BDI3U – Entrepreneurship – Unit 2 Notes

BDI3U – Grade 11 – Entrepreneurship – Unit 2 Notes Entrepreneurship Notes Brainstorming Involves: Fluency: – Requires many responses for a given solution Flexibility: – Be open-minded Originality: – Be creative, express new and unusual ideas Elaboration: – Expand on your ideas Rules to follow: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● – Don’t judge – Encourage free thought – Try for quantity, not necessarily quality – Combine & improve ideas Warm Up Activities: – Brainstorming warm-ups are useful for getting people into the right frame of mind for a brainstorming session to: ○ – Maximize creatine results ○ – Overcome stumbling blocks – Simple warm ups include: ○ – Word games that are mentally stimulating ○ – Practice runs with imaginary problems Benefits of Group Brainstorming – Helps the members of the brainstorming team think “outside of their boxes”, opening creative doors – A diverse brainstorming team allows for multiple bases of knowledge and experience to come together HAT COLOUR HOW DOES THIS HAT ‘THINK’? WHITE HAT ● – Stands for neutral, objective and non-emotional ● – White is effectively colorless ● – Focus instead on the facts and figures, on the data and information available ● – You try to extrapolate trends from historical data and search for gaps knowledge ● – What information do we have? What information do we need? YELLOW HAT ● – Sunny and optimistic ● – Take time to be hopeful and think positively ● – This viewpoint will help you to see all the benefits and the value in the decision Examples of Red Hat: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● – Whenever I think of math, I get anxious – I don’t know. I just don’t like the idea- I feel jittery – I appreciate everyone’s input; however, the parent’s response makes me nervous – My insides are telling me this is going to make people angry Examples of White Hat: – The title of this poem is “My Last Duchess” – How long did it take you to complete the question? – How old was this person when they discovered the idea? Examples of Black Hat: – We do not have enough evidence to make that decision – Our reasons for making that decision are not going to pay off in the long term – Have you considered whether or not the weight will reduce its stability? Examples of Yellow Hat: – It will work because of cost and it solves the problem – I like the ideas that all of you have shared, This shows the power of collaboration – Let’s identify the benefits of taking turns Examples of Green Hat: – What are the good things about this? What are the strengths and pluses? How will it help us? Why will it work? BLACK HAT ● – Gloomy & negative ● – You take time to look at the risks and why a proposed solution would fai ● – Black hat thinking helps to make plans tougher, more resilient. It can help you spot fatal flaws ● – It can be overused ● – What problems could we face? What are the potential risks? What might go wrong with this? What are the weaknesses? RED HAT ● – The emotional hat, where you can present view based on intuition, instinct, without explanation or justification ● – Look at problems based on your gut reaction, on your feelings ● – Try to understand the responses of people who do not understand your reasoning ● – What is your gut reaction? How do you feel about this right now? What Is your intuition telling you? GREEN HAT ● – Stands for creation of ideas, concepts and perceptions ● – Imagine a tree branching out and growing ● – When you are wearing the green hat, you’re concerned with change, and escaping the old ideas in order to find better ones ● – There is no criticism or judgment ● – What is possible? What ideas do you have? Can we combine these ideas? What would happen if..? BLUE HAT ● – Stands for process, control, or taking an overview ● – Think of the blue sky over us ● – Wearing the blue hat means that taking a wider, higher perspective to ensure you are addressing the right issue ● – Questions they would ask: What do we do next? What have we done so far? What thinking is needed? What is our focus? ● – Maybe we need to go to another group to get additional ideas ● – Perhaps we could take this one idea and see if we can break it into simpler parts ● – What if we connected those three ideas? Would that be a possibility? ● – Suppose we make a mistake at step two; would this explain why we are stuck? Examples of Blue Hat: ● – We need to make sure that both the male and female perspective is considered ● – Let’s clarify what we now understand about the problem ● – What are we trying to do? Let’s lay out a plan of action ● – Suppose we make a mistake at step two; would this explain why we are stuck? Pre- Start Up: ● – Research is done, ideas are investigated ● – When you create your venture plan ● – Careful budgeting and planning are important ● – Test the markets response to your ideas ● – Review your resources and consider how to best allocate them Start Up: ● – Arrange for any financing you will require ● – The goal in this stage is to reach the break-even point ● – Highest marketing costs (to get your name out) Rapid Growth: ● – Bring in external “experts” to help grow the business ● – Expand your product line, broaden your customer base or open new locations ● – Improve the profit/efficiency of your venture Maturity: – Sales start to plateau Decline: ● – Product sales have decreased and/or is no longer profitable ● – Normally leads to layoffs, restructuring, selling of non-productive assets, canceling product lines, etc. – Think of what the major car companies needed to do a couples years ago – New management and consultants may be brought in to help turn the company around *Depending on what your company does in the turn-around stage, the company will either die or be reborn* Rebirth: –The business generates new revenue streams, raises working capital, and re-enters the growth stage of the life cycle. Death: ● – Company goes bankrupt, sells off its assets to pay its creditors and ceases to exist ● – $ goes to creditors first, then anything left over will go to shareholders/owners Trend: a pattern in lifestyle that lasts a long amount of time (decades) Fad: a pattern or change in lifestyle that lasts a short period of time (months) SWOT Analysis A tool that analyzes an organization and its environment S- strengths ● – What is the business good at? What is it that you do better than your competition? ● – Ex. A new or innovative product or service, location of your business, low prices, high quality W- weaknesses ● – What is the business doing wrong? What does your competition do better than you? What should you avoid? ● – Ex. undifferentiated products or services (in relation to your competition), location of your business, poor quality goods or services O- opportunities ● – Areas where the company could take advantage of to improve their situation (trends, technology, etc.) ● – Ex. a developing market (internet), moving into new market segments that offer improved profits, a market vacated by an ineffective competitor, a new international market T- threats ● – Anything that could feasibly harm your business ● – Situations that could lead to lost business ● – For instance, more rivalry in your local market, price wars with rivals, or a rival offering a brand-new, cutting-edge good or service ● Strengths and faults come from within (problems within the company) Threats and opportunities are examples of external influences (problems outside of the company) ● Working from home for a person or a business you founded is known as selfemployment. This has the following advantages: flexible hours, less travel time, reduced stress, lower office expenses, and more time for family. Features: anytime vacations, shared workweek, and personalized work schedule Lack of benefits, financial loss on days off from work, lack of a regular pay, and monotony are some drawbacks.