FRE_V 302 201 2024W2

Course Outline

FRE 302: Small Business Management in Resource/Environmental Industries

Instructor: Jeff Carmichael

Location, Days and Time:

M 9-9:50 online and F 9-10:50 in person, in 519 Frank Forward FORW

Office Hours: by appointment

Email: jeffjcarmichael@gmail.com; jcarmich@ece.ubc.ca

Websites:

https://piazza.com/ubc.ca/winterterm22023/fre302/home

Course Description: This course introduces students to the principles of business planning and management with an emphasis on the areas of finance, marketing, legal structure, risk, and professional communications. These principles will be presented and applied within the context of small to medium businesses that rely on or are heavily impacted by environmental and/or resource fields, including land, water, food, and air. It will emphasize both fundamental business planning concepts, business casing techniques necessary to evaluate financial viability, and external environmental and societal threats and opportunities that affect these sectors in particular. Students will be required to analyze, apply, and evaluate course concepts and create a business plan as part of the requirements of this course.

The course will be of value to those who have an interest in developing their own business idea now or in the future, working within a business as a non-business specialist/manager, or applying an entrepreneurial approach within a larger business. At some point in the future, most students will be involved with a small to medium business, as an owner, manager, contractor, investor, employee, supplier, or client, and thus will likely be involved in assessing and/or preparing one or more part of a business plan. This course provides the fundamental content and knowledge to support the assessments.

Required Textbook:

Required: Barringer, Bruce. R., (2015). Preparing Effective Business Plans: An Entrepreneurial Approach. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Pearson Prentice Hall. Available online, rental or purchase. See course plan for specific chapters.

Secondary:

Engineering Economics: Seventh Edition. Niall Fraser, Elizabeth Jewkes, Mehrdad Pirnia, Ketra Schmitt. Pearson Canada, 2022.

Evaluation:

Assignment 1: Individual assignment. 5%.

Assignment 2: Group presentation regarding future business challenges and opportunities: 20%

Assignment 3: Individual assignment. 7.5%

Assignment 4: Group business plan proposal and presentation (#4a,c): 20%

Assignment 4b: Group critique of business plan proposal (#4b): 5%

Assignment 5: Individual assignment. 7.5%.

Assignment 6: Group presentation OR report - business case analysis OR RFP proposal: 15%

Engagement in classroom and out-of-class discussions: 20%

No final exam.

Tentative Schedule:

Lecture	Date	Topic
1	M Jan 6	Course overview, incl structure of assignments Student backgrounds and interests Business Planning overview
2	F Jan 10	Big picture of business planning: Objectives, audience. elements and format Business Planning process: steps 1 to 3 If time: Business Plan process: steps 4 and 5	Chapters 1,2,3
3	M Jan 13	Accounting basics: Financial statements and how they connect	Chapter 10
4	F Jan 17	Unique features of resource and environmental industries Discussion and Introduction to Assignment 2: Threats and Opportunities assessment Presentation tips and guidelines Introduction to Assignment 4: Business Plan If time: Accounting basics part 2	Chapters 1, 2, 3
5	M Jan 20	Accounting basics part 2	Chapter 11
6	F Jan 24	Entrepreneurship Mission Statements Value Proposition: Products, customers and value proposition canvas, unique selling proposition Primary and Secondary Business Research	Chapter 4
7	M Jan 27	Financing a business: sources of funds Depreciation techniques
8	F Jan 31	Go through student-identified mission statements Competitive Analysis: Target market and segmentation analysis Industry Analysis: Macromarketing industry and competition Student participation: self-evaluation Legal Structures	Chapter 5
9	M Feb 3	Financing a business: sources of funds (continued) Financial ratios and performance Projected financial ratios
10	F Feb 7	Legal Structures (deferred from L8) Industry analysis continued Competitive analysis continued
11	M Feb 10	Projected financial ratios continued Introduction to Business Casing and TBL Analysis	Chapters 6, 7
12	F Feb 14	*Assignment #2: SWOT presentations and discussion* *Assignment #1 due*
	Feb 17-21	READING BREAK
13	M Feb 24	Intro to Business Casing and TBL continued Business Casing: interest and equivalence Intro to Net Present Value (NPV) analysis	Supplemental text CH 3
14	F Feb 28	Consumers and Buying Behaviour Operations Human Resources Product Protection Risk Management Review Assignment 1	Chapters 6,7 Chapter 9 Chapter 8
15	M Mar 3	Business Casing: NPV with repeated cash flows and time period considerations Fleet purchase business case example	Supplemental text CHs 4, 5
16	F Mar 7	Micromarketing and the 4Ps Business plan pitch example Assignment 6 alternative 1: Understanding and bidding on government contracts: RFPs etc Assignment 6 alternative 2: Business Casing assessment (introduction)	Chapters 6,7
17	M Mar 10	Assignment #4a: Business Plan proposal presentations and discussion
18	F Mar 14	Assignment #4b: Business plan critiques Inflation and price indices	Supplemental text CHs 14, 7
19	M Mar 17	Inflation and Price Indices cont Internal rate of return (IRR) analysis Fleet purchases analysis example (v2) Release reading assignments for L22 Assignment #3 due	Supplemental text CH 9
20	F Mar 21	Public sector business casing analyses Sustainability and First Nation perspectives Environmental benefit estimation Fleet purchases analysis example (v3) Student participation: self-evaluation Review Assignment #3
21	M Mar 24	Cover any items not yet completed so far
22	F Mar 28	Reading assignments discussion Course evaluation Check in about Assignment #4c progress and Assignment #6 progress
	F Mar 28	*Assignment #5 due*
23	M Mar 31	Assignment #6 alternative: Business case or RFP proposal presentations
24	F Apr 4	*Assignment #4c: Business plan presentations*
25	M Apr 7	Real world challenges Course summary
	F Apr 11	Assignment #6 alternative: Business Casing OR RFP report due

