their plans. At this point, Nonaka (1994) says that “hands on”
experiences are decisive to individuals accumulate “tacit” knowledge and that quality of this
knowledge is determined by the embodiment of knowledge through a deep personal
commitment into bodily experience.
Evaluation of students was the last key modification conducted during the turnaround
process. In the first two editions of the course, students were evaluated by the teacher taking
into account their business plan written during the course. The new evaluation method
adopted from the third edition has considered the average of three grades: 1) Grade given by
invited analysts to business plan presentations at the last class; 2) Teacher evaluation
considering student’s contributions; and 3) Student self-assessment.
In the case of student self-assessment, students must identify the major strengthen of
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
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the plan he/she developed, the three main weaknesses and how to solve them. At the end of
the assessment, student must evaluate their plan by rating a grade from zero to ten.
5. Lessons Learned
Taking into consideration the course evaluation and popularity among CEAI students,
the turnaround process has succeeded. Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan left
the last positions in 3Q’03 and 1Q’04 to reach the leading ranks from the 3Q’04 as observed
in the next figure.
Figure 2: Historical course evaluation and popularity
Source: Authors
In addition, the number of enrolled students has increased steadily after the turnaround
process. Furthermore, the course has become popular among students by mouth-to- mouth
advertising made by alumni; and it has placed itself as one of “first choice” courses even
though it is an elective option.
Five editions after the turnaround process, it is possible to list some lessons learned.
1) Students must have a reason to believe in entrepreneurship
The “build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door” lesson
was also valid for our course. Although entrepreneurship had a clear value for us
(educators) the same was not valid for students. They were more interested in
enhancing their careers as employees than establishing their own new business.
For this reason, we have started to spend a good time (class #1 and #2) in
explaining that entrepreneurship has a real importance for students from the point
of view of necessity and opportunity. A “plan B” in case of unemployment is the
critical concern when the necessity point of view is considered. But the most
important issue for our students has been taking advantage of the opportunity point
of view. Students are invited to identify and analyze new business opportunities.
The opportunities can be linked to a solution of a real problem, an innovative way
to existing practices or something that students love with well defined market
demand. The purpose here is to empower students and let them believe that he/she
can plan the identified business opportunity.
Besides the popular way of defining entrepreneurship (set up your own business),
students have realized that entrepreneurship skills can also be applied in their
current jobs. Due to the intense increase of competition, they realized that
established corporations have started to support intrapreneurship initiatives and
Enrolled Students
Course Evaluation by students
10
8
Grade
G Gr re ea at t
Evaluation
GGoooodd
4
A At t t te en nt ti i o on n
6
A Ad dj j u us st tm me en nt t
P Pr ro oc ce es ss s
3rdQ'03 1stQ'04 2ndQ'04 3rdQ'04 1stQ'05 2ndQ'05 3rdQ'05 1stQ'06
24
21
12
17
21
26
32
7,1
5,7
9,7
9,3
8,7
9,7
8,9
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
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corporate entrepreneurs.
To advance to the next topics of business planning, our students must believe that
entrepreneurship makes a real difference for him/her.
2) Teacher should help students in strengthening an inspiring business idea
Students usually face many difficulties in selecting one single business idea to
develop a business plan about it. In our case, we let students choosing a broad
business idea, instead of identifying a clear business opportunity. It is quite
common students select a general business segment (a wine retailer, a restaurant or
a cosmetic company) as the “business idea”.
After this step, we help them to improve the business idea by presenting other
innovative similar ventures located in other regions and other non-related business
that can inspire students to develop new business models by merging strategies of
different industries. In addition, we help students to visualize the real value of
his/her business and how this value and its target market will change in the next
years. Here, Levitt’s (1960) article Marketing Myopia has central role in
consolidating their business opportunity.
Another root discussion with students is about why his/her company will make
meaning, issue raised by Kawazaki (2004). In our course, students learn that the
most common business can (and must) have a meaning. Make meaning, according
to Kawazaki (2004) has a huge power of motivating the entrepreneur him/herself,
employees, customers and partners. It is the easiest way to spread and consolidate
the mission and align strategy of nascent companies.
To go ahead in writing their business plans, students must be able to develop
companies with meanings.
3) Coaching approach in teaching business planning
In our case, we have nearly three months to teach business planning for students
with engineering or science academic backgrounds and therefore with few or no
knowledge of strategy, marketing, finance, accounting, human resources or
production management. Additionally, we want to improve entrepreneurship skills
of students who are really busy, by working during the day and attending classes at
night.
Due to these limitations, an intense customized educational program must be
developed for each student. In our case, besides being teacher, we act as business
consultant and personal trainer, demanding a passionate dedication to each one.
