entrepreneur management course

TEM is an entrepreneur management course in HBS. Importance of entrepreneur is to drive economies and to create jobs.

There are four distinguishing characteristics of entrepreneur’s environment

1. Great uncertainty

2. High impact

3. Radical change

4. Limited resources

Entrepreneur’s are different from manager’s   in the sense that

1.        Entrepreneurs are opportunity driven
2.     Entrepreneurs focus on cash and the need to conserve resources.
3.     Entrepreneurs use flexible organization, structures and approaches.

Underlying goals for TEM

1. 1.       The course will help you understand how entrepreneurs think about and approach challenges of new venture creation.
2. 2.       It will familiarize you with broad range of settings.
3. 3.       It will familiarize you with the major sources of capital available to entrepreneurs and the expectation of those investors.
4. 4.       How to grow business.
5. 5.       Help you to decide entrepreneurship as a career.

Course is divided into four modules.

1. 1.       Introduction
2. 2.       Launching New ventures.
3. 3.       Managing growth and transition
4. 4.       Conclusion

Specific questions will be answered in each module. The question will be regarding the size, environment and other factors that affect Entrepreneurs.

Business Models, Strategy, and Tactics are different

• Strategy. The company decides which business it wants to be in and how it will compete, creating a “unique and valuable position involving a distinctive set of activities.” It’s another way of saying, I think, here is what we can do better than anyone else and how we can defend our position in a competitive marketplace.
• Business Model. I like the authors’ description of the business model as the “logic of the company.” This is how the firm organizes and operates, how it delivers value to customers, and how it captures value for stakeholders. It must align with company goals.
• Tactics. Tactics are the steps used to compete in the marketplace, and they are defined largely by the business model. If your business model is built around direct sales, your tactics won’t involve incentives to retailers, for example.

The authors turn to the auto industry for an analogy. For them, strategy is designing and building the car, the business model is the car, and tactics are how you drive the car.