Company Assignment - Course Manual

COMPANY ASSIGNMENT
Bachelor’s in Business Administration

“The value of an idea lies in the using of it”.

- Thomas A. Edison

Period Block V, April, May

Block VI, June

Year 2023

Language of instruction English

Coordinator & Lecturer Dr. Angelo Tomaselli,

Seminar/working groups instructors

Dr. Angelo Tomaselli for WG: 9
a.tomaselli@uva.nl

Dr. Nazlihan Ugur for WGs: 2-3-5

n.ugur@uva.nl

Dr. Taehyun Lee for WGs: 6-10-11-12

t.lee@uva.nl

Dr. Aldo Do Carmo for WGs: 1-4-7-8

j.a.docarmo@uva.nl

Enjoy your course ☺

1
 Company Assignment - Course Manual

Objectives

Starting a new company is difficult. Even though the statistics show that most start-ups fail, lots of people
continue to create new companies every day. Building a successful new company is challenging; it requires
large (not just financial) investments and involves a great deal of risks. However, when a new company does
survive, even the smallest can have a positive economic, cultural or social impact on the world.

This course aims to offer students the basic principles of entrepreneurship and knowledge about the main
tools that entrepreneurs employ to set up a new company. Upon completion of the course, students should be
able to:
1. Identify and delineate the fundamental steps in the creation of a new company, from idea generation
to financing.
2. Develop an effective business model for the development of a new company.
3. Develop an effective business plan for the development of a new company.
4. Design the (website or app) mock-up of a new company.
5. Effectively collaborate in a team in developing the business plan and mock-up of the website (or
app) of a new company.

Required prior knowledge

This is a core course for second-year students of the Bachelor in Business Administration. No previous
knowledge of the subject is required, but it is expected that participants are familiar with the content of the
first-year courses (they need to have passed 8 out of the 10 first-year courses).

Content

In this course, students will learn and apply entrepreneurship knowledge to successfully develop a final team
report in which they present the business plan and the (website or app) mock-up of a new company
prototype. Setting-up a new company requires the ability to identify a unique market opportunity and face
different entrepreneurial challenges: recognize an opportunity; conduct a feasibility analysis; develop an
effective business model; write a business plan that conveys value and a competitive edge over competitors;
identify possible investors and financial resources; design an effective (website or app) mock-up, proficiently
use BPMN tools.

Teaching method

The course is based on 3 main pillars:

1. Lectures (five in total): aimed to transfer academic knowledge about entrepreneurship and the design
of a website or mobile app; based on a book and academic papers. Students will receive a video and
slides of the lecture. Since there is a very high number of students (450+), a section “Frequently
asked questions” will be created on canvas.

2. Seminars (five in total):

• Students are divided in different working groups (WG) for their seminars. Please check on
UVA Canvas your WG (in the section “people”, type your name in the search bar) and
follow only the seminars of your WG number. Students can find days/times on UVA
timetable.
• During seminars, students will work in a team and will go through some of the steps in the
creation of a new company prototype (e.g. feasibility analysis; business model; business
plan). Students need to self-assign to a team of max 5 people, using UVA Canvas. In order
to self-assign to a team, students can go on UVA Canvas, click on "people" in the menu on
the left, then click on "groups", where they can assign themselves to one of the teams of
their specific working group (scroll all the page in order to see the teams of all working
groups). Students need to have a team by the end of the first seminar.
• On Canvas students can also use the chat section in order to contact other students and form
their team.

2
 Company Assignment - Course Manual

3. Team coaching: each team will have a seminar instructor in order to receive feedback on their
process of creating a new company.

Study material

1. Course slides.
2. Book: "Entrepreneurship successfully launching new ventures - global edition - 6th edition” (R.
Barringer and R.D. Ireland, 2019). Book chapters are indicated below (see detailed schedule below).
The appendix of a chapter is not important for the final exam.

Assessment and testing

Seminars’ participation is mandatory, a student can miss only one seminar in the overall course. Missing two
seminars will result in failing the course or extra assignments to decide in accordance with the working
group instructor. Missing more than two seminars will automatically result in failing the course. If you
experience any issue (covid, sickness, etc.) that prevents you to attend a seminar, please contact the UVA
study advisor before the seminar, communicating the issue and the name of your working group instructor.
The study advisor will contact the instructor, who will take this into account.
Team assignments are mandatory. Students are expected to actively participate (e.g. performing the
seminar’s specific assignment, raising possible questions, giving useful suggestions to other teams, etc.). If
all students actively participate, we will all learn more from each other and enjoy the course more. The
capacity to collaborate with all the members of a team is fundamental for this course, instructors are not
responsible to solve possible issues of freeriding in team projects. Each member of a team needs to present at
least one time during a seminar. Very scarce team participation (e.g. not performing an assignment or not
giving any advice/comment to other teams) during a seminar could result in missing a seminar or negatively
affect a team’s final grade.

