Aims & Objectives of the Assignment
This unit provides students with an understanding of the definition and scope of entrepreneurship and an understanding of the enablers and barriers to business start-up.
Students will learn about the influence of national culture and economy on entrepreneurship and will explore the personal characteristics of entrepreneurs and the impact of personal situational factors, including education and background. Students will also learn about the role and importance of small firms to the economy, and about social enterprise and the social economy.
Students will also be expected to understand the balance of risk and reward in starting a new venture and they will investigate and reflect on their own entrepreneurial and enterprising characteristics. Examples of entrepreneurs and start-up organizations will be discussed and students will be expected to draw on local, personal and general knowledge together with their learning to be able to identify the characteristics of entrepreneurial ventures.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this unit, a student will be able to:
- Explore and illustrate the range of venture types that might be considered entrepreneurial.
- Assess the impact of small businesses on the economy.
- Determine and assess the key aspects of an entrepreneurial mind-set.
- Examine the different environments that foster or hinder entrepreneurship.
| Essential Unit Contents |
LO1 Explore and illustrate the range of venture types that might be considered entrepreneurial
Scoping and defining entrepreneurship:
- What is entrepreneurship? Defining entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial activity and enterprise.
- The differences between serial entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs and owner-managers.
The typology of entrepreneurship:
- Lifestyle and growth firms. Entrepreneurship in a corporate or public sector context.
- Roles and characteristics of micro, small and medium-sized organizations.
Social enterprise:
- Understanding social enterprise, social entrepreneurs and the growth of the social economy.
LO2 Assess the impact of small businesses on the economy
Where entrepreneurial ideas come from:
- Definitions of creativity and innovation.
- The main sources of generating business and entrepreneurial ideas.
- How businesses protect intellectual property rights.
The role and importance of small firms:
- The number and type of small firms and their contribution to the economy at national, regional and local level.
- Factors to consider: size, turnover, profit, rate of growth, innovation, sustainability and adaptability.
International aspects of entrepreneurship:
- How international differences impact upon business start-up.
| Essential Unit Contents |
LO3 Determine and assess the key aspects of an entrepreneurial mind-set
Entrepreneurial characteristics and mind-set:
- Research on personal characteristics of entrepreneurs and small business owners. Different lines of argument relating to characteristics of entrepreneurs such as are entrepreneurs born or made? Or can characteristics be learnt and adopted by anyone?
Skills set of the entrepreneur:
- The types of skills that typify entrepreneurs and how these skills differentiate from other organization managers.
Personal entrepreneurial tendency:
- Entrepreneurial characteristics and situational factors in a personal context, including family upbringing, lifestyle, cultural differences and personal motivation and drivers.
LO4 Examine the different environments that foster or hinder entrepreneurship
The factors that influence the decision to start a business:
- The range of factors that influence the choice to start-up a business, including personal background and education, national culture, economic circumstances and character traits.
The risks and rewards of business start-up:
- The potential rewards of business start-up.
- The risks and uncertainties of business start-up and how they can be mitigated.
In order to pass this unit, the assignment (that you present for assessment) needs to demonstrate that you can meet all the learning outcomes listed below.
| (LO) | Learning Outcomes |
| LO1 | Explore and illustrate the range of venture types that might be considered entrepreneurial. |
| LO2 | Assess the impact of small businesses on the economy. |
| LO3 | Determine and assess the key aspects of an entrepreneurial mind-set. |
| LO4 | Examine the different environments that foster or hinder entrepreneurship. |
This assignment consists of two parts:
Part1: “Entrepreneurial Ventures” covers Learning Outcomes 1 & 2
Business Case / Scenario (LO1 & LO2)
You work as an intern in a consultancy firm that provides advice and market intelligence to small business and new entrepreneurs. Your firm is going to arrange a “Small Business & Entrepreneur Show” with the aim to attract and guide new businesses by extending support for starting and running the business successfully. This would serve as a one window solution to small businesses for all their problems.
Your manager has asked you to prepare a research report which will consist of two parts. In part 1, it should cover the following aspects:
- The impact of different types of ventures including local, social, global, etc. on the economy of the country (locally and internationally).
- Explore and investigate the similarities and differences between entrepreneurial ventures.
- Use data & statistics to assess and critically evaluate the impact and importance of small, medium & large businesses on the development of an economy.
- Investigate and critically examine the scope, development and growth of entrepreneurial ventures both in public and corporate sectors.
You need to include a range of examples including at least one example for each type of entrepreneur.
A conclusion at the end of research report.
For doing this, you need to conduct small scale primary research including interviews, questionnaire and surveys from the existing entrepreneurs.
Part2: “Entrepreneurial Mindset” covers Learning Outcomes 3 & 4
The second part of your report is about “Entrepreneurial mindset”. For doing this part, you need to analyze the following 2 cases and submit your findings in your research report under Part 2. You need to cover the followings:
- Illustrate the scope of entrepreneurship covering one local entrepreneur, one global entrepreneur and one social enterprise and explore their situational factors, similarities and differences.
- Your report should also cover the shared entrepreneurial traits and characteristics and analyze and critically evaluate the background and experiences which can either hinder or foster entrepreneurship, providing specific examples to support your line of argument and apply it to both the given case studies.
- Assess and analyze the characteristic traits, skills and motivational drivers of successful entrepreneurs and apply it to Tom Mercer and Elizabeth Gooch. You can also support your arguments by other examples.
- Give conclusions that are drawn from comparing and contrasting both the entrepreneurs, Tom Mercer and Elizabeth Gooch, discuss about their backgrounds, experience and the extent to which it has influenced them.
