Assignments
Assignments of readings and other homework, including deadlines, will be posted here.
Winter Quarter:
WEEK NINE (Tues. Mar 2 – Thurs. Mar 4)
Practice Presentations – Tuesday AM, PM
Before coming to class today, please upload a copy of your practice presentation in the proper slot on the Moodle website. This will allow us to download it faster for your presentation.
Field Trip – Wednesday
Details to follow.
Seminar – Thursday AM
This week’s reading is Michael Gerber’s The E-Myth Revisited.
Writing Workshop – Thursday PM
Students in David’s seminar should come to seminar this week with eight copies of their fourth written essay (target 750 words, space and a half or double spaced so your classmates can jot notes between the printed lines). Students in Zoe’s seminar will review and help edit these essays.
See instructions in Week Two for more instructions on what kind of essay you might want to write.
Students in Zoe’s seminar should revise their fourth essay and bring a hard copy to submit Thursday afternoon (1pm).
This will be our last meeting of the writing workshop for the quarter.
Capstone Discussion – Thursday PM
If time allows, we will begin our capstone discussion today. This will begin with a review of everyone’s competitive maps, so be prepared to discuss them today.
(If any practice presentations remain, however, this will take precedence).
Our capstone discussion will continue next week on Wednesday or Thursday, as needed.
Current Events Readings – Done for quarter
Microeconomics – Done for quarter
================================================
WEEK EIGHT (Tues. Feb 23 – Thurs. Feb 25)
Finance – Tuesday AM
Zoe will lecture on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.
Please turn in your strategy group maps for the Olympia coffeehouses this morning. You may also post them in the Moodle portion of our website.
Current Events Readings – Tuesday, 1pm
See instructions from Week Two.
Microeconomics – Tuesday, 2pm
For all students
For Week Eight, read or review F&B Ch. 12 and 14. Spend no more than two hours per chapter completing the following (end-of-chapter) problems:
Ch. 11, pp. 320-321, #1-7.
Ch. 12, pp. 344-345, #1-7.
Ch. 14, pp. 393-395, #1-8.
Submit the problems you have completed (choose which problems you want to learn if you don’t have time to do them all) ideally today at the end of the ME meeting (4pm), but in any case no later than our class meeting Thursday afternoon Mar 4 (4pm).
Catchup Day– Wednesday
Whatever we need to catch up on today, we’ll do so.
Seminar – Thursday AM
This week’s reading is the second part of Collins and Porras, Built to Last, (pp. 115-end).
The supplementary articles for this week’s readings are Articles #6 and 7. (Citations for each are in the program schedule).
Writing Workshop – Thursday PM
Students in Zoe’s seminar should come to seminar this week with eight copies of their fourth written essay (target 750 words, space and a half or double spaced so your classmates can jot notes between the printed lines). Students in David’s seminar will review and help edit these essays.
See instructions in Week Two for more instructions on what kind of essay you might want to write.
Students in David’s seminar should revise their third essay and bring a hard copy to submit Thursday afternoon (1pm), as well as uploading a copy to Moodle.
Marketing – Thursday PM
David will do an overview of more basic points about the marketing mix (promotion, plus additional topics on pricing and place, a.k.a. distribution and retail as time allows).
================================================
WEEK SEVEN (Tues. Feb 16 – Thurs. Feb 18)
Finance – Tuesday AM
Zoe will lecture on company analysis and company ratios, which are useful for benchmarking.
The Kotler Ch. 22 reading will cover control measures, including ratios, that marketers use for benchmarking.
IF Zoe can’t make it today, we will try to finish up the coffeehouse presentations. On Wednesday, we will go through how to analyze this data using the Porter/Competition readings and slides.
Current Events Readings – Tuesday, 1pm
See instructions from Week Two.
Microeconomics – Tuesday, 2pm
For all students
For Week Seven, read or review F&B Ch. 10 and 12. Spend no more than two hours per chapter completing the following (end-of-chapter) problems:
Ch. 9, pp. 261-264, #1-9.
Ch. 10, pp. 290-293, #1-9.
Submit the problems you have completed (choose which problems you want to learn if you don’t have time to do them all) today at the end of the ME meeting (4pm).
Strategy– Wednesday
David will do an overview of the Entrepreneurial Thinking 1 slides. (This is partially review from last quarter, and partially new material for everyone). He will also finish up some material not covered on Product Strategy (Article #2) and Services Strategy (OPS 2 slides).
Seminar – Thursday AM
This week’s reading is the first part of Collins and Porras, Built to Last, (pp. 1-114). We will complete the balance of the book for seminar next week.
The supplementary articles for this week’s readings are Articles #3, 4 and 5. (Citations for each are in the program schedule).
Writing Workshop – Thursday PM
Students in David’s seminar should come to seminar this week with eight copies of their third written essay (target 750 words, space and a half or double spaced so your classmates can jot notes between the printed lines). Students in Zoe’s seminar will review and help edit these essays.
For those who have read the Speth book on capitalism and the environment, we encourage you to write about it in your essay this week (David’s seminar) or next week (Zoe’s seminar). This will earn you one credit hour of sustainability credit if you do so.
