Build a Business...In an Hour or Less: Getting Closer to Reality into the Classroom Page 241 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 ABSTRACT This paper presents a process for students to create busi- nesses in the classroom. Handouts guide students through systematic procedures to create a website that looks as real as that of an existing business. The conceptual content cor- responds to a portion of a business management course covering startup, planning, execution, and organizational structure. This approach provides an experiential and vir- tually real way to have students engage with key concepts. A series of forms represent five discrete lessons to guide students through the process. Examples of student out- comes, the forms, and an instructor assessment sheet are included. INTRODUCTION The advent of the Internet and ease of free website development platforms has opened the door to a variety of new classroom activities. In business management classes students can experience the process of building businesses in ways that seem real. Although the resourcing and actual operation of the business is simulated, the creation of a website representing these operations and resources can be as real as that of an existing business. In one case, the stu- dents in a group felt that their outcome was so real that they blocked public access to their website, opening it only for the instructor to complete an assessment. The goal of this approach to building a business in the classroom is to create an experiential exercise in order to cover some of the basic concepts in a business management course. Experiential learning is the “process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experi- ence” (Kolb, 1984, p. 41). As with any experiential pro- cess, the hope is that students will learn more as the result of applying the concepts in an experiential fashion (Bonwell & Eison, 1991; Morgan, Martin, Howard & Mihalek, 2005). It is also believed that students can better apply skills learned experientially to future projects (Leong & Crowley, 2007), thus enhancing learning in other cours- es. As the AACSB continues its demands to get students engaged in their learning experience (Biggs & Gulkus, 1988; Boscia & McAfee, 2008), the use of experiential approaches is appealing. Although the empirical relation- ship between learning and performance in experiential ex- ercises is not always evident, the capability to differentiate degrees of performance among students can be useful and even attractive to prospective employers (Bernard, 2004). While other portions of a course might remain traditional, the opportunities to realize “pedagogical plural- ism” (Windsor, 1984) through various complementary teaching methods should be pursued (Lord & Newson, 1977). COURSE CONCEPTS The first priority in the design of this exercise was to ensure the effective coverage of course concepts through a means that would enhance learning beyond that achieved through traditional classroom methods. While a barrage of new concepts in a short period of time can seem intimidat- ing to learners, participant centered learning can make the process less threatening, more effective, and even enjoya- ble for the students (Franklin, Peat & Lewis, 2003; Grasha, 2002; Weisskirch, 2006). Experiential exercises promote interest and allow the flexibility to accommodate various student learning styles (Moore & Dettlaff, 2005). These activities can promote creativity, varying degrees of healthy competition, and improved levels of engagement in group work (Davis, Shepherd & Zwiefelhofer, 2009). The Build a Business exercise was conducted approxi- mately midway through an introductory management course using Daft’s (2012) management textbook. Exhibit 1 lists the basic concepts that were covered across five chapters in the course text. Exhibit 1 also compares con- tent covered in five other management textbooks. Two of the other five books (cf. Griffin, 2011; Robbins, Decenzo & Coulter, 2011) dedicate a chapter to the basic concepts used in this exercise. The remaining books (cf. DuBrin, 2012; Jones & George, 2011; Williams 2012) dedicate par- tial coverage to the concepts of strategy and new ventures within a chapter, with the exception of the Williams (2012) book which does not specifically identify new ventures as a topic in the detailed table of contents. In general, the sam- pling of books suggests a somewhat uniform coverage of these business topic areas, which indicates that this exer- cise, as presented here is transferable to various introducto- ry business or management courses. BUILD A BUSINESS...IN AN HOUR OR LESS: GETTING CLOSER TO REALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM Michael J. “Mick” Fekula The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina mick.fekula@citadel.edu mailto:mick.fekula@citadel.edu Page 242 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 The particular forms distributed to students (see Ap- pendix) show the detailed coverage of concepts for each of the five areas, so they will not be repeated in detail here. Instead, the major theme behind each handout is discussed as follows. The first form, entitled “Build a Business . . . in an hour or less” is