B4934 - Business Plan

Learning outcomes

The objective of the course is to understand and be able to structure a business plan. The course provides elements of decision-making, tools, and analytical techniques to examine different scenarios and plan strategic decisions.

At the end of the course, the student will be able to:

• assess entrepreneurial opportunities;

• understand the functions of a business plan;

• carry out competition analysis, define the offering system, and develop the marketing plan.

Course contents

Specific knowledge and skills to be acquired

This course draws on the literature in entrepreneurship, strategic management, and innovation to provide a broad and critical understanding of the main issues related to the conceptualization, development, and management of business plans for exploiting potential market opportunities, both in a start-up context and within existing firms.

The course is designed to offer both theoretical and practical insights for effective business planning, covering qualitative aspects (e.g., value proposition) as well as quantitative ones (e.g., financial and economic planning).

At the end of the course, students will have achieved the following outcomes and skills:

a) Knowledge and understanding

• Know the components of an excellent business plan;

• Understand the functions of different types of business planning tools;

• Describe key concepts and analytical tools for strategic planning.

b) Applying knowledge and understanding

• Structure and write a business plan;

• Analyze the market and competition;

• Define the value proposition;

• Define the organizational and supply chain configuration;

• Prepare financial and economic forecast plans.

c) Making judgments

• Evaluate the completeness of a business plan;

• Compare and assess different possible value propositions;

• Compare and assess different organizational and supply chain configurations;

• Evaluate the financial and economic sustainability of a project.

d) Communication

• Present one’s evaluation and analysis of ideas and projects, both orally and in writing;

• Effectively present an entrepreneurial idea.

e) Lifelong learning skills

• Develop skills in collecting data related to financial, economic, and innovation performance at the company or regional level;

• Improve one’s abilities in using digital tools, such as electronic presentation, writing, and calculation tools;

• Present one’s contribution and participate in the work of a diverse team.

Contents

The course will cover the following topics:

• Value creation

• Market analysis

• Competitor analysis

• Definition of organizational and supply chain configuration

• Evaluation of revenues, costs, and profitability

• Assessment of financial structure and economic feasibility

• The lean start-up approach

• Business model and business model canvas

• Presenting an entrepreneurial idea

The detailed course contents will be provided to students during the course.

Readings/Bibliography

ATTENDING STUDENTS

- C. Parolini, Business Planning. Dall’idea al progetto imprenditoriale, Pearson Education, 2020 (3a edizione)

- Lecture slides and additional mandatory teaching materials uploaded on the course’s online platform (see the syllabus on the “Virtuale” repository for details)

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

- C. Parolini, Pianificazione aziendale. Dall’idea al progetto imprenditoriale, Pearson Education, 2020 (3a edizione)

- Lecture slides and additional mandatory and optional teaching materials uploaded on the course’s online platform (see the syllabus on the “Virtuale” repository for details)

Teaching methods

The course is carried out in Italian language.

It includes various teaching and learning methods:

• Lectures

• Case studies

• Meetings with guest speakers from the business world

• Practical exercises

• Group work

Effective learning in this course requires active student participation during lectures and engagement in practical activities, partly in class (e.g., case study analysis) and partly at home (e.g., group work). For all activities, students can benefit from the supervision of the instructor or the teaching assistant.

For group work, students will be assigned to groups of up to 5 members, with the aim of maximizing diversity (e.g., gender, nationality, experience).

Assessment methods

The assessment methods differ for attending and non-attending students.

Note: The assessment methods described on this page are provisional (as of July 2024). Students will receive the final details regarding the learning assessment methods during the first lecture of the course.

ATTENDING STUDENTS

In line with the course objectives, various assessment methods are used to evaluate the students’ achievement of different competencies:

• Group project: student groups will develop a business plan during the course.

• Group presentation: the business plan will be presented at the end of the course during a pitch competition.

• Individual participation in group work: each student must submit an individual report (based on an electronic template provided by the instructor) at the end of the course.
  The report includes:

  • a record of group meetings and activities, detailing how the work was organized and distributed among members;

  • an individual, reasoned evaluation of each member’s contribution to the group work.

  This individual report enables peer assessment of each student’s contribution to the group project.
  Each student will receive an individual participation grade based on the average of the evaluations received from the other group members.

  Students with proven health or personal reasons (e.g., ongoing or recurring illnesses supported by medical certificates, or international travel supported by travel documents) will be assessed solely on the basis of their actual participation in the group work.
  Each student must receive a reasoned evaluation, and identical grades cannot be assigned to all members of the group.

• Individual written exam: a written test with open-ended questions on the course materials will be administered at the end of the course.

Exam dates/venues and the list of participants are managed through Almaesami.

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

In line with the course objectives, various assessment methods are used to evaluate the students’ achievement of different competencies:

• Individual written and oral exam: a final exam will be conducted at the end of the course, consisting of two parts:
  a) a written test with open-ended questions on the course materials;
  b) an oral presentation: the student will be provided with a company’s business plan and asked to deliver an oral presentation in front of other students and the instructor.

Exam dates/venues and the list of participants are managed through Almaesami.

Evaluation criteria (for both attending and non-attending students)

Assessment will take into account the breadth and depth of preparation on the topics covered during the course, as well as the ability to express ideas using accurate and appropriate language.

Students will be evaluated according to the following levels:

• 18–19: preparation on a very limited number of topics covered in the course; analytical ability shown only with the instructor’s guidance; generally correct language.

• 20–24: preparation on a limited number of topics; independent analytical ability only on basic or procedural issues; correct language.

• 25–29: preparation on a broad range of topics; ability to make autonomous critical analyses; good command of specific terminology.

• 30–30L: comprehensive preparation on all course topics; ability to make autonomous, critical, and integrative analyses; full command of specific terminology; strong argumentation and self-reflective ability.

Teaching tools

• Slides used during lectures
• Articles from journals and newspapers, business plans, exercises, case studies
• Interaction with the teaching assistant
• Office hours with the instructor

Office hours

See the website of Daniela Bolzani