See instructions in Week Two for more instructions on what kind of essay you might want to write.
Students in Zoe’s seminar should revise their third essay and bring a hard copy to submit Thursday afternoon (1pm).
Marketing – Thursday PM
David will do an overview of some basic points about the marketing mix (pricing and place, a.k.a. distribution and retail). Some material on strategy may also be continued from Wednesday’s lecture on strategy.
================================================
WEEK SIX (Tues. Feb 9 – Thurs. Feb 11)
Marketing / Strategy / Finance – Tuesday AM
This morning, we will finish with everyone’s presentation of data on the Olympia coffeehouse industry.
David will then finish his discussion of the Operations 1 and 2 slides, and cover an additional topic related to Product Strategy (Kotler Ch. 12; review it!).
Zoe will lecture on profitability.
Note that David and Zoe may also continue these presentations during our Thursday afternoon meeting.
Current Events Readings – Tuesday, 1pm
See instructions from Week Two.
Microeconomics – Tuesday, 2pm
For all students
Finish reading (or reviewing) Frank & Bernanke Chapters 7, 8 and 9.
For today, complete the ME Homework Assignment (Ch. 5, 6, 7) posted in Moodle. Use enough graph paper to complete the assignment, and be sure to show your work.
For Week Six, read or review F&B Ch. 7 and 8. Spend no more than two hours per chapter completing the following (end-of-chapter) problems:
Ch. 7, pp. 197-199, #1-7.
Ch. 8, pp. 227-229, #1-7.
All of these problems (Ch. 7, 8 and the additional problems) are due today at the end of the ME meeting (4pm).
Guest Speaker – Wednesday
We will have a guest speaker from Traditions Cafe. Bring your questions.
Seminar – Thursday AM
This week’s reading is The Bridge at the Edge of the World. This is a challenging, provocative reading, so start early. For credit in sustainability this quarter, you should also undertake an essay on this reading.
Clarification – we have been tardy in posting the articles for additional readings this quarter. The dates when you should have completed these readings have been changed (see the program schedule).
For this week, click on the Moodle links to Articles #1 and 2 and read both articles (see our program schedule for citations for the articles).
Writing Workshop – Thursday PM
Students in Zoe’s seminar should come to seminar this week with eight copies of their third written essay (target 750 words, space and a half or double spaced so your classmates can jot notes between the printed lines). Students in David’s seminar will review and help edit these essays.
See instructions in Week Two for more instructions on what kind of essay you might want to write.
Students in David’s seminar should revise their second essay and bring a hard copy to submit Thursday afternoon (1pm). Uploading a copy in doc, rtf, pdf or odt format to our Moodle website is also recommended.
Ethics – Thursday PM
Zoe will make a lecture on ethics. We will also go over a multipart case study in class together.
=================================================
WEEK FIVE
Finance – Tuesday AM
For today, for your business plan, complete Abrams, “Sources & Uses of Funds”, p. 267 and “Breakeven Analysis”, p. 270.
Zoe will lecture on financial ratios and industry analysis.
Current Events Readings – Tuesday, 1pm
See instructions from Week Two.
Microeconomics – Tuesday, 2pm
For all students (new and continuing),
Finish reading (or reviewing) Frank & Bernanke Chapters 6 and 7.
For today, complete the ME Homework Assignment (Ch. 5, 6, 7) posted in Moodle. Use graph paper to complete the assignment, and be sure to show your work.
In addition, spend no more than two hours completing the following problems (which can be found at the end of the chapter):
Chapter 6, pp. 119-121, #1-8.
All of these problems (Ch. 6 and the additional problems) are due today at the beginning of the ME lecture (2pm).
For Week Six, read or review F&B Ch. 7 and 8. Spend no more than two hours per chapter completing the following (end-of-chapter) problems:
Ch. 7, pp. 197-199, #1-7.
Ch. 8, pp. 227-229, #1-7.
Documentary – Wednesday
We will watch Startup.com (2001). Bring your own popcorn.
Seminar – Thursday AM
This week’s reading is Mavericks at Work.
Writing Workshop – Thursday PM
Students in David’s seminar should come to seminar this week with eight copies of their second written essay (target 750 words, space and a half or double spaced so your classmates can jot notes between the printed lines). Students in Zoe’s seminar will review and help edit these essays.
See instructions in Week Two for more instructions on what kind of essay you might want to write.
Students in Zoe’s seminar should revise their second essay and bring a hard copy to submit to Zoe in Thursday afternoon (1pm).
Marketing – Thursday PM
Project groups should make a five minute informal presentation about their coffeehouse and their competitive benchmark (i.e., nearest Starbucks). Powerpoint slides will work fine, with an emphasis made on information and data provided, not clip art and graphics. The worksheets in Abrams Ch. 6, 7 and 8 should provide a good guide to the consumer and competitive behavior data needed.
That will help us complete a Porter Five Forces Model analysis together with the data presented by each project group.
===================================================
WEEK FOUR
HR – Tuesday AM
We have a guest speaker this morning, an executive recruiter. Please being your questions.
