Postgraduate Course: Business Plan Capstone (CMSE11447)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Dissertation |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 60 |
ECTS Credits | 30 |
| Summary | Students will develop a feasible, scalable, realistic business plan for a commercial or social venture of their own design. This may be for a firm they would like to start in the future or one that they are already involved with. Drawing on their knowledge and skills regarding the entrepreneurship and innovation process, they will engage with customers, suppliers, and intermediaries to identify an unfilled market need, validate their product / service design, and develop a coherent path to market and financial plan. |
| Course description |
Academic Description
The goal of this capstone project is to produce a rigorously researched business plan for a commercial or social venture. Students will engage in primary and secondary research to establish the idea, validate its potential, develop business, operational, and financial models, benchmark competitors, and ultimately decide if the venture described is feasible. In addition, students will discuss and justify their research methods and write a reflective essay on how their experience aligns or diverges from the normal entrepreneurship process and the types of challenges and barriers they have encountered.
Student Learning Experience
The capstone is an experiential learning project in which students will demonstrate their knowledge of the entrepreneurship process through doing. Students will develop a commercial or social venture idea and analyse its feasibility to become a profitable, self-sustaining venture. They will conduct primary research in the form of customer interviews, observations and surveys and secondary research by analysing market trends and other data. These data will be analysed through a rigorous methodology in order to validate aspects of the venture such as market size, pricing plans, and growth potential. They will develop plans for new products / services and design market entry strategies and where possible, test these plans with potential customers and users. They will present their plan in a logical and clear manner through both written arguments and visuals as needed. Students will describe their data gathering and analysis methodology to identify potential sources of bias and then reflect on how their idea has changed and what they have learnt about the venture building process.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2021/22, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Block 5 (Sem 2) and beyond |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
600
(
Dissertation/Project Supervision Hours 5,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 12,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
583 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The business plan report is approximately 15,000 words in length.
The report is comprised of three sections, the business plan proper, a methodology appendix, and a reflective essay.
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Write a cohesive, comprehensive business plan.
- Plan, design, execute and report a significant piece of individual research.
- Use a rigorous methodological and analysis process to assess the feasibility of a potential business venture in in light of real-world data and experiences.
- Think entrepreneurially and refine their venture ideas as they gather new data on customers and market conditions.
- Critically reflect on their experiences as an entrepreneur and use this to assess their own entrepreneurial characteristics.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
- Enterprising behaviours: Graduates will demonstrate an innovative approach using creativity, collaboration and risk taking, whilst keeping commercially/professionally/situationally aware.
- Self-awareness and reflection: Critical self-awareness, self-reflection and self-management in order to fully maximise potential
- Written communications: Written communication of complex ideas and arguments using a range of media
- Knowledge integration: Using information and knowledge effectively in order to abstract meaning from information and to share knowledge across fields
-Independent Research: Ability to conduct self-directed research and enquiry into business and management issues through research design, the collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Benjamin Spigel
Tel: (0131 6)51 5552
Email: Ben.Spigel@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lauren Millson
Tel: (0131 6)51 3013
Email: Lauren.Millson@ed.ac.uk |
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