To make sense, examples in classes are be directly related to business developed
by each student. The same approach is adopted when we selected additional
reading materials.
To teach Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan we have acted as a
coacher of each student.
4) Development of creative and motivating educational tools to strength
entrepreneurial skills.
Traditional business skills and frameworks such as Porter’s 5 forces to analyze
market and competition, BCG model to assess portfolios or 4P’s framework to
develop marketing strategy are highly useful for us because they have helped us to
explain complex concepts.
Our virtual platform makes also a great contribution because its tutorial, FAQs,
“fill blanks” wizards and on demand case studies assist students in developing
business skills quickly and effectively.
But to strengthen entrepreneurial skills traditional business planning methods are
not enough. In our case, it was necessary to adopt new tools such as movies,
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
10
informal chats with real entrepreneurs, games, and theatrical plays.
We have used long films of entrepreneurial ventures to introduce the course. It
entertains students and generates an open and friendly room for discussing basic
entrepreneurship elements such as dreams, future visioning, leadership, creativity,
teamwork, and perseverance, among others. Short movies have been used to
introduce special concepts such as Kawazaki’s (2004) make meaning concept,
creativity or improvisation.
We have a special partnership with a non- governmental organization which
supports entrepreneurship in selected countries called Endeavor. Its associated
entrepreneurs are invited to tell their histories and chat with our students.
Games are used to motivate students in fuzzy issues such as choosing a business
idea, the business name or developing the brand character of the company.
Moreover, question-and-answer games are employed to challenge students to give
examples or remember content studied in previous classes. All games are rewarded
by small gifts such as chocolates, candies or wines.
A mix of well established business skills and creative educational tools have
helped us to teach complex business issues while we entertain students and boost
their entrepreneurial skills.
5) Business plan based course can also develop student entrepreneurial skills
Although business plan based courses have limitations when entrepreneurship
education is considered (Honig, 2004), we believe that it is feasible to teach
business planning with some typical elements of entrepreneurship. In our case, the
stronger the connections between both issues, the more powerful are the
synergistic results.
When compared the evaluation made by students of the original version (3Q’03
and 1Q’04) and the following modified versions, it is possible to note a consistent
improvement in assessments like the course relevance for student’s career
(personal relevance) and the new body of knowledge acquired during the course
(new knowledge developed) as observed in the next figure.
Direct observations on changes of student behaviors and their informal feedbacks
have indicated advances in adopting a “more entrepreneurial” discipline in their
lives.
Figure 3: Course impact on students personal development
Source: Authors
T Tu ur rn na ar ro ou un nd d
P Pr ro oc ce es ss s
no
course
9,6
9,8
9,2
9,8
9,6
7,7
9,0
7,3
9,1
9,4
0
10
3rdQ'03 1stQ'04 2ndQ'04 3rdQ'04 1stQ'05 2ndQ'05 3rdQ'05 1stQ'06
Personal
relevance
New knowledge
developed
grades
not
avail.
grades
not
avail.
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
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6. Conclusion
We presented here a brief history of our saga of teaching entrepreneurship and
business planning for non-business students of a post graduation program. We planned and
developed a cutting edge education platform to launch Entrepreneurship: Development of a
Business Plan. Although all previous analyses and detailed content development, we failed in
the taking off phase and we had to land the course for repairing.
After analyzing our faults, we were able to develop a new version of the course that
has finally taken off. Since then, course evaluations made by the students have reached
leading positions when compared to other courses of the CEAI program.
But the most important for us is that we have made meaning. When our course are
rated 9+ in course evaluation criteria such as “relevance for student’s career” or “new
knowledge acquired”, we are making meaning according to Kawasaki’s (2004) view. It was
the most important lesson learned from the turnaround process.
Finally, our students have realized that entrepreneurship is a discipline and it demands
a continuous self-development effort. Consequently Entrepreneurship: Development of a
Business Plan is not an end itself but just the beginning of a new way of personal, social and
economic development.
7. References
Coughlan, P. & Coghlan, D. Action research for operations management. I nternational J ournal of Operations
& Production Management, 22 (2), 220-240. 2002.
Cunningham, J. B. & Lischeron, J. Defining Entrepreneurship. Journal of Small Business Management, Jan91,
29 (1), 45-61. 1991.
Danko, S. Crossing Educational Boundaries: Reframing Entrepreneurship as a Social Change Agent. I ntEnt
2005, School of Management, University of Surrey., 2005.
Gershman, M. Getting I t Right the Second Time. New York: Management Books, 2000.
Honig, B. Entrepreneurship Education: Toward a Model of Contingency-Based Business Planning. Academy of
Management Learning and Education, 3 (3), 258–273. 2004.