Current Events Readings – Tuesday, 1pm
See instructions from Week Two. We will do this again in class this week.
Microeconomics – Tuesday, 2pm
For students new to the program this quarter,
Finish reading Frank & Bernanke Chapters 4 and 5.
For each chapter, spend no more than two hours per chapter completing the following problems (which can be found at the end of each chapter):
Chapter 4, pp. 119-121, #1-8.
Chapter 5, p. 57, #1-9.
We will review and grade these problems in the optional Monday lab (Lab 2, Room 2211) on Monday February 1 from 1-3pm.
For all students (new and continuing),
Read (or review) Frank & Bernanke Chapters 6 and 7.
For next week, complete the ME Homework Assignment (Ch. 5, 6, 7) posted in Moodle. Use graph paper to complete the assignment, and be sure to show your work.
In addition, spend no more than two hours completing the following problems (which can be found at the end of the chapter):
Chapter 6, pp. 119-121, #1-8.
All of these problems (Ch. 6 and the additional problems) are due next week, Tuesday afternoon Feb 2 at the beginning of the ME lecture (2pm).
Field Trip – Wednesday
We are off for a full-day field trip to the business incubator and an auction house in Tacoma today. Meet in Parking Lot C near the Kiosk (see the campus map online for details) at 9am. Bring some money for lunch. We will return sometime between 4 and 5pm.
Seminar – Thursday AM
This week’s reading is the Goal (Eliyahu M. Goldratt). Read Chapter 25 to the end (pages 203-384).
Writing Workshop – Thursday PM
Students in Zoe’s seminar should come to seminar this week with eight copies of their second written essay (target 750 words, space and a half or double spaced so your classmates can jot notes between the printed lines). Students in David’s seminar will review and help edit these essays.
See instructions in Week Two for more instructions on what kind of essay you might want to write.
Students in David’s seminar should revise their first essay and bring a hard copy to submit to David in Writing Workshop Thursday afternoon. Students should also upload their first revised essay to the Moodle section of our program website.
Operations – Thursday PM
David will make a one-day only overview with slides of basic concepts, theory and tools used in Operations Management. Some additional concepts from Kotler on product and services will also be included. This will take place when we usually cover Marketing together.
====================================================
WEEK THREE
Note that the assignments are a bit on the light side for the long weekend so you can enjoy a little time off. However, DO expect several additional assignments to be posted Tuesday January 19 after they have been explained in class.
Also note we are up to version 1.3 of our Program Schedule, which we heavily revised on Sat Jan 16. Look for that in the Moodle portion of the website.
Finance – Tuesday AM
Read Abrams, Chapter 19, “Looking for Money” pp. 299-314. Focus on the Sources of Debt and Sources of Equity Financing, pp. 312-313, and start identifying local sources or options for each category, as well as pricing for each Debt Financing option. If you don’t know how much money you need for your venture, get rates and pricing for $50,000 of debt and for $250,000 of debt.
Current Events Readings – Tuesday PM
See instructions from Week Two. We will do this again in class this week.
Marketing – Tuesday PM
Note change in schedule to Tuesday.
Finish reading Kotler and Keller, Chapters 1, 5, and 8. David’s lecture notes can be downloaded as “Entrepreneurial Thinking 2” from the Moodle portion of the program website.
Over the next two weeks, we will do a group project on Olympia coffeehouses for informal presentation in the Marketing 5 session Thursday afternoon, February 4. To prepare for this assignment, read lightly over Abrams Chapters 6, 7 and 8. We will be completing all worksheets in the three chapters based on both field research and library research.
For additional guidance on Demand Measurement, Industry Analysis and Competition, refer to Kotler Chapters 4 and 11.
Microeconomics – Tuesday PM
For students new to the program this quarter, finish reading Frank & Bernanke Chapters 1, 2 and 3. For each chapter, spend no more than two hours per chapter completing the following problems (which can be found at the end of each chapter):
Chapter 1, pp. 20-21, #1-7.
Chapter 2, p. 57, #1-9.
Chapter 3, pp. 89-90, #1-12.
We will review and grade these problems in the optional Monday lab (Lab 2, Room 2211) on Monday January 25 from 1-3pm.
If time permits, also review the in-chapter exercises in the following sections:
Chapter 1 Appendix, pp. 23-33.
Chapter 3 Appendix, pp. 93-94.
(Note that the answers to these exercises are provided at the end of each chapter appendix.)
For continuing students, review the readings in the following chapters, particularly those chapters you had difficulties understanding last quarter. Additional homework problems for these chapters will be assigned for next week:
(Week 1) Chapter 4, pp. 97-124.
(Week 2) Chapter 5, pp. 125-148.
(Week 3) Chapter 6, pp. 149-174.
ME lecture time this week is truncated. David will try to complete a review of the Chapter 5 material in the remaining time available after Marketing lecture/workshop.
Additional homework problems will also be handed out in class next Tuesday for F&B, Chapters 4, 5 and 6. These additional problems will be due in Week Five of the quarter.
Guest Speaker – Wednesday
We have a guest speaker, Jackie Heinricher, also known as the Bamboo Lady. Be sure to attend and ask questions of this successful Greener grad and entrepreneur.
