MM313B: Applied Entrepreneurship B

Module code: MM313B

Module provider: Leadership, Organisations and Behaviour; Henley Business School

Credits: 40

Level: Level 3 (Honours)

When you'll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Professor Norbert Morawetz, email: n.morawetz@henley.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s): Module entry is through application only. Students on MM313A Applied Entrepreneurship can apply to the module by week 6 of term and present a case for being accepted to MM313B. Students will be notified of their eligibility for the module by week 8. (Open)

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded: IN TAKING THIS MODULE YOU CANNOT TAKE MM399 AND TAKE MM379 AND TAKE MM392 (Compulsory)

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 28 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module is for students who want to develop a venture idea they have started as part of the module MM313A Applied Entrepreneurship and develop it into an operating business.

Students will work continuously on their own business idea, learning as they experience the realities of entrepreneurship and business start-up. This may involve setting up a company, developing a prototype product or service, acquiring users and customers, raising finance, making sales, as well as managing and growing the start-up team.

Students will learn practical entrepreneurial skills, enabling them to be effective in both developing their venture and reflecting on their personal and business performance.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to apply key techniques in venture creation, such as: 

1. Developing and executing on business launch and go-to-market strategies.
2. Developing communication and marketing materials to communicate value proposition to potential customers and making (pre-)sales.
3. Identifying suitable sources of resources and acquiring resources to start and scale the business (for example through building partnerships, securing incubator space, raising finance, applying for grants, applying to accelerator programmes, incentivising founding members with equity, etc).
4. Setting business milestones and measuring performance against the plan.
5. Financial reporting including cash flow projections and management accounts.
6. The ability to direct your own learning through a process of continuous professional development.

Module content

This module is highly interactive and reliant upon personal initiative and self-direction. There are no lecture classes, but learning comes from the student’s experience of developing their entrepreneurial project, and reflecting on their experience. Students’ learning will include the following themes:

Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship
Sources of opportunity
Creative problem-solving and idea generation
Lean start-up
Customer development 
Achieving product-market fit
Marketing
Sales
Team-building and leadership
Business-model development
University spin-outs
Communicating (pitching) ideas 
Financial planning

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Self-directed experiential learning

This module is highly self-directed. Key learning comes from the student’s experience of running their own business and reflecting on their practice.

Supervisory team

A lead academic supervisor from the university will be assigned to each project. Students need to identify a professional from industry who will join their project board as an external advisor. And will also join end-of-term board-room presentation as an external assessor.

Progress meetings

The student cohort will meet fortnightly to discuss and report on the progress of their business (‘progress meeting’). The student must prepare a sprint report that details progress and achievement during the past 2-week sprint period and sets out milestones to be achieved for the next sprint period. Students must also document their entrepreneurial learning and business progress in a portfolio. Evidence might include documents such as a pitch decks, financial reports, marketing material, design wireframes, etc. The progress reports and entrepreneurial folio are assessed by the lead supervisor.

Board-room presentations

At the end of the term, students will present their projects in a board-room style presentation to members of the Henley Centre for Entrepreneurship and the external assessor.

Public pitch

Students are expected to deliver at least one public pitch/presentation of their business venture at HBS.

CPD

Every student needs to complete at least 30h of Continuous Professional Development related to entrepreneurial leadership, their project or their industry sector. This will include a combination of industry events, HCfE events, networking events, online courses, etc.

Study hours

At least 24 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students must achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Reassessment

Additional costs