PEARL II is the second major component of ‘Practical, Entrepreneurial, and Reflective Learning (PEARL)’ framework that is used in the MBA programme. It is intended to enhance students ‘willingness’ to set out on an entrepreneurial journey. It not only helped them to develop entrepreneurial mindset that is cherished in successful companies of the twenty first century but also gave them a chance to think about alternative career options available to them in an economy so full of unmet needs and short of innovative solutions.
It helped them get practically involved in a value-creating venture which is expected to be a highly rewarding undertaking, both intellectually and financially.
In this semester students assessed, explored, critiqued and celebrated the phenomenon of entrepreneurship by completing the four major stages of a startup, i.e., conceiving a concept, testing a concept, commercializing a concept and eventually generating profits/losses.
PEARL II approached entrepreneurship as a mindset, an attitude and a behaviour to undertake value-creating initiatives in situations with a certain level of uncertainty that is expected to lead to the creation of a new start-up.
The final evaluation of MyStartup was based on the following three parameters.
1. Innovation: Innovation is the essence of entrepreneurship. It is very important for the spirit of MyStartup that whatever venture is endeavored it must entail a substantial element of innovation. Innovation in this case, however, does not only mean the creativity of the product/service, but can also be demonstrated in any other aspect of the business model, e.g. how to go about marketing a business venture, bundling a product/service, managing the supply chain or delivering the product.
2. Profitability: The profitability of the venture was measured in terms of Return on Investment (ROI) based on the profit/loss earned by the groups till the date of final presentation.
3. Scalability: In addition to innovation and profitability, students were also evaluated in terms of the potential scalability of their venture, i.e. how it could be turned into a sustainable and high-growth business in the future? Groups presented their scalability plan at the time of the final presentations.
This year MBA 2018 successfully completed the execution of 13 startups as part of their New Venture Creation module of PEARL II.