Seminar – Thursday AM
This week’s reading is the Goal (Eliyahu M. Goldratt). Read Chapters 1-24 (pages 1-202). We will finish reading the rest of the book next week.
Writing Workshop – Thursday PM
Students in David’s seminar should come to seminar this week with eight copies of their first written essay (target 750 words, space and a half or double spaced so your classmates can jot notes between the printed lines). Students in Zoe’s seminar will review and help edit these essays.
See instructions in Week Two for more instructions on what kind of essay you might want to write.
Students in Zoe’s seminar should revise their first essay and bring a hard copy to submit to Zoe in Writing Workshop Thursday afternoon. Students in Zoe’s seminar may also upload their first revised essay to the Moodle section of our program website if they wish.
Operations – Thursday PM
David will make a one-day only overview with slides of basic concepts, theory and tools used in Operations Management. This will take place when we usually cover Marketing together.
WEEK TWO
Finance – Tuesday AM
Review (skim lightly) Abrams, Chapter 16, “the Financials” pp. 237-282. Refer to any and all material pertinent to the spreadsheet assignment below.
For Tuesday, Jan. 12, hand in a hard copy (printout) of the Abrams spreadsheet with the following data correctly inserted into the spreadsheet:
Transfer the financial information from page 300 in Appendix I, the Business Plan, in The Republic of Tea. We are looking for every product line listed to be inserted into the spreadsheet. (Hint: each flavor of 3.5 oz. tins and each flavor of tea bags in tins is a separate product line).
Additional Hint: The columns of figures on page 300 are not well labeled. See if the following makes sense: for each column, from left to right, the labels are COGS (cost of goods sold), Whsle (wholesale price), GM (gross margin), SRP (suggested retail price), and Margin.
Current Events Readings (previously Environmental Scanning) – Tuesday PM
Find a recent article (a newspaper, magazine or journal article published in the last two weeks) you find interesting or relevant to your business venture. We are especially interested in any articles you find that you think present new Opportunities or Threats to your venture.
Bring the URL link or citation with you to class Tuesday; we will ask some of you to volunteer to do a short impromptu presentation on the article:
- What was interesting to you in the article?
- How did the article change your perception of the Opportunities or Threats to your venture?
Microeconomics – Tuesday PM
For students new to the program this quarter, please read Frank & Bernanke Chapters 1, 2 and 3. For each chapter, spend no more than two hours per chapter completing the following problems (which can be found at the end of each chapter):
Chapter 1, pp. 20-21, #1-7.
Chapter 2, p. 57, #1-9.
Chapter 3, pp. 89-90, #1-12.
We will review these problems at the optional lab on Monday Jan. 11 and then grade them all on Jan. 25. (Jan 18 is a holiday)
If time permits, also review the in-chapter exercises in the following sections:
Chapter 1 Appendix, pp. 23-33.
Chapter 3 Appendix, pp. 93-94.
Note that the answers to these exercises are provided at the end of each chapter’s appendix.
For new and continuing students, review the readings in the following chapters, particularly those chapters you had difficulties understanding last quarter. Additional homework problems for these chapters will be assigned for submission in Week 3:
(Week 1) Chapter 4, pp. 97-124.
(Week 2) Chapter 5, pp. 125-148.
Seminar – Thursday AM
This week’s reading is the Republic of Tea (Ziegler, Ziegler and Rosenzweig). Note from our program website Readings list that this book is not available at the bookstore.
Get an early start on this book as it is a bit longer than usual.
Writing Group – Thursday PM
Students in Zoe’s seminar should come to seminar this week with eight copies of their first written essay (target 750 words, space and a half or double spaced so your classmates can jot notes between the printed lines). Students in David’s seminar will review and help edit these essays.
This should be an integrative essay, relating your impressions and learning from the lectures, readings and other program activities so far to your previous life experiences. What do you think; what are your impressions, positive and negative; and what do you like or dislike about these new learning materials in the program? More importantly, how do you think this new material is relevant to your own experiences or plans related to entrepreneurship and sustainability in your future?
Marketing – Thursday PM
To help you complete your group business plan, please read Kotler and Keller, Chapter 1, “Defining Information for the 21st Century”, pp. 2-31; Chapter 5, “Creating Customer Value, Satisfaction and Loyalty”, pp. 118-147; and Chapter 8, “Identifying Market Segments and Targets”, pp. 206-233. These readings correspond to the slides in the Entrepreneurial Thinking 2 Powerpoint slides, which will be covered in the Marketing lecture in Weeks 1 and 2.
====================================================
Week Ten Assignments / Evaluation Week Requirements -
Business Basics (BB, Tuesday AM, PM) – Present your business plan with your group. Target 10 minutes for the presentation, plus 10 minutes for questions and answers. We will try to finish everyone on Tuesday, but some of you may have to present Wednesday if we run out of time Tuesday.
Be sure to submit your additional material prepared for the business plan to us in addition to uploading a copy of your group presentation. Do review the document “Elements, version 1.1″ (on our Moodle site) and plan on including as many of them as feasible in your presentation of your team’s business plan.
