Foreign Entrepreneurship in China Syllabus for Fall 2013 Instructor: Location: Contact: Office hours:
Steve Hansen Old Guanghua building, room #113 (#111 on Nov 23)
[email protected] (mobile: 139 1136 8912) By appointment, new Guanghua building #443
Synopsis This class covers fundamentals of entrepreneurship from two angles: being an entrepreneur in China, and building a business outside one’s native country. The guest speakers for this class range from early-stage first-time creators to successful multiple-venture serial entrepreneurs. They include both native Chinese and foreigners in China. The cases cover a similar range of business issues, mostly focused on businesses in China. The term project calls on students to take their knowledge out of the classroom and into the working world, creating something that touches real-world customers or businesses. Through the term project, the guest speakers and the cases, the objective is to help you think like an entrepreneur, an approach to business that will be as useful for a leadership role in a large MNC as it is for starting your own business. Schedule Date
Speaker
Case / Reading
Due dates
1
9/14
tbd
none
Sign up for class website!
2
9/28
tbd
Praxis – setting up in China
Finalize group members; post group and (rough) topic on website; schedule group meeting with professor
3
10/19
tbd
Decathlon – using social media
Rough proposal
in China
4
10/26
tbd
Create a Stir – Korean Coffee
Final proposal
Shop
5
11/2
tbd
MarketWatch – branding
Progress report 1
6
11/9
tbd
Babycare – venture financing
Progress report 2
7
11/16
tbd
Sound Group China – Urban
Progress report 3
Waste
8
11/23
tbd
Phase
Separation
Solutions
Presentation
(PS2) – entrepreneurial growth
11/30
NA
[no class]
Final paper due
Teaching Method and Class Preparation You are expected to complete the required readings, attend class, and actively participate. Because this is a case method class, it is critical that you prepare thoroughly and be ready to take a position on the questions presented in the case.
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Grades 70% Term project 10% In-class presentations 20% Participation Office Hours & Contact I am available by email or phone almost any time, and in person by appointment (New Guanghua building #443).
Term Project Introduction For the term project, your job is to TRY something in the real world, something entrepreneurial and consequential. Here are some examples:
Sell a real product / service. Literally. Put it on the market. Refine it. Market it. Get real customers. Revise a business idea. Not just on paper, but by talking to people who would be involved in your business ecosystem. Show them ideas and get honest feedback. Pitch to a potential investor about a real idea that you've developed and need funding to expand / bring to market. Give advice to a company whose business you understand and who must make real-world and difficult decisions. This might take the form of formally presenting to the CEO.
Rules Make it real, not something just for school. You have to tell me what you plan (proposal) and then stick with it You have to document it (your final report) It does NOT have to be about China I encourage you to work in teams. Maximum 5 people. Deliverables & Grading There will be the following deliverables for your project: 1.
2.
Preliminaries: Each worth 5% of the total grade, so together they are 25% Rough proposal Final proposal Progress report 1 Progress report 2 Progress report 3 Option 1: Final paper + presentation Preliminaries 25% Final paper 60% Presentation 15%
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3.
Option 2: Final paper only Preliminaries 25% Final paper 75%
Choosing projects & teams You can either work on an idea of your own, or work on someone else's idea. Teams must be chosen by the end of the second class of the semester and cannot be changed after that, so please choose wisely. Why? Because there are only eight classes in the term and you need plenty of time to work together as a team revising your proposal and then delivering against it.
In-class presentations For every case, we will have a number of student presentations. Each presentation will address a key question in the case. Your grade on the presentation will be based on
Quality of content Quality of presentation
Each presentation has a maximum length, usually very short: 3-5 minutes. I will tell you in advance how much time you have.
Participation The TA will simply give a checkmark every time you speak during class discussion. In the end, the participation grades will be put on a curve: the more checkmarks, the higher your grade. Easiest ways to get a good participation grade:
Read the cases and analyze them so that you have questions to ask and comments to make Research the guest speakers so that you have intelligent questions
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Peer Evaluation If your term project has three or more people, you will be required to do a Peer Evaluation. It works like this: 1.
I give the group a grade for the project
2.
Each team member gives the other members a peer evaluation
3.
A peer evaluation of 100% means you think the team member did their fair share. This is the normal grade you would give to your peers when all are contributing fully.
4.
The peer evaluations are averaged (excluding the lowest score)
5.
An individual’s final project score = (Group score) x (peer evaluation)
Example A team gets a project grade of 90%. The group's members (Tom, Dick, Harry, Susan) evaluate each other as follows: Tom Tom
Dick
Harry
Susan
90
100
100
100
100
Dick
100
Harry
100
60
Susan
100
80
100
Average without lowest score
100
85
100
100
100
Apparently Dick did not do as much work as his peers thought he should. Tom gave him a 90, Harry a 60, and Susan an 80.
We exclude the lowest peer evaluation (60) and average the other two (80 & 90, ie 85%)
So his final grade is (group) x (peer) = 90% x 85% = 76.5%
The other final grades are all 90% x 100% = 90%
My general experience with the peer evaluation system: 1.
Low ratings are rare
2.
When low ratings are consistent, it is usually not a surprise to anyone on the team
In any case, please bring team problems to my attention early so we can resolve them. If your team members all think you did a terrible job, you will get a terrible grade!
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