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Programme: BABS
Module: Entrepreneurship
Contribution to
Module code: SBLC6001 Ass. 1: Individual
Overall Module Report- 50%
Assessment (%):
Ass. 2: Individual Case
Study Analysis – 50%
Academic Academic honesty is required. In the main body of your submission you must
honesty / give credit to authors on whose research and ideas your work is based.
referencing: Append to your submission a reference list that indicates the books, articles,
etc. that you have used, cited or quoted in order to complete this assessment.
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Module Learning Outcomes
(from module syllabus)
1. Analyse how successful entrepreneurs and investors create, find, and differentiate profitable
and durable opportunities; in particular, how they tell these opportunities apart from just “other
good ideas”
2. Evaluate and determine how successful entrepreneurs and investors create and build value for
themselves and others.
3. Identify and determine the necessary financial and non-financial resources available for new
ventures; the criteria used to screen and evaluate proposals, their attractiveness and risk, and
know how to obtain start-up and early growth capital
4. Determine the critical tasks to be accomplished, the hurdles to be overcome during start-up and
early growth, and what has to happen to ensure success
5. Apply the opportunity screening criteria to actual start-up ideas, and subsequently develop a
business plan suitable for presentation to investors and industry participants, whilst
developing and analysing integrated financial projections for start-up ventures.
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TASK DESCRIPTION – Assignment 1: Individual Report (50%)
BACKGROUND / INTRODUCTION
Some countries seem to encourage more Entrepreneurs than others. The social and external
environments that pertain in a country play a role in encouraging entrepreneurship and budding
Entrepreneurs.
TASKS
Using relevant literature critically analyse these thoughts; develop and justify your own view and
position. Use relevant examples. Your analysis must be grounded in appropriate academic literature and
must provide clear evidence of independent critical evaluation.
LENGTH
REQUIRED
2500words +/-10%, any deviation from this will be penalised.
The use of a range of information sources is expected – academic books, peer reviewed journal
articles, professional articles, press releases and newspaper articles, reliable statistics, company
annual reports and other company information. All references should be in the Harvard style.
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TASK DESCRIPTION – Assignment 2: Individual Case Study Analysis
(50%)
BACKGROUND / INTRODUCTION
Read the case study given below and attempt the tasks that follow:
California native Brent Christensen, founder of Ice Castles, didn’t have any experience living in
cold climates when he moved to Alpine, Utah, in 2000. His seasonal summer business -- a mobile
lawnmower repair company -- left him plenty of time to goof off during the winter. He noticed that a
neighbour was building a just-because-he-could giant mound of ice in his yard by directing running
water onto a pole.
“For some reason I thought it was really cool,” Christensen says. Soon after, he started
experimenting, blanketing everything from a wooden tripod to bicycles under ice. “I’d like to say
the kids were in on it, but it was mostly just me. It was fun to see the ice take over everything.” The
following winter, Christensen went even bigger, crafting a slide that banked off the neighbour’s
fence and ended on an ice rink. “I got all this lumber and constructed a framework that was about
20 feet high. It was a massive, crazy thing.”
“Aha” Moment
The experiments continued, but the spring thaw left Christensen’s yard a mess of rotted wood. In
2008 he discovered he could build a structure using pieces of ice instead of wood. “I started
breaking off icicles that would be forming and then fusing them back on … using slush. That’s
when all the magic started happening,” he says.
Determining that the ice could support the weight of people and, best of all, could be
sculpted into complex formations with bridges and tunnels, Christensen took to building ice
fortresses. “My imagination started going crazy,” he says. When locals began showing up
to take a look, he realized he might have a business.
Starting Block
Christensen approached Utah resorts hoping to sell one on the idea of an on-site ice attraction.
The only taker: a manager at a small resort in Midway who was “really out there with things he
would do to promote the hotel.” The half-acre ice castle was such a hit that the following winter,
Christensen was offered the Midway town square as a canvas. “It was the first real legitimate
attraction we had,” he says. “About 20,000 people came through.”
Wiped out from both the physical and mental challenges of building and maintaining the castle,
Christensen decided he needed a business partner. He brought in his neighbour Ryan Davis
-- who had experience getting permits from cities and running companies -- as CEO and co-owner.
This left Christensen free to focus on the castles as head of creative and production.
In winter 2013, Ice Castles got a gift: Disney released Frozen and, just like that, ice was hot. “That
was our breakout year,” Christensen says. Highways leading to the season’s three castles backed
up. Two years later, Ice Castles launched a timed ticket system. This year there are four Ice
Castles: in Midway; Minneapolis; Lincoln, N.H.; and, for the first time, across the border in Alberta,
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Canada. Also this year, a high-end department store on Madison Avenue in New York City has
hired Ice Castles to build ice structures as part of its elaborate holiday windows.