Finally, please download a copy of the Group Project Evaluation form from the Moodle website. Plan on submitting it to us Wednesday. It is difficult for us to be fair in your Evaluations of your work if we do not receive these from every member of your group. Note that submitting this completed form is required for program credit.
Last Day in Class (Wednesday, 11am-1pm) We have a guest speaker and a potluck meal together. Bring enough food to feed about eight people. Check Tuesday in class to make sure about the food you are bringing (we had too many chips being brought as of Week Nine).
Field Trip/Evaluations (Thursday) – The field trip for this quarter was canceled due to logistics and timing issues. Look for a trip instead in winter quarter.
Prepare your self-evaluation as well as your faculty evaluation (Zoe and David would both appreciate your evaluation). Note that you are required to complete both the self-evaluation and the faculty evaluation when you are leaving the program. Official forms for these evaluations are provided at this link:
http://www.evergreen.edu/writingcenter/evaluations.htm
Note that David and Zoe must submit your self-evaluation and your evaluations of us as faculty officially in our portfolios; that is why both documents are required for submission to your seminar faculty member (Zoe or David) at the end of each quarter. In other words, you must submit these to us in order to complete your program credit for the quarter.
We will discuss during our meetings with each of you Evaluation Week whether or not it makes sense for you to submit your self-evaluation form officially to the Registrar for your transcript.
For those that need to meet with us in Week 10 instead of Evaluation Week, you can meet with either of us Thursday by appointment. For those wanting to review the evaluations prepared by either of us, plan on meeting with us Tuesday or Wednesday of Evaluation Week, again by appointment.
Your Dream to Green Portfolio – Put your best written work from the program into a binder. Organize it as you deem appropriate (creativity and organization are good guiding principles).
Ideally, you would drop your portfolio off to us in our last class meeting Wednesday, but it may be more practical to bring them with you to your individual meeting with your seminar faculty member during Evaluation Week.
Finally, be sure to bring a copy of your self-evaluation AND your faculty evaluations for Zoe and David (separate ones for each) with you to your Evaluation Week appointment. This set of documents stays with us and will not remain in your Student Portfolio. Your Portfolio can be picked up at the beginning of next quarter.
Sign-up times for Evaluation Week appointments will be done Tuesday during lunch break (so it doesn’t detract from your Project Presentations). We will meet in Zoe’s or David’s office, depending whose seminar you attended. Zoe’s office is in Seminar II, D-2112, while David’s office is in Seminar II, D-4102.
Micro Economics (ME). – Done for the quarter.
Writing Workshop (WW) – Done for the quarter.
Seminar Reading – Done for the quarter.
Environmental Scanning (ES) – Done for the quarter.
=======================================================
Week Nine Assignments -
Business Basics (BB, Tuesday AM, PM) – Focus on preparing your team’s presentation of your business plan for Tuesday of Week 10. We will have each group do a practice presentation in class Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.
Be sure to review the document “Elements, version 1.1″ and plan on including as many of them as feasible in your Week 10 Presentation of your team’s business plan. Plan on a limit of ten minutes for your presentation, followed by ten minutes for questions and answers.
Micro Economics (ME, Wednesday). – Read Frank and Bernanke, Chapter 7. Work up to three hours on the end-of-chapter-seven Problems #1-7, pp. 197-199. Bring your solutions to the homework problems on paper to submit for credit on Tuesday Dec 1 (Week 9, 1pm). For full credit, PLEASE SHOW YOUR WORK on the paper you turn in. (Partial credit will be given for papers that fail to show how you arrived at the solution).
Writing Workshop (WW, Thursday AM) – Continue as per your schedule in terms of writing your integrative essays and serving as a designated reviewer (see previous instructions below). We will meet in seminar rooms and break out by groups.
Seminar Reading (Thursday PM) – Thursday afternoon we will have a capstone discussion of all of our seminar readings and guest speakers for the quarter. No additional reading or review of previous readings is necessary. (Do feel free to catch up on any readings you may not have finished, however.)
Environmental Scanning (ES) – Finished for the quarter; no further assignments.
======================================================
Week Eight Assignments -
Business Basics (BB, Tuesday AM) – Focus on preparing your team’s presentation of your business plan for Week 10. We will finish up the Powerpoint presentation on Entrepreneurial Thinking #1 Tuesday morning.
Be sure to review the document “Elements, version 1.1″ and plan on including as many of them as feasible in your Week 10 Presentation of your team’s business plan.
Micro Economics (ME, Tuesday PM). – Read Frank and Bernanke, Chapters 5 and 6. Work up to three hours on the end-of-chapter-six Problems #1-8, pp. 170-172. (For last weekend, remember, you were asked to work up to three hours on the end-of-chapter-five Problems #1 through 8, pp. 146-147). Bring your solutions to the homework problems on paper to submit for credit on Tuesday Nov 17 (Week 8, 1pm). For full credit, PLEASE SHOW YOUR WORK on the paper you turn in. (Partial credit will be given for papers that fail to show how you arrived at the solution).
