New Venture Creation

PAUL BURNS is Emeritus Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Bedfordshire Business School, UK, where he previously held the posts of Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Business School. Over his 40-year career, he has been an academic, an accountant and an entrepreneur, giving him unrivalled academic and practical insight into the entrepreneurial process. Paul Burns started his academic career at Warwick University Business School, UK, where he set up their first Small Business Unit. He has since held posts as Professor of Small Business Development, Cranfield School of Management, UK, Director of the 3i European Enterprise Research Centre, researching small firms and entrepreneurs across Europe, Visiting Fellow at Harvard Business School, USA, and Visiting Professor at the Open University Business School, UK, where he developed the multi-media Small Business Programme screened on BBC2. He is Fellow and a former President of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) and a chartered accountant, having worked for Arthur Andersen & Co. with many growing businesses. For four years, he ran his own firm, Design for Learning Ltd.

I. RESEARCH PHASE
Entrepreneurship
1. What you bring to entrepreneurship
Business idea
2. Finding your business idea
Industry and markets
3. Understanding your industry and markets
II. BUSINESS MODEL DEVELOPMENT PHASE
Market segments and value propositions
4. Structuring your business model
5. Crafting your value proposition and branding
Marketing plan
6. Developing your marketing mix
7. Communicating your value proposition
8. Scalability and growth
Operations plan
9. Legal foundations
10. Managing operations and risk
Resources
11. Managing and leading people
12. Financial resources
Financial plan
13. Preparing and using financial forecasts
III. LAUNCH AND VALIDATION PHASE
Business model and business plan
14. Preparing, using and validating the business plan