Katz, J. The chronology and intellectual trajectory of American entrepreneurship education 1876–1999. J ournal
of Business Venturing, 18, 283–300. 2003.
Kawazaki, G. The art of the start. New York: Portfolio. 2004.
Levitt, T. Marketing Myopia. Harvard Business Review, July- August. 1960.
McAdam, M. & Leitch, C. Promoting Entrepreneurial Learning through Innovative Practices: The Role of
Active Learning in Entrepreneurship Education. I ntEnt 2005, School of Management, University of Surrey.
2005.
Nonaka, I. A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation. Organization Science, 5(1): 14-37. 1994.
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doc_800911624.pdf
This paper presents the lessons learned during the establishment of an entrepreneurship course of the Curso de Especialização em Administração Industrial (CEAI)
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
1
Make Meaning: An entrepreneurship course in an Industrial
Engineering Program
Marcelo Nakagawa (POLI/USP) [email protected]
Gregório Bouer (POLI/USP) [email protected]
Pedro Paulo Prata Borges de Paiva (POLI/USP) [email protected]
Abstract: This paper presents the lessons learned during the establishment of an
entrepreneurship course of the “Curso de Especialização em Administração Industrial”
(CEAI) offered by the Industrial Engineering Department of Escola Politécnica (Universidade
de São Paulo, Brazil). One of the most traditional executive post graduation programs of
Escola Politécnica, CEAI was established in 1978 and since then, more than 11,000 students
have joined the program. Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan is currently one
of 40 courses of CEAI and it has been offered since 2003 as an elective course. The first two
editions had neither caught major attention of students nor enthusiastic approval of those who
attended them. After adjustments in teaching approach, content and students participation, this
course has left the last positions among the available courses of CEAI and it has become one
of the most popular and the best ranked in terms of student evaluation.
Keywords : entrepreneurship, teaching, methodology, restructuring
1. Introduction
Although entrepreneurship courses are quite popular and well established in
universities in the United States (Katz 2003) and in some countries of Western Europe
(Wilson 2004), they are relatively new in academic centers based in emerging countries.
Basically, only in the last decade universities in emerging countries such as Brazil started to
pay attention to entrepreneurship education. Indeed, this attention has been mainly
concentrated in business-related majors.
Considering the general context of developing countries, the emergence of
entrepreneurship education has taken place in a moment when entrepreneurship itself has
emerged as a key issue in public policies (fiscal incentives, funding programs, bureaucracy
optimization), regional development (industrial clusters, business incubators, technological
parks, local seed capital initiatives) and in the public opinion (entrepreneurship as a career
option, entrepreneurship prizes and awards, specialized media ventures).
In this context, many academic institutions have developed seminal initiatives in
entrepreneurship education. The vast majority of these initiatives have started by launching a
chair whose purpose is to write a business plan. Honig (2004) explains that the popularity of
the business plan in entrepreneurship education has many reasons:
a) Its roots in strategic planning, which scholars feel comfortable to teach about;
b) It has a specific project-oriented output (business plan) that assists with student
evaluation;
c) It has been legitimized by the literature, as a must have document for
entrepreneurs.
As a result, business plan based courses have become the most popular curricula
format in entrepreneurship education. Honig (2004) examined the 2004 college catalogs of the
top 100 universities in the United States, and he found that 78 of them offered such courses,
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
2
in which business plan was typically identified as being the most important feature of the
entrepreneurship course.
Despite the popularity of business plan writing courses, it is a myopia to approach
business plan curricula as a definite entrepreneurship course. Although business plan can be
part of an academic entrepreneurship program, they are not interchangeable. Honig (2004)
alerts that business-planning education are more deeply rooted in ritual than in efficiency,
particularly in the field of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship education cannot be reduced
only to a course that explains how to write a business plan, he says.
Bearing in mind the limitations of business plan based courses, actually they have had
a ground-breaking role in establishing the foundation stone of entrepreneurship education in
academic centers. Usually, a tentative entrepreneurship education venture begins with a single
and elective business planning course. Particularly, this approach has been quite common in
non-business majors such as science and engineering. When the course is consolidated with a
successful methodology and a group of specialized scholars, more sophisticated ways of
teaching entrepreneurship materialize (e.g. entrepreneurship centers, psychology-based
entrepreneurship courses, entrepreneurial orientation for established disciplines such as
marketing or finance).
In our case, it was not different. Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan,
whose purpose was to teach students how to write a business plan in an entrepreneurial way,
was first offered in 2003, as an elective course of Curso de Especialização em Administração
Industrial (CEAI).