Seminar Reading (Thursday AM) – Read all of Umesh Ramakrishnan’s There’s No Elevator to the Top for Week 8 Seminar.
Writing Workshop (WW, Thursday PM) – Continue as per your schedule in terms of writing your integrative essays and serving as a designated reviewer (see previous instructions below).
Environmental Scanning (ES, Thursday PM, after writing workshop) – Bring a citation (including author, title, source, and date) of the most interesting business-related article you’ve read in the past week related to your project group’s business venture OR the Dream to Green program themes to class Thursday morning at 11am. Turn this in to David. We will ask some of you to make an informal class presentation about your article on Thursday afternoon after seminar.
Please don’t bring copies of your article anymore; it’s easier just to have the citation typed up on a regular piece of 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper. Hint: Check the Writing Center online or the Owl Center at Purdue University for assistance on proper citation of newspaper or journal articles.
======================================================
Week Six Assignments (broken up by meeting; see the latest version of the Course Schedule for details).
Note: two changes to our schedule this week -
First, a surprise (unannounced) Guest Speaker – Tuesday 2pm in class via video downlink.
Second, ME this week is shifted to Wednesday due to the guest speaker.
Our latest version of the Program Schedule (v1.9) was posted Friday, Oct 30 at 9pm to reflect these and other changes to our schedule. Download it for future reference.
Business Basics (BB, Tuesday AM and PM) – Continue with last week’s reading assignments. A list of elements from Abrams book is posted on the Moodle website; be sure to review those elements and plan on including all of them in your Week 10 Presentation of your team’s business plan. Hint: the quality of your presentation in part will depend on how well you integrate these elements together to tell the story of how you plan on starting up your new venture.
In your project groups, complete the “Facilities” and “Other Operational Issues” worksheets in Abrams, Successful Business Plan, pp. 158 and 174, respectively by Thursday PM, November 5. (Note these are included on the list of elements to include in your Week 10 presentation).
Micro Economics (ME, Wednesday). – Read Frank and Bernanke, Chapter 4, including Appendix (pp. 97-124). Work up to three hours on the end-of-chapter-four Problems #1 through 8 (pp. 119-121). Bring your solutions to the homework problems on paper to submit for credit on Wednesday Nov 4 (Week 6, 11am). For full credit, PLEASE SHOW YOUR WORK on the paper you turn in. (Partial credit will be given for papers that fail to show how you arrived at the solution).
Seminar Reading (Thursday AM) – Read all of Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko’s The Millionaire Next Door for Week 6 Seminar. Some related themes this week includes how wealth relates to entrepreneurship (or doesn’t), and how wealth figures in the thinking and planning processes of entrepreneurs.
Writing Workshop (WW, Thursday PM) – Continue as per your schedule in terms of writing your integrative essays and serving as a designated reviewer (see previous instructions below).
Do remember that you should submit your revised essay one week after it has been reviewed in your writing group (deadline Thurday PM at the beginning of class). If you are in Zoe’s seminar, submit a hard copy; if you are in David’s seminar, submit a hard copy and upload a copy online to the Moodle section of our website.
Environmental Scanning (ES, Thursday PM, after Writing Workshop) – Bring a citation (including author, title, source, and weblink) and/or a copy of the most interesting business-related article you’ve read in the past week related to your project group’s business venture OR your own personal business venture to class Tuesday morning at 10am. Turn this in to David. We will ask some of you to make an informal class presentation about your article on Thursday afternoon after the Writing Workshop.
======================================================
Week Five Assignments (broken up by meeting; see the latest version of the Course Schedule for details).
Program Schedule – We have made some major changes to the program schedule; be sure to download the latest version. For instance, on Tuesday, October 27, we will spend the entire day discussing Marketing and your Project Group Business Plan and End-of-Quarter Presentations.
Business Basics (BB, Tuesday AM and PM) – Read Abrams, Successful Business Plan, Chapter 2, “Getting Your Plan Started”, pp. 13-34; and Chapter 7, “Target Market”, pp. 87-101. For additional background on these readings and to help you complete your project group business plan, read Kotler and Keller, Chapter 1, “Defining Information for the 21st Century”, pp. 2-31; Chapter 5, “Creating Customer Value, Satisfaction and Loyalty”, pp. 118-124 only; and Chapter 8, “Identifying Market Segments and Targets”, pp. 206-233.
In your project groups, complete the “Start-Up Costs” worksheet in Abrams, Successful Business Plan, pp. 176-177 by Thursday PM, October 29.
Micro Economics (ME, no meeting in Week 5).
You have one week after the exam is posted to complete the take-home exam covering Frank & Bernanke, Chapters 1 through 3. Download the exam from the Moodle portion of the website. You will need to have access to a copy of the text to find the Review Questions and Problems assigned on the take-home exam. The take-home exam is due Thursday afternoon, October 29 in class (hard copy, please).
Seminar Reading (Thursday AM) – Finish reading Norm Brodsky and Bo Burlingham’s The Knack, p. 153 to the end of the book. We will discussing the best and worst Bottom Line points from the book and refine our rankings of the best and worst points in seminar this week..