targeted toward the coverage of new venture formation. Although students are not required to build their entire business on a website within one class, the objective of limiting their first activity to an hour is to show that they can rapidly determine the type of product or ser- vice they will sell including the rationale for believing it will be successful. They are also asked to determine, in general terms, their target market, their competition, how the business would work financially, and how they will distribute work amongst their team. Finally, they are chal- lenged to have a website up and running before the end of the class period in an hour and 15 minute class session. Once they have decided upon their business idea, the second handout distributed during the next lesson focuses upon developing a vision, values, a mission, and objectives. They are directed to add these items to their website in or- der to show the application of planning and goal setting concepts. In the next and third lesson, students engage in strategy formulation and execution by assessing their envi- ronment and determining a strategy based upon the vision, mission, values, and objectives established in the prior les- son. The students are told to include the strategic manage- ment information in a section of the webpage designed for access by potential investors. Lesson four, and its corresponding handout involves a process that varies from the prior lessons because it does not require particular additions to the website. This kind of lesson can be made optional by some instructors because it focuses upon decision-making behavior. Instructors might want to leave that discussion to another part of the course. In our case, it was used during the Build a Business exer- cise in order to allow teams the time to catch-up on their website development, while also pausing to reflect upon the decision-making models employed by their group in reach- ing the current state of their business. In the final lesson of Build a Business, students are tasked to develop the organizational structure that will best serve to execute the strategy developed in the third lesson. In reference to the course concepts, students must assess the environment and their strategy to show how it deter- mines their choice of organizational structure. They are also asked about technology and work processes relative to a selected structure. The final task is to develop their organ- ization chart and post it to the website. BUILD A BUSINESS EXERCISE There are four basic components to this exercise. First, students must be able to create a website, which re- quires prior student knowledge of the process or some guidance from the instructor. Second, a series of forms are given to students to guide them through the course concepts which must be considered when starting a business. The forms also direct the students to develop particular aspects of their website in order to effectively represent their busi- ness. Next, students must develop and display their web- site. Finally, the instructor must be able to access the stu- dent websites via the Internet and conduct an assessment based upon the desired concept coverage. The time allotted for the conduct of this exercise in the particular case de- scribed here was five one-hour and 15 minute class periods. At the start of each class, the instructor took time to cover Exhibit 1 Business Building Concepts Coverage by Chapter in a Sample of Management Textbooks Concepts Daft (2012) DuBrin (2012) Griffin (2011) Jones & George (2011) Robbins, Decenzo, & Coulter (2011) Williams (2012) New Ventures Partial* Partial* Planning/Goal Setting Strategy Formulation/ Execution Partial* Decision Making Organization Structure *Covered in at least a section of a chapter Page 243 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 the basic concepts that were important to that lesson. Then the students were directed to apply those concepts in devel- oping that part of the website. CREATING WEBSITES Various hosting services exist with which to create websites. These can be accessed and used simply by creat- ing an account at no charge. It is beyond the scope of this paper to assess and analyze the extent to which any particu- lar service is better than another, so this is left to both the instructor and students’ discretion, as determined by per- sonal preference. Since the instructor in this course was familiar with WordPress.com, that particular website was suggested for students that did not have knowledge of such services or any particular preference. The advantage of using a service that the instructor is familiar with is that the instructor can offer assistance, when needed. Exhibit 2 is a snapshot of a Google search page showing results from a search of the phrase “free website builder.” The search generated more than a dozen different services that could be accessed for free in order to build a website. Some students showed concern about being able to build a website since they had never done it before. The instructor allayed concerns by demonstrating the relative simplicity of the process. Although some of the more sophisticated func- tions require an investment of time and energy, it is possi- ble