MGT+582+Projects

=MGT 582 Projects=

Every student in MGT 582 is expected to do an individual project beyond what is required of all students in the course syllabus. The deliverables for the project you choose include a Word document presenting your work and the delivery of a Powerpoint (or similar presentation platform) presentation to the class during lecture.

The categories for the 582 projects include: “How Tos,” Profiles, Book Reports, and Interviewing an Entrepreneur.

=“How Tos”= =**Profiles** (Companies, people, industries, technologies, social phenomena; describe, explain, understand, provide lessons, insights, and opportunities)= People: Steve Jobs, Tom Kelley, Cloud computing
 * Kickstarter.com. What is Kickstarter, how does it work, who has benefited from it, and how can an entrepreneur use it?
 * Google Ads. What are Google Ads, how do they work, and how can I use them?
 * Gift cards. How can entrepreneurs use gift cards? Who makes them, when do they make sense (or not), how much do they cost, which businesses do best with gift card sales?
 * Social media. How do you create a Facebook fan page for your business? When does it make sense (or not) to do so? Is ShortStack the answer?
 * Apps. What does it take to write an App? How does one go about finding ideas for Apps, writing them, and selling them? Is this a profitable business?
 * Kiosks. How do you run a business from a mall kiosk? What are the economics, start-up costs, break-even values (time and units), supplier relationships, lease requirements, and other legal requirements? How can someone run a kiosk business on weekends and be profitable? And does it have to be in a mall?
 * Format for "how tos:" Minimum 6 pages double-spaced Times New Roman 12-point font with 1" margins, followed by a minimum of 10 citations used in report. The citations are not included in the 6-page.**