Freeze Frame
Ice Castles still uses the same (now patented) “growing” system that Christensen developed in his
backyard. “If you used a frame of rebar and wood, it would be nowhere as close to the same
strength, because you would have a void inside the wood,” he says. “When the water hits the ice,
it melts and freezes. It’s basically a welding process.”
The castles, Christensen says, are less like buildings and more like “foreign landscapes.” The
finished designs, which have both open areas and covered rooms, feature elements inspired by
architecture (tunnels, caves, waterfalls and archways) and nature -- especially the hoodoos and
slot canyons found in Utah’s Zion National Park. “We kind of plagiarized from Mother Nature a bit,”
he says. (Though that’s ramped up with LED lights synchronized to music.)
Warm Thoughts
“To have people come in and thank you for building it -- I can’t even think of what would be better.
And you get paid for it,” Christensen says. Since he and his family bounce around the castle
locations during the winter, they’ve decided to stay in a single spot during the summers -- far from
the ice, on Hawaii. What does Christensen do then? He surfs -- and fixes lawnmowers.
TASKS
Critically evaluate the idea and the strategies adopted by Brent Christensen.
Analyse the opportunities that Christensen capitalised on.
Comment on the risks that the business is exposed to.
Evaluate the evidence that suggests, overall, that the business will last or whether it
will ‘fizzle out’.
Give reasons for your responses.
LENGTH
REQUIRED
2500 words +/- 10%, any deviation from this will be penalised.
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FORMATTING AND
LAYOUT
The use of a range of information sources is expected – academic books, peer reviewed journal
articles, professional articles, press releases and newspaper articles, reliable statistics, company
annual reports and other company information. All references should be in the Harvard style.
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GUIDANCEFOR STUDENTS IN THE COMPLETION OF
TASKS
NOTE: The guidance offered below is linked to the five generic assessment criteria overleaf.
4. Practical Skills
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At level 6, you should be able to apply the methods and techniques that you have learned to review,
consolidate, extend and apply your knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects.
You will deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry relevant to the discipline, and
apply them in complex and unpredictable contexts, to devise and sustain arguments and/or to solve
problems. You should be able to frame appropriate questions to achieve a solution - or identify a range of
solutions. You should be able to demonstrate how the subject-related concepts and ideas relate to real
world situations and/or a particular context. How do they work in practice? You will deploy models,
methods, techniques, and/or theories, in that context or circumstances, to assess current situations,
perhaps to formulate plans or solutions to solve problems, or to create artefacts, some of which may be
innovative and creative. This is likely to involve, for instance, the use of real world artefacts, examples and
cases, the application of a model within an organisation and/or benchmarking one theory or organisation
against others based on stated criteria. You should show awareness of the limitations of concepts and
theories when applied in particular contexts.
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STUDENT FEEDBACK FORM – ASSIGNMENT 1: INDIVIDUAL
REPORT (50%)
This section details the extent to which the assessment criteria are demonstrated by you, which in turn determines
your mark. The marks available for each category of skill are shown. Lecturers will use the space provided to
comment on the achievement of the task(s), including those areas in which you have performed well and areas that
would benefit from development/improvement.
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awardedMarks
available
Marks
Generic Assessment Criteria
Inserting your references (quality texts and published articles) into the appropriate 15
places in the text. Listing these at the end of the report (Harvard Method)
2. Knowledge and Understanding Skills
Applying the concepts/ models in order to provide valuable and meaningful solutions 30
and make recommendations.
Written in report style. Appropriate use relevant methodologies and high level of 10
professionalism showcased throughout the coursework. Work should be coherent and
well-structured in presentation and organisation.
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comment on the achievement of the task(s), including those areas in which you have performed well and areas that
would benefit from development/improvement.
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awardedMarks
available
Marks
Generic Assessment Criteria
Breadth and depth of critical analysis of the scenario, issues and impacts. 30
Ability to apply relevant theories, models and concepts to the scenario under 20
discussion.
5. Transferable Skills for Life and Professional Practice
Level 6
In accordance with the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications, at the end of Level 6 students should have coherent and detailed knowledge and a
systematic understanding of their subject area, at least some of which is informed by the latest research and/or advanced scholarship within the discipline.
They will be able to accurately deploy established techniques of analysis and enquiry within a discipline, using their conceptual understanding to devise and
sustain arguments and/or to solve problems. They should be aware of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge. They should be able to critically
evaluate evidence, arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data (that may be incomplete), to make judgements, and to frame appropriate questions
to achieve a solution - or identify a range of solutions. They will apply the methods and techniques that they have learned to review, consolidate, extend and
apply their knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects. They will have the ability to manage their own learning, and to make use of
scholarly reviews and primary sources (for example, refereed research articles and/or original materials appropriate to the discipline). They will demonstrate
the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment requiring: the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility; decision-making in complex and
unpredictable contexts; the learning ability needed to undertake appropriate further training of a professional or equivalent nature.