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Instructions for Business Venture College Essay Examples

Essay Instructions: **Request Writer: philipj

Background:
In this case assignment, you are asked to discuss and analyze the factors for success and failure in business ventures.

To do this we will look at two different companies that started more or less at about the same time, Siebel and eBay. They both did extremely well initially, with Siebel revolutionizing CRM and eBay the auction business. However, both went very different ways. Siebel developed major problems and was acquired by Oracle, while eBay grew to where it is today?the leader in its marketspace.

Required Reading:
Refer to the required and optional readings on entrepreneurship, the theme for this module. These articles will give you an understanding of the factors that contribute to the success or failure of a start-up company. Pay careful attention to the important lessons from these two start-ups, eBay (very successful) and Siebel (not so successful). Note too the exit strategies that both companies use?eBay's exit strategy was via IPO (initial public offering - stock market), and Siebel was through acquisition. These will come into play in future assignments.

Assignment:
Write a paper which examines the following questions:
?What are the critical factors that determine the success or failure of a start-up company?
?Analyze why the two companies in this module, Siebel Systems and eBay, differ so much in their outlook.
?Identify some of the important lessons you derive from comparing companies that continue to do well with others that flounder after being successful start-ups. Among the lessons you identify, which one is the most important?
?Assess the key start-up factors that determine long-term sustainability of a company such as eBay or Siebel.

Keys to the Assignment:
The key aspects of this assignment that should be covered in your paper are:
?Detailing the various factors contributing to the success (or failure) of start-ups.
?Evaluating these factors in reference to eBay and Siebel, (i.e., what they did right, what they did wrong).
?Evaluating these two organizations in terms of the key startup factors that determine long-term sustainability.

Assignment Expectations:
Your paper will be evaluated on the following seven points:
?Precision - Does the paper address the question(s) or task(s)?
?Breadth - Is the full breadth of the subject, that is, all the keys to the assignment, addressed?
?Depth - Does the paper address all elements of the topic in sufficient depth? Does it include and apply the background readings and other background resources as references?
?Critical thinking ? Are the concepts of this module applied accurately, logically, and relevantly?
?Organization - Is the paper organized in a coherent and systematic manner? Are headings included in all papers longer than two pages?
?Clarity - Is the writing clear and are the concepts articulated properly? Are paraphrasing and synthesis of concepts the primary means of responding to the questions, or are points conveyed through excessive use of quotations?
?Referencing (citations and references) - Does the paper use citations and quotation marks where appropriate? Are all references listed in the bibliography used and referred to via citation?


Required Reading:

*The following required reading will help you learn about the factors that make a new venture succeed or fail.

Anonymous (2008, Feb. 4), Entrepreneur Investment Opportunities: Will Your Start-Up Idea Fly? PR Newswire, New York, NY Retrieved from ProQuest.

Baron, R. A. (2006) Opportunity Recognition as Pattern Recognition: How Entrepreneurs "Connect the Dots" to Identify New Business Opportunities. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 20(1), 1331-1334. Retrieved from EBSCO.

Anonymous, (2012). CBS Television Network SWOT Analysis. Marketline.com, 1-8. Available 1/3/13 through EBSCO database.

*The following required reading gives examples of winners and losers in the new venture space.

Hof, R. D. (2003, August 25). The eBay Economy. The Company is not just a wildly successful startup. It has invented a whole new business world. Business Week, 3846. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_34/b3846650.htm.

Kerstetter, J. (2003, June 2). Can Siebel stop its slide? Missteps?and tough rivals?undermine the software giant. Business Week 3835. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_22/b3835081_mz063.htm.

Gaither, Chris, Alex Pham, (2005, Sep. 13), Oracle, eBay Snap Up Firms to Compete; The purchases of Siebel Systems and Skype Technologies signal a buy-or-be-bought tactic. Los Angeles Times (Home Edition). p. C1. Retrieved from ProQuest.

