The pillars of business success: key considerations

Aims

This course aims to help you think about: 

• why you want to run a business
   
• which skills you have or need to develop
   
• how you will establish and grow your business
   
• what success looks like to you
   
• who will benefit from your work

Content

Business is inherently risky and challenging. Relatively few businesses last more than a few years, reflecting the fact that it takes effort across many different areas to develop a viable and then sustainable operation. Research in several countries shows that whilst entrepreneurs have the initiative to start new ventures, many lack the skills, tools, and support to survive and succeed. 

To be successful, organisations must plan for and respond to likely and unlikely situations. 

Using the Course Director’s POBS model as a framework, this practical course considers key personal and business factors to focus on to optimise the chance of success for early-stage companies. It will introduce a number of techniques and ideas that you can implement in your own businesses. The course will refer to several areas of business, explain their relevance and show how they are inter-related.

The course begins by considering some essential foundations for business success: what business is about, why you might want to run a business, how you can influence your business’s outcome and ways of thinking about what you need to develop your business.

The pillars of business success are then discussed by reference to the broad functional areas of strategy, finance and management. This will provide you with an overview of aspects of business that will complement your field of specialism.

The course concludes by considering factors to take into account when growing your company.

Presentation of the course

The course comprises a mix of lectures, exercises and group discussions.

Course sessions

1. The adventure of business 
   Business life is a rollercoaster with the highs of achievements offset by the lows of challenges. This course provides you with some tools and ways of thinking to help you navigate your way, and to facilitate the longevity of your business. 
   The first session will provide a context for subsequent sessions by considering the purposes, types and structures of businesses and the major challenges to success, wherever you might be based. The ‘Pillars of Business Success’ model, on which the course is based, will be introduced.
    
2. Have you got what it takes? 
   A successful business requires more than just a product or service. Its success depends on 
   the quality of the foundations on which it is built. This session examines some key personal foundations such as traits, skills, values and integrity – as well as purpose.
    
3. Building the future 
   Sessions 3 and 4 examine the main business foundations for a successful business and will highlight key considerations for thinking about what to do before doing it. Session 3 focuses on developing your vision and the importance of the ‘four fundamentals of business.’
    
4. Preparing your business’s story 
   Through an interactive exercise, this session will identify key factors to consider when planning your business activities. 
   It will then provide a framework for a written business plan for use by those inside a business as well as by third parties, such as potential funders.
    
5. Navigating pitfalls 
   Successful strategy is often about reacting to events. This session will highlight some recent unexpected events impacting on global business and consider an approach to assessing and prioritising potential future problems.
    
6. Finance matters 
   Accounting is the language of business and companies need to have appropriate financial resources, controls and systems to help meet their objectives. The key principles of accounting and financial reporting will be introduced via a progressive exercise that builds from an idea through to running a company.
    
7. Capital ideas 
   Finance is the fuel needed to run a company. In this session, the pros and cons of key sources of finance will be explored and principles of good financial management will be mentioned. Ways of ‘thinking like an investor’ and approaches to applying for funding will be reviewed.
    
8. Your company’s key assets 
   This session will consider aspects of utilising, developing and maintaining your key business assets such as employees, customers, suppliers and intellectual property rights.
    
9. Mission: Possible 
   To scale a business, you will need replicable processes. The importance of good operations will be considered by reference to products, processes and procedures. Business success is not a given but, as with life in general, you will make good progress by communicating and negotiating well. Some proven approaches will be discussed.
    
10. Growing pains 
    A government initiative once stated, “understanding how to grow and identifying a growth strategy are the biggest challenges facing small business owners.” This final session will help prepare you for growth by reference to the previous sessions and to an exercise which highlights several factors that must be considered when deciding to take on new orders. 
    As forewarned is forearmed, the course will conclude by reference to things that entrepreneurs wished they had known when they started in business.

Learning outcomes

You are expected to gain from this series of classroom sessions a greater understanding of the subject and of the core issues and arguments central to the course. 

The learning outcomes for this course are:

• clarification of why you want to develop a business and what its purpose is
   
• awareness of the interrelated aspects of business and what is required to start and/or develop an organisation
   
• knowledge of a number of techniques that can be used to increase business viability
   
• appreciation of why it is necessary to engage others with complementary skills and the importance of team-working and stakeholder involvement 
   
• understanding of how you can influence the success of your business through good 
  business practices

Required reading

There are no specific pre-requisites for the course other than an interest in running a business, and a desire to learn about and discuss the benefits and challenges of doing so. 

However, a basic awareness of the principles of accounting (including financial statements) and business planning (including the Business Model Canvas) will be useful. Suitable brief articles written for a general audience include:

Berry, Tim, Business Plan vs Business Model Canvas Explained (15 December 2023) https://www.bplans.com/business-planning/basics/plan-vs-business-model/ from  Bplans.com which provides articles, guidance and other resources for business planning

Murphy, Chris, B, Financial Statements: List of Types and How to Read Them (21 March 2023) Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/financial-statements.asp

The Business Model Canvas and The Value Proposition Canvas – see framework and guidance at Strategyzer: resources https://platform.strategyzer.com/resources

Before you come on the course:

If you work for a company, consider what your business does, why it does what it does, and your role within the business.

If you are considering setting up a business, give some thought to what you are hoping to do and how you will go about doing it.

Although the course is largely non-technical, it is recommended that students bring a calculator with them for use with some of the exercises.

Typical week: Monday to Friday 

Courses run from Monday to Friday. For each week of study, you select a morning (Am) course and an afternoon (Pm) course. The maximum class size is 25 students.   

Courses are complemented by a series of daily plenary lectures, exploring new ideas in a wide range of disciplines. To add to your learning experience, we are also planning additional evening talks and events. 

Evaluation and Academic Credit  

If you are seeking to enhance your own study experience, or earn academic credit from your Cambridge Summer Programme studies at your home institution, you can submit written work for assessment for one or more of your courses.  

Essay questions are set and assessed against the University of Cambridge standard by your Course Director, a list of essay questions can be found in the Course Materials. Essays are submitted two weeks after the end of each course, so those studying for multiple weeks need to plan their time accordingly. There is an evaluation fee of £75 per essay. 

For more information about writing essays see Evaluation and Academic Credit. 

Certificate of attendance 

A certificate of attendance will be sent to you electronically after the programme.