Fall 2020: Enterprise Design

Posted: February 3rd, 2022

Enterprise Design
Exam 2
Fall 2020
Instructions
 
Please answer the following questions using the following requirements:
 
Exam is open-book, open-note, and open-mind in nature. You may also use other materials, including the internet.  However, all work must be your own and you may not consult anyone else in any manner in preparing your examination submission.  Also, no one may edit your work in any manner.
Exam will cover Entrepreneurship, second edition, chapters 6, 7, 8, and 9 and The Founders Dilemmas chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Maximum number of words per answer is 500, not counting references at the end of each answer. Word count must be indicated clearly at the beginning of each answer.Answers over the 500-word limit will be penalized.
Answers should be double-spaced and utilize a 12-point font size.
References should be noted with complete page-specific citations at the end of each question. The end-of-paper references are not included in the word count.  Please use a consistent citation style in your reference section.
Your answer should be a readable and understandable narrative that develops an understanding of the concepts, terminology, and reasoning necessary to address the issues present in the question. Simple lists, unless explained and integrated into your answer, will not be considered high-quality answers.  Demonstrating Insight and the ability to use the concepts and terminology effectively are critical elements of this exam.
Make sure that your name is on your exam.
 
Questions
 
After working for two firms in the flight simulator industry over the eight years following your graduation from University, you’ve been able to garner extensive experience on the business side of the complex devices used to train and certify flight crew members for all the major passenger and freight airline companies. Along the way, you’ve developed a network of friends and associates involved in every area of the flight simulator industry.  Over the last three years, your business relationships with large and small flight training schools have revealed a huge gap between the needs of airlines to keep pilots proficient in a range of aircraft types and the needs of basic flight training schools developing pilots from novice to air transport pilot proficiency levels.  The large, sophisticated simulators needed by the airlines are simply too expensive to be practical for most flight schools.  You’ve discussed the notion of developing a very realistic, flexible, and less expensive flight simulator for pilot training with three of your associates.  These three have skills ranging from engineering to the legal/regulatory area and think your idea is good one.  Your brother-in-law is a flight instructor and also sees the potential for this idea.  Your employer is not interested in this idea and has given you permission to pursue it on your own, if you choose to do so.  You’ve read the first four chapters of The Founder’s Dilemmas and thought it had some good food for thought.  You sit down with The Founder’s Dilemmas to consider the information in those first four chapters.  What specific issues do these chapters consider and how do you plan to address them?  Why?  You also start to consider the overall network your team may be able to access.  What are your considerations with regard to network development?
 
Your flight simulator idea is moving forward. Your attention is focused on how to develop insight into your customers—who they are and what they want.  You are also considering how to work with your potential customers to experiment and “co-create” the simulator they want and what the best revenue model may be.  You set to work to prepare a very brief report for your team to provide them with a guide to the critical issues and opportunities in these product development efforts.  What do you write?