Writing Workshop (WW, Thursday PM) – For those scheduled as essay writers, bring two copies of your essay to give to your Designated Reviewers at 10am Monday, and another five copies to share with everyone else in your writing group at 1pm Thursday. Note this change: produce an essay of 750-to-1000 words. Otherwise, all other instructions for previous weeks apply (see below).
Designated Reviewers: Instructions remain the same as in previous weeks – pick up your essays Tuesday in class at 10am, and be ready to discuss your reviews in the writing group Thursday afternoon.
Revised versions of essays from the Writing Workshop are always due the week after they have been reviewed. At the beginning of class Thursday afternoon, please submit a hard copy for Zoe, and a hard copy as well as a file version uploaded to the Moodle site for David. (Please upload your essays in one of the following formats: rtf, pdf, odt or txt. David’s laptop cannot convert wps format or MS Work files). If you can’t upload the file on your own, ask David or Academic Computing for help.
Environmental Scanning (ES, Thursday PM, after Writing Workshop) – Note change in assignment: Bring a citation and/or a copy of the most interesting business-related article you’ve read in the past week related to your project group’s business venture OR your own personal business venture to class Tuesday morning at 10am. Turn this in to David. We will ask some of you to make an informal class presentation about your article on Thursday afternoon after the Writing Workshop.
===============================================================================
Week Four Assignments (broken up by meeting; see Course Schedule for details).
Environmental Scanning (ES, Thursday PM, after Writing Workshop) – Note change in assignment: Bring a citation and/or a copy of the most interesting business-related article you’ve read in the past week related to your project group’s business venture to class Tuesday morning at 10am. Turn this in to David or Zoe. We will ask some of you to make an informal class presentation about your article on Thursday afternoon after the Writing Workshop.
Business Basics (BB, Tuesday AM) – Read Abrams, Successful Business Plan, Chapter 6, “Industry Analysis and Trends”, pp. 73-86. For additional background on this reading and on our Environmental Scanning discussions, read Kotler and Keller, Chapter 3, “Gathering Information and Scanning the Environment”, pp. 64-87.
In your project groups, start creating a draft version of all the worksheets and tables in Abrams Chapter 6 by trying to “fill in the blanks” with your “best guesses”, supplemented by any actual secondary data you can obtain. Over time, start replacing your best guesses with secondary data wherever possible.
Micro Economics (ME, Tuesday PM).
First, for the weekend of Oct 9-12, read Frank and Bernanke, Appendix to Chapter 1 (pp. 23-33) and Chapter 2 (pp. 35-59). Work up to three hours on the In-Appendix Exercises (pp. 24-31) and the end-of-chapter-two Problems #1 through 8 (p. 57). Bring your solutions to the homework problems on paper to submit for credit on Tuesday Oct 20 (Week 4, Tuesday afternoon session). For full credit, PLEASE SHOW YOUR WORK on the paper you turn in. (Partial credit will be given for papers that fail to show how you arrived at the solution).
Second, for the weekend of Oct 16-19, read Frank and Bernanke, Chapter 3 (pp. 61-94). Work up to three hours on the end-of-chapter-three Problems #1 through 10 (pp. 89-90). Bring your solutions to the homework problems on paper to submit for credit on Tuesday Oct 20 (Week 4, Tuesday afternoon session). For full credit, PLEASE SHOW YOUR WORK on the paper you turn in. (Partial credit will be given for papers that fail to show how you arrived at the solution).
Seminar Reading (Thursday AM) – Read Norm Brodsky and Bo Burlingham’s The Knack, pp. 1-153. We will finishing reading the remainder of the book next week.
Writing Workshop (WW, Thursday PM) – For those scheduled as essay writers, bring two copies of your essay to give to your Designated Reviewers at 10am Monday, and another five copies to share with everyone else in your writing group at 1pm Thursday. Note this change: produce an essay of 750-to-1000 words. Otherwise, all other instructions for previous weeks apply (see below).
Designated Reviewers: Instructions remain the same as in previous weeks – pick up your essays Tuesday in class at 10am, and be ready to discuss your reviews in the writing group Thursday afternoon.
Revised versions of essays from the Writing Workshop are always due the week after they have been reviewed. At the beginning of class Thursday afternoon, please submit a hard copy for Zoe, and a hard copy as well as a file version uploaded to the Moodle site for David. (Please upload your essays in one of the following formats: rtf, pdf, odt or txt. David’s laptop cannot convert wps format or MS Work files). If you can’t upload the file on your own, ask David or Academic Computing for help.
===============================================================================
Week Three Assignments (broken up by meeting; see Course Schedule for details. Note this week’s meeting schedule is different than all other weeks this quarter):
Business Basics (BB, Tuesday AM) – Read Abrams, What Business?, pp. 71-121. Also read Abrams, Successful Business Plan, Chapters 1 and 2. In your project groups, complete the “Basic Business Concept Worksheet” on page 3 of the Successful Business Plan workbook, to be submitted in class Tuesday morning.
Micro Economics (ME) - No meeting in Week 3; start preparations for Week 4 (Tuesday PM).
