NEW BUSINESS CREATION - 2024/5

Module Overview

This module will cover how a new company can be developed and set up, covering the stages of idea identification, market validation, and implementation through business planning. The focus lies on the exploration of entrepreneurial opportunities, with their subsequent realisation (i.e. how to bring them to the market) to demonstrate clear value creation streams, operational planning, and investment-readiness.

Students will learn the theory around new venture creation, including (but not limited to) such approaches as Lean Start-up and Design Thinking, understand the principles of business planning, while they will get an opportunity to practice building their own new venture. These skills are applicable to the Digital Innovation pathway.

Module provider

Surrey Business School

Module Leader

MURZACHEVA Ekaterina (SBS)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

N/A

Module content

Indicative Module content may include: 

• New venture creation theories;


• Lean start-up methodology;


•  Design-thinking approach;


•  Market validation techniques;


•  Business environment analysis;


•  Professional presentation of complex information

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

The New Venture Project will be prepared individually as a video presentation with maximum of 12 minutes

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of key digital skills and then to apply them in a business context.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of: 

• New Venture Group Project -  (addresses learning outcomes 1,2, and 5);


• New Venture Individual Report - (addresses learning outcomes 2, 3, 4).

Formative assessment

Students will receive individual and group feedback during the module from teaching staff which they are expected to use to improve their work in subsequent assignments;

Feedback

Students will receive feedback verbally in lecture or tutorial while they will also receive written feedback for assignments which can be used to inform further summative assessments.

Module aims

• Explore a range of business concepts and review them in new venture creation.
• Provide a range of tools, techniques, and methods to support the design of a business plan.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of a business plan for a new venture in view of being investment ready.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The teaching and learning strategy is designed to benefit passive as well as active learners.

Apart from catering for the needs of both types of learners, and, therefore, providing a teaching and learning strategy that is fairer and does not disadvantage either group, it is intended to promote sound understanding of theory and how it may be applied in practice.

This is achieved by providing opportunities to engage with the material in the class, independently, in groups, and individually with the focus on learning by doing, through the experience, discussions, and continuous feedback.

This is seen as important in a programme that is intended to educate students for entrepreneurship rather than simply educating them about it. Hence it carries more weight in the assessment process.

The teaching and learning methods may include: 

Interactive lectures;  Guest speakers (business owners/managers and subject matter experts); Case analyses;  Group projects and individual work;  Discussion and reflection opportunities;  Digital resources and activities. In addition the module teaching team are accessible throughout the semester to address and clarify questions. Office hours will be provided. Feedback given will be oral and written on an individual basis and summative.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MAN3224

Other information

The module supports development of 5 pillars for learning as follows:

Employability students develop key business skills which they can apply in a range of different business contexts. This is assessed in the individual assignment and group assignment.

Global and Cultural Capabilities students will develop their ability to work in groups effectively with other students from diverse backgrounds to develop their cultural intelligence, broaden their world view, own perspectives and interpretations and reinterpret issues against a broader spectrum of ideas and representations.

Resourcefulness and Resilience  students work in groups on a project where they are expected to respond to challenges to find solutions which require creativity and an ability to adapt based on the business context; they are also expected to show initiative and creativity in the New Venture Individual Report where they are expected to outline a business plan for the identified and previously validated idea to meet the investment-readiness criterion. This is assessed in the individual and group assignment.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2024/5 academic year.