Following UVA regulations, the final grade is the weighted average of two components:

1. A final individual exam (60% of final grade). The type of exam will be multiple-choice questions.
The exam will be based on the slides and the mandatory study materials (including parts not covered
by the instructor during the lectures). There will be 28 multiple-choice questions in 55 minutes.
2. The final team report of the new company assignment (40% of final grade). This report consists of a
business plan and the (website or app) mock-up of a new company.

To pass the exam, the final total grade should be 5.5 or higher and the grade of the individual exam should be
5.5 or higher. Students can only retake the individual exam: in this case, the grade received for the first
individual exam is disregarded (even if it is higher) and the grade received for the final team report remains
valid.

Detailed schedule of lectures and seminars.

Lecture 4th April - “Introduction to entrepreneurship, recognizing opportunities and generating ideas”.

Topics:
• Entrepreneurship and the characteristics of entrepreneurial companies.
• Main types of new companies.
• Recognizing opportunities and generating ideas.
Literature (mandatory):
• Chapter 1 of the book: “Introduction to entrepreneurship”.
• Chapter 2 of the book: “Recognizing opportunities and generating ideas”.
Literature (optional):
• Blank, Steve, “Why the Lean Start-up changes everything, Harvard Business Review, may 2013,
(https://hbr.org/2013/05/why-the-lean-start-up-changes-everything)

3
 Company Assignment - Course Manual

• Ries, Eric, The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create
Radically Successful Businesses, Crown Publishing, 2013.
• Chapter 9 of the book: “Building a new venture team”.
During the lecture, students will receive instructions for the following seminars.
Assignment: Students need to start forming their teams and think about their business ideas. To self-assign to
a team of max 5 people, a student can use the course page on UVA Canvas (click on "people" in the course
menu on the left, then click on "groups", where they can assign themselves to one of the teams of their
specific working group, scroll all the page in order to see the teams of all working groups).

Seminar in week 15 - “Meet your instructor, other students and teams” (the day changes according to a
student’s working group, please check your timetable).

During the seminar, the instructor will discuss future steps, giving instructions.
The instructor will also assign a peer team to all teams, a peer team is used in order to favor peer feedback
and stimulate discussion.
If you do not have a team yet, this is your occasion to meet other students and find a team.
If teams already have an initial idea of a possible new company, they can also start to present it in max 2
slides (“brainstorming” of 5 minutes).

Lecture 18th April - “Conducting a feasibility, industry and competitor analysis”.

Topics:
• Explaining the definition and importance of a feasibility analysis.
• Discussing critical issues in conducting a feasibility analysis.
• Describing a feasibility analysis template.
• Competitor analysis.
Literature (mandatory):
• Chapter 3 of the book: “Feasibility analysis”.
• Chapter 5 of the book: “Industry and competitor analysis”.
Assignment: after the lecture, teams need to start to work on the presentation required for their next seminar
(week 19). More instructions will be given during the lecture.

Seminar in week 19 – “Present your initial idea and feasibility analysis” (the day changes according to a
student’s working group).

Teams will present a PowerPoint presentation (max 8 slides), describing:

Their initial idea about a new company and a feasibility analysis with the following key items (see Chapter 3,
Appendix 3.1 and 3.2 of the book):
1) Strength of the business idea.
2) Industry-related issues.
3) Target market.
4) Founders related issues.
5) Financial issues.
For each of the five items, a team has to assign a score of -1 or +1 in order to decide the overall final score,
ranging between -5 and +5 (please, check the appendix 3.1 in the book). Teams must briefly motivate how
they assessed their scores, for example they can report if they performed online surveys with potential
customers (10-15 people is enough), or explorative interviews (3-4 people), or show particular statistics
(trends, etc.) that support the feasibility of their idea.
Time: 10 minutes per team (including questions).

4
 Company Assignment - Course Manual

Lecture 15th May - “Developing an effective business model”.

Topics:
• Describing a business model and its importance.
• Distinguishing different types of business models.
• Explaining the components of a business model.
• Comparing the Barringer-Ireland template and the Canvas template.
Literature (mandatory):
• Chapter 4 of the book: “Developing an effective business model”.
Literature (optional):
• Massa, L., Tucci, C. L., & Afuah, A. (2017). A critical assessment of business model research.
Academy of Management Annals, 11(1), 73-104.
• Osterwalder, A., & Pigneur, Y. (2010). Business model generation: a handbook for visionaries, game
changers, and challengers. John Wiley & Sons.
Assignment: after the lecture, teams need to start to work on the presentation required for their next seminar
(week 21).

Seminar in week 21 – “Present your initial business model” (the day changes according to a student’s
working group).

