enterprise education practice based activities for encouraging the entrepreneurial mind

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STARTENT partnership

Bulgarian-Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry 26 Alexandrovska Str., Royal City Center, fl. 4, office 15 7000 Ruse, Bulgaria T.: +359 82 50 76 06/00359 82 58 97 44 F.: +359 886 897 744 www.brcci.eu ; [email protected]

Centro de Empresas e Inovação da Madeira | BIC Madeira Caminho da Penteada, Madeira Tecnopolo – 1º Andar 9020-105 Funchal – Madeira, Portugal T.: +351 291 723 000 F.: +351 291 720 030 www.ceim.pt ; [email protected]

Fundación Empresa - Universidad de La Laguna Avda. Trinidad, s/n. Aulario Antigua Torre de Químicas planta 0. Campus Central ULL 38204 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Gran Canarias, Spain T.: +34 922 319 200 F.: +34 922 319 197 www.feu.ull.es ; [email protected] Fundación Canaria Universitaria de Las Palmas - FULP C/ Juan de Quesada, 29 35001 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain T.: +34 928 458 020 / 928 459 604 F.: +34 928 457 478 www.fulp.ulpgc.es / www.emprende.ulpgc.es Instituto Tecnológico de Canárias S.A. Sede de Tenerife Plaza Sixto Machado, 3 38009 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain T.: +34 922 56 89 00 F.: +34 922 56 89 13 www.itccanarias.org ; [email protected] Politecnico di Torino Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 Torino, Italy T.: +39 011 564 6666 F.: +39 011 564 6329/ 0039 011 564 6319 www.polito.it ; [email protected] University of Ruse ‘Angel Kanchev’ 8, “Studentska” St, 7017 Ruse, Bulgaria T.: +359 82 888 465 F.: +359 82 845 708 www.uni-ruse.bg ; [email protected]

Nottingham Trent University Burton Street, Nottingham, NG1 4BU, United Kingdom T.: +44 (0) 115 941 8418 www.ntu.ac.uk ; [email protected] University of Cyprus 75 Kallipoleos Street P.O. Box 20537 CY-1678, Nicosia, Cyprus T.: +357 228 92 700 F.: +357 228 92 701 www.ucy.ac.cy ; [email protected] Union Européenne de l’Artisanat et des Petites et Moyennes Enterprises (European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises) Rue Jacques de Lalaingstraat 4 B-1040 Brussels, Belgium T.: +32 2 230 75 99 F.: +32 2 230 78 61 www.ueapme.com ; [email protected]

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Table of Contents

PREFACE ...................................................................................................................... iii

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK.............................................................................................. v

SECTION A: EDUCATE ‘ABOUT’ ENTREPRENEURSHIP................................................... 1

1 BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION .............................................................................. 2

2 SURPRISE GUEST SPEAKER ..................................................................................... 2

3 INVESTMENT PROPOSAL ........................................................................................ 3

4 BUSINESS ASSESSMENT PRACTICE ......................................................................... 4

5 BUSINESS IDEAS AND LEADERSHIP COMPETENCES ............................................... 4

6 BUSINESS IDEAS FORMATION ................................................................................ 6

7 BUSINESS INITIATIVE WORKSHOPS ........................................................................ 7

8 THE ENTERPRISING PERSON................................................................................... 8

9 JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT – YOUNG ENTERPRISE ...................................................... 9

10 WHAT DOES AN ENTREPRENEUR LOOK LIKE?...................................................... 10

11 AIM AT YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE ........................................................................ 10

SECTION B: EDUCATE ‘FOR’ ENTREPRENEURSHIP...................................................... 12

12 PRODUCTION SCHEDULING GAME ...................................................................... 13

13 “SELL” YOURSELF.................................................................................................. 14

14 MULTIDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION ................................................................ 15

15 START-UP BIZ/DATING ......................................................................................... 15

16 BUSINESS PLAN CONSULTANCY ........................................................................... 16

17 AUCTION SIMULATION......................................................................................... 17

18 THE SPIDER’S WEB ............................................................................................... 18

19 ENHANCING CREATIVITY ...................................................................................... 19

20 NEW PRODUCT DESIGN BRIEF.............................................................................. 20

21 INTERNATIONAL THINKING .................................................................................. 21

22 I AM REALLY GOOD AT… ...................................................................................... 22

Practice based activities for encouraging the entrepreneurial mind

iii

Preface Entrepreneurship plays a vital role in revitalising the regional, the national and the global economy and is the only way to drive economies towards prosperity, especially during economic downturns. There seems to be a positive relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth and this has fuelled the expectations for accelerating growth though innovation, technology development and job creation that can come from an entrepreneurial mindset (Rasmussen and Sorheim, 2006). It is this entrepreneurial mindset that can achieve these goals and as such education and especially Higher Education faces a big challenge; to foster entrepreneurial culture among young people and offer a coherent framework to support potential entrepreneurs in realising their business ideas. Higher Education needs to respond to this challenge and provide people with the capabilities necessary to innovate; to be able to see and pursue opportunities and take the risk and the responsibility for making things happen.

