Small+Business+Consulting

=MGT 486/586= This course is designed to offer education and training in the art of management consulting as it applies to smaller firms. The overall purpose of the course is the acquisition of knowledge and skills that will enable students to provide management advice to entrepreneurs and businesspersons to improve the performance of smaller organizations.media type="reddit" key="" width="120" height="22" 3.000 Credit hours

Revised syllabus (August 30 version)

Tuscaloosa Karaoke Results - Opportunity Register, Key Attribute Identification, and Recommendations (Sep 29)
Consulting Team Project Diary Submittals
 * ~ ==Now and Before== ||~ ==Coming Soon== ||
 * ==Week 15==
 * November 29 **
 * December 1 **
 * 4th consulting project experiential diaries due by midnight, December 2**
 * (submit using this link)**

Week 14

 * November 22 **


 * November 24 **
 * Thanksgiving Break **
 * No diaries due this week **

Week 13
Lecture slides (this is a work in progress; topics cover:)
 * November 15 **
 * Small business special issues
 * Break-even analysis (why it matters, how to do it)[[file:Break-even analysis.xls]]
 * Collecting data; understanding how data supports your hypotheses
 * Fake Quiz
 * November 17 **
 * No lecture; Out of class project work
 * Look for mid-project team member survey


 * 3rd consulting project experiential diaries due by midnight, November 18**
 * (submit your diary entry using this link)**

Week 12

 * November 8 **
 * Dealing with small business issues
 * Related cases for organizing
 * November 10 **
 * 2nd consulting project experiential diaries due by midnight, November 11**
 * (submit using this link)**

Week 11

 * November 1 **
 * Topics **
 * Initial client meeting
 * Framing the question (TEAM FOCUS)
 * Writing the proposal


 * Lecture**
 * Mid-term exam review
 * Strategies for framing the question (TEAM FOCUS)
 * Proposal templates


 * November 3 **


 * 1st consulting project experiential diaries due by midnight, November 4 (submit using this link)**

Week 10
** The exam is written and ready to go. 45 multiple-choice and short-answer questions drawn exclusively from this PPT file. ** media type="custom" key="10676072"
 * October 25 **
 * Slides for Exam I **
 * Closed book, closed notes**


 * October 27 **
 * Mid-semester study break**

Week 9

 * October 18 **
 * **From the Forbes.com vault: How to keep tabs on any business**
 * Kentuck Festival and Art Business
 * **Exam Preparation**
 * **Business Plan Workshop**
 * **SparkPark Business Plan (read the executive summary)[[file:Spark Parking.pdf]]**
 * **"Where are they now?" / Former [|CEO Cooper Marcus] on LinkedIn**


 * October 20 **
 * Small Business Consulting Team Project Milestones
 * Momentex LLC exercise
 * Fake Quiz

Week 8
In advance of Oct 11, read the files on business models and model businesses from Week 7

Understanding and analyzing financial statements
 * October 11 **
 * Pre-Lecture**
 * Looking for a reliable business model? Try Poop911.
 * Extra credit opportunity - 6pm tonight at Cold Stone Creamery - promotional pictures and short videos
 * Topics**
 * @Forms of organization for small firms
 * Understanding financial statements[[file:Ch03.ppt]]
 * Fake Quiz

Understanding and analyzing financial statements
 * October 13 **

Tuscaloosa PAWS extra credit Small Business Consulting Team Project
 * Pre-Lecture**
 * Form teams next week
 * Identify projects
 * Have three clients for 12 students
 * Need three more projects
 * Meet with client, identify frame and scope of project
 * Write proposal to conduct consulting project
 * Begin data collection and analysis
 * Present initial findings to client
 * Complete remaining data collection and analyses
 * Write report and complete client recommendations presentation


 * Lecture**
 * McDonald's Opportunity and Market Assessment
 * Small Business Financials[[file:SBC Financial Statements.ppt]]
 * Fake Quiz

Week 7
@College Hunks Hauling Junk
 * October 4 **

Small business issues - Identifying the right primary target market []

Small business issues - Identifying the right primary target market
 * October 6 **
 * Required Readings**
 * Building a "model business"
 * Business Model Generation[[file:businessmodelgeneration_preview.pdf]]
 * Business Model Generation - [[file:Business Model Generation Project - AMC Theaters.pdf]]
 * Here's a brief background document on AMC's financial woes in 2007[[file:AMC Entertainment.ppt]]

Week Six
**September 27** **Small Business Issues**
 * Opportunities and Opportunity Recognition>
 * Entrepreneurial opportunities
 * National Federation of Independent Business Survey
 * NFIB survey with proposed solutions