First, for the weekend of Oct 9-12, read Frank and Bernanke, Appendix to Chapter 1 (pp. 23-33) and Chapter 2 (pp. 35-59). Work up to three hours on the In-Appendix Exercises (pp. 24-31) and the end-of-chapter-two Problems #1 through 8 (p. 57). Bring your solutions to the homework problems on paper to submit for credit on Tuesday Oct 20 (Week 4, Tuesday afternoon session). For full credit, PLEASE SHOW YOUR WORK on the paper you turn in. (Partial credit will be given for papers that fail to show how you arrived at the solution).
Second, for the weekend of Oct 16-19, read Frank and Bernanke, Chapter 3 (pp. 61-94). Work up to three hours on the end-of-chapter-three Problems #1 through 10 (pp. 89-90). Bring your solutions to the homework problems on paper to submit for credit on Tuesday Oct 20 (Week 4, Tuesday afternoon session). For full credit, PLEASE SHOW YOUR WORK on the paper you turn in. (Partial credit will be given for papers that fail to show how you arrived at the solution).
Seminar Reading (Tuesday PM) – Read all of Scott Shane’s The Illusions of Entrepreneurship.
Environmental Scanning (ES) – No session in Week 3. Save your newspaper article until our Thursday afternoon meeting in Week 4.
Writing Workshop (WW, Wednesday PM) – For those scheduled as essay writers, complete a 2-3 page integrative essay (1000 word minimum) covering the program materials we’ve seen or read so far (i.e., seminar readings and media viewings). Bring two copies to give to your designated reviewers Tuesday morning at 10am. If possible, try to include a thesis, a point of view or an argument for your reader in your essay. On Wednesday morning, bring six additional copies to share with the other members of your writing group (including one for yourself).
For those scheduled to serve as designated reviewers (this week only), prepare a detailed critique of each of the two essays you will receive Tuesday morning. Be prepared to spend up to ten minutes discussing each essay in the workshop Wednesday, focusing on constructive feedback and a critique of the essay. At the end of your ten minutes, you are also expected to hand back your copy of the essay with written comments and editing, again with an eye to providing the author with constructive criticism and feedback.
Camp Seymour Team Building and Challenge Course (Thursday Oct 15, all day) – For those taking the van or carpooling, we meet in Parking Lot C and leave promptly at 7:30am (meet near the kiosk on the north side of the lot, near the walkway to Seminar II and the sidewalk to the Communications Building). Directions to Camp Seymour are posted in the Moodle portion of the website. We plan on arriving back on campus at approximately 5pm. Bring additional food and drink if you need it. Rain-appropriate gear is highly recommended. Expect to get wet and muddy. Plan on being physically and mentally active, though we will adjust to individual needs of participants as appropriate.
For those driving to Camp Seymour on their own, plan on arriving there not later than 8:45am.
Please pay the $44 fee for Camp Seymour by Friday, Oct 9 (end of Week Two) at Student Services.
=========================================================
Week Two Assignments (broken up by meeting; see Course Schedule for details):
Business Basics (BB, Tuesday AM) – Read Abrams, What Business?, pp. 1-70. Complete e-test on page 6 and bring your results with you to class Tuesday AM.
Micro Economics (ME, Tuesday PM) – Read Frank and Bernanke, Chapter 1. Work up to three hours on the end-of-chapter problems #1 through 7 on pp. 20-22. Bring your solutions to the homework problems on paper to submit for credit; we will work on them in the Tuesday afternoon workshop.
Seminar Reading (Thursday AM) – Read all of Tom Szaky’s Revolution in a Bottle.
Environmental Scanning (ES, Thursday PM) – Bring a copy of the most interesting business-related article you’ve read in the past week to class Thursday afternoon. We will ask you to share the article with your groupmates, and later submit the article and the citation in class for credit.
Writing Workshop (WW, Thursday PM) – For those scheduled as essay writers, complete a 2-3 page integrative essay (1000 word minimum) covering the program materials we’ve seen or read so far (i.e., Cronon and Schramm scanned articles, Communities of Learning DVD viewing, and/or Tom Szaky’s Revolution in a Bottle). Bring two copies to give to your designated reviewers Tuesday morning at 10am. If possible, try to include a thesis, a point of view or an argument for your reader in your essay.
For those scheduled to serve as designated reviewers this week, prepare a detailed critique of each of the two essays you will receive Tuesday morning. Be prepared to spend up to ten minutes discussing each essay in the workshop Thursday afternoon, focusing on constructive feedback and a critique of the essay. At the end of your ten minutes, you are also expected to hand back your copy of the essay with written comments and editing, again with an eye to providing the author with constructive criticism and feedback.
=============================================================
Week One, Readings for discussion in Seminar: (can be downloaded in Moodle section):
Cronon, William. (1998) “Only Connect: the Goals of a Liberal Education”. The American Scholar, Volume 67, No. 4 (Autumn), pp. 73-80.
“The Entrepreneur”, Chapter 4. In: Schramm, Carl J. (2006) The Entrepreneurial Imperative: How America’s Economic Miracle Will Reshape the World (And Change Your Life), HarperCollins, pp. 57-87.