There is a debate on whether entrepreneurs are born or made. Success as an entrepreneur can be attributed to different factors: intrinsic factors such as greater or lower intelligence; levels of stimulus such as a more or less favourable environment; and extrinsic factors such as study of principles and real practice in entrepreneurial dexterity (Hindle, 2007). Therefore, it seems that entrepreneurship can be taught and developed if the right environmental conditions are created. This can be achieved by shifting the emphasis from passive to active and experiential learning. Changing the content and process of teaching entrepreneurship and creating effective programmes that can change the attitude of graduates towards entrepreneurship is a vital step forward. Traditionally, entrepreneurship education has concentrated on teaching the management principles for starting a new business. However, there is now a focus on more action-oriented initiatives which emphasise learning by doing.

Teaching entrepreneurship can be seen as either educating ‘about’ entrepreneurship by creating a culture of recognising the importance of entrepreneurship and its role and function in the economy; or educating ‘for’ entrepreneurship by influencing individuals’ intentions and attitudes towards entrepreneurship and providing them with the necessary skills to start a new venture. This Teacher’s Book of practice-based activities for encouraging the entrepreneurial mind presents a number of action-oriented activities, which are regularly used among the partners of the STARTENT project1. The aims of this book are to provide a first comprehensive guide to available action-based activities and to assist teachers in educating entrepreneurs 1 The STARTENT project contributes to developing the entrepreneurial culture of young people, and to improving entrepreneurship education in Europe. The project is co-funded by the European Commission, DG Enterprise and Industry under the call “Entrepreneurial culture of young people and entrepreneurship education.”

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and stimulating entrepreneurship. These practice-based activities are categorised according to whether they can be used to educate ‘about’ entrepreneurship or ‘for’ entrepreneurship. Table 1 presents the practice-based activities in each of these two categories, which are included in this book.

Entrepreneurs require a wide range of entrepreneurial behaviours, skills and attributes to respond to the uncertainties and complexities of everyday business challenges (Gibb, 2007). To develop these competences different, carefully tailored pedagogies can be used in teaching entrepreneurship. We adopt the entrepreneurial behaviours and skills identified by Gibb (2007), and link these with the different pedagogies presented in this book (see Tables 2 and 3).

Table 1. Educate ‘about’, and educate ‘for’ Entrepreneurship Educate ‘about’ Entrepreneurship Educate ‘for’ Entrepreneurship

1 Business Plan Competition 12 Production Scheduling Simulation Game

2 Surprise Guest Speaker 13 ‘Sell’ Yourself

3 Investment Proposal 14 Multidisciplinary collaboration

4 Business Assessment Practise 15 Start up Biz/Dating

5 Business Ideas and Leadership Competences

16 Business Plan Consultancy

6 Business Idea Formation 17 Auction Simulation

7 Business Initiative Workshop 18 The Spider’s Web

8 The enterprising person 19 Enhancing Creativity

9 Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise 20 New Product Design Brief

10 What does an entrepreneur look like? 21 International Thinking

11 Aim at your target audience 22 I am really good at


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How to use this book This book has been designed in such a way so as to facilitate the selection of an appropriate practice based activity according to the entrepreneurial behaviours and skills required to be stimulated. Table 1 can be used to identify the practice-based activities that are ‘about’ and ‘for‘ entrepreneurship. Table 2 and Table 3 can be used to identify the extent to which entrepreneurial behaviours and skills are stimulated. In Table 2 and Table 3 the number of asterisks (*) denote the extent to which the practice-based activities described in this book can stimulate the entrepreneurial behaviours and skills.

vi

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94.

1

Enterprise Education:

Practice-Based Activities for encouraging the Entrepreneurial Mind

SECTION A: Educate ‘About’ Entrepreneurship

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1 Business Plan Competition Leo Italiano, Emilio Paolucci, Alejandro Garcia, Emanuele Sandri

Politecnico di Torino, Italy [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],

[email protected]

Learning Objectives To help participants develop an entrepreneurial culture.

Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment The competition consists of two stages. In the first stage (Ideas Competition) the participants briefly describe their business idea. The best business ideas receive a prize in terms of services: free of charge participation in pre-incubation

activities such as tutoring and coaching by experts on developing a business plan.