=Book reviews=
 * Bernard, J. 2011. Business at the Speed of Now. Says Guy Kawasaki: “The founder of consulting firm Mass Ingenuity discusses how to empower your people to deal with customers' rising expectations in the always-on era.”
 * Brodsky, N., and Burlingham, B. 2010. Street smarts: An all-purpose tool kit for entrepreneurs. Penguin Group.
 * Burlingham, B. 2005. Small giants: Companies that choose to be great instead of big. Penguin Group.
 * Christensen, C. year. The Innovator’s dilemma. This book describes how big companies are displaced from their market leadership positions by ignoring innovations from unknown or unexpected smaller competitors. The examples provide entrepreneurs with a playbook on how to break into markets and compete effectively against incumbent firms.
 * Fields, J. 2011. Uncertainty. Says Guy Kawasaki: “I had a chance to hear Jonathan speak at SOBCon Northwest this year. His exploration of how successful leaders move forward despite their fears is fascinating -- and inspiring.”
 * Florida, R. 2003. The rise of the creative class...and how it's transforming work, leisure, community, and everyday life. Basic Books.
 * Fox, J. 2000. How to become a rainmaker: The rules for getting and keeping customers and clients. Hyperion. Every one of the author's 50 two-page to four-page chapters contains just one nugget of information more than the preceding section, enough to keep the momentum and the attention. Buy this man a cup of coffee!
 * Godin, S. Purple cow. Says Entrepreneur Magazine: “Godin has just one piece of advice for business owners: Be remarkable. You're either a purple cow (exciting, phenomenal and unforgettable) or you're just like the rest of them (boring and invisible). The idea is that the key to success is being extraordinary from the start by building the remarkable into everything you do.”
 * Hlinko, J. 2011. Share, Retweet, Repeat. Says Guy Kawasaki: “Want to know how you get a horde of people to a Facebook page? Hlinko's book has some enlightening anecdotes from his time as a political promoter.”
 * Kahneman, D. 2011. Thinking, fast and slow. FSG Publishing. This book is a compilation of decades of interesting research on decision-making and biases conducted by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. This is one of the few books that comprehensively explains how and why we make the choices we make.
 * Kawasaki, G. year. Art of the start.
 * Kelley, T. 2001. The art of innovation. Doubleday.
 * Kelley, T. 2005. The ten faces of innovation. Doubleday.
 * Libava, J. 2011. Become a franchise owner! Says Guy Kawasaki: “I know the ‘Franchise King,’ and I can't wait to read this one. Despite the upbeat-sounding title, Joel is known for his very frank opinions on franchise best practices. The book cuts the bull and helps would-be franchisees spot the problems as well as the opportunities. A must for anyone contemplating a franchise purchase.”
 * Livingston, J. 2008. Founders at work. Entrepreneur Magazine says this explains the qualities all successful entrepreneurs possess. “Livingston takes a look at several of today's well-known tech companies, including Apple, Flickr and PayPal. Through illuminating interviews with company founders, you'll learn valuable--and sometimes surprising--things about how these revolutionaries stumbled on the path to success.”
 * Mills, H. 2004. The rainmaker’s toolkit: Strategies for finding, keeping, and growing profitable clients. AMACOM. Much of the information is presented the form of steps, lists, and bullet points for someone who is serious about selling and intends to apply the book’s lessons.
 * Moltz, B. 2008. You need to be a little crazy. Says Entrepreneur Magazine: “An irreverent, but honest, account of what to expect when starting up. Moltz, a serial entrepreneur and angel investor, discusses the passion--or insanity--that drives entrepreneurs and draws from real-life stories to show that sometimes failure is inevitable. It's a message every small-business owner needs to hear, but doesn't hear enough.”
 * Roth, C. 2011. The entrepreneur equation. Says Guy Kawasaki: “Are you cut out to be an entrepreneur? No, really, are you? Roth dares to suggest that not everybody has what it takes, and explains the traits required to make it as a business owner.”
 * Rumelt, R. 2011. Good strategy, bad strategy. Crown Business. Richard Rumelt is one of the foremost scholars in strategic management research. This book explains the difference between good and bad strategies, explains what is and is not a strategy, and provides vivid examples from his consulting clients on how to think about strategy.
 * Ryan, E., Conley, L., and Lowry, A. 2011. The Method Method. Says Guy Kawaski: “I got to know the ecological cleaning-products company Method a while back when I interviewed them for a story. This one's for every entrepreneur who would like to crack a long-established category and bring a new twist to it.”
 * Winkler, M. 2012. The Bloomberg way: A guide for reporters and editors. John Wiley & Sons. In my humble opinion, this is probably the best book you could ever read to understand how to make sense of and report on the business world. Winkler presents chapters on how to study markets, companies, economics, politics and policy, and people, while emphasizing the importance of clarity, precision, and, yes, good grammar.

=Take an entrepreneur to dinner= For this assignment, you are expected to arrange and conduct an interview with a technology entrepreneur who is engaged in a business similar to your future interests. The entrepreneur’s business should be less than 10 years old. You should avoid doing your interview on your family’s business or that of a close friend. You will be expected to turn in a typed report summarizing your interviewee’s answers to your questions, your interpretation of what the entrepreneur had to say, and what you learned and did not learn.

Your report content should specifically include, but not necessarily limited to: (1) your evaluation of the outcome of this venture, a description of how the individual identified the opportunity, (3) a description of how the individual assessed the value, timeliness, and durability of the opportunity, (4) a description of how the entrepreneur assessed his or her fit to the opportunity, (5) a description of how the entrepreneur evaluated the market, and (6) a listing of the major uncertainties the entrepreneur faced at the time the venture started and how they were overcome.

The venture is a “success” if the it has gone public or is private and generates EBIT in its fifth year of greater than four times what the entrepreneur was earning at his or her last job prior to starting the company, or was acquired a price that generates a 50 percent per year rate of return on capital invested. You should define “failure” as a company that has declared bankruptcy, is private and does not generate EBIT in its fifth year of greater than four times what the entrepreneur was making at his or her last job prior to starting the company, or was acquired at a price that generates less than a 50 percent per year rate of return on capital invested. “Undecided” means that the venture is not a success or failure by the above definitions.