University Business Development Course: Reflective Journal Analysis

This reflective journal entry details a student's experience in a business development course, focusing on project management and entrepreneurship. The student reflects on the course's content, including project planning, business models (like lean startup and Business Model Canvas), and different project management approaches (Minimum Viable Product and Agile Project Management). The journal highlights the skills developed, such as teamwork, leadership, problem-solving, and negotiation. The student discusses how the course met their expectations, changed their perspectives, and fostered a greater confidence in pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors. The journal also differentiates between the roles of an entrepreneur, intrapreneur, and manager, emphasizing the application of these concepts in real-world scenarios and the importance of skills like risk management and communication. The student concludes by expressing a strong belief in their ability to undertake entrepreneurial work, attributing this confidence to the knowledge and skills gained throughout the course.

Running head: BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Business Development
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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I have seen through my experience and have heard from many that management skills
and knowledge is necessary in today’s world. Due to the impact that Globalization had on the
world and our lives, having management skills and learning will enable one to have an
impressive working career (Ganiron 2014). Management courses are generally designed in
such a way that students and professionals both can learn from them (Heagney 2016). All
companies, be it small, medium or large, need managers to keep their business running
smoothly. The trend of entrepreneurship has emerged in recent years (Burns 2016). People
now are more interested in running their own business rather than working for other
companies. Companies like Google Inc. too, encourages entrepreneurship among their
employees (Drucker 2014). Considering these aspects I had decided that after the completion
of my school I will join a management course that will enable me to develop skills that are
needed for entrepreneurship and managing projects. Having decided that, I took admission in
such a course that focused on developing skills that will enable me for entrepreneurship,
intrapreneurship and project management in general. During the tenure of the course, I learnt
many topics and aspects, many of my existing skills were honed and some skills that we will
need in my career were instilled within me. The whole course was divided into several units
and the present unit is about skills and attributes needed for project management for business
development.
The present unit that is being discussed here is about the tasks as well as the decisions
that surface during the life of an entrepreneur. Through this lesson it seemed to me that
students like me will develop capabilities that will help us in managing projects in different
organizations as well as a self-employed individual. The lesson mainly gives us the ability to
align the process of project development to the main views and values of the organization so
that a sustainable project management can be carried out. When the lessons started, I was
introduced with the basic concepts and ideas about project management and entrepreneurship.

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I was then introduced with the different approaches to project management that aims to
handle the initial stages of project or idea development (Kerzner and Kerzner 2017). The idea
of lean startups where companies invest smaller sum of money at the initial stages to see if
the venture is a success or not as well as ideas about Business Model Canvas which enables
an entrepreneur to determine the key aspects of the company, like, the suppliers, resources,
key channels, key activities, cost structure of the company and determine if undertaking a
new business venture is viable or not, were introduced (Mason and Brown 2014). The aspects
that are social driven for a manager like teamwork, leadership and managing stakeholders,
were also introduced in the course. In the later part of the units I learned about the process of
project plan development. The key skills that I learnt throughout the lessons were teamwork,
problem solving, communication, critical thinking, analysis and independent work.
Throughout the process I was continuously encouraged to think outside the box and hone the
skills that have already been attributed to me.
From the learning module, I gathered many theoretical and practical knowledge and
skills. Moreover, I acquired some characteristics that changed my viewpoints about many
aspects regarding the smooth operation of organizational management and project
management. Organizations may face several problems in its life cycle. There could be
shortages or resources, there could be a lack of fund, suppliers and key stakeholders might
create problems (Kloppenborg 2014). In an enterprise, the role of a project manager may be
played by three personnel, the Entrepreneur, the Intrapreneur and the manager. The
difference between them is slim but significant. An entrepreneur, as I gathered, is a person
who takes the sole risk while handling a project as it is upon him that the success or failure of
the project as well as the company depends. An Intrapreneur on the other hand is the risk
taker but not the sole risk taker in the whole project. He is working as an employee of the
company but is responsible for the planning and execution of the product. If the product fails