Note: Homework due by midnight, September 28 - Tuscaloosa Karaoke

**September 29** **Small Business Issues**

KidSmart Business Plan presentation
Opportunity register, key attribute identification, and consultant recommendation As you did in class, the judges lasered directly onto the most important issues associated with this business opportunity:
 * What laws require consumers to buy this product?
 * How unique and protected is the patent? (The patent is the source of the company's "unfair" advantage) KidSmart projects an exit event for investors in six years when a larger firm buys out KidSmart at 6X EBITDA, which they project to be $125 M. The judges wanted to know how active this industry actually is in terms of acquisition activity.
 * Finally, the judges note that KidSmart wants to be a selling and marketing company and outsource all other aspects of the value chain. Judges noted that the team was outsourcing all the low-risk processes and keeping the highest-risk ones for themselves. The judges insisted that this team really just needs to license the technology to a larger existing firm.

Week Five
**September 20**


 * Pre-Lecture**
 * @Turning down 100 million dollars
 * @Experiential Exercise in E-Commerce
 * **Business of the day: Path**


 * Lecture**
 * Consulting Skills**
 * The McKinsey Engagement (Collect, Understand, Synthesize)[[file:FOCUS collect understand synthesize.ppt]]
 * Business and Company Resource Center
 * Factiva demonstration

**September 22** **Finish consulting skills emphasis**

Pre-Lecture Topics


 * The pyramid principal
 * Frameworks for small firm performance analysis

Week Four
**September 13** Pre-Lecture
 * mtvU pitching competition
 * @Meet the Dragons
 * **Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity**

Consulting skills Small firms in the US have been experiencing a long-term trend that the researchers call a slow jobs "leak." Read this report from the Kauffman Foundation.
 * Lecture:**
 * Passion for Business
 * Entrepreneur Magazine - How to start your own consulting business
 * Inc Magazine - How to assess your idea
 * Framing the question for a successful project ([[file:Rules of Engagement - Framing.ppt]])
 * Submitted for your information:**

**September 15**
 * Opener:**
 * Student career services presentation
 * Whitney Hough presentation on AIME - Whitney's presentation is available here:[[file:AIME Talk 09-14-11 [Read-Only].pdf]]


 * Consulting skills**
 * Lecture Frame, Organize, Collect, Understand, and Synthesize**
 * The McKinsey Engagement([[file:TEAM FOCUS.ppt]])

Useful links: Small Business Development Center at the University of Alabama

Week Three
**September 6** Essential team skills - Entrepreneurial Teams

ZipCar Main site WIred.com on ZIP IPO @Relay Rentals Jeffrey Timmons on New Venture Teams
 * Powerpoint slides[[file:The new venture team -Timmons chapter.ppt]]
 * PDF of text[[file:The New Venture Team.pdf]]

**September 8** 99 Designs - Why use just one designer for your cool logo? Rent A Green Box - Packing materials for your next move - Watch this video Instructable - Make yourself a giant on your webcam
 * Openers**
 * Also see Ecopreneuring - Rent A Green Box

Most people worry about other team members engaging in social loafing when they start a team project. You can design your teams to prevent social loafing and get the best out of everyone to accomplish individual and team goals.
 * Essential team skills**
 * Social loafing and how to fix it[[file:Social loafing.docx]]
 * Cooperation versus conflict in teams [[file:Cooperation versus competition in teams.doc]]
 * Rules of engagement on teams [[file:Rules of Engagement - Team Focus.doc]]
 * See also: Comparison of effective and ineffective teams
 * Slides from 9/8 lecture[[file:Team skills.ppt]]
 * See also: The importance of a strong founding team: Bump

Week Two
**August 30** Main topic: Working in teams effectively (lecture and exercises)
 * Survey results
 * The Private Race to Space
 * Farming in the Sky
 * Luxury Getaways of the Future
 * Personality inventory

**September 1**
 * @Comparison of effective and ineffective teams

Read this essay by Walt Mossberg on Steve Jobs Does anger promote creativity? This article in Wired provides anecdotal and empirical evidence.
 * Suggested Readings:**

**Week One**
**August 25**
 * [[file:Small Business Consulting Lecture 1.ppt]]
 * Review of surveys ($100,000, course expectations)
 * Overview of syllabus
 * Topic: What are entrepreneurial opportunities?
 * Announcement of readings and assignments for Week Two || ==Week 16==
 * December 6 **


 * December 8 **
 * 5th (and final) consulting project experiential diaries due by midnight, December 9**
 * (submit using this link)** ||