In the second stage (Business Plan Competition) a full business plan is required. The winners of the first stage and new contestants can take part and compete for cash prizes.

Impacts/ Benefits These activities assist in the creation of new businesses and help to promote the growth and development of the local economic base. Furthermore, they raise awareness about entrepreneurship in young (and not so young) people.

Target Groups Entrepreneurs/SME owners, managers and employees, university students

Resources Syndicate rooms for tutoring and coaching activities

References Start Cup, Torino Piemont

2 Surprise Guest Speaker Ely Rodríguez

Fundación Universitaria de Las Palmas, Spain [email protected]

Learning Objectives To foster entrepreneurial spirit.

Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment University students or recent graduates present their experience in starting up their own companies. An important element of the experience is that the students attending the session do not expect the guest. They attend class as normal and


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only then discover that there is a guest speaker. Ideally the entrepreneur's background/education should be similar to that of the audience.

Impacts/ Benefits The impact of peer pressure: ‘If she/he did it, I can do it myself.’ This impact is doubled by the element of the ‘unexpected’. This activity is quite different to inviting students to attend a talk by an entrepreneur. In such cases, those who attend are already open to the idea of entrepreneurship, whilst those who have never considered it, or are even opposed to this spirit, would not go. It is precisely this latter group that we should target and there is no better way of doing that than having them listen unexpectedly to someone telling their story.

Target Groups Undergraduate students

Resources Classroom facilities

3 Investment Proposal Daniel Yordanov Pavlov, Svilen Kunev

Ruse University, Faculty of Business and Management, Bulgaria [email protected], [email protected]

Learning Objectives The students learn how to prepare an Investment proposal targeting two recipients: new shareholders in the firm; and investors/business angels.

Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment The students work in teams and are asked to identify a need. They are directed to find a solution for it by

developing an Investment proposal. During the final stage, business people are invited to assess their progress and choose where to invest.

Impacts/ Benefits The students develop investment proposals highlighting the areas that interest potential investors/business angels.

Target Groups University under/ postgraduate students

Resources Syndicate rooms for mentoring and coaching activities

Associated firms/business people References www.jabulgaria.org

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4 Business Assessment Practice Carlos Velázquez

Fundación Empresa Universidad de La Laguna, Spain [email protected]

Learning Objectives To assess external and internal factors of the business environment and form or exploit competitive advantages.

Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment The students are asked to perform a SWOT analysis of particular public companies within a specific industrial sector. They work in groups analysing different competing companies, then

present their results and discuss the importance of the main external and internal factors. Finally, they propose strategies for the future development of the companies they have analysed.

Impacts/ Benefits The students learn that a vital first step for every start-up or entrepreneurial activity is to asses the internal and external environment in order to identify key alternatives for the survival and success of the new business venture. They also learn that it is important for entrepreneurs to set realistic and achievable goals for their businesses. With the help of the group discussions students also practice some teamwork approaches and develop their leadership skills.

Target Groups University under/postgraduate students, new entrepreneurs

Resources Internet access, access to business and market databases and resources

5 Business Ideas and Leadership Competences Carlos Velázquez


Learning Objectives Students engage in brainstorming, leading to conceptualization and pre-viability analysis of business ideas. They connect with ‘every-day’ problems and find solutions which could lead to business activities. Furthermore, students evaluate their leadership abilities.


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Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment Duration: 8 hours Participants: 25

The workshop begins with a brief introduction to current socio-economic trends. Students are required to bring in digital photos in order to detect ‘every-day’ problems to discuss in class.

The analysis of the specific case starts by adopting a pessimistic point of view and then puts forward the opposite position. Therefore, all the business opportunities and threats are demonstrated. (30 min)

After the introduction students work on a detailed practical analysis, illustrating the theoretical terms with several real and current business models and focus on key concepts. The methodology will include personal attitudes and skills that entrepreneurs need in order to

increase their chances for success. (1 hour and 30 minutes)

Business opportunities Boot Camp: part I. Working groups of 4-5 students explore businesses idea generation chances through direct observation of ‘real life’. Each group will have two hours to organise its resources and move around a specific geographic area before presenting an idea to the class. (2 hours and 30 min)

Detailed analysis: part II. The students then develop a business concept to provide solutions. They may incorporate web-based information to enrich their arguments. (1 hour)

Group presentations: part III. The groups present their ideas and engage in debate thus enriching their original concept. (2 hours)

Impacts/ Benefits The students learn to observe ‘every day’ problems and translate them into opportunities. Furthermore, through self-directed group work their personalities and leadership abilities are developed.

