OL 320: Opportunity Analysis Plan Guidelines and Grading Guide

Overview

The final project for this course is the creation of an Opportunity Analysis Plan. The main purpose of this project is to thoroughly evaluate a business idea at the early stages of development, which is often where many of the challenges exist. This assignment will give students an opportunity to thoroughly analyze a business venture and develop critical thinking patterns to avoid mistakes or pitfalls in business opportunity development.

 

The final product represents an authentic demonstration of competency because it provides students with the critical thinking skills needed to evaluate either their own business idea or the ideas of others. It also encourages students to ask key questions before dedicating resources to ideas that may not be successful. The project is divided into four milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Two, Three, Five, and Seven. The final product will be submitted in Module Seven.

 

Main Elements

 

In the Opportunity Analysis Plan you will document the viability of an idea, state its competitive advantage, and outline a business path. Students should deliver a concise report of findings and two video presentations.

 

 

Title page: <Your Business Idea/Name> Opportunity Analysis Plan Report includes the following sections:

 

• Section 1: Description of Idea
  • Provide general overview of idea

 

• Explain how it solves a problem, meets a need, and so on

 

• Describe the basic business concept (textbook worksheet, Chapter 2)

 

• Discuss/evaluate the competitive advantage

 

• Section 2: Market Analysis
• Include the short paper from Milestone One

 

• Section 3: Assessment of the Entrepreneur and the Team
  • Where are the knowledge gaps and how are they covered?

 

• How is the team structured?

 

 

• Section 4: Business Phasing

 

• This is a discussion of the logical progression for growing a business, which starts from the initial idea and grows into a viable business venture.

 

• The phasing approach should explain how the development phases minimize risk, aid learning/analysis at the earliest possible stages, and create a proper progression of the business venture.

 

• The goal of developing phases is to show how much risk is required for each phase compared to the expected outcome or return on the investment; phasing allows for learning during each step and creates a decision point prior to moving on to the next phase on whether to proceed, modify the business, or exit (with potentially a smaller overall loss).

 

• Potential planning and development stages/phases: Idea stage

 

Concept stage

 

Test marketing stage

 

Product/service development stage Commercialization

 

• Include anticipated resource requirements for each stage of development.

 

 

Format

 

Milestone One: Market Research

 

In Task 2-4, you will submit details on the market research for a business idea. You should study the market or industry you want to pursue for your business idea. The assignment should include four sections: brief introduction, industry/economic sector, target market, and company. The format should be a research paper and will be graded separately using the Market Research Rubric document. Feedback should be applied to the Final Project.

 

Milestone Two: Presentation #1 – Idea Generation

 

In Task 3-3, you will submit a PowerPoint with voice-over narration (or alternative) presentation to the professor. PowerPoint voice-over narration (or alternative software) will be used to create a voice recording that corresponds to your PowerPoint slides. There is no requirement to show video during this presentation, but audio is required. The presentation should include 3–5 PowerPoint slides documenting the idea, its value and uniqueness, and what problem it solves or need it meets. The presentation should be less than 5 minutes in length. There should be an audio recording that goes along with the PowerPoint presentation.

 

This assignment will be graded using the Presentation Rubric. Feedback should be applied to the Final Project.

 

 

Milestone Three: Rough Draft of Final Opportunity Analysis Plan

 

 

In Task 5-3, you will submit a draft Opportunity Analysis Plan. The format should match the requirement for the final Opportunity Analysis Plan. However, only the first three sections of the outline described above are due for this milestone. Section 4, Business Phasing, is not required to be turned in as part of this milestone. Please note that full points will be awarded if the assignment is submitted; 0 points will be awarded if the assignment is not submitted. Feedback will be provided using the Final Project Rubric. This assignment will be graded using the Milestone Three Rubric.

