85995 - Business Plan (2nd cycle)

Academic Year 2020/2021

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to understand and be able to structure a business plan. The course provides elements of decision-making as well as methods and techniques to analyze different scenarios and plan strategic decisions. At the end of the course students will be able to: - Evaluate entrepreneurial opportunities; - Understand the functions of the business plan; - Analyze the competition, define the value proposition and the marketing plan.

Course contents

The course is designed to introduce the students to basic principles of economical frameworks including the qualitative and quantitative information that contribute to the economic well-being and the subsequent financial evaluation of a company.

1. introduction to the course

2. Sustainable Development, Corporate Sustainability and the Circular Economy

3. Business Models and Circular Business Models

4. Circular Business Models: Some Theoretical Insights

5. Disruptive Technologies

6. Circular Economy: A Tale of some Industries

7. Culture & Organization

8. Ecosystem Deep Dive: Policy—The Role of Policymakers

9. Culture and circular economy behaviour consumption

10.Mid term valuation

11.Case studies

12. Case studies

13. Case studies

14. Discussion

15. Discussion

Readings/Bibliography

- BUSINESS MODELS IN THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY, Roberta del Angelis, Palgrave MacMillan, 2018

- THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY HANDBOOK, Peter Lacy, Jessica Long,
Wesley Spindler, Palgrave MacMillan,2020 (only chapt.3, 4, 10, 14, 15, 19, 20, 22)

Other materials will be let to the students during the course.

Teaching methods

Lectures and discussion: Lectures will highlight elements of the readings, provide an organizing framework for the topic of the day, and cover new material. Oral participation during the lecture sessions and case discussions will be very important. A substantial part of the benefit the student will derive from the class is a function of his/her willingness to expose his/her viewpoints and conclusions to the critical judgment of the class, as well as his/her ability to build upon and evaluate the judgments of his/her classmates.

Class participation: Active, meaningful contribution to class discussion largely determines the class participation grade for this course. The participation grade is not merely an attendance grade. Further, I have learnt from experience that cold calling really helps enhance learning outcomes for students. Therefore, I will cold call on you. If for some reason, you are not well prepared please feel free to tell me ahead of time on a case discussion day. You do not have to give me any reason for it. You can use this option once during the term on any case discussion day.

Case preparation and analysis (Team Work Project): Cases will illustrate and expand the lectures, introduce new material, and allow for practice in management and leadership cases.

“Bonus Track” (Optional): The best way I know to learn is by teaching! This “Bonus Track” is designed to do just that. In brief, the student will pick a topic that applies to the Business Planning domain, and is of special interest. He/She will then conduct some background research on it, and share his/her findings with the class conducting a real lecture. This will count as extra credits!

Assessment methods

Evaluation of student performance in this course will be based on class participation, group project, teamwork presentations, and mid term written test. Distribution of grades is based on the following percentages:

  • 5%: Class Participation
  • 40%: Team Work Project (research, presentation and peer evaluation)
  • 5%: Peer valuation
  • 50%: Mid term Test
  • “Bonus Track”: (from 2 to 3 points on the final grade)

Teaching tools

The course will be held using different types of multi-media resources: audio, video, infographics, text, and animation. These resources aim to build a method to help learners develop learning strategies

Office hours

See the website of Sabrina Pedrini