2324T1 Tokyo/Course

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Overview of Project Course

Synopsis

The land of rising sun is more known for Sony, Toyota, Nippon, Mitsubishi, Nintendo, Canon, Uniqlo, Softbank, etc. But recently, Startup Ecosystem Tokyo Consortium – made up of businesses, universities, and local governments – seeks to facilitate the creation and growth of startups in the private sector, academia, and the government. Can a new wave of Japanese young entrepreneurs make a difference to the startup scene, like the rising Tokyo New Wave film makers? Although it has the finance, talent, technology and infrastructure, changing the mainstream mindset large corporate culture will not be an easy feed.

We will dive straight into a land of anime and experience the unique culture of new startups, ventures and government support structures. You will have the opportunity to speak to entrepreneurs and ask questions about their process, challenges, risks and rewards of starting up a new business, immerse in the University/Co-location/Incubation/Maker Ecosystem to understand how this could work and decide for yourself. Is it Keiretsu? Is it luck? Is it a culture or personality of the founders? Seek the X factor that is the ultimate ingredient for a successful business.

Objectives

This course will help students

• Introduce to the entrepreneurship scene.
• Develop an understanding of the factors and ecosystem leading to a start-up.
• Aspire to be entrepreneurs and apply their findings to their own venture.
• Understand how to start a technology company.
• Build relationships with the companies we visit.

Teams

• Students will form their own teams on first day of class.
• Student teams will need to source for organization to visit.

Output and Assessment Summary

Students will be assessed on planning, sourcing organization, in class and during the trip activities and conduct. Here is the grading criteria:

• Skills - I am better able to collaborate effectively with people of other cultures. 
• Knowledge - I have gained new perspectives on intercultural, societal, and global issues. 
• Network - I have broadened my network to include more contacts overseas. 
• Attitude - I am better able to appreciate our interconnected world, where actions in one place have implications elsewhere. 
• Attitude - I am more motivated to do my part in tackling societal and/or global issues. 
• Other benefits and takeaways from your exposure to the rest of the world. 

Grade breakdown

This course will be a pass/fail. To pass, you will need to get at least a B-. The grade breakdown is listed below.

No	Time Frame	Topics	Assessment Type	Weighting
1	Pre-Trip	Organization sourcing	Team	20%
2		Plan trip	Individual	20%
3	Trip	Discussion and Presentation	Individual	20%
4		Trip role/helping others	Individual	20%
5		Reflection	Individual	10%
6	All	Wiki, Blog & Photos	Individual	10%

Assignment

Here are the assignments:

1. Pre Trip
   1. Teams are to source for organizations to visit. Research on the organization.
      1. Ecosystem: background, industry, culture, ecosystem, research universities, politics, aspiration, etc. Compare ecosystem to Singapore.
      2. Company/founder culture/trait such as connections (companies, country, customer focus), support environment (government, business, infrastructure, society, market maturity, reputation), and personality/company culture (integrity, leadership, competitiveness, entrepreneurship, savviness, creativity, innovativeness, dynamicity, risk taking, commitment to technology, excellent communication, team spirit, fun seeking, etc). Research on this by reading books, websites or interviews. Come up with examples of company events when this trait is vital to the company. Explore this trait in some of the organization we will visit.
      3. Organization: background, motivation, challenges, investments/employee stock ownership plan/intellectual property, strategy/business model/IPO, culture/personalities/politics/connections, etc. Students to prepare a company brief that is due before the trip.
      4. SMU Library Basic ReseachTSM. You may contact XIA Wei <weixia@smu.edu.sg> if you need to get SMU library resources while doing your research.
   2. Individual will be assessed based on the quality of your contributions in the role you play, getting organization, helping out with the trip planning and execution.
2. During the Trip (if it happens)
   1. Teams will ask questions, when the opportunity presents itself. Each team will introduce their company, present the focus and recommend improvements. Each team will have a backup team to support them (taking photos, questions, follow up, etc)
   2. Individuals will keep a journal/blog/diary/tweet (with video, photo, links, etc.) on the discussion and company visits. Focus on learning points and reflections. Compile your journal in the individual reflection page.
3. Post Trip
   1. Reflection on your research
   2. Key takeaways (2) or learning points from the organization
   3. Quotes from presenter/senior management/owner/founder
   4. Recommendation on how the trip can be improved further

Academic Integrity

All acts of academic dishonesty (including, but not limited to, plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, facilitation of acts of academic dishonesty by others, unauthorized possession of exam questions, or tampering with the academic work of other students) are serious offences. All work (whether oral or written) submitted for purposes of assessment must be the student’s own work. Penalties for violation of the policy range from zero marks for the component assessment to expulsion, depending on the nature of the offense.

When in doubt, students should consult the instructors of the course. Details on the SMU Code of Academic Integrity may be accessed at http://www.smuscd.org/resources.html.

Classroom Planning

There will be several classroom meetings to organize the course, trip and research. Students will meet in classroom to present their research findings. The teams are required to update their progress using the wiki.

Course Schedule Summary

Class (Week)	Topics	Comments
1	Course introduction, team formation and organization assignment.	Roles, Teams and Organisation. Team and group photos.
2	Organization groupings for each team and trip planning	Trip itinerary and Organisation Grouping.
3	Inspiration from Guests!
6	Confirm visits.	Sector Research and Contact (reorganise grouping).
Week 8: Break.
11	Present organization and itinerary (first come first serve)	Itinerary confirmation
12	Present organization and itinerary (as needed)	Itinerary confirmation
16	Reconfirm itinerary with companies	Company brief due
17	Visit company and have fun.	Reflection