Entrepreneurship Guide
The Entrepreneurship certificate prepares students to determine the feasibility of and to develop innovative ideas for commercialization. Graduates can pursue entrepreneurial opportunities in established organizations, pursue their own venture, or seek employment within service and capital providers.
Topics covered include:
- Opportunity identification and analysis
- Gathering resources, launching a business and managing growth
- Determination of the individual skills needed to start an entrepreneurial venture
- Conducting feasibility analyses
- Development of sales and distribution structures
- Long- and short-term investment decisions
- Intellectual property assessment
- Resources and the nature of financing entrepreneurial ventures
- Designing and writing a quality business plan
- Harvesting a business
- Consulting projects with an entrepreneurial firm
Required Courses (6 hours):
ENT 5102 Entrepreneurship & Innovation (2 hours)
Innovation & Entrepreneurship offers MBA candidates the opportunity to understand how starting your own business can alter your life’s path. The course offers an overview of the concepts and tools of entrepreneurship involving 1) entrepreneurial processes - from finding and evaluating good business opportunities to new venture start-up and growth issues, 2) critical success factors in the creation of new ventures and 3) the significance of entrepreneurship for economic development. Learning about these key entrepreneurial concepts will occur through experiential learning, interactions with successful entrepreneurs and their inspirational stories, instructor delivered content, team projects, and video presentations.
ENT 5934 Strategic Venture Development (4 hours)
Entrepreneurship is about the identification and enactment of entrepreneurial opportunities. This class is about learning how to pursue entrepreneurial opportunity, particularly as it relates to starting a new venture. Thus, this course focuses on the development of entrepreneurial opportunities and determining the feasibility of these opportunities in today’s business environment. The mastery of concepts covered in this course will lead to an initial evaluation of new venture ideas and provide a foundation for subsequent courses in the major. This course represents an early step in preparing students to start and manage an entrepreneurial venture. This course will also help students develop a comprehensive strategy and plan for launching and growing a new business.
And any two of the following courses (6 hours):
ENT 5902 Entrepreneurial Process (2 hours)
The entrepreneurial process course rigorously explores the four distinct phases of entrepreneurial business-opportunity identification; gathering the resources and launch; managing entrepreneurial growth; and harvesting the rewards-with a special emphasis on ethics, morality and life planning skills. The entrepreneurial process is a course designed for students who are committed to: Learning the practical skills, habits, and judgment required to make money; learning to ask the right questions, analyze the right numbers and clearly defend their ideas; learning how to live a Life of Meaning so they can make a difference in the world. Prerequisite: MGT 5702
ENT 5912 Capitalizing the New Venture (2 hours)
This course will cover various aspects of financing entrepreneurial ventures. Topics will include methods of financing, financials, techniques for valuing new businesses and financial structure. Funding sources examined will include commercial banks, small business investment companies SBIC, Business Angels, IPO, Series A & B & C financing, acquisitions, LBO, and venture capital companies. These processes are often referred to as sourcing, diligence and valuation. Concepts are illustrated through Harvard Business School, Babson College, and Stanford Cases, supplemented by notes and readings.
ENT 5942 Launching the New Venture (2 hours)
This class deals with the issues an entrepreneur might face during the launch phase of their new venture and/or new product. The case-based curriculum teaches students the critical questions that must be answered in order to turn products and ideas into sales and revenue. Issues to be covered are opportunity identification, manufacturing, pricing, market segmentation, advertising, promotions, public relations, branding, sales, negotiations, channels, service, franchising, competition, and strategy.
ENT 5992 Entrepreneurial Growth Strategies (2 hours)
Focuses on growth processes and systems, attracting the right people, managing cash-flow, shareholder decision- making; financial and market-driven options for long-run competitiveness, organizational structures, and management team issues; strategic planning from a resource-based perspective; transition planning for the corporate entity, family dynamics and communication issues; and leadership empowerment.
NOTE: Additional ENT courses are available.