Target Groups University under/postgraduate students, new entrepreneurs

Resources Digital cameras, transport tickets, internet access

References www.emprende.ull.es

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6 Business Ideas Formation Carlos Velázquez


Learning Objectives The goal of this activity is to work intensively on an initial business idea in order to improve it.

Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment DAY 1

Activity 1: Getting to know each other. Students find out about one another, their aspirations, experiences, professional fears, ideas, and expectations. This will be a dynamic and enjoyable activity. The intention is to show entrepreneurial spirit among the attendants, find out each others capabilities and their relation with the socio – economic climate. (1 hour and 30 min)

Activity 2: Desirability of self-employment. What are the requirements to launch a business? Where can we find business ideas? (2 hours)

Activity 3: Establishing a business model. Alexander Osterwalder’s method of Business Model

Generation is used as a guideline in this activity. Each business idea generated is analysed by an expert. (2 hours)

Activity 4: Business Model Draft. Each attendant has to do a business model self-assessment exercise. The goal of this activity is to work intensively on the initial business idea and improve it. (2 hours)

Activity 5: Sleep on your idea.

DAY 2

Activity 6: Analysing and improving the business model using the same methodology as in Activity 4. (2 hours)

Activity 7: Form results. Draft a feasible business plan. (2 hours)

Activity 8: Observations and conclusions. (30 min)

Impacts/ Benefits Students learn to understand the core of business models and their evolution over time.

Target Groups University postgraduate students, new entrepreneurs

Resources Hotel venue, associated business people, internet access

References www.emprende.ull.es alexosterwalder.com/


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7 Business Initiative Workshops Carlos Velázquez


Learning Objectives The goal of this formative activity is to support students in the creation of their own business plan, according to the business idea they want to implement.

Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment Session 1: Introduction / business model (4 hours). Task: Design prototype business model, following the Canvas methodology of Alexander Osterwalder and the "elevator pitch" concept. Adjust original ideas and previous attempts to form a business according to Osterwalder’s framework.

Session 2: Contrast of the business model (4 hours). Task: Write a hypothesis for each of the 9 parts of the business model. Find ways to test the hypotheses and assumptions.

Session 3: Review of hypotheses and contrast system (8 hours). Task: Talk to customers, distributors, suppliers, employees and partners. Research on the Internet or on similar proposals in other areas applicable to the proposed outcome document of contrast: financial and market plan.

Session 4: Analysis of the review session (8 hours). Task: review the documents of the business model: the team, storytelling, the Canvas, test, annexes, in light of the review session.

Session 5: Review final documents. (8 hours). Task: Set final documents.

Impacts/ Benefits Develop a business model that reflects the contemporary market trends.

Target Groups New entrepreneurs

Resources Hotel venue, associated business people, internet access

References www.emprende.ull.es alexosterwalder.com/

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8 The enterprising person Nádia Lemos

Business Innovation Centre of Madeira, Portugal [email protected]

Learning Objectives

To introduce students to the key entrepreneurial characteristics; to help them identify key characteristics of enterprising behaviour and to understand the difference between enterprising skills and entrepreneurship; helping them put skills into action.

Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment

Participants are asked to discuss what being an enterprising person means to them. They should think about individuals whom they know personally (e.g. family members or school staff) and provide examples of enterprising behaviour they have witnessed. Emphasis is given to the idea that everyone can be enterprising, but entrepreneurs are people who put their enterprising skills into action - for example, by starting or growing a business or social enterprise, or by putting on an event.

Then, participants are required to provide examples of entrepreneurs they have heard of. They are asked to identify what skills and characteristics they share and note these on flipchart paper. They are then asked to highlight the six most important enterprising characteristics and brainstorm the characteristics of enterprising individuals and entrepreneurs. After capturing all the suggestions, they discuss within the group and decide

which are the most important. The final list should include: communication, risk awareness and management, problem solving, team working, initiative, "can do" attitude, innovation, creativity, time management, research and information gathering, understanding need, identifying opportunity, passion, drive, and confidence.

Then participants are required to write down individually the six top characteristics they would like to highlight. Participants should think about themselves and to what extent they have each of these characteristics giving a score for each of them, where “0” is “nothing like me” and “5” is “a lot like me”.

Finally, participants are asked to think about what they want to achieve in the next 2 years and what their score would be on each of the characteristics. Using a pen they link the scores together with a red line.


9

Impacts/ Benefits

At the end of the activity participants should be able to identify key characteristics of enterprising behaviour and understand the difference between having these enterprising skills and being an entrepreneur.