Launched in 1978, CEAI is one of the most traditional executive post graduation
programs offered by Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil) through its industrial engineering
school (Escola Politécnica – Departamento de Engenharia de Produção) in partnership with its
foundation (Fundação Vanzolini).
Up to now, more than 11,000 students have enrolled CEAI and the vast majority of
them have majors in engineering and science-related fields such as chemistry,
pharmaceuticals, biology and physics. Interested in enhancing their managerial capabilities,
typical students age ranges from 25 to 30s and they occupy mid management positions in
medium and large corporations.
To conclude the program, students must get approval in eleven courses (at least seven
required courses and at most four elective courses) and write a final dissertation. Each course
has twelve weekly classes (3 months) and each class lasts three hours, totaling 36 hours. The
number of students per class has ranged from 20 to 30 and the minimum grade to pass the
course is seven.
Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan was planned to be the most
innovative course of CEAI. A new electronic learning platform was developed in order to
allow students to interact with online content (case studies, frequented asked questions,
question & answer tutorials, online message board, spreadsheets and guided tour to the
business plan topics), and with other students, teacher and tutor through chat boards and
electronic messages. To take advantage of such features, students had to attend six of twelve
classes virtually.
Despite the huge efforts in software development, content customization and
interaction process mapping, the first two editions of the course had neither caught major
attention of students nor enthusiastic approval of those who attended them.
Students of the first edition rated the course 7.1 (0 to 10 scale) placing
Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan in the third quartile of ranks when
compared to other CEAI courses. The second edition reached 5.7 grade, one of the lowest
rank of the program.
The easiest way would be to terminate the course. But the program coordinator, the
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
3
teacher and tutor decided to make adjustments in order to allow the course to take off.
In this paper, we present some of the lessons learned in seven editions of the course
with special attention to the period between the first and the fourth editions, comprising the
course launching and the adjustment period. A brief chronological evolution of
Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan can be observed in the following table.
Table 1: Course editions and evolution of modus operandi
Period 3Q'03 1Q'04 2Q'04 3Q'04 1Q'05 2Q'05 3Q'05 1Q'06
Course Edition 1
st
2
nd
3
rd
4
th
5
th
6
th
7
th
Internet based
classes
50% 25% 16% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Traditional
classes
50% 75% 84% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Teaching
approach
Distance
learning
Distance
learning
Face-to-
face
Face-to-
face
Face-to-
face
Face-to-
face
Face-to-
face
Source: Authors
2. Justification
Despite the fact that entrepreneurship has reached strategic positions in public policies,
regional development planning and public opinion, the same is not fully true in the academia,
specially in non-business majors which have not realized that entrepreneurship education is
important for their future engineers, chemists or biologists to face new employment
challenges or capture new business opportunities. Indeed, in many leading business schools,
students keep on interested in challenging and well paid jobs in multinational giant
conglomerates.
Deliberately, academic initiatives in entrepreneurship education have started tiny; and
the business plan based course has been one of the first “entrepreneurial” courses introduced
in the curricula, usually in a tentative basis and by an open or elective course. If it fails in
getting students participation and reasonable evaluation, it can be terminated and other
entrepreneurship education ventures can be aborted. It explains the strategic importance of a
nice taking off to a pioneering entrepreneurship course in a consolidated academic program.
In this context, we believe that our lessons learned during the adjustment process can
be useful for both newcomers or established business plan courses and other entrepreneurship
educational initiatives, specially in non-business majors.
3. Method
This paper presents some of the lessons learned during the launch and adjustment
period of an entrepreneurship course. The authors of this paper, respectively the teacher, the
program coordinator and the program tutor, conducted the research on the course of the
adjustment process. It occurred mainly from the second quarter and the third quarter of 2004,
when it was planned and implemented the restructured version of Entrepreneurship:
Development of a Business Plan. Main data sources were periodical evaluation made by
enrolled students (twice per course edition), student self-evaluation conducted at the end of
the course and informal communication between educators and students.
The research process mentioned above has typical elements of an Action Research
(AR). According to Coughlan and Coghlan (2002), several broad characteristics define AR:
a) Research in action, rather than research about action;
b) Participative;
c) Concurrent with action;
d) A sequence of events and an approach to problem solving.
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
4
In our study, we have conducted the research at the same time we were dealing with
the researched issue (entrepreneurship course turnaround). We also took into consideration
what Coughlan and Coghlan (2002) call AR cyclical four-step process: planning, taking
action and evaluating the action, leading to further planning and so on.