to establish an account and generate a website in just a few minutes even if an individual has never done it before. By the end of first class period devoted to this exercise, all four groups had gone to the computer lab, established a product, a company name, and a website with varying de- grees of information posted. The instructor also encour- aged students to continue to work on the website outside of class, which some students did simply out of curiosity and interest in a process that most had not done before. Out of 25 students in four groups, only three students had indicat- ed some experience with website creation. USING FORMS TO INTEGRATE COURSE CON- CEPTS INTO THE PROCESS Five forms were distributed to students as handouts, which reflected the fundamental content of each of the five chapters being covered in that portion of the course. These forms are included in the Appendix. In each case, the in- structor reviewed the fundamental components of each chapter in order to ensure that critical concepts were pre- sented in detail on the form. This approach gave structure and order to the lesson to ensure coverage of particular Exhibit 2 Examples of Free Website Creation Services Generated by a Google Search of “Free Website Builder” Page 244 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 concepts that were not explicitly integrated into the devel- opment of the website. For example, when considering the vision for the business the second handout included the external and internal factors important to determining an organization's direction. Although these factors would be considerations in determining the vision statement to be posted to the website, they would not be included on the website. This approach ensured adequate coverage of the concepts. Other examples of this include the categories of various objectives, environmental assessment models, and organizational theory ideas. EXERCISE OUTCOMES In the case of this particular classroom exercise, four groups were formed with six or seven people in each group. Each group produced a distinct business idea and accompa- nying website. The businesses included a high-tech T-shirt company, a plumbing company, a lawn service company, and a manufacturing company to produce and distribute a high-tech personal device. A snapshot of one select webpage from each of the businesses is included in Exhibit 3. EXERCISE ASSESSMENT A form for assessing the websites is offered in the ap- pendix, along with the handout forms distributed to stu- dents. It offers a five-point scale plus a category for “not applicable,” since not all of the concepts would necessarily apply to a particular business. The five-point scale offers the instructor the capability to rate each portion of the web- site as excellent, good or complete, average, fair, and in- complete or missing. In the exercise examples shown in the prior section, the instructor felt that the results ranged from average to fair, since the websites were deficient in various areas. Each group was able to produce a webpage presenting company information in the section entitled “About Us.” Each business displayed adequate product or service information, locations and hours of operation, and contact information. The extent to which the websites re- vealed pricing information, management information, tar- get markets, competition, and financial information varied. All the businesses were able to present some form of val- ues, vision, mission, and objectives, but the quality of these presentations was poor. A common deficiency among the groups was the lack of effort to describe or define explicit and measurable financial and strategic objectives. The stra- tegic analysis also varied amongst groups ranging from existing to missing, and if done at all was limited in its ap- plication of the related concepts. Finally, the effort by groups to thoroughly analyze and present their organiza- Exhibit 3 Student Group Business Webpage Samples Page 245 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 Page 246 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 tional structure was disappointing. Although some busi- nesses depicted an organizational structure, its relevance to strategy was inaccurate or unclear. It is likely that the level of abstraction found in organizational theory concepts might have impeded the students’ ability to apply these concepts in a concrete way. The overall quality of the websites was assessed using the last item on the assessment sheet. In the case of the particular section of the course being discussed here, the instructor scored three of the websites as fair and one as average, in terms of general appearance and achieving the objectives of the assignment. The capability exists for an instructor to assign particular points to each item on the assessment sheet. These point assignments could also be shown on the handouts given to students. When the instruc- tor deems that particular concepts are more important than others, higher point values could be assigned to those par- ticular items to illustrate their higher priority. The assign- ment of points to various categories prior to the exercise would make the assessment process more objective. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS At the completion of the classroom exercise, students felt that their websites represented something very real. The main difference between their business and a real one amounted to resourcing and actual operations. Some stu- dents also indicated that they were motivated to pursue this approach in order to begin building and illustrating busi- ness plans or ideas that they would like to execute as entre- preneurs in the future. Although no particular quantitative analysis was done in this case, the anecdotal evidence sug- gests that students perceived a relatively high degree of reality in this exercise. During a brief period of time they were able to build a business as represented by a website. Given the number of concepts covered, this proved to be an efficient use of class time. In contrast to the perception that the Build a Business exercise is an effective activity, there remains the issue of whether students actually learned the concepts through this exercise and according to the course objectives. At the date of this writing, students have not yet taken the course final exam, which will assess their knowledge of the concepts applied in building a business through this exercise. The instructor's assessment of each website according to partic- ular criteria and concept coverage revealed variations in performance and some disappointments. Although the websites were up and running by the due date and repre- sented the virtual existence of a business, critical compo- nents of the websites were not well developed and in some cases missing. The results suggest that the students either needed more time to assimilate and apply the concepts or that the instructor could be more involved in monitoring Page 247 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 progress along the way through measureable milestones. In either case, there is need to further develop and refine this exercise. On the positive side, the initial deployment of the exercise revealed that students have the capability to quick- ly learn and develop live websites. In turn, this capability can be employed in an active exercise to apply course con- cepts by building a virtual business. REFERENCES Bernard, R.S. (2004). Assessing individual performance in a total enterprise simulation. In A.H. Feinstein and D. Potosky (Eds.) Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Vol. 31, pp. 197-203. Biggs, W. D., & Gulkus, S. P. (1988). Innovation in man- agement education: The impact of the AACSB” In P. Sanders and T. Pray (Eds.) Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Exercises, Vol. 15, pp. 87 -92. Bonwell, C., & Eison, J. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom. ASHE-ERIC Higher Edu- cation Report No. 1. Washington, D.C.: The George Washington University, School of Education and Hu- man Development, p. 2. Boscia, M.W., & McAfee, R.B. (2008). 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Page 248 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 APPENDIX Form 1: New Ventures Build a Business...in an hour or less (1) 1. Determine what product or service you will sell. 2. Why will your product/service sell? 3. Who is your target market and why will they buy your product/service? 4. Who will be your competition: a. How will they impact you? b. How will you achieve competitive advantage? Cost, differentiation, e.g., location, quality, variety, uniqueness, etc.? 5. Show how this will work financially: a. All costs to do business b. Defensible income projections – Also, identify and describe an online service to collect sales income c. What is your source of funding to start the business? 6. Who does what on your management team: how will you distribute work according to talents? 7. Develop a website for your company/product* (record and report the website for us to view) a. About us – Company Information b. Product information c. Pricing d. Management/Staff e. Locations/Hours of Operation f. Contact Information *If you don’t know how to start/build a website, go to: http://wordpress.com/ Otherwise, use a source/ site of your own preference. http://wordpress.com/ Page 249 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 Form 2: Planning and Goal Setting Build a Business... continued (2) Develop Values, Vision, Values, Mission, Objectives Place these 5 on your website and continue to Build-out Website Values State 3 core values for your Company: Why those 3? i.e., how do they align with your business: Offer a few sentences to describe what you mean by these core values? Vision Important factors in determining company direction (vision) Vision statement criteria:  “Where are we going?”  