816-0056-1

Creating and Presenting a New Business

Venture

Authorised for educator review use only by Salah Khan, Sheridan College. Expiry date 9-Oct-2021
Usage permitted only within these parameters otherwise contact info@thecasecentre.org
Case Study
Educational material supplied by The Case Centre
Copyright encoded A76HM-JUJ9K-PJMN9I

This case study was written by Dr. Loïc Plé (IÉSEG School of Management,
LEM- CNRS 9221). It is intended to be used as the basis for class discussion
rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management
situation. The case relies on generalized experience.

© 2016 IESEG School of Management (LEM-CNRS)

No part of this publication may be copied, stored, transmitted, reproduced
or distributed in any form or medium whatsoever without the permission
of the copyright owner.

Distributed by The Case Centre North America Rest of the world

www.thecasecentre.org t +1 781 239 5884 t +44 (0)1234 750903
case centre All rights reserved f +1 781 239 5885 f +44 (0)1234 751125 1
e info.usa@thecasecentre.org e info@thecasecentre.org
 816-0056-1

Creating and Presenting a New Business

Venture
Congratulations! You’ve just entered a brand-new structure called “EBW”
(Explore the Business World), that aims to help young students develop, mature and
present their business projects. Developed in groups of 3 or 4 people (no less, no more),
these projects necessitate first to find an idea of a product that you would like to launch
(“product” here means either a new good or service). This can be a copycat product (for
instance, a new mobile device, a new Facebook-like or Snapchat-like, or a new car), but

Authorised for educator review use only by Salah Khan, Sheridan College. Expiry date 9-Oct-2021
also a brand-new product that you may have thought about and would like to launch on

Usage permitted only within these parameters otherwise contact info@thecasecentre.org

the market. You can be as creative as possible to create your product, even though you
have to keep in mind that you will have to sell it!

Step 1: Prepare your business plan document

Educational material supplied by The Case Centre
Copyright encoded A76HM-JUJ9K-PJMN9I

Once you’ve got the idea, EBW demands you to prepare a business plan. Please
keep in mind that the numbers are not the most important there. Profit and Loss
Account or Balance Sheet are not expected. All the same, the legal status of your
company does not need to be indicated.

Instead, EBW is looking for young entrepreneurs who are able to explain their
projects, justify the origin of their ideas, describe their industry, their clientele, etc. So,
you need to be able to convince EBW that your project is worth being invested in, by
justifying your decision to launch this specific product. Thus, this business plan should
include in about 1,200 to 1,500 words:

 A short description of your company: Will you be a producer of goods, a service

provider, a distributor? What will you sell to your customers? Who will be your
main customers / competitors, etc.). EBW insists on the fact that this has to be
a short description (5-6 lines at most), for all of this will be further developed
in your document.

 An analysis of your industry: You need there to identify the main actors of your
industry (mostly the competitors – customers will be dealt with later), try and
analyze its future trends (growth rate, potential opportunities and threats,

2
 816-0056-1

etc.). Also, explain the trends that you have identified (according to you, why
should this industry keep growing? Is a decrease possible? Etc.).

 An analysis of your clientele: What are the characteristics of your potential

customers (in terms of age, kind, revenues, social and occupational group,
geographic location, etc.)? What are the projected sales volumes? How do you
expect your company to develop given these objectives? Etc. In case your
company sells to other firms (i.e. it is a Business-to-Business company, or B-to-
B), describe the kind of firm(s) you sell your products to.

