Phase 2: Application Stage (January – March)

Business Plan information

Aim

To apply core course concepts, skills and techniques to construct a complete strategic plan for a start-up business organisation, and present it to an audience of business practitioners.

Method

Students are divided into groups of between five and eight students and each given formal leadership role for a period during the three months the plan runs. The task requires groups to identify and plan the first five years of a start up business.

Assessment

Assessment includes a 7,000 word report, a formal verbal presentation to an external (bankers and industrialists) and internal panel. It also requires regular individual and personal reports to be completed and assessed.

By the end of the course participants will be able to:

• Identify and research primary and secondary sources of market information
• Demonstrate how strategic models can be practically used to analyse real market situations
• Develop an operational plan that integrates functional plans that are represented financially
• Appreciate the nature of group dynamics and the impact of different behaviour on others
• Demonstrate confidence and skills in the construction and presentation of a formal business proposition to strangers
• Integrate subject topics and understand where each fits within a business
• Show awareness of how people of different gender and different nationalities have different social and business values