Imagination, Entrepreneurship, and Business Problem Solving (ESP 366)
Explores the creative process and help students identify their own creative problem-solving styles. Students will have to develop innovative solutions to a wide range of business problems that center around new product, service and process development. Students will also learn to judge the quality of their creative solutions. Emphasis will be placed both on individual creativity and creativity in teams and in a work context.
Emerging Entrepreneurial Consulting (ESP 461)
Student teams of 2 or 3 apply a problem-solving methodology by consulting with selected local small businesses that have requested management assistance. Each selected company must have a wide range of problems crossing the fields of finance, marketing, accounting, production, human resources, information systems, strategic and tactical planning, growth or down-sizing problems, procurement issues, inventory control, quality control, and forecasting. Through this consulting experience, students learn to integrate and apply their business knowledge to “real-world” settings and to test their analytical skills by confronting and solving complex business problems.
Entrepreneurship: New Venture Creation (ESP 467) Capstone
The core course in the program, and the only one that is not new to the curriculum. Examines the nature of entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial process. ESP 467 explores a variety of issues surrounding new venture creation, including the business plan, the economics of the business, determining resource needs and acquiring resources, marketing requirement, deal structure, technology issues, family business issues, harvesting issues, and ethical issues, among others.
Entrepreneurship in Complex Organizations (MGT 469)
Focuses on ways to facilitate and sustain entrepreneurship in larger, established organizations. Students will be introduced to the organizational life cycle concept, and challenged to identify reasons that companies lose the entrepreneurial orientation as they evolve. Key obstacles to entrepreneurial behavior in organizations will be identified. Attention will be devoted to such topics as reward and appraisal systems, company structure, control systems, communication systems, goal setting, strategy, culture, policies and procedures, and people issues.
Product Planning, Innovation and Technology (ESP 481)
The foundation for those students interested in understanding technology, new product and service development and market place success. New product development is approached from a management perspective with special emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship. Ideal for technical students wanting to develop skills to support innovation within organizations and for business students who want to learn more about the cross-functional management of technology.
Financial Aspects of Entrepreneurship (FIN 306)
The course focuses on the financial issues and needs confronting start-up entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs attempting to grow their small businesses. It is targeted to the non-finance majors, and does not require an extensive accounting or financial background. The students will be exposed to a number of tools, concepts and approaches related to the financial operations of start-up ventures, with emphasis on the application of this material using a series of real-world cases.
Entrepreneurial Marketing (MKT 311)
Examines the role of marketing in start-up ventures and the role of entrepreneurial thinking in marketing efforts. Customer needs as