4. Launch and adjustment process
Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan was first offered in the 3
rd
quarter
of 2003. It was planned to be the most innovative course of CEAI. The main purpose of the
course was to tech students to write a business plan. To help them, a new electronic learning
platform was developed. It had allowed students to interact with online content (case studies,
frequented asked questions, question & answer tutorials, online message board, spreadsheets
and guided tour to the business plan topics), and with other students, teacher and tutor through
chat boards and electronic messages. To take advantage of such features, students had to
attend six of twelve classes virtually.
Despite all efforts in developing a new platform to help students to develop an
entrepreneurial business plan, the first two editions of Entrepreneurship: Development of a
Business Plan failed in getting students approval and participation and the course had to be
restructured.
To restructure the course, we have decided to join what Honig (2004) called
“conventional entrepreneurship business planning education” to what McAdam & Leitch
(2005) defined as “active learning in entrepreneurship education”. The first two editions of
the course were typical “conventional entrepreneurship business planning education” if we
considered that they were structured in such a way that students may interpret
entrepreneurship as a linear process according to a step-by-step development of a business
plan. The new modified version of Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan
considered the active participation of students in generating discussions and in evaluating
works of their classmates and their own tasks. This new approach has created an open and
dynamic environment for discussing business planning in an entrepreneurial way.
In a such way, we tried to deal with the two dimensions mentioned by Nonaka (1994)
in the process of knowledge creation: explicit and tacit knowledge. According to this author
(Nonaka 1994, p 16), while “explicit” or codified knowledge refers to knowledge that is
transmittable in formal, systematic language, the “tacit” knowledge has a personal quality,
which makes it hard to formalize and communicate. Nonaka (1994) mentions that tacit
knowledge is deeply rooted in action, commitment, and involvement in a specified context.
Our first challenge was to deal with the modus operandi to be adopted. And the initial
change concentrated in reducing the number of internet-based classes. In the first two edition,
six of twelve classes of Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan were based on
distance learning tools, where students interacted with an e- learning platform. By answering
questions raised by the platform, analyzing cases and filling forms, students could develop
their business plans. Questions could be answered by an online FAQ (frequent asked
questions) tutorial, by the teacher who was available by chat according to a scheduled agenda
and by a tutor who could be contacted by chat, message board or electronic message.
As the virtual platform had not got significant approval of students (average grade of
6.0 out of 10.0) and the distance learning features such as chat and message board had
obtained modest student evaluations (average grades of 4.3 and 4.8, respectively), we decided
to reduce the number of virtual classes (see Table 1) and increase the number of traditional
face-to-face classes. Since the fourth edition, all classes have been face-to- face based.
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
5
Table 2: Syllabus comparison
Original version After turnaround
1. Course presentation (F)
2. Business concept: products and
services (D)
3. Strategy, market and competition (D)
4. Marketing and sales (D)
5. Team and operations (D)
6. Financial planning (D)
7. Fund raising and valuation (D)
8. Working session (F)
9. Working session (F)
10. Invited lecturer (F)
11. Working session (F)
12. Business plan presentation (F)
1. Course presentation and introduction
to entrepreneurship I (F)
2. Introduction to entrepreneurship II (F)
3. Business concept: products and
services (F)
4. Strategy, market and competition (F)
5. Marketing and sales (F)
6. Team, operations and business model
(F)
7. Financial planning (F)
8. Lecture of entrepreneur (F)
9. Business plan review (F)
10. Fund raising and valuation (F)
11. Executive summary (F)
12. Business plan presentation (F)
Notes: F = Face-to-face class D = Distance learning
This decision allowed us to introduce new information content and new features of
active learning. Moreover, Nonaka (1994) clarifies that interactions between individuals, such
as the face-to- face classes, typically plays a critical role in the amplification and development
of new knowledge.
Core body of information of business planning was maintained and the virtual
platform was adopted as a “learning center” where students could interact with online
information to improve explicit knowledge of business planning. It has also been used by
students to upload required homework and receive individual feedbacks of their progress.
During the first edition of the newly modified course (in fact, the third edition –
3Q’04), students were allowed to follow the original version. In other words, students could
develop their business plan entirely through the virtual platform. Attendance at the face-to-
face classes was not compulsory for those who chose the original version.
The second challenge was more complex to solve. Considering that the name of the
course was Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan, how to integrate the subject
entrepreneurship with an ordinary 3- month business plan module?
The easiest way to solve this issue was to eliminate the term entrepreneurship and
concentrate efforts in the formal business planning topics. But it would get rid of the original
essence of the course, which was to help students to adopt a “more” entrepreneurial discipline
in their career development through business planning skills. In addition, this modification
could place the course in the “more of the same” discussion if compared with other CEAI
courses where elements of business planning are also discussed.