Target Groups Under/postgraduate university Students

Resources Flipcharts, markers, A4 sheets, pens. References © National Enterprise Academy (adapted)

Teaching Tools and Practices Design brief, group presentations

9 Junior Achievement – Young Enterprise Daniel Yordanov Pavlov, Svilen Kunev

Ruse University, Faculty of Business and Management, Bulgaria [email protected], [email protected]

Learning Objectives The students learn to develop their own firm in collaboration with other students, and adapt their product/service ideas to the market and its needs. Furthermore, they are encouraged to contact business people, investors and clients.

Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment The students are asked to create a prototype product/service and develop a business plan around it. The organisers bring contacts with active business people, who assess

their progress and give advice through coaching-mentoring sessions.

The "Student Company" activity is organised under the Junior Achievement Foundation.

Impacts/ Benefits The students are prompted to consider the business aspects of a product/service idea and to present it in a way that will interest the market and potential investors and customers.

Target Groups Secondary school students, university under/ postgraduate students

Resources Syndicate rooms for mentoring and coaching activities Associated firms or business people

References www.jabulgaria.org http://nis.uni-ruse.bg/uchebna_kompania/

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10 What does an entrepreneur look like? Dayana Martín Andara

Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias, Spain [email protected]

Learning Objectives Sometimes, the image of the entrepreneur is wrongly estimated and becoming “your own boss” seems like an unachievable dream. Take your students to visit a real entrepreneur, incubator or company. Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment A visit to an entrepreneur at his workplace should be set up in advanced. It will also be useful for the students to know the profile of the person in question before the date so they can prepare questions.

The entrepreneur may show his workplace, introduce his employees, show his products or explain his service. Afterwards, he may present

his story, how he came up with the business idea, what his first goal was, the obstacles overcame, what the current state is, and how the initial plan has been modified after confronting the different problems over time.

It is recommended that the speaker interacts with the students.

At the end, the students will pose their questions.

Impacts/ Benefits The students will realize that anybody with a business idea can become an entrepreneur by using the right tools. Target Groups Non business students at University level

Resources A presentation room. PC access. Image/video projector.

11 Aim at your target audience Dayana Martín Andara


Learning Objectives One of the main problems when presenting a business idea, or a business plan is that the new entrepreneur only sees his point of view and does not aim correctly at the target audience. In this activity, the student or entrepreneur is confronted with his image, first seen by himself as a spectator and later seen by his colleagues.


11

The activity proposed is visual and interactive but after some thinking the results can also be translated into the written exposition of the ideas. Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment

The group of student will present the business idea with power point or another resource. Students will be informed that the presentation will be recorded on video. Everybody makes their individual presentation one by one, in front of the rest of the group. Later, the videos will be shown to the group one by one. After watching the first video, the first person in giving his opinion is the owner of the idea. He will give his opinion about himself as if he were his own spectator. When he finishes, the rest of the audience will give his opinion as well in a constructive way.

This activity presents different versions to be done on different days, for example:

Version 1: the objective is to identify what is going wrong in the presentation, and how to improve simple things such as: voice tone, looking at the audience, keeping the attention of the public, body language, etc.

Version 2: the objective is to realize who the different target audiences are. Different roles such as investor,

possible partner, possible client, possible supplier, etc. will be assigned to the colleagues who are listening. When watching the video, they will give their opinion based in the role assigned.

Version 3: make the presentation focusing on only one type of target group. After proceeding with version 2, the student will realize the different languages that should be spoken when talking with different target groups. For instance, investors and clients are not interested in the same information; investors look at the economic figures of the company, while the clients do not need this information.

Version 4: what is the behaviour of the entrepreneur when being asked, confronted with a different opinion or having to defend a certain part of the project. It is also interesting to record the expressions, body language and response speed when the audience asks for explanations. This activity is really interesting when presenting the economic part of the project or when some parts of the business plan (expected market for instance) is based on hypothesis.

Impacts/ Benefits The students gain some skills not only when making public presentations but also in thinking from another point of view. The results can be profitable also for written documents, presented in different circumstances. Target Groups Entrepreneurs/SME owners and employees. Non

business students at University level

Resources A presentation room. PC access. Image/video

projector. Video camera.

12

Enterprise Education: Practice-Based Activities

for encouraging the Entrepreneurial Mind

SECTION B: Educate ‘For’ Entrepreneurship


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12 Production Scheduling Game Kostas Galanakis

Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham Business School, UK [email protected]

Learning Objectives The Production scheduling ‘Game’ provides an overall understanding on topics such as: Production Scheduling; Inventory Management and Material Planning; Capacity Utilisation; Demand Forecasting; Cash Flow.

Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment The ‘Game’ is based on a spreadsheet file that sets the initial status of the inventory and calculates the outcome, costs and income of each decision. Students are grouped in teams and take decisions to: plan production output; buy materials; organise their inventory level and control the cash flow in a virtual firm.