 Indicate a selling price (to do so, you can rely on the prices of your competitors,

Authorised for educator review use only by Salah Khan, Sheridan College. Expiry date 9-Oct-2021
Usage permitted only within these parameters otherwise contact info@thecasecentre.org
for instance): Explain where you will distribute your product (e.g. specialized
outlets, supermarkets, or others) and why. Eventually, describe your
communication strategy to make sure that your customers are aware of your
product, and that they will want to buy it.
Educational material supplied by The Case Centre
Copyright encoded A76HM-JUJ9K-PJMN9I

Do keep in mind that, given EBW’s expectations, you have to actually search for
information to prepare your business plan! This is a major part of what EBW expects
you to show and master: how to collect and analyze information that will be helpful to
take the decision of creating and launching this product on the market. Thus, your
(potential) customer data have to be real and accurate, the competitors that you have
identified must exist, your explanation of the industry’s trends must be based on real
facts, etc. This means that you have to identify precise and reliable sources, be they your
university’s or school’s databases, other kinds of internet searches, specialized blogs,
printed materials (magazines, newspapers…), etc. Of course, depending on your
sources, you may get more or less accurate / reliable results, too much or not enough
information, etc. Moreover, you should not forget that it is essential to cross-check your
information! This is even all the more important that you cannot easily identify either
the positioning of the information source, or its origin. To give a simple example,
consider, for instance, that you work on the UK cosmetic industry, and that you refer
exclusively to one website in particular, that is to say the one developed by the Cosmetic,
Toiletry & Perfumery Association (CTPA - http://www.ctpa.org.uk/), which is the
professional association of this industry. Even though the information that you would

3
 816-0056-1

collect on this website would be both of quality and useful, it would be too limited if
taken alone (i.e. if this was your single source of information). This information may also
come with a positive bias insofar as it aims to promote this industry. As a consequence,
this is liable to bias your perception of this industry and thus of your decision to launch
a new cosmetic product, for instance. Then, in this work, the part related to the search
for information is really essential! Consider that you have to be convincing enough to
make sure that EBW would bet their money on your project!!! To make sure that you’ll
be as convincing as possible, please follow these rules to quote your sources:

1. Use footnotes in the text of your document with the precise reference to

Authorised for educator review use only by Salah Khan, Sheridan College. Expiry date 9-Oct-2021
your source.

Usage permitted only within these parameters otherwise contact info@thecasecentre.org

2. When quoting a website, do provide the whole address of the page that
you consulted, as well as the date you last retrieved that page (e.g. do not
just mention www.economist.com, but
Educational material supplied by The Case Centre

http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21697802-
Copyright encoded A76HM-JUJ9K-PJMN9I

3d-printing-coming-age-manufacturing-technique-printed-smile, last
retrieved 03 May 2016).

3. When quoting a newspaper or a magazine’s article, you have to mention

the title of the article, the author, the date, and the page number.

Step 2: Present your product to your potential

customers
In addition to your business plan, EBW expects you to be able to “sell” your
product to potential customers. To that end, you have to prepare a 5 to 8 minutes
presentation to launch your product in front of your potential customers (played by the
other students). To do so, you can use a PowerPoint / Keynote or a Prezi presentation,
but this is not compulsory. You can also rely on videos, music, etc. – whatever you want
as long as your presentation is dynamic, attractive, and makes the others want to buy
your product. Given the target of the presentation, you should keep in mind that not all
the information provided in your document may be useful. It is up to you to identify
what you need to rely on to introduce your product to your customers.

4
 816-0056-1

At the end of each presentation, you will get some questions from your
customers and also will receive a feedback to identify your presentation’s positive
dimensions and suggest some improvement possibilities (both on the form and on the
content). This feedback will be delivered by the Director of EBW (that is to say me, your
professor) and by the other students who will adopt another role, i.e. EBW’s members.
Thus, it is necessary to watch and listen very carefully these presentations, so that you
can begin to exercise your capacities of analysis and your critical thinking (positively
speaking).

Do not hesitate to be creative, whether it is in your product offering or in your

Authorised for educator review use only by Salah Khan, Sheridan College. Expiry date 9-Oct-2021
presentation (supports, way of presenting, etc.). As long as it remains coherent and

Usage permitted only within these parameters otherwise contact info@thecasecentre.org

relevant, unbridled creativity can enhance the presentation (as well as being creative
can result in an original product offering).

I am looking forward to reading your document and attending your presentation

Educational material supplied by The Case Centre
Copyright encoded A76HM-JUJ9K-PJMN9I

EBW Director