In order to add the entrepreneurship concept to the syllabus of Entrepreneurship:
Development of a Business Plan two new major changes were made. The first one was
concerned about how to motivate students to believe in entrepreneurship. The second change
handled how to let students experience the alternative entrepreneurial orientation.
Keeping in mind these points of reference and the academic limitations, a new scope
was designed to restructure the course as observed in the next figure.
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
6
Figure 1: New course scope after turnaround
Source: Authors
In this new scope, at first, students must believe that entrepreneurship makes sense for
them. In the original scope, we observed a modest level of motivation (6.0 average grade)
when asked if the acquired knowledge had potential application for them. For this reason, the
three classes of the modified course are dedicated to inspire students to act as entrepreneurs
by working three enthusiastic aspects:
a) Personal relevance: Students are invited to discuss seriously the real role of
entrepreneurs for countries: Why ten of the ten biggest US companies were
founded by entrepreneurs while in Brazil this figure falls to only two
companies; why the newest fast growing companies are typical entrepreneurial
companies, and so on.
Students are also invited to chat why entrepreneurship can make sense for
them; why they were educated to get a good job; what is the quality of their
employment now and in the future; why it is necessary to think about a “plan
B”; why do they live for.
b) Innovative company with meaning: Students must believe that are many real
business opportunities and that they are able to develop innovative ways to
capture them. In addition, students ought to create a business concept that takes
advantage of the identified opportunity. In special, this business idea must
make meaning for them. And make meaning for an entrepreneur is not about
money, power or prestige according to Kawasaki (2004). In his book The art of
the start, Kawazaki (2004) says that among the meanings of “meaning” are to:
?? Make the world a better place;
?? Increase the quality of life;
?? Right a terrible wrong;
?? Prevent the end of something good.
Personal relevance
Innovative company with
meaning
Slingshot approach
• Business description
• Strategy
• Market & competition
analysis
• Marketing & sales
• Team & business model
• Financial planning
• Valuation
• Executive Summary
Alternative
Entrepreneurial
Orientation
Motivation Business planning New option
Original version scope
New scope after turnaround
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
7
Danko (2005) has also raised the question of reframing entrepreneurship as a
social change agent. This author has demonstrated that when there is a shift in
mindset away from a transactional view of the role of business in society to a
transformational one, many students engage the process of entrepreneurship in
a personally meaningful way.
In our case, innovation and make meaning discussions have brought new
motivational factors to students start thinking about entrepreneurship.
c) Slingshot approach: Usually students learn “how to use bazookas” by studying
strategies of global giant companies. Although examples of Coca-Cola and
Unilever are quite interesting, entrepreneurs must craft strategies with few and
limited resources. In this context, students must learn how to launch and
develop a company by using accessible “weapons”. Moreover, students find
out that the vast majority of the founders of global giant companies have
started their companies with almost “no money”. The slingshot approach
raised the personal relevance of entrepreneurship for our students because they
realize that bootstrapping could be a real option for them.
After including new motivational elements to the course scope, the second major
change to deal with was how to let students experience the alternative entrepreneurial
orientation. It was a real big challenge because the course was new and with no consolidated
connection with other courses; it has a limited amount of time (twelve classes with 3 hours
each); and it is attended at night (19:30 to 22:30) for students who work the whole day.
In this case no full solution was put into practice. Partial solution was delivered by
adopting a short theatrical play at the end of each class. Students are divided in pairs and each
pair is asked to identify an innovation opportunity for a given entrepreneurial and successful
Brazilian company. Each pair must prepare a 3-slide work presenting the entrepreneur history,
the company evolution and the innovation business idea. Before the presentation, the teacher
chooses a student that will act as a “devil” and other that will act as an “angel”. Role-play of
the “devil” is to find reasons why the business idea will go wrong, and the “angel” has to
support the proposed innovation. Initially, the pair interacts with the “devil” and “angel”; and
after with the entire class. The purpose of this play is let students to:
a) Identify innovation opportunities for a successful company;
b) Model and plan the opportunity;
c) Be in touch with inspiring histories of Brazilian entrepreneurs and companies;
d) Develop a persuasive presentation;
e) Train elevator pitch;
f) Test an idea in public;
g) Deal with unfavorable judgments;
This theatrical play has also helped students in enhancing skills to present their
business plans in the last class, when analysts of venture capital firms are invited to judge
“entrepreneurs” and their plans. At this point, Nonaka (1994) says that “hands on”
experiences are decisive to individuals accumulate “tacit” knowledge and that quality of this
knowledge is determined by the embodiment of knowledge through a deep personal
commitment into bodily experience.