The decisions of the group are based on the analysis of previous data of actual demand. This data is included in the brief. The brief also provides information on: maximum capacity levels by shift; fixed costs; inventory costs and current inventory levels of raw materials and finished goods; capacity costs; and, material delivery time and costs. Each decision that students feed into the spreadsheet (orders of raw materials and production schedule) moves the ‘game’ one ‘week’ forward.

The teams do not compete directly, since they all have the same demand scenario. However, they do compete to see which team can deliver the best results. The ‘game’ can be used over 3 or 4 sessions, 3 hours each, with different complexity: 1. Introduction of the scenario, and the simulation of the first ‘production week’ for one product line; 2. Simulation of 3 ‘production weeks’ for one production line; 3. Simulation of 4 ‘production weeks’ for one production line, introducing a level of inefficiencies; 4. Simulation of 4 ‘production weeks for two different production lines.

An extra session could be added for students to give a presentation on how they ran the simulation and to reflect on their learning and how they could improve their performance.

Impacts/ Benefits Students work in teams and take decisions as a team under the pressure of time. They learn to plan on issues like production output; buying materials; organising their inventory level and controlling their cash flow on mid-term horizons.

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Target Groups Postgraduate university students, new entrepreneurs

Resources PC Access

References NBS practice based activity

13 “Sell” Yourself Ely Rodriguez


Learning Objectives To help entrepreneurs develop the skills and confidence needed to promote themselves and their ideas. Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment Entrepreneurs present their projects in an investors forum format open to the public. During a morning session, a maximum of 10 to 12 projects are presented. The entrepreneurs have 5

to 7 minutes to present their project to an open audience. This presentation is followed by a 10 minute question and answer session with a panel of experts (in a friendly ‘Dragon’s Den’ format).

Impacts/ Benefits The entrepreneurs have the chance to play with "real fire" for the first time as they are confronted by potential investors, clients, and customers in an open event. The key indicator of success for this activity is not whether they manage to get potential investors or clients interested in their project, but rather the extent to which they learn from the feedback given by the experts and gain confidence to promote themselves and their ideas.

Target Groups Entrepreneurs/SME owners, managers and employees, university under/postgraduate students

Teaching Tools and Practices Presentation, panel of experts.

Resources Appropriate venue, promotional material


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14 Multidisciplinary Collaboration Ely Rodríguez


Learning Objectives To encourage the creation of multidisciplinary teams for start- ups.

Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment Business, Engineering and Science students come together to work on business plans of common interest. The engineering and science

students bring the technical know-how to the project whilst the business students bring the knowledge of how to build a business plan.

Impacts/ Benefits Blend of experiences and knowledge to create the basic building blocks of a successful venture.

Target Groups Under/postgraduate university students

Resources Syndicate rooms with stationary and collaborative facilities

15 Start-up Biz/Dating Leo Italiano, Emilio Paolucci, Alejandro Garcia, Emanuele Sandri

Politecnico di Torino, Italy [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],

[email protected]

Learning Objectives To help entrepreneurs develop a professional network and get in touch with potential customers, partners and investors.

Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment A similar format to a “speed dating” event. Potential or new

entrepreneurs move around, at ten minute intervals, exchanging contact details and interests until they have met everyone.

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Impacts/ Benefits Participants start developing business networks and obtain potentially useful contacts for business collaboration. Furthermore, they gain confidence to present and talk about themselves.

Target Groups Young entrepreneurs, SME owners

Resources Appropriate venue

16 Business Plan Consultancy Leo Italiano

Politecnico di Torino, Italy [email protected]

Daniel Yordanov Pavlov, Svilen Kunev Ruse University, Faculty of Business and

Management, Bulgaria [email protected], [email protected]

Learning Objectives Business Students work on the development of an actual business plan for a real hi-tech company, acting as independent consultants to the entrepreneur.

Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment During the Entrepreneurship course, the students dedicate about 60% of their time to a ‘consulting project’ in a real case. Students work in teams of 5-6 to apply what they have learned from different courses, for

example, Finance, Project Management, Innovation Management and Product Development, Strategy, Marketing, Accounting, Statistic. At the end each team presents their business plan and their recommendations to the firm’s board.

Impacts/ Benefits The students understand the analytical processes required to develop a business plan; utilize concepts from different disciplines and previous courses; translate market evidence into operational plans for a new business venture. They learn to think as consultants. Target Groups Business students

Resources Associated firms


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17 Auction Simulation Paraskevi Gkiourka, Kostas Galanakis

Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham Business School, UK [email protected], [email protected]

Learning Objectives Students are introduced to the principles of sales. They create customer-oriented promotional material and learn about the selling process. They also create recognisable and standardised product and service descriptions and develop their understanding of product promotion techniques.

Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment Students are required to select a product they already own and can be offered for sale. They are asked to prepare a description of the product, applying marketing principles and promotion techniques. Then, students are required to upload the product description onto a web-based auction platform (e.g. eBay) for sale. They then try to sell the product.

Alternatively an auction is organized between the students of other disciplines with space to promote the products.

Finally an evaluation in class follows regarding the methods and techniques used for promoting and marketing the product. A discussion is offered on the success and failure factors of the selling process.

Impacts/ Benefits Students learn to apply Internet marketing techniques. They increase their ability to make the target buyers understand and develop associations to personal experiences that can increase the familiarity of the product and the probability of selling.

Target Groups Under/postgraduate university students

Resources A product that could be offered for sale, Internet access

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18 The Spider’s Web Nádia Lemos

Business Innovation Centre of Madeira, Portugal [email protected]

Learning Objectives

To help participants determine their entrepreneurial characteristics through the enumeration of life expectations; to sensitize them to the need to overcome obstacles and solve setbacks or problems that may arise; to teach them how to look for solutions instead of waiting for them to appear.

Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment

Participants are asked to stand up and to form a circle. They are informed that the duration of the activity will not be longer than 1 hour. A participant is selected and asked to start the game. The participant must hold the string, tie it to a finger, tell the others 2 or 3 of his/her life objectives and then throw the twine to another participant. The procedure is repeated until all

participants have presented their ideas and are linked by a kind of "spider’s web".

At the end participants are asked to throw the twine back to the person that threw it to them and to repeat the life expectations of that person. The idea is to see whether participants paid attention to communication, while the “spider web” vanishes. (Do they remember what was said? Were they worried about their own presentation?).

Impacts/ Benefits

At the end of the activity participants should be able to realize the importance of reflecting on their own desires and inclinations and that this is the first step towards the fulfilment of a dream. They should understand that the twine represents the links between individuals, since we do not reach our goals alone and the benefits of creating a network. The "spider’s web" represents the importance of the impact of our attitudes / behaviours / choices (and those of others too) in our life and in the life of those around us. Thus, the web may represent the synergies that are created between people in the real and business world.

Target Groups Under/postgraduate university students Resources wine

Teaching Tools and Practices Coaching and mentoring, group

presentations, simulation of business enterprise


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19 Enhancing Creativity Kostas Galanakis, Paraskevi Gkiourka

Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham Business School, UK [email protected], [email protected]

Learning Objectives To introduce students to innovation and creativity techniques intended to give an insight into the nature of creative thinking; to introduce some practical techniques for generating new ideas and critical insights to help meet business and research challenges. It helps students explore how creativity can be utilised and managed to their advantage, explains the importance of creative thinking in idea generation and showcases several tools for unlocking creative thinking.

Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment The workshop is designed to explore the impact that creative thinking can have when solving business challenges. This includes defining ‘creativity’, overcoming inhibition, examining the differences between critical and creative thinking and introducing concepts such as an alien perspective and the naïve thinker.

It is also designed to allow participants to use a broad range of problem solving and idea generating techniques. Exploring such creative thinking techniques as:

Random Images and Words: o Selecting a stimulus that has

nothing to do with your creative challenge and then deliberately forcing a connection

Related worlds and alternate perspectives o Selecting different people,

professions or companies and asking how they would solve the problem

Snowballing o Looks at what happens when

we refine our ideas and evaluate them.

Impacts/ Benefits Students learn to develop and enhance their creative thinking skills and then how to apply this to bring innovation into their area of specialism.

Target Groups University under/postgraduate students

Resources Range of creative thinking ‘toys’

References NBS practice-based activity

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20 New Product Design Brief Kostas Galanakis

Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham Business School, UK [email protected]

Learning Objectives To develop a design brief for a new product/service idea.

Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment The students are asked to work in groups as members of a virtual firm. A brief is given that sets the background:

“You are members of the management team of a small/medium manufacturing company. The Board of Management has asked for the development of proposals for alternative products to be manufactured utilising existing labour and premises, or exploiting new opportunities.

The teams are effectively in competition as the team whose proposal is accepted is more likely to have a future with the company than those who ‘fail’!”

The brief provides cost assumptions for operations and information/websites with relevant information on material specification and cost; machine specifications and costs.

Session I: Search for a market and product idea (2 hours). Brainstorm potential markets and products to develop a range of ideas. Consider likely markets; identify their requirements (design specifications).

Session II: Project proposal, design specifications and target setting (2 hours). Select the product type to be pursued in detail. Define the market/user group and detail the market requirement (market specifications). Compile a project proposal outlining: the objectives of the project; intended market; key milestones of development; likely operational costs and projected contribution.

