BCTA 402 Assignment #1 Take an Entrepreneur to Lunch/Interview

General Description: For this project, each student will contact the owner of a small business, who will agree to give the student an interview, providing information about his/her business. Guidelines: 1. The business must be a full-time endeavour for the owner and must have been in existence for at least one full year. 2. The student's interview subject must be an owner of the company. If the company has more than one owner, the student need only deal with one owner. 3. The business must have at least one full-time employee other than family members of the owner. Important Note: Students must respond fully to all parts of the project. For any questions that the interview subject declines or is unable to answer, the student must use alternative forms of research or respond with their own reasoned speculations.

Interview Questions: THE CONCEPT 1. Describe the general nature of the business, describe the location, and identify any important or unusual features. 2. Identify the owner that you are interviewing and briefly describe his/her role within the firm. 3. Identify any entrepreneurial abilities or traits of the owner. What does the owner think is his/her greatest strength as a business owner? Greatest weakness? Explain. FEASIBILITY 4. Explain the general area where the business will be located, describing the surrounding population of potential customers. Describe any other factors of the location, such as proximity to transportation, suppliers or relevant services. 5. Has the business conducted any formal or informal marketing research? What indicators did the owner have that this would be a good business to pursue? 6. Name, locate, and briefly describe any direct or indirect competitors of the business. What competitive advantages does the firm you are analyzing have?

MARKETING 7. Explain clearly who the ultimate users of the company's products/services are and where the business fits into any chain of distribution. 8. Identify any advertising media that the company uses. Describe the nature and the frequency of the advertising. 9. Explain any sales promotion techniques that the company uses. If none are used, suggest some possibilities and identify any risks that might be involved with this technique. OPERATIONS 10. Briefly list all the equipment, furniture, vehicles or other fixed assets that the business relies on. 11. Explain the systems for buying, ordering and storing any supplies that the business depends on. 12. Explain any methods or systems for ensuring quality and handling customer complaints. FINANCES 13. Describe how the sales of the business fluctuate from month to month throughout the year. Explain the reasons for this fluctuation. 14. Does the entrepreneur use some sort of rule (sales, or number of units, or number of customers etc.) to roughly gauge whether the business is making a profit? 15. Without giving specific amounts, identify the sources of finance that the entrepreneur used to start, buy or buy into the business. Explain the reasons for these sources.

Submission Guidelines: 1. This assignment is worth 10% of your final grade. 2. This assignment must be typed and submitted via Blackboard by the deadline (i.e., go to Assignments, select the title Take an Entrepreneur to Lunch, upload your attachment file, and click submit). 3. Only a final copy of the assignment that is proofread and approved by the student can be submitted for grading. Incomplete or rough assignments will not be graded. 4. The assignment should be no longer than 5 pages, double spaced (1 page per section of questions). 5. The assignment due date is listed on the critical path Module 6.