Evaluation of students was the last key modification conducted during the turnaround
process. In the first two editions of the course, students were evaluated by the teacher taking
into account their business plan written during the course. The new evaluation method
adopted from the third edition has considered the average of three grades: 1) Grade given by
invited analysts to business plan presentations at the last class; 2) Teacher evaluation
considering student’s contributions; and 3) Student self-assessment.
In the case of student self-assessment, students must identify the major strengthen of
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
8
the plan he/she developed, the three main weaknesses and how to solve them. At the end of
the assessment, student must evaluate their plan by rating a grade from zero to ten.
5. Lessons Learned
Taking into consideration the course evaluation and popularity among CEAI students,
the turnaround process has succeeded. Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan left
the last positions in 3Q’03 and 1Q’04 to reach the leading ranks from the 3Q’04 as observed
in the next figure.
Figure 2: Historical course evaluation and popularity
Source: Authors
In addition, the number of enrolled students has increased steadily after the turnaround
process. Furthermore, the course has become popular among students by mouth-to- mouth
advertising made by alumni; and it has placed itself as one of “first choice” courses even
though it is an elective option.
Five editions after the turnaround process, it is possible to list some lessons learned.
1) Students must have a reason to believe in entrepreneurship
The “build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door” lesson
was also valid for our course. Although entrepreneurship had a clear value for us
(educators) the same was not valid for students. They were more interested in
enhancing their careers as employees than establishing their own new business.
For this reason, we have started to spend a good time (class #1 and #2) in
explaining that entrepreneurship has a real importance for students from the point
of view of necessity and opportunity. A “plan B” in case of unemployment is the
critical concern when the necessity point of view is considered. But the most
important issue for our students has been taking advantage of the opportunity point
of view. Students are invited to identify and analyze new business opportunities.
The opportunities can be linked to a solution of a real problem, an innovative way
to existing practices or something that students love with well defined market
demand. The purpose here is to empower students and let them believe that he/she
can plan the identified business opportunity.
Besides the popular way of defining entrepreneurship (set up your own business),
students have realized that entrepreneurship skills can also be applied in their
current jobs. Due to the intense increase of competition, they realized that
established corporations have started to support intrapreneurship initiatives and
Enrolled Students
Course Evaluation by students
10
8
Grade
G Gr re ea at t
Evaluation
GGoooodd
4
A At t t te en nt ti i o on n
6
A Ad dj j u us st tm me en nt t
P Pr ro oc ce es ss s
3rdQ'03 1stQ'04 2ndQ'04 3rdQ'04 1stQ'05 2ndQ'05 3rdQ'05 1stQ'06
24
21
12
17
21
26
32
7,1
5,7
9,7
9,3
8,7
9,7
8,9
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
9
corporate entrepreneurs.
To advance to the next topics of business planning, our students must believe that
entrepreneurship makes a real difference for him/her.
2) Teacher should help students in strengthening an inspiring business idea
Students usually face many difficulties in selecting one single business idea to
develop a business plan about it. In our case, we let students choosing a broad
business idea, instead of identifying a clear business opportunity. It is quite
common students select a general business segment (a wine retailer, a restaurant or
a cosmetic company) as the “business idea”.
After this step, we help them to improve the business idea by presenting other
innovative similar ventures located in other regions and other non-related business
that can inspire students to develop new business models by merging strategies of
different industries. In addition, we help students to visualize the real value of
his/her business and how this value and its target market will change in the next
years. Here, Levitt’s (1960) article Marketing Myopia has central role in
consolidating their business opportunity.
Another root discussion with students is about why his/her company will make
meaning, issue raised by Kawazaki (2004). In our course, students learn that the
most common business can (and must) have a meaning. Make meaning, according
to Kawazaki (2004) has a huge power of motivating the entrepreneur him/herself,
employees, customers and partners. It is the easiest way to spread and consolidate
the mission and align strategy of nascent companies.
To go ahead in writing their business plans, students must be able to develop
companies with meanings.
3) Coaching approach in teaching business planning
In our case, we have nearly three months to teach business planning for students
with engineering or science academic backgrounds and therefore with few or no
knowledge of strategy, marketing, finance, accounting, human resources or
production management. Additionally, we want to improve entrepreneurship skills
of students who are really busy, by working during the day and attending classes at
night.
Due to these limitations, an intense customized educational program must be
developed for each student. In our case, besides being teacher, we act as business
consultant and personal trainer, demanding a passionate dedication to each one.
To make sense, examples in classes are be directly related to business developed
by each student. The same approach is adopted when we selected additional
reading materials.
To teach Entrepreneurship: Development of a Business Plan we have acted as a
coacher of each student.
4) Development of creative and motivating educational tools to strength
entrepreneurial skills.