LEARNING OUTCOMES
BUSINESS PLANNING
Business Planning Basics	§ Identify the unique features of food, environmental and agribusiness. § Describe the objectives and elements of a Business Plan. § Understand the 5 Step Business Planning Process. § Conduct a Feasibility Analysis for a potential new business. § Develop a Value Proposition model. § Describe and apply primary and secondary market research techniques required for the First Screen of Idea, Feasibility Analysis, and full Business Planning Process
Entrepreneurial Process & Start Up	§ Define the challenges and benefits of entrepreneurship. § Develop a workable vision and mission statement for a business. § Describe and identify how legal structures are determined based upon firm type/size/growth
Market Analysis	§ Describe and develop an industry & competitive analysis including useful analysis frameworks/models.
Product Strategy	§ Describe and utilize segmentation, buyer behaviour and competitive analysis models useful in developing a target market. § Describe options for the 4Ps of Price, Product, Promotion and Place
Operations & People	§ Describe main elements of an operational plan. § Understand important elements of how people are managed in a business.
Financial Management & Projections	§ Develop financial projections using the financial statements of net worth, balance sheet, net income and cash flow. § Explain and understand the relationships among the main financial statements. § Develop and interpret financial analysis including key ratios and breakeven analytics, and how analysis focus varies for businesses in various stages. § Develop financial statements useful in monitoring ongoing firm performance § Identify and measure business and financial risk and describe impact of these risks in business development.
Financing	§ Describe the tradeoffs between debt financing and equity financing. § Identify the typical sources of financing used at the outset of a new venture § Discuss the role of 5Cs and the challenges for acquiring financing. § Understand how loans work and are calculated
Future Threats and Opportunities	§ Describe and understand some of the key threats and opportunities relevant to food, environment, and agribusiness fields § Be able to assess how these threats and opportunities could impact future and existing businesses
Business Plan Presentation and Report	§ Understand how to prepare a Business Plan and what the key sections should contain, including an Executive Summary. § Describe key errors/red flags in a business plan document. § Understand how to prepare a professional business plan presentation, and typical errors that should be avoided.
BUSINESS CASE EVALUATION	· Understand key elements needed to prepare a business case evaluation · Understand how depreciation works and why it affects business case evaluations · Be able to apply basic business case evaluation techniques
IDENTIFYING BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES	· Understand the sections and intent of a Request For Proposal (RFP). · Be able to prepare a bid in response to an RFP, understanding what the key elements of a successful bid are.

Presentations and Reports Overall Guidelines for Scoring

Grading will be guided by the quality of the concepts identified and specified, and the visual and verbal quality of the presentation. Approximate guidance is given below. For some presentations and reports, more specific rubrics are also available to guide your efforts.

100%: A presentation that would quality for nomination for a professional award in the field.

85%: A presentation that meets the criteria expected for an experienced professional.

70%: A presentation that matches the quality of a relatively inexperienced new professional. The idea may be not well explored, or the visual or verbal quality need improvement.

60%: A presentation that would qualify as a first draft of material for a professional. The idea is only preliminary and poorly explored, and/or the visual and verbal need significant improvement.

Avenues to Demonstrate Course Engagement

Opportunities for students to display course engagement include:

Active contributions and discussion during discussion sessions in class and outside of class on Piazza. This includes critiques and suggestions for other groups.
Provide articles, videos, podcasts, or new product (via Piazza) of interest for class cohort info.
Asking questions during lectures.
Class attendance (as a bare minimum measure)
Note that asking questions about individual assignments is NOT considered a primary form of course engagement. Doing so will improve your scores on those assignments directly.

Participation Rubric

Category	Exceptional 100%	Proficient 80%	Satisfactory/Fair 60%	Unacceptable 30%
Frequency of participation	Student initiates contributions regularly during class, both in person and online.	Student initiates contribution semi-regularly during class /online platforms, although they do respond to instructor prompts to take part.	Student makes only occasional contribution, mainly only responding to take part when prompted by instructor.	Student does not attend many lectures and/or does not initiate any contributions. Student contributes only by responding to instructor questions, or only by asking clarifying questions about individual assignments.
Quality of comments	Contributions are professional quality: always insightful & constructive; using appropriate terminology. Contributions balanced between general impressions, opinions and specific, thoughtful criticisms or questions.	Contributions mostly insightful & constructive; mostly uses appropriate terminology. Occasionally comments are too general or not relevant to the discussion.	Contributions are sometimes constructive, with occasional signs of insight. Student does not use appropriate terminology; comments not always relevant to the discussion.	Contributions are uninformative, lacking in appropriate terminology. Heavy reliance on opinion & personal taste, e.g. “I love it”, “I hate it”, “It’s bad” etc. No new insights are raised. Only clarifying questions are asked.
Overall group interaction	Student listens attentively to others and builds on their remarks; is respectful and supportive of others; has positive attitude; stays focused on the topic and alert.	Student is mostly attentive to others, and any criticism is done respectfully. Stays mostly focused on the topic and has a generally positive attitude.	Student often or occasionally makes disruptive remarks or is inattentive while others speak; may need reminders to appreciate others’ contributions and to stay focused on class.	Student rarely listens to others; is regularly distracted while others speak or does not pay attention. Student is often critical of the work or ideas of others and rarely behaves in a respectful manner.