Final Project

Instructions

The completed student-directed applied learning project includes a product, service, organizational unit, market sector, innovative process/idea, or resolution to a significant organizational problem. Students demonstrate mastery of their program’s material by formulating recommendations and an associated action plan that incorporates critical analysis, sound business principles, ethical standards, and best practices into their work.

For this course, students adopt the persona of a consultant, researcher or founder of a new venture to address a topic, opportunity or problem of their choice, identified and defined collaboratively with instructor input.

The Final Project (written) can be in the form of a White Paper, Business Plan or Hybrid Business Plan due at the end of Week 7.

White Paper (15-20 pages) – an informational document that identifies a significant organizational problem and provides persuasive, factual evidence to formulate recommendations and an associated action plan that promotes a resolution.

Business Plan – The business plan describes the opportunity that you have uncovered and how you will take advantage of that opportunity. It is a form of storytelling that will persuade readers of the feasibility of the idea. One of the most significant reasons to write a business plan is that it requires you to participate in a laborious and often eye-opening process that is a critical phase before launching a new organization. You must respond to difficult queries about the nature of the need for the product or service, the intended target customer, your differentiation strategy, how long will it take before you are profitable and realize positive cash flow and how will you fund the beginning stages of growth.

Plan Details:

Opportunity: What need are you solving for which consumer?

What problems are you solving? What is the size of your market? What indicators are you seeing in the external environment that will sustain the growth?

Product/Service: Describe the product or service? What is your unique selling proposition (why would consumers choose your product over the closest competitor)?

Value Proposition: What value are you giving the target customer that others do not provide?

Marketing Strategy: What is your marketing communication strategy and how will you reach your target customer?

Competitive Environment: Who are the main competitors? What core competencies do you possess that others may not?

Management: Why will investors/suppliers/bankers be confident in your ability to be successful in this venture?

Financial: How will you determine projected sales? How long will it take to be profitable? When will the company become cash positive?

Funding: How much cash will you need to fund the startup? And how long will you be able to operate before even making $1 in sales.

Hybrid Business Plan –This would include the preliminary research to get you to the point of discovering the opportunity (market research) and selecting a number of the components of the business plan as opposed to a full blown launch plan. We would determine what aspect of the plan you should include after that preliminary research is conducted.

Grading Rubric can be found here.

 

 

Additional Information

Each week’s deliverable is intended to mirror problem-solving content covered in Cracked It, while also catalyzing a student’s own independent research. The trajectory of deliverables is intended to assist students in progressing through their paper conceptually, sequentially, and systematically. The final paper will require further nuance and creative synthesis, and should be more comprehensive than simply the compilation of each deliverable into a single document.

 

 

 

 

 

APA Standards

Proper APA formatting and referencing are required for all written assignments. For discussion boards, proper formatting is not required; however, you MUST cite your sources. Improper formatting or citations will result in up to a 20% deduction for your grade on the assignment.

When page requirements are given for an assignment, proper formatting is assumed (1″ margins, 12 point font, double spaced), and the title page does not count toward the page requirement.

For full APA guidelines, the College of Business and Leadership recommends Purdue Owl.

Purdue Online Writing Lab (n.d.). General Format. Retrieved from https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html

 

 

 

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