Teams will present a PowerPoint presentation (max 5 slides), describing “all the components” of the
“Canvas business model” of their company, and receiving coaching and advice.
Time: 10 minutes per team (including questions).

Lecture 5th June - Writing a business plan and finding sources of financing.

Topics:
• The purpose of a business plan.
• Explaining how to effectively present a business plan.
• The main sources of financing that are available to entrepreneurs.
• Focus on Crowdfunding.
Literature (mandatory):
• Chapter 6 of the book - “Writing a Business Plan”.
• Chapter 8 of the book “Assessing a new venture’s financial strength and viability”.
• Chapter 10 of the book - “Getting Financing or Funding”.
Literature (optional):
• Courtney, C., Dutta, S., & Li, Y. (2017). Resolving information asymmetry: Signaling, endorsement,
and crowdfunding success. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 41(2), 265-290.
• Clarke, J. S., Cornelissen, J. P., & Healey, M. P. (2019). Actions speak louder than words: How
figurative language and gesturing in entrepreneurial pitches influences investment
judgments. Academy of Management Journal, 62(2), 335-360.
Assignment upon the team’s preference:
During the lecture, teams will receive instructions to work on the creation of a simple simulated (not real)
crowdfunding campaign for the new company they want to develop. A team can decide to include the
weblink of this campaign in the final report (check report guidelines below, element 13).

Seminar in week 23 - “Business plan and financing coaching” (the day changes according to a student’s
working group).

Before the seminar, students can download - on the seminar page on Canvas - a business plan to discuss in
class. During this seminar, students can also update the instructor about the progress of their company idea
with respect to revenues and costs.

5
 Company Assignment - Course Manual

Lecture 12th June – “Designing the business process and the website (or app) mock-up of a business idea”.

Topic:
• Designing flow diagrams in BPMN (business process model and notation) to support business
process management, by providing a notation that is intuitive for both technical users and business
users.
• Designing the website (or app) mock-up of a company’s key features and functions.
To download:
• Students can download the following free software to design the website mock-up: “WIX”,
https://www.wix.com/
• Students can download free images and short video to use for the mock-up on:
www.shutterstock.com
• Students can download the following free software to design flow diagrams: “Draw.io”,
https://about.draw.io/integrations/#integrations_offline
• Students can read BPMN 2.0 Symbol Reference at this link: https://camunda.com/bpmn/reference/
Literature (optional):
• Rozman, T., Polancic, G., & Horvat, R. V. (2008). Analysis of most common process modeling
mistakes in BPMN process models. In 2008 BPM and Workflow Handbook. Slovenia: University of
Maribor.
• Van der Heijden, H. (2003). Factors influencing the usage of websites: the case of a generic portal in
The Netherlands. Information & management, 40(6), 541-549.
• Nambisan, S. (2017). Digital entrepreneurship: Toward a digital technology perspective of
entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 41(6), 1029-1055.
Assignment: after the lecture, teams need to start to work on the creation of the website (or app) mock-up
(preferably using WIX) connected to the company they aim to develop. They need to create a weblink where
the mock-up can be visualized. The mock-up needs to be included in the teams’ final report. If you want to
obtain extra feedback, you can also show the mock-up during your final seminar.
Assignment upon the team’s preference: after the lecture, teams can decide to create the BPMN diagram of
their company. A team can decide to include the BPMN diagram in the final report (check report guidelines
below, element 13).

Seminar in week 25 – “Final presentation: investors’ pitch” (the day changes according to a student’s
working group).

• Teams need to present the final potential of their business idea, in particular: 1) the idea novelty; 2)
the need the idea solves (and market it addresses); 3) the operations to implement the idea; 4) the
costs and the potential revenues; 5) the type of investors that can be interested in the idea; 6) If a
team wants to obtain extra feedback, it can also show the initial website (or app) mock-up of the
idea.

Time: 10 minutes per team (including questions).

Exam – 26th June (please check timetable, UVA could change the day).
Final report – to upload on Canvas by the 5th of July.

6
 Company Assignment - Course Manual

Guidelines for the final report

The final report corresponds to a “summary business plan” indicated in the book (main points below), plus
the Crowdfunding campaign and the mock-up of the company website (or app) a team intends to develop.

Structure of the business plan, elements:

1. Executive summary.
2. Industry analysis.
3. Company description.
4. Market analysis.
5. The economics of the business.
6. Marketing plan.
7. Design and development plan.
8. Operations Plan.
9. Management team.
10. Overall schedule.
11. Financial projections
12. The WIX weblink of the mock-up of the company website (or app).
13. A team has to include one of these two elements, please decide between:
- The Kickstarter weblink of a simulated crowdfunding project, presenting a few elements: a short
video (max 3 minutes), the funding goal, the duration of the campaign, the types of rewards
decided for possible donors.
Or:
- In the operations plan (point 8), teams can add the BPMN diagram (max one page) of their
company.
Optional: if a team wishes to include both elements, this can result in a max of 1 extra point (when both
elements are well implemented).

