Assignment 3 2017 – Design your business

--> back to assignments overview

Time frame

• Group work: 13.04. – 19.05.2017
• Presentation:02.05.2017 during plenary session

Task description

• What if your team became a company? You have now a common understanding of the challenge; you know about various social business cases, you are aware of business models: Now you can design your own business!
• In your team you are going to think yourself through all the relevant steps required for starting a business such as: a business plan, a financing concept, a marketing scheme.
• But most importantly: share and communicate a vision of how things can be changed and why!
• Your findings will be presented to the plenary on 02.05.2017
• Your report will be submitted on Friday, 19.05.2017

Submission format and presentation

• Individual work: Write a short outline of your own idea on the wiki until 23rd of May. At the end of the seminar you will further elaborate on this idea based on the outcomes of the group work. Reflect on what would be specific in your local context. Please prepare one page until 24th of June.

• Part One - Group work- all students (Pass/Fail):

1. Executive summary
2. Social enterprise mission and goal
3. Target market
4. Products and services, key activities (value propositions)
5. Channels
6. Management team and other key resource requirements
7. Financial summary

• Part Two – Individual work- all students (Graded)

1. Operational and management plan (compulsory)
2. Partner and stakeholder network (compulsory)
3. Marketing plan (optional, for “very good+” up to “excellent”)
4. Financial plan (compulsory)
5. Social/ environmental impact (compulsory)

Masters students only:

1. Social enterprise: social and ethical values
2. Risk management

• The report should be developed based on the business plan template
• The final presentation will be done with a PPT presentation. The presentation needs to be submitted before 02.05.2017 and presented on the following day.
• Prepare your presentation for 3rd of May with this PPT template
• There will be an invidiual upload area for submitting the reports, you will not be asked to put this material on the wiki
• Report submission deadline is Friday, 19.05.2017

Evaluation criteria

• Timely submission of deliverables
• Creativity and innovation of business model and change theory
• Extend to which the proposal meets the criteria of a social business (i.e. explicit social and/or environmental aims in combination with commercial, revenue-generating activities)
• Completeness, depth and formal correctness of required elements
• Visible synergy of project team
• Quality of documentation
• Quality of oral presentation (i.e. keeping time limits, clarity, expression, quality of presentation slides)