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he will also suffer some loss. Google Inc. encourages this kind of entrepreneurship where
people work for the organization, give new ideas and develop the. People who give the idea
have a small share in the income that the project or product will generate thus binding that
person with the project and making them interested in the project. A manager on the other
hand is only an employee. While managing a project he has nothing at stake and no risk has
been taken by him. If the project fails, he still goes home with his salary at the end of the
month. In case of most small and medium enterprises, the sources and funding is limited, thus
the idea of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship has become extremely popular.
The part one of the unit gave me clear views about the fundamental ideas of Project
management and entrepreneurship (Mason and Brown 2014). I learned that project
management is mainly concerned with initiating a project plan, planning all the steps that will
lead to the successful completion of the project, execute the project according to the plan,
controlling the outcome, evaluating the results and finally closing the project within the time
constraint given. It is the job of an entrepreneur to execute the whole project in a timely
manner (Drucker 2014). A successful entrepreneur is well aware of the risks that the project
posits and work around that to achieve maximum result (Zahra and George 2017). This is the
first learning that we received during our course. In the second part of the course, I learned
about different business models and plan execution methods. The lean start up business
model gave me the knowledge of the ways to develop and execute a plan that has limited
budget and resources. While working in companies that are highly innovative and goal
oriented, this skill is extremely necessary (Blank 2013). Even in case of setting up my own
business as I intend to do, this skill will help me start a business even if there is a small
amount of fund available for the start-up. The learning of Business Model Canvas is
especially helpful in creating the initial plan for a project execution (Meredith, Mantel and
Shafer 2017). The model gives a clear view about all the important aspects that need

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consideration before a project execution plan is created. It gives a comprehensive picture of
the key partners and suppliers that the organization have, the key activities that are required
to deliver the intended, the key resources that are available in the organization, the proposed
deliverable as per the organizational values, customer segments, the costing it will incur and
the profit that it will generate (Crawford 2014). With this tool I, as an entrepreneur will be
able to analyze the current situation of the business, the potential risks and threats posed by
the new project and the possible outcome that I might hope depending on those facts. If I am
working for any company, they will be able to use my skill to determine whether the
proposed project is worth taking or not (Martin, McNally and Kay 2013). The two project
management methods that I learned were Minimum Viable Product and Agile Project
Management. The Minimum Viable Product is development of products that have just
enough features that will satisfy the customers at the initial stage (Serrador and Pinto 2015).
In Agile Project Management execution, first a trial or beta version is introduced to the
market that is called the Minimum Viable Product (Conforto et al. 2014). The use and
feedback from the customer is analyzed to determine the necessary changes that has to be
made. Finally, a new and revised product is introduced that contain all the features that will
make the product a success. This management process is good for long term projects and
where the funding is limited. The organization does not need to invest a lot of money to
create a product that may or may not work (Joyce and Paquin 2016). The organization saves
time and money and the workers save labor. Learning about teamwork and leadership
increased understanding within me. During the course my leadership qualities increased as
did my team work. Project plan development gave me practical knowledge about the actual
work. Learning about the different steps that I would have to follow to create a successful
project plan gave me confidence that I will be able to plan a project successfully in future

