| CODE | LAS1081 | ||||||
| TITLE | The upside of business failure: How to avoid the most common mistakes | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | I - Introductory Level | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Centre for the Liberal Arts and Sciences | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The focus of this unit is to understand the concept of failure, to bring about a dose of realism, those issues which are critical and underpin any success for those thinking of starting a new business venture. Reasons for failure will be identified and how these can be put in perspective and overcome. Optimism needs to be put in perspective and this approach this will give you a more open mind and appreciation on the factors which contribute to new venture success. Failure is a learning opportunity as start-ups face uncertainty of our unknowable future and should not be viewed as a problem to be solved, but rather as a reality to be embraces. But not all failures are equal. Carol Dweck, a leading psychologist from Stanford University indicated that ‘A Growth mind set allows you to see each setback as an opportunity and well, growth. Difficulty must be reframed as a challenge and initial failures become a ‘not yet. Why would you want to study failure? |It is about lessons learnt, not the failure in itself. Failure needs to be defined, acknowledged and accepted into any new beginning; an opportunity to reflect and improve next time. Starting a new venture is a risk but where there is no risk, there is no reward. T’s the reward of the entrepreneurship that should encourage one to start again after a failure. New Ventures test assumptions that haven’t been tested before. They are in essence a business experiment with potential but are prone to failure. They are testing assumptions, which may be wrong. The more innovative, the riskier the assumptions, which may be wrong. The more innovative, the riskier the assumptions it’s testing, the more likely it is to fail. Adding the traditional risks of starting a venture failures is no surprise. However, according to research from Stanford and the University of Michigan, ‘failed entrepreneurs are far more likely to be successful in their second go-around, provided they try again and analyse where and why they went wrong’. It is important to bear in mind that not every failure leads to success or even a great learning opportunity. But failure is a vitally important part of the start-up ecosystem, perhaps as important as success. Throughout the unit, the key issues which can lead to success will be examined. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the Unit the student will be able to: - Describe the significance of and reasons for failure; - Identify the key causes of business start-up failure; - Clearly comprehend how failure can be a positive learning experience; - Identify the key factors which can turn failure into possible success. 2. Skills: By the end of the Unit the student will be able to: - Avoid the most common mistakes in business start-up failure; - Define and articulate what one intends to offer a customer (a value proposition); - How to identify gaps in the marketplace; - How to identify whether a customer will but it; - Identify types of customer groups or segments; - How market research will reduce the likelihood of failure and risk; - Develop a marketing strategy and plan; - Develop a marketing strategy and plan. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: - Why Startup Fail: A New Roadmap for Entrepreneurial success (Currency, 2021) by Tom Eisenmann (Howard H. Stevenson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School). - Why Start Ups Fail by Tom Wiseman Harvard Business Review. May-June 2021. - The Other ‘F’ Word: How Smart Leaders, Teams and Entrepreneurs Put Failure to Work,’ Mark Coopersmith & John Danner (Wiley, 2015). - Life After Business Failure: The Process and Consequences of Business Failure for Entrepreneurs – Deniz Ucbasaran, Dean A Shepherd, Andy Lockett, First Published August 23, 2012 Journal of Management. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||
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| LECTURER/S | Louis Leo Naudi |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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