 

Milestone Four: Presentation #2 — Idea Funding Pitch

 

In Task 7-2, you will submit a PowerPoint with voice-over narration (or alternative) presentation to the professor. The recorded presentation you create should be 3–5 minutes in length, and there are no specifications on how many PowerPoint slides to use. You may also choose to show various websites or other resources. The purpose of this presentation is to create a venture capital pitch wherein you are asking for resources. The “pitch” should include the details you think are important for a potential investor to understand so they are able to make a decision about investing in your company/idea or not. There should be an audio recording that goes along with the PowerPoint presentation. This assignment will be graded using the Presentation Rubric.

 

Final Submission: Opportunity Analysis Plan

 

In Task 7-3, you will submit the final Opportunity Analysis Plan. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the main elements of the final product.

 

It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission will be graded using the Final Project Rubric.

 

 

 

Deliverable Milestones

 

Milestone	Deliverables	Module Due	Grading
1	Market Research	Two	Graded separately using the Market Research Rubric document
2	Presentation #1 – Idea Generation	Three	Graded separately using the Presentation Rubric; will also be posted to the
			week 4 discussion topic for additional feedback
3	Rough Draft of Final Opportunity	Five	Graded separately using the Milestone Three Rubric document
	Analysis Plan
4	Presentation #2 — Idea Funding Pitch	Seven	Graded separately using Presentation Rubric; will also be posted to the
			discussion topic for additional feedback
	Final Submission: Opportunity Analysis	Seven	Graded separately; Final Project Rubric
	Plan

 

 

Rubric

 

Requirements of submission: Written components of projects must follow these formatting guidelines when applicable: double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and discipline-appropriate citations. The number of pages required is 8–12, not including cover page.

 

Critical Elements	Exemplary (100%)	Proficient (85%)	Needs Improvement (55%)	Not Evident (0%)	Value
Opportunity Analysis	Includes all of the main	Includes most of the main	Includes some of the main	Does not include any of the	20
Plan	elements: description of ideas,	elements: description of ideas,	elements: description of ideas,	main elements and
	market analysis, assessment of	market analysis, assessment of	market analysis, assessment of	requirements
	entrepreneur, and business	entrepreneur, and business	entrepreneur, and business
	phasing in the form of an	phasing in the form of an	phasing in the form of an
	Opportunity Analysis Plan and	Opportunity Analysis Plan and	Opportunity Analysis Plan and
	presentations. The project cites	Presentations, and cites many	Presentations
	multiple examples to illustrate	examples to illustrate each
	each element	element
Inquiry and Analysis	Explores multiple issues	Explores some issues through	Explores minimal issues	Does not explore issues	20
	through extensive collection	collection and in-depth analysis	through collection and analysis	through collection and analysis
	and in-depth analysis of	of evidence to make informed	of evidence to make informed	of evidence and does not make
	evidence to make informed	conclusions	conclusions	informed conclusions
	conclusions
Integration and	All of the course concepts are	Most of the course concepts	Some of the course concepts	Does not correctly apply any of	20
Application	correctly applied	are correctly applied	are correctly applied	the course concepts
Critical Thinking	Demonstrates comprehensive	Demonstrates moderate	Demonstrates minimal	Does not demonstrate	20
	exploration of issues and ideas	exploration of issues and ideas	exploration of issues and ideas	exploration of issues and ideas
	before accepting or forming an	before accepting or forming an	before accepting or forming an	before accepting or forming an
	opinion or conclusion	opinion or conclusion	opinion or conclusion	opinion or conclusion
Research	Incorporates many scholarly	Incorporates some scholarly	Incorporates very few scholarly	Does not incorporate scholarly	10
	resources effectively that	resources effectively that	resources that reflect depth	resources that reflect depth
	reflect depth and breadth of	reflect depth and breadth of	and breadth of research	and breadth of research
	research	research
Writing	No errors related to	Minor errors related to	Some errors related to	Major errors related to	10
(Mechanics/Citations)	organization, grammar and	organization, grammar and	organization, grammar and	organization, grammar and
	style, and citations	style, and citations	style, and citations	style, and citations
				Total	100%