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(Kerr, Nanda and Rhodes-Kropf 2014). In the course tenure many exercises were given that
required teamwork, leadership and planning.
At the time, when I joined the course, I was feeling hopeful as well as apprehension
because I was not sure about the outcome of the course. As the course went on, and I learned
those things that will help me in future career prospect, I started to feel happy. I grew more
confident and assertive in my approach. I developed leadership qualities and felt surer of the
decisions that I took. Due to team work activities I learned different perspectives and how to
handle conflict in a team. Now with the completion of the course, I have strong faith in
myself and I truly believe that I will be able to take up entrepreneurial work easily. The
expectations that I had from the coursework were fulfilled completely. Every aspect and
outcome that the coursework described were completed.
The decision of learning project management and entrepreneurship is did not come
suddenly to me. I wanted to achieve some skills and qualities that will help me in my future.
After much discussion with people and deliberation I felt that this course will suit me best.
From the beginning I have thought about running my own organization someday. For that I
needed entrepreneurial skills. Other skills that I needed were leadership capabilities and
understanding the team dynamics. All of these I learned through the course. There are other
skills that are needed to successfully run a business. Skills like decision making, problem
solving, analyzing any situation, communication and tackling problems that come suddenly.
The negotiation skills that I acquired is extremely helpful and was one of the goals that I had
in mind when I first started this course. Negotiation is a procedure that we go through every
day. In organizations too, regular negotiations take place. During the execution of any
project, the organization negotiate with the suppliers, the investors and try to find a common
ground that will enable all of them to work together towards the execution of the process. In
the project planning lessons we were taught about risk management. It is extremely related to

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organizations as well as our everyday life. Another skill that I wanted to learn was better
leadership. I have always felt that better leadership can change scenarios that otherwise seem
impossible to handle.
During the conduct of the course, many of my expectations were reshaped. When I
started, I was expecting a comprehensive course where I will receive broad overview of the
concerned topics. As I continued with the course I realized that that was not what the course
was about. The course offered a detailed and in-depth knowledge about the topics as well as
practical scenarios and activities that enabled me to relate the theory with real incidents. Now
that I have learnt that the expectations that I had about the course has changed. Now, I
believe that it will create a true entrepreneur out of me.
As conclusion, I can say that this course has instigated a genuine drive to learn more
about Entrepreneurship and Project Management. I intend to take an advanced course to learn
about them in more detail. Learning more about the topic will give credibility to me and also
the organization I am working with.

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References
Blank, S., 2013. Why the lean start-up changes everything. Harvard business review, 91(5),
pp.63-72.
Burns, P., 2016. Entrepreneurship and small business. Palgrave Macmillan Limited.
Conforto, E.C., Salum, F., Amaral, D.C., Da Silva, S.L. and De Almeida, L.F.M., 2014. Can
agile project management be adopted by industries other than software development?. Project
Management Journal, 45(3), pp.21-34.
Crawford, J.K., 2014. Project management maturity model. Auerbach Publications.
Drucker, P., 2014. Innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge.
Ganiron Jr, T.U., 2014. The impact of higher level thinking on students’ achievement toward
project management course. International Journal of u-and e-Service, Science and
Technology, 7(3), pp.217-226.
Heagney, J., 2016. Fundamentals of project management. Amacom.
Joyce, A. and Paquin, R.L., 2016. The triple layered business model canvas: A tool to design
more sustainable business models. Journal of Cleaner Production, 135, pp.1474-1486.
Kerr, W.R., Nanda, R. and Rhodes-Kropf, M., 2014. Entrepreneurship as
experimentation. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 28(3), pp.25-48.
Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Kloppenborg, T., 2014. Contemporary project management. Nelson Education.

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Martin, B.C., McNally, J.J. and Kay, M.J., 2013. Examining the formation of human capital
in entrepreneurship: A meta-analysis of entrepreneurship education outcomes. Journal of
Business Venturing, 28(2), pp.211-224.
Mason, C. and Brown, R., 2014. Entrepreneurial ecosystems and growth oriented
entrepreneurship. Final Report to OECD, Paris, 30(1), pp.77-102.
Meredith, J.R., Mantel Jr, S.J. and Shafer, S.M., 2017. Project management: a managerial
approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Rasmussen, E.S. and Tanev, S., 2015. The emergence of the lean global startup as a new type
of firm. Technology Innovation Management Review, 5(11).
Serrador, P. and Pinto, J.K., 2015. Does Agile work?—A quantitative analysis of agile
project success. International Journal of Project Management, 33(5), pp.1040-1051.
Zahra, S.A. and George, G., 2017. International entrepreneurship: the current status of the
field and future research agenda. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset,
pp.253-288.