Optional Reading:

*The following optional articles will help you in developing your SLP business plan

The Nuts and Bolts of Business Plans. MIT Entrepreneurship Center. Retrieved from http://www.ipvisioninc.com/nutsandbolts/.

Tutorial on Business Plan. MyOwnBusiness. Retrieved from http://www.myownbusiness.org/s2/index.html.

Pages on Business Planning. Free Management Library. Retrieved from http://www.mapnp.org/library/plan_dec/bus_plan/bus_plan.htm.

Entrepreneur's Help Page. Retrieved from http://www.tannedfeet.com/.

Excerpt From Essay:

Title: Funding a Business Venture

Total Pages: 3 Words: 907 Works Cited: 0 Citation Style: MLA Document Type: Research Paper

Essay Instructions: BUSN105: Scenario
You are an inventor who enjoys working around the home, cleaning, cooking, and doing minor home repairs and remodeling. You have little financial skills and no management skills. You have a great idea for a new kind of home appliance that meets everyday consumer needs. Your net worth is not very high so you have no idea if you’ll be able to “fund” this start-up. You know that currently there are similar products that meet the consumers’ needs, but those products are inherently dangerous. You know nothing about manufacturing other than that it costs lots of money to set up a plant. You are convinced that this new technology idea would be applicable in a wide range of other products.
Your spouse, knowing how much time this venture will take away from family time, has asked you for an example of what you mean to make sure your idea isn’t some harebrained scheme. You mention the following as two similar ideas that were developed for one application but proved to have VERY widespread applications:
a. The “clicker” was initially invented for use with TV’s, but now has widespread applications for a host of electronic applications, just like your technology could potentially do.
b. The 3-prong power cord for electrical appliances was invented for higher quality appliances. Lower quality appliances have a 2-prong cord, which is a safety issue. Better quality power cords have the 3rd “ground” wire, so now it has widespread application, just like your technology could potentially do.
Marketplace
The market for your new product (which will use a special technology) is quite saturated with annual growth of only 2%. It is expected that the new technology in this invention will jumpstart sales growth as it will make it far easier to handle and use around the house. You fully expect that once this product’s acceptance is established, the technology can be leveraged into other products and/or markets. While each of these FUTURE products and/or market opportunities is sure to generate significant sales, there will be significant new investment required for each opportunity as well as some risk.
Scenario Glossary
Saturated: Every market place has a certain number of potential customers; as more and more product is sold to those customers, the market reaches a point where the only continued sales might be replacement sales; this would be considered 100% saturation; on the other hand, for brand new products like a Blackberry, iPhone, etc, the day these were introduced, the saturation rate was 0%; this concept is especially important for firms introducing products to a market already having a number of suppliers supplying this product category.
Annual growth: usually used when describing the growth rate of a particular product category; for example, until this year, the auto industry was growing about 4% per year; the housing industry was growing a little faster. Both of those industries growth rates have not only slowed, but have also seen a downturn or negative growth.





Funding a Business Venture

Continuing with the scenario from Unit 1, you now need to make a management decision about how to fund your business. You have several options. You can borrow money, sell stock, or license the technology. Chose the type of funding which you prefer. Then, write a 2??"3 page paper that reflects your decision-making analysis. In this paper, be sure to include the following:

•Using your own words (no quotations), write a series of short paragraphs describing the meaning, function, and importance of each of the following four terms:
?-?Investment Banker
?-?Stock Market
?-?Financial Management
?-?Risk Financing
•Identify your preferred source of funds.
•Describe your decision for choosing this form of funding.
•Explain the pros and cons of your decision.
•Describe one other possible option for this funding decision.
Please submit your assignment of 2??"3 pages in APA format.
Submitting your assignment in APA format means, at a minimum, you will need the following:

