SOLANO, Marlon G.

TTh 7:30-9:00

New Business Development > Starting a Business > Business Development Process
Step 1 Initial Idea Exploration, Identification and Assessment
Form a project committee
Formulate general business idea(s) or concept(s)
Identify alternative business models or scenarios for the idea(s)
Investigate idea/concept and alternative business scenarios
Formal investigation
Refine scenarios
Step 2 - Idea/Concept and Scenario/Model Deliberation and Assessment
Further refine the business scenarios/models
Conduct feasibility study
Analyze the feasibility study
Step 3 - Go/No-Go Decision
This step involves making one of the three possible decisions listed below:
Decide that the project is viable and move forward with it.
Decide to do more study and or analyze additional alternatives.
Decide that the project is not viable and abandon it.
Step 4 Business Plan Preparation and Implementation
If you decide to proceed with creating a business, you will need to prepare a business plan. A business
plan is an outline or blueprint of how you will create your business. If you conducted a feasibility study,
it will provide some of the information needed for your business plan. Also, business planning often
involves the use of consultants. However, dont turn the process completely over to a consultant, you
need to stay integrally involved in the planning process. Remember, it is your business.
Although planning can involve considerable time and effort, it is the easiest part. Implementing the plan
is much more difficult. Many prospective businesses experience problems or failure due to the
improper implementation of their business plan.This step requires commitment and dedication.
Unforeseen problems will emerge.Your persistence is critical.
Implementing your business plan will include, but is not limited to:
Creating a legal structure
Securing market access
Raising equity and securing financing
Hiring management/staff
Constructing facility
Other
Step 5 Business Operations
Now that you have successfully started your value-added business, your work has just begun.
Producer groups often forget that once the business is created, it takes constant attention for it to
remain healthy and viable.
Operating a business is very different than starting a business. It requires a different set of skills. So the
people who create the business may not be the best people to manage the business.
Final Thoughts
These are the five steps you will want to follow for taking an idea and making a viable business from it.
These steps will not guarantee success. However, they will increase your odds of success. Also, you
will make more efficient use of your time.
Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development
According to psychologist Jean Piaget, children progress through a series of four critical stages of
cognitive development. Each stage is marked by shifts in how kids understand the world. Piaget
believed that children are like "little scientists" and that they actively try to explore and make sense of
the world around them.
Through his observations of his children, Piaget developed a stage theory of intellectual development
that included four distinct stages:
The sensorimotor stage, from birth to age 2
The preoperational stage, from age 2 to about age 7
The concrete operational stage, from age 7 to 11
The formal operational stage, which begins in adolescence and spans into adulthood.
The Concrete Operational Stage: Kids at this point of development begin to think more logically but
their thinking can also be very rigid. They tend to struggle with abstract and hypothetical concepts. At
this point, children also become less egocentric and begin to think about how other people might think
and feel. Kids in the concrete operational stage also begin to understand that their thoughts are unique

to them and that not everyone else necessarily shares their thoughts, feelings, and opinions.
The Formal Operational Stage: The final stage of Piaget's theory involves an increase in logic, the
ability to use deductive reasoning, and an understanding of abstract ideas. At this point, people
become capable of seeing multiple potential solutions to problems and think more scientifically about
the world around them.
It is important to note that Piaget did not view children's intellectual development as a quantitative
process; that is, kids do not just add more information and knowledge to their existing knowledge as
they get older. Instead, Piaget suggested that there is a qualitative change in how children think as they
gradually process through these four stages. A child at age 7 doesn't just have more information about
the world than he did at age 2; there is a fundamental change in how he thinks about the world.
To better understand some of the things that happen during cognitive development, it is important first
to examine a few of the important ideas and concepts introduced by Piaget. The following are some of
the factors that influence how children learn and grow:
In Piaget's view, a schema includes both a category of knowledge and the process of obtaining that
knowledge. As experiences happen, this new information is used to modify, add to, or change
previously existing schemas.
For example, a child may have a schema about a type of animal, such as a dog. If the child's sole
experience has been with small dogs, a child might believe that all dogs are small, furry, and have four
legs. Suppose then that the child encounters an enormous dog. The child will take in this new
information, modifying the previously existing schema to include these new observations.
Final Thoughts
One of the most important elements to remember of Piaget's theory is that it takes the view that the
creation of knowledge and intelligence is an inherently active process. "I find myself opposed to the
view of knowledge as a passive copy of reality," Piaget explained. " I believe that knowing an object
means acting upon it, constructing systems of transformations that can be carried out on or with this
object. Knowing reality means constructing systems of transformations that correspond, more or less
adequately, to reality."
References:
Fancher, R. E. (1996). Pioneers of Psychology, 3rd edition. New York: Norton.
Santrock, John W. (2008). A topical approach to life-span development (4 ed.). New York City:
McGraw-Hill.
Piaget, J. (1970). Genetic Epistemology. New York: Norton.
Piaget, J. (1977). Gruber, H.E.; Voneche, J.J. eds. The essential Piaget. New York: Basic Books.
Piaget, J. (1983). Piaget's theory. In P. Mussen (ed). Handbook of Child Psychology. 4th edition. Vol. 1.
New York: Wiley.
http://psychology.about.com/od/piagetstheory/a/keyconcepts.htm
https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/wholefarm/html/c5-02.html