SYLLABUS
Independent Business Management
BA 471--3 credits--online course
Course:
- BA 471-Independent Business Management
- Online course
Instructor:
- Dr. Bob Larison
- College of Business
- Eastern Oregon University
- 1 University Boulevard
- La Grande, Oregon 97850
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- blarison@eoni.com
- Office: ZH 210
- Office Hours: M 9-noon
- web site: www.eou.edu/~blarison
What do I do first????? Check in with your instructor at blarison@eoni.com. Also, regularly check the 'Note' section on his website also for announcements that may affect the class.
About the course:
The objective of this course is to for the experienced business student to explore the world of small business management with a focus on the ongoing management of small firms. Many business students have an ultimate desire of owning their own business and this course will give them a sense of what the life of the business owner actually is like. As a small business owner myself, your friendly instructor (YFI) has lots of war stories to tell and lessons learned and you will see an emphasis on looking at existing businesses and their owners. This course is one of the few that will draw on all of the functional areas of business--marketing, management, and accounting/finance, along with applied technology and globalization issues. A student in the course may expect to read extensively; write clearly, concisely, and thoughtfully; talk to a few small business owners, and take a few tests.
Prerequisites: Junior standing--though some level of experience in the business world would make the experience richer.
Objectives:
- To closely examine the central issues of running a small business.
- To discuss some implications of doing business in an increasingly global environment.
- To examine the the primary functional areas of small business management: marketing, management, and finance.
- To develop an understanding of the complexity of owning a small business.
Text:
- Small Business Management, 3rd ed. by Timothy Hatten. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-618-50725-6. 2006.
Web Links
Testing:
Two examinations are scheduled within the course. Each exam will be worth a maximum of 50 points. Exams will be composed of a combination of multiple-choice, short essay, true-false, or matching questions. Each exam will be one-hour exam. The first exam will cover chapters 1-10 and the second chapters 11-18
Course Schedule--
The following is a suggested schedule for those who like a little structure in their class. If you follow the readings and do the exams as they are scheduled, you should not be pressed to finish at the end of the term. Again, the schedule is suggested. You may work through the material as you prefer. It would be best for you to work through the text material on topics that you are not 'fresh' on prior to doing the interviews for the small business paper.
- Week 1 Ch.1, 2, 3
- Week 2 Ch.4, 5 (select businesses for interview)
- Week 3 Ch 6, 7 (develop questionnaire)
- Week 4 Ch. 8, 9 (do interviews)(select articles for abstracts)
- Week 5 Ch. 10--midterm (chs 1-10)(do observations)
- Week 6 Ch. 11, 12 (begin writing
- Week 7 Ch 13, 14
- Week 8 Ch. 15, 16 (rough draft done)
- Week 9 Ch. 17, 18 (final edit of paper)
- Week 10 Final (chs 11-18) and submit small business paper and abstracts.
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Written Assignments:
- Paper: The Small Business Paper
- Each student will interview three (3) small business owners and ask them a uniform set of questions that will elicit their opinions and experiences about being a small business owner. The student is to develop a set of interview questions that will look at management, marketing, and financial issues within the business. A sample set of questions is listed below.
The student should also observe the businesses for a sufficient period of time to get a good feeling for how the business operates--what is efficient; what is not; what do they do well; what is badly done; attitude of employees; quality of service or product; etc.
The text will provide a base from which the student will be able to develop a paper that will critically analyze the similarities and differences between the three businesses and make some general judgement about how well they are managed using the text material as a base. In addition, the student should identify issues that are common to all three businesses.
This academic exercise will introduce the student to the real world of operating a small business and provide a basis from which the student can see the issues of importance to real business owners. The paper will be due by friday of the 10th week of the term. It may be submitted by land mail to the campus address or via email as a word attachment to YFI.
- Sample questions: Use your questions to open the owner up to talk generally about their business and their experiences. Use follow up questions for encouragement if the owner appears to want to talk about an issue. Tell them that the information you get from them will be kept confidential and their name will not be used
- What is the legal form or your business? Why this form?
- What do you feel is your primary product(or service)?
- Why did you choose open your own business?
- What has been the biggest problem you have had to deal with in your business>
- What is your biggest frustration or pet peeve about being an independent business owner?
- What is the most difficult part of running your business?
- How many employees do you have? What is your largest problem with your employees?
- Where do you plan to be in five years?
- How did you initially finance your business? Did you have enough money initially?
- What kinds of marketing media do you use? Is it effective? What are the problems of marketing you have experienced?
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