Leadership and Entrepreneurship

A tantárgy neve magyarul / Name of the subject in Hungarian: Informatikai vállalkozások

Last updated: 2010. november 11.

Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics

Mérnök informatikus szak

BSc képzés

Course ID Semester Assessment Credit Tantárgyfélév
VISZA087   3/1/0/v 4  
3. Course coordinator and department Dr. Wiener Gábor,
Web page of the course www.cs.bme.hu/....
4. Instructors
Name

 

Position

 

Department

 

Gábor BOJÁR

 

Lecturer

 

Department of Computer Science and Information Theory

 

7. Objectives, learning outcomes and obtained knowledge Becoming an entrepreneur is not for everyone. At the same time, it is important for the society as a whole that those students with the right personal character and ambitions for entrepreneurship do seriously consider such a career. The objective of this course is to help AIT students prepare for this decision by exposing them to complex case studies of IT Entrepreneurship. Just as importantly, the course equips students with the basic analytic tools to understand and reconstruct entrepreneurial approaches and to develop a conceptual framework for evaluating, launching, financing and managing new technology companies.

 

 

 

8. Synopsis

1. Introduction
    Forming the teams
    The human characteristics of the genuine “Entrepreneur”
    Peculiarities of the IT/Technology sector

2. The business idea
    Identifying our objective and subjective constrains and competitive advantages
    Geographical-, social-, cultural-, financial-, etc. constrains 
    Turning constrains into opportunities
    Identifying the optimal markets
    Real – Win – Worth analysis (“RWW test”)
    Strategic alliance policy

3. Case story presented by guest lecturer from the industry

4. First student presentation to investors: Business idea, RWW analysis

5. Different market maturity phases (discussing Moore, Geoffrey, Crossing the Chasm)
    Illustrative examples from Apple vs Microsoft and Graphisoft vs. Autodesk strategy

6. Discussing “Red Ocean” vs. “Blue Ocean” strategies, illustrating it with Apple vs. Microsoft vs.                Google and Graphisoft vs. Autodesk example
    Cultural differences in the business
    US vs. Europe vs. Far East;
    Differences within Europe
    Business ethics

7. Second student presentation to customers: Customer benefits at different target groups

8. Financials
    Financing different growth phases (angel-, venture- and public market)

9. Case stories presented by guest lecturer from the financial community

10. Team management and motivation
           - Motivations in start up vs. matured phases
           - “Entrepreneurs” vs. employees
           - “Environmental” motivation factors (human and physical)
           - Short term and long term motivations
           - Cash vs. share motivation schemes
           - The need for dreams
           The right persons for the right positions
           - leaders vs. soldiers
           - executives vs. analysts
           - sales vs. marketing
           Channel development

11. Third student presentation: How to motivate employees

12. Corporate governance principles
      - private vs. public firms
      - the role of the non-executive directors
      - balance of interests among different stakeholders:
                  o shareholders
                  o employees
                  o customers
 Dangers of the bubble markets
 Business in economic crisis

 

9. Method of instruction Lectures, project-based group work

 

10. Assessment The students are required to present their business idea and its evaluation in live PowerPoint presentations, to be challenged by the instructor in front of the class. By the end of the course a formal Business Plan should be submitted and presented to invited external expert audience.

 

Critical element of the grading will be the presentations and the product usability analysis.

 

 

Presentations:

 

-          Business idea presentation and RWW (Real – Win – Worth analysis), demonstrating the ability of students to evaluate the viability of a business idea. The emphasis is NOT on the attractiveness of student’s own ideas, but on their ability to analyze it objectively.

 

-          Customer presentation to demonstrate students’ selling skills

 

-          Employee presentation to demonstrate students’ motivation skills,

 

-          Business Plan presentation to investors, demonstrating students’ ability to express their idea in common financial terms.

 

 

The presentations will illustrate students’ ability to form the appropriate message to the different audiences. The students will be also exposed to simulated conflict situations with employees and/or customers and strategic business partners.

 

 

Grading will be based on the following criteria:

 

- Viability of the business idea (RWW test) and SWOT analysis            20            points

 

- Reliability of the business plan & financial projections                        10            points

 

- Presentation skills                                                                          10            points

 

- Motivation skills                                                                            20            points

 

- Product analysis skills                                                                    20            points

 

- Class participation & activity on the sessions                                    20            points

 

12. Consultations You can reach the instructor at the following e-mail address for consultation:

 

Gábor BOJÁR: gbojar@graphisoft.com

 

13. References, textbooks and resources Moore, Geoffrey: Crossing the Chasm, Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers, Harper Business, 2002.,     Bojár, Gabor: The Graphisoft Story, Hungarian Perestroika from an Entrepreneur’s Perspective, Translated from Graphi-sztori, HVG, 2005.

 

14. Required learning hours and assignment
Number of contact hours

 

56

 

Preparation to the classes

 

14

 

Preparation to the tests

 

 

Homework

 

30

 

Assigned reading

 

 

Preparation to the exam

 

20

 

Total

 

120

 

15. Syllabus prepared by
Name

 

Position

 

Department

 

Gábor BOJÁR

 

Lecturer

 

Department of Computer Science and Information Theory