1.TITLE PAGE. Remember the running head: AND TITLE IN ALL CAPITALS.
2.ABSTRACT. A summary of your paper, not an introduction. Begin writing in third person voice.
3.BODY. The body of your paper begins on the page following the title page and abstract page and must be double-spaced (be careful not to triple- or quadruple-space between paragraphs). The type face should be 12-pt. Times Roman or 12-pt. Courier in regular black type. Do not use color, bold type, or italics except as required for APA level headings and references. The deliverable length of the body of your paper for his assignment is 2-3 pages. In-body academic citations to support your decisions and analysis are required. A variety of academic sources is encouraged.
4.REFERENCE PAGE. References that align with your in-body academic sources are listed on the final page of your paper. The references must be in APA format using appropriate spacing, hang indention, italics, and upper and lower case usage as appropriate for the type of resource used. Remember, the Reference Page is not a bibliography but a further listing of the abbreviated in-body citations used in the paper. Every referenced

Excerpt From Essay:

Essay Instructions: Assignment 2: Successfully Funding Your Business Venture
Due Week 8 and worth 280 points

For Assignment 1, you imagined that you were going to start a company that offered an innovative product or service. In Assignment 1 you also determined the business structure you would use for that venture. For this assignment, you can use that same idea and structure or imagine different ones. Use the Internet and the Strayer Online Library to locate any additional information needed to complete this assignment.

Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you:
Determine the steps you would need to take to officially establish your company with the business structure that you feel is most appropriate. For each of those steps, be sure to include specifics that are relevant to your market and geographic area.
Examine at least three (3) funding sources that might be appropriate for your business. Describe what those sources of capital are, and explain the pros and cons of each.?
Select the funding source that you believe to be the best fit for your business and explain why.
Determine the form(s) of intellectual property that you will have to protect when starting your business. Develop a plan to protect these intellectual properties.?
Choose one (1) of the following approaches: Assume you decide to revamp your product or service so that it is completely virtual / online and concentrates on fulfilling a social need. Propose two (2) ways that you would need to alter your preferred funding sources and explain why. Determine whether you would or would not have additional forms of intellectual property to protect. Support your decision. Or If your initial business product or service was already completely online and geared toward social entrepreneurship, determine ways that you might need to revise your funding and protection of intellectual property had your company not been rooted in social entrepreneurship and had a physical location.
Imagine that you established your initial idea for a company and have been successfully operating for five years (5). Describe how your hypothetical need for capital changed over the years. Determine which sources of funding would be the most appropriate if you wanted to raise capital to expand your hypothetical business. Examine how, if at all, those funding sources might have differed from those needed in early stage funding.
Use at least three (3) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student?s name, the professor?s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
Examine the process of developing a business plan and setting up the company.
Analyze money sources for finding and managing funds.
Compare the different forms of intellectual property and how they differ.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in entrepreneurship.
Write clearly and concisely about entrepreneurship using proper writing mechanics.

Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric found here.

Excerpt From Essay:

Essay Instructions: Assignment 3: More of the Basics and Beyond
Due Week 7 and worth 200 points

Using the same business you started in Assignment 1, you will continue to build a financial plan for the business.

Write a four to five (4-5) page paper in which you:

My business venture is a day spa
Prepare a pro forma balance sheet for the first twelve (12) months of your business. Include the assumptions on which it is based. Justify your balance sheet.
Prepare a pro forma income statement for the first twelve (12) months of your business. Include the assumptions on which it is based. Justify your income statement.
Prepare a pro forma cash budget for the first twelve (12) months of your business. Include the assumptions that you have made when creating the budget. Justify your budget.
Scrutinize the costs (both tangible and intangible costs) of obtaining financial capital for your business start-up to determine whether the costs justify implementation of the funding source.
Your business is five (5) years old and running profitably. You are now ready to look outward five (5) more years to take the business to the next level.
Determine the specific details that would make the equity approach to valuing your business worthwhile. Provide a rationale with your response.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student?s name, the professor?s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
Apply the fundamentals of entrepreneurial financing.
Perform fundamental analysis of a business.
Examine the equity approach to valuing a new venture.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in financing entrepreneurships.
Write clearly and concisely about financing entrepreneurships using proper writing mechanics.

Excerpt From Essay:

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