Steers employees in a common direction  Molds organizational identity  Distinctive and specific to a particular organization  Avoids use of generic language  Triggers strong emotions  Challenging & uncomfortable State your Company’s Vision: _________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ External Factors Internal Factors General Outlook Ambitions for company Changes in the market Sufficient growth & profitability New customer groups Leverage strengths Emerging markets Resources – stretched too thin? Abandon any products? Technology – broad or narrow focus? Page 250 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 Mission “Who we are and what we do”  Customer Focus: ○ Product/service ○ Needs being served  Company Focus: ○ Employees ○ Processes (technology & business capabilities) ○ Philosophy  Not necessarily both State your Company’s Mission: ________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Objectives Well-stated objectives are:  Quantifiable  Measurable  Contain a deadline for achievement Financial Objectives:  Financial X % increase in annual revenues  X % increase annually in after-tax profits  X % increase annually in earnings per share  Annual dividend increases of X %  Profit margins of X %  X % return on capital employed (ROCE)  Increased shareholder value  Strong bond and credit ratings  Sufficient internal cash flows to fund 100% of new capital investment  Stable earnings during periods of recession State your Company’s Financial Objectives:_______________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Page 251 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 Strategic Objectives:  Winning an X % market share  Achieving lower overall costs than rivals  Overtaking key competitors on product performance or quality or customer service  Deriving X % of revenues from sale of new products introduced in past 5 years  Achieving technological leadership  Having better product selection than rivals  Strengthening company’s brand name appeal  Having stronger national or global sales and distribution capabilities than rivals  Consistently getting new or improved products to market ahead of rivals State your Company’s Strategic Objectives:_______________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Page 252 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 Form 3: Strategy Formulation and Execution Build a Business . . . continued (3) Develop Strategy Assume you are looking for investors who will want to see and understand your plans . . . Place your strategy on your website and continue to Build-out Website Given your vision, mission & objectives, what is your strategy?  Assessment of environment  5-Forces analysis  SWOT Analysis  Business-level strategy ○ Cost vs. differentiation ○ Value chain ○ Core Competence ○ Competitive Advantage  Potential to grow through diversification Page 253 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 Form 4: Decision Making Build a Business . . . continued (4) Decision Making Continue to Build-out Website Programmed decisions can be routine, while non-programmed decisions can require additional thinking. Use the following to characterize your thinking when it comes to non-programmed decisions: *Adapted from A Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger von Oech, 1998. Sum the checks in each column and multiply by 1, 2, or 3 for that column. The maximum score is 30. Scores close to 10 suggest the operation of mental blocks to handling non-programmed decisions which are characterized by ambiguity and uncertainty. Mostly 1 Sometimes 2 Rarely 3 1 I look for the right answer 2 I avoid the non-logical 3 I follow the rules 4 I am practical 5 I see play as frivolous 6 I avoid things not in my area 7 I avoid seeming foolish 8 I avoid ambiguity 9 I believe that to err is wrong 10 I am not creative Page 254 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 Consider the processes used by your group and characterize the type of decisions you faced and how you made those decisions: Model: Classical Administrative Political Choice Process: Decisions about: Rational Choice Satisficing & In- tuition Bargaining & Discussion Product/Service Target Market Competition Finances: costs and funding Management team (division of tasks) Website: Appearance Content Values Vision Mission Objective Strategy: Environment/Industry/5-forces SWOT Business-Level Growth Page 255 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 Form 5: Organizational Structure Develop Organizational Structure Place your organization’s structure on your website and complete website by October 6th at 2:15 p.m. Given your strategy, what is the best organizational structure to execute the strategy? Assessment of environment/strategy: how does it impact choice of structure? Figure adapted from Daft, 2012 Assessment of technology/work processes: how does it impact choice of structure? [Over] Draw your organization chart (post to website): Strategy Mechanistic Organic Cost Strategy Differentiation Strategy Structure Functional Functional Divisional Horizontal with Integrators Page 256 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 Assessment Form Build a Business: Assessment Company: Excellent Good Complete Average Fair Incomplete Missing NA General Business About us – Company Information Product/Service information Pricing Management/Staff Locations/Hours of Operation Contact Information Target Market Competition Finance Costs Income Identify and describe an online service to col- lect sales income Source of funding to start Core Values Why these values: alignment with business Description of core values Vision Shows direction Gives organization identity Distinctive and specific Avoids use of generic language Triggers strong emotions Challenging & uncomfortable Accounts for internal factors Accounts for external factors Mission States who we are States what we do Customer Focus: Product/service Needs being served Page 257 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 Company Focus: Employees Processes (technology/capabilities) Philosophy Objectives Quantifiable Measurable Due date Financial Objectives: Financial X % increase in annual revenues X % increase annually in after-tax profits X % increase annually in earnings per share Annual dividend increases of X % Profit margins of X % X % return on capital employed (ROCE) Increased shareholder value Strong bond and credit ratings Sufficient internal cash flows to fund 100% of new capital investment Stable earnings during periods of recession Strategic Objectives: Winning an X % market share Achieving lower overall costs than rivals Overtaking key competitors on product perfor- mance, quality or customer service Deriving X % of revenues from sale of new products introduced in past 5 years Achieving technological leadership Having better product selection than rivals Strengthening company’s brand name appeal Having stronger national or global sales and distribution capabilities than rivals Consistently getting new or improved products to market ahead of rivals Strategy Follows from Vision, Mission, Objectives Assessment of environment 5-Forces analysis SWOT Analysis Page 258 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 Business-level strategy Cost vs. differentiation Value chain Core Competence Competitive Advantage Potential to grow Structure Structure Functional Functional with integrators Divisional Teams Unclear Strategic Goal Cost ----------------------- Mix -------------------- Differentiation Unclear Technology Routine Low ---------- discretion --------- high Complex Unclear Excellent Good Average Fair Not Aligned Unclear Follows from Strategy: alignment Technology-Strategy: alignment Appearance Table of Contents Volume 39, 2012 Designing the Training Challenge Follow The Leader: Are we Teaching our Students to be Thinkers or Followers? Two Free-Rider-Accepting Methods of Organizing Groups for a Business Game Additional Benefit Through Competency Models Assessing Brand Portfolio Normative Consistency & Trends With The Normative Position of Brands & Trends Package Modeling the Impact of Marketing Mix on the Diffusion of Innovation in the Generalized Bass Model of Firm Demand Play it Forward! The Design and Development of a Forward Contract Simulation Positioning the Company: Increasing Profits in Social Networks Merger of Companies in Business Game Exercise Towards a Knowledge-Based Approach for Autonomouse Trading Agent An Exploratory Study of the Impact of a Simulation Exercise on the Managerial and Personality Traits and the Decision Making Styles of Marketing Students Should the Concept of Potential Customers be the Foundation of Demand Theory in Business Simulations? Teaching Sustainability Experientially Drawing Upon Experience and Research to Improve Future Communications Improving Assessments of Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) Over Time The Effect of Affective Domain Characteristics on Behavioral or Psychomotor Outcomes Gossip? No, Not Me! An Experiential Exercise Student Advisement Using Gantt Charts: An Experiential Exercise in Management Theory Practicing Teachers as Digital Game Creators: A Study of the Design Considerations Designing and Solving Crossword Puzzles: Examining Efficacy in a Classroom Exercise Difficult Times Call for Innovative Measures: Microfinance as Experiential Learning in Higher Education Catalysts, Client Services, and Community Change: Interdisciplinary Collaboration in a Nascent Microfinance Initiative Build A Business . . . In An Hour or Less: Getting Closer to Reality into the Classroom Smart Goals: How the Application of SMART Goals can contribute to achievement of Student Learning Outcomes The Use of Data in "Live" Cases to Encourage Systems Thinking and Integrative Analysis: An Exercise Linking Human Resource Programs and Financial Outcomes in Real Organizations Experiential Education as a Process of Changing Mental Frames by Inducing Insight Learning Process and Content Integration in an Experiential Learning Guided Internship Program Good-bye Discussion Thread: Creating a Community of Inquiry in an Online Master's Program Fiction as a Constructivist Tool for Learning Process Consultation in an Online Environment: Shaping the Context, Introducing the Dialogue Can Simulations Provide a Better Experience? A Capstone Application Modeling a Modest Proposal for Increasing the Efficiency of Academic Reserarch Dissemination Experience GEO: A Massively Multiplayer Game SysTeamsGames Three Games for Management Simulation SimVenture - A Start-Up Business Simulation Stellarbucks Simulation Developing Games Using Strategy Maps and Balanced Scorecards Strategy Dynamics Models - Powerful But Simple In-Class Games Simulating Scenarios for Financial Statement Analysis A Valuation Model of the Simulated Firm Writing the Land: An Interdisciplinary Experiential Approach On the Estimation of the Probability of Meeting Financial Commitments: A Behavioraial Finance Perspective Using Business Simulations