Case study
The Assignment Tasks
The assessment consists of a formative and a summative element.
o The formative task, an upload of Pitch Presentation, is there to help you complete the summative assessment task successfully to achieve an excellent grade.
o The formative process is important because it will help you address the task more fully and therefore contributes to your learning and understanding of how to successfully present a business idea to a potential investor
2. Summative Assessment
This task is an individual piece of work. This assignment is designed to give students some exposure to Secondary data analysis. This will hopefully encourage studentslo careiully ground their work in the experiences of real-life entreprenet{rs or small business owners. As alqrayg-1iough, this is an academic piece of work, and as such, it is expected that students will engage actively with the academic literature in this area.
The Scenario
An Enterprise and lnnovation lnstitution (Ell) have up to f300,000 available to promote the growth of local businesses and employment in its local area.
A. You are required to identiff a new start-up business and seek funding from the Ell for one of the following:
- Setting up a small hotellguesthouse,
- Opening a new gym
- Establishing a management or technical consultancy business
- Any other idea you may have to start-up a business (to be agreed)
And write a report to the potential lnvestor:
(lndicative word length, 3000 words)
- You are required to identify the following specifically and succinctly:
- o State your business’s Unique Selling Point,
- o Undertake an environmental analysis clearly stating the industry sector, any lndustry characteristics? (Maturity, regulations), lndustry in numbers? (Growth rate, margins)
- Undertake a Competitive Analysis including a SWOT,
- Key success factors in the industry (20 marks)
B. Prepare a 3-year financial forecast
- Construct a Pro-forma lncome statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement over three years. (You may wish to provide additional information such as a quarterly forecast, for example, if you expect seasonal fluctuations in sales.)
- Clearly state and discuss what type of performance ratios would be important to your business. Show your business ratios versus other comparable (if any) organisations that are performing. (40Marks)
G. State the amount of finance you need to borrow for the business
Show clearly appropriate sources of funding (potentialfor multiple sources). (10 Marks)
D. Presenting the business plan- The PITGH
Prepare a poster outlining your start-up idea to a potential investor/lender and persuade them to see you again to find out more. This will require you to know exactly what is unique about your product or service and what the investor/lender is interested in. (20 Marks)
E. Personal Reflection
Reflecting on your overall learning experience briefly discuss what you have gained from undertaking this module including the various tasks within this assignment. You should include a reflection of your lectures/seminars/workshops and own time, in shaping your learning environment (max 2 A4 pages). Likewise include what you would do differently now knowing what you do. (10 Marks) Total (100 marks)
- You should make use of all available sources and current thinking on SMEs should be centralto your analysis and illustrated regarding current articles from relevant journals and from broadsheet newspapers (e.9., Financial Times). Use should be made of the library’s electronic databases such as Science Direct, Emerald, etc.
- You should apply theoretical concepts and models relating to the entrepreneurial process and the various stages of growth and development of the business.
- Once you have done your research you will need to write your report in which you will present a formal business plan demonstrating the business concept, the marketing strategy, and the financials including for the future qrowth andratio analysis findinqs for the future qrowth and development of the business