Review project feasibility and define all requirements and constraints the design team would need to know, including performance, timing and target product cost.

Session III: Product concept (3 hours). Generate alternative concept design ideas to satisfy the specification. Use the Pugh process to short-list and develop short listed ideas.

Session IV: Finalise the design and Final presentation preparation (4 hours). Update the design brief to reflect any additional inputs required as a result of the final concept design. Consider design protection needs. Check that market needs are satisfied. Finalise material choice and costing.


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Recommend how the project should be managed to minimise introduction time, optimise design for manufacture and thus minimise costs and maximise benefits.

Finalise estimated volumes and market price and calculate projected earnings.

Consider expansion of market penetration and future growth.

Finalise presentation.

Session V: Group Presentation and reflection to ‘winners’. (3 hours). Presentations of 7-10 minutes, should emphasise the competitive advantages of the proposals.

Impacts/ Benefits Students work in teams and apply: creativity techniques to generate ideas; selection methods to choose and enrich their ideas; product/service design and development financial planning; operations management planning; marketing plan.

Target Groups Postgraduate university students, new entrepreneurs

Resources Internet access

References NBS practice- based activity.

21 International Thinking Dayana Martín Andara


Learning Objectives Enlarging the psychological limits of the entrepreneurs is one of the main concerns about doing business abroad. This activity makes the students think about the issue “Will this product/service be accepted in other countries?” as well as realize that their market is all over the world. Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment

Students are grouped in teams and asked to think about a local, regional or national product/service that has potential to be exported. They will be asked to highlight its characteristics but thinking of the market they want to deal with. They will make a leaflet and present it to the rest of the teams as if they were potential

clients. The students will vote their favourite product to be exported by a show of hands, without voting for themselves.

In order to complement this activity, the students can develop in advance a short market study of the potential countries, and choose 1 or 2. After the “selling” presentation, they should explain to the rest of the groups why they chose those

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countries in particular, and why the product should be more successful

there than somewhere else.

Impacts/ Benefits Students will realise that exporting a product should be analysed. In particular, they will realise that the applicability of a product or service does not have borders. Target Groups Entrepreneurs/SME owners and employees, non business students at University level, policy makers.

Resources Presentation room, blank paper, pens of different colours and materials for making the leaflet

In case of making the market study: PC access, access to the internet.

22 I am really Good at… Dayana Martín Andara


Learning Objectives Students get to know themselves by presenting their own qualities and realising that a personal characteristic can be productive for business life. This activity provides self-knowledge, self-confidence and help students to realize that a natural talent can evolve into a profitable business. Description of the Activities and Methods of Assessment

The group of students are asked to think about 1 or 2 things which they are really good at. The task can be proposed some days in advance, so on the day of the activity the students can provide (if it exists) evidence of the result of their work: a picture, video or the product itself. In turns, each person will present the product or service, and explain the way they think the natural talent can be profitable. Once the person ends the presentation, the listeners are asked to provide an alternative to the business proposed. The idea is to

show other markets for the same activities. E.g.: “I am really good at cooking and creating new recipes”. The student can provide some of the dishes, so the public can taste them. Then he expresses his idea: “I think I can write a cookery book”. An alternative idea can also be starting up his own bakery, etc.

The activity will continue with the presentation of every body’s talent.

Version 2: After seeking the positive points of the talent, brainstorming can be used to find the things that should be improved in the business idea.


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Impacts/ Benefits The students gain self-confidence and are encouraged to translate a personal talent into a real business activity. Also, the student will think in different ways of exploiting the idea. Target Groups Entrepreneurs/SME owners and employees, non business students at University level, policy makers.

Resources A tutoring room, PC access, video projector

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Practice-Based Activities for encouraging the Entrepreneurial Mind

© STARTENT, 2011 Authors: Kostas Galanakis, Paraskevi Gkiourka, Leo Italiano, Emilio Paolucci, Alejandro Garcia, Emanuele Sandri, Ely Rodríguez, Daniel Yordanov Pavlov, Svilen Kunev, Carlos Velázquez, Nádia Lemos, Dayana Martín Andara Editors in chief: Kostas Galanakis, Paraskevi Gkiourka Editors of the issue: Kostas Galanakis, Paraskevi Gkiourka Manuscript editors: Kostas Galanakis, Paraskevi Gkiourka Prepress: Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham Business School Design of covers: Kostas Galanakis, Paraskevi Gkiourka Publisher: Ruse University, Bulgaria ISBN – 978-954-712-515-5

All rights reserved. No parts of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

enterprise education practice based activities for encouraging the entrepreneurial mind

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