Traditional business skills and frameworks such as Porter’s 5 forces to analyze
market and competition, BCG model to assess portfolios or 4P’s framework to
develop marketing strategy are highly useful for us because they have helped us to
explain complex concepts.
Our virtual platform makes also a great contribution because its tutorial, FAQs,
“fill blanks” wizards and on demand case studies assist students in developing
business skills quickly and effectively.
But to strengthen entrepreneurial skills traditional business planning methods are
not enough. In our case, it was necessary to adopt new tools such as movies,
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
10
informal chats with real entrepreneurs, games, and theatrical plays.
We have used long films of entrepreneurial ventures to introduce the course. It
entertains students and generates an open and friendly room for discussing basic
entrepreneurship elements such as dreams, future visioning, leadership, creativity,
teamwork, and perseverance, among others. Short movies have been used to
introduce special concepts such as Kawazaki’s (2004) make meaning concept,
creativity or improvisation.
We have a special partnership with a non- governmental organization which
supports entrepreneurship in selected countries called Endeavor. Its associated
entrepreneurs are invited to tell their histories and chat with our students.
Games are used to motivate students in fuzzy issues such as choosing a business
idea, the business name or developing the brand character of the company.
Moreover, question-and-answer games are employed to challenge students to give
examples or remember content studied in previous classes. All games are rewarded
by small gifts such as chocolates, candies or wines.
A mix of well established business skills and creative educational tools have
helped us to teach complex business issues while we entertain students and boost
their entrepreneurial skills.
5) Business plan based course can also develop student entrepreneurial skills
Although business plan based courses have limitations when entrepreneurship
education is considered (Honig, 2004), we believe that it is feasible to teach
business planning with some typical elements of entrepreneurship. In our case, the
stronger the connections between both issues, the more powerful are the
synergistic results.
When compared the evaluation made by students of the original version (3Q’03
and 1Q’04) and the following modified versions, it is possible to note a consistent
improvement in assessments like the course relevance for student’s career
(personal relevance) and the new body of knowledge acquired during the course
(new knowledge developed) as observed in the next figure.
Direct observations on changes of student behaviors and their informal feedbacks
have indicated advances in adopting a “more entrepreneurial” discipline in their
lives.
Figure 3: Course impact on students personal development
Source: Authors
T Tu ur rn na ar ro ou un nd d
P Pr ro oc ce es ss s
no
course
9,6
9,8
9,2
9,8
9,6
7,7
9,0
7,3
9,1
9,4
0
10
3rdQ'03 1stQ'04 2ndQ'04 3rdQ'04 1stQ'05 2ndQ'05 3rdQ'05 1stQ'06
Personal
relevance
New knowledge
developed
grades
not
avail.
grades
not
avail.
XIII SIMPEP - Bauru, SP, Brasil, 06 a 08 de novembro de 2006
11
6. Conclusion
We presented here a brief history of our saga of teaching entrepreneurship and
business planning for non-business students of a post graduation program. We planned and
developed a cutting edge education platform to launch Entrepreneurship: Development of a
Business Plan. Although all previous analyses and detailed content development, we failed in
the taking off phase and we had to land the course for repairing.
After analyzing our faults, we were able to develop a new version of the course that
has finally taken off. Since then, course evaluations made by the students have reached
leading positions when compared to other courses of the CEAI program.
But the most important for us is that we have made meaning. When our course are
rated 9+ in course evaluation criteria such as “relevance for student’s career” or “new
knowledge acquired”, we are making meaning according to Kawasaki’s (2004) view. It was
the most important lesson learned from the turnaround process.
Finally, our students have realized that entrepreneurship is a discipline and it demands
a continuous self-development effort. Consequently Entrepreneurship: Development of a
Business Plan is not an end itself but just the beginning of a new way of personal, social and
economic development.
7. References
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Honig, B. Entrepreneurship Education: Toward a Model of Contingency-Based Business Planning. Academy of
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Katz, J. The chronology and intellectual trajectory of American entrepreneurship education 1876–1999. J ournal
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Levitt, T. Marketing Myopia. Harvard Business Review, July- August. 1960.
McAdam, M. & Leitch, C. Promoting Entrepreneurial Learning through Innovative Practices: The Role of
Active Learning in Entrepreneurship Education. I ntEnt 2005, School of Management, University of Surrey.
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Nonaka, I. A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation. Organization Science, 5(1): 14-37. 1994.
Wilson, K. Entrepreneurship Education at European Universities and Business Schools - Results of a Joint Pilot
Survey - September 2004. Available athttp://www.efer.nl/pdf/EuEntreEduPilotSurvey.pdf. 2004.
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