Report features: max 18 pages, font size: 11 or 12, all margins: 2cm, min line spacing: 1.15.

Evaluation rubric for the final report

Criterion Grade Assessment

Argumentation - (20%)
Content - (60%)
>9 The logic is rigorous, the statements well-organized.
8–8.9 An intuitive sequence of mostly logical statements.
7–7.9 Flawed logic, but clearly-formulated statements.
6–6.9 Ambiguous statements or major mistakes in logic.
<6 Absence of logic and/or no discernible structure.
>9 No mistakes. The content presented is professional, very well
explained and perfectly supported by evidence (calculations,
graphs), external references (research studies, reports. etc.) and
argumentations based on the study material. The plan is ready
to be presented to potential investors.
8–8.9 No mistakes. The content presented is very well explained and
well supported by evidence (calculations, graphs), many
references (research studies, reports. etc.) and argumentations
based on the study material.
7–7.9 No mistakes, the content is clear and largely supported by
good evidence (calculations, graphs), references and
argumentations based on the study material.
6–6.9 Some mistakes, but in general the content is sufficiently clear,
supported by good evidence and a few references.
<6 Scarce attempt to support the content presented, scarce
evidence and argumentations.

7
 Company Assignment - Course Manual

Mock-up of the website (or app)
- (20%)
>9 Professional mockup, all the following elements are
professionally developed: strategy, style, content and usability
of all functionalities.
8–8.9 Excellent mockup, many of the following elements are
excellently developed: strategy, style, content and usability of
several advanced functionalities.
7–7.9 Good mockup, many of the following elements are well
developed: strategy, style, content and usability of main
functionalities.
6–6.9 Sufficient mockup, many of the following elements are
sufficiently developed: strategy, style, content and usability of
main functionalities.
<6 Poor prototype, one or more of the following elements is not
sufficient: strategy, style, content and usability of the basic
functionalities.

Other suggestions:

Advices to make a good presentation

• Give a clear structure.
• Give a clear line of argumentation (implementing good reasoning, references or other evidence,
statistics…).
• Perform the specific tasks assigned for the presentation.
• Show academic knowledge (try to apply the concepts studied in a lecture).
• Respect the time limit of the presentation.
• Stimulate discussion after the presentation.

Advices to create a good company prototype

• Show that the new company idea is feasible (a feasibility analysis has been well implemented,
financial/tangible/intangible/operational resources and market gap are well identified)
• Show that the new company idea is well-developed (business model, the business plan).
• Show that the new company idea is innovative (profits and competitor analysis are well defined,
highlighting novelty and potential).
• In the final presentation, create a very short video to show your idea, which can be used for a future
possible crowdfunding.

Advices for the website mockup’s development.

Strategy.
Good website design is backed by strategy. Even the most attractive, user-friendly website isn’t successful
when it isn’t achieving what your company needs. To evaluate the effectiveness of strategy in your website
design, run it through this checklist of questions:
• What category is my business, and is that obvious on my website?
• What is the purpose of this website, and is the design accomplishing it?
• Who is my target audience, and how does the design take them into consideration?
• What do I want my audience to do, and is the design encouraging that action?
Usability.
Usability is all about the practical considerations of what goes into good website design, user-friendliness,
security, technical details like sitemaps, etc. So, to see how usable your site is, ask yourself the following:
• How easy is it to find information?
• Is there a search button for visitors?
• Do all the links work?
• If I’m asking for personal details, is customer information complete and secure?
Style.
Beauty may be relative, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t clear aesthetic principles to guide your website
design. The best designs will align with their brands, create positive impressions for visitors, be clean, and

8
 Company Assignment - Course Manual

complement the content they’re communicating. To test the effectiveness of your website’s aesthetic,
consider the following:
• Does my website’s style align with my brand in terms of colors, feel, graphics, etc.?
• Is the style consistent throughout the website?
• Will the style suit my target audience? (i.e., cartoons on a toy company website, elegant layout on a
legal website)
• What feel does the website give, orderly or messy? Playful or formal? And how does that align with
my goals?
• Where are photos or decorative touches getting in the way of my message?
Content.
The two main considerations regarding content are readability and usefulness. Readability is important
because if your visitors can’t make out your content, whether that’s because it’s too small or in a pale color
or in an unreadable font, there’s no way for your message to get across. Usefulness is important because if
your content doesn’t matter to your reader, you lose her or him anyway. Here are some questions to run your
website content through to evaluate its quality:
• Are the fonts I’ve chosen readable?
• Is there enough contrast between background colors and font colors?
• Will the web content be relevant to the website user?
• Is the website communicating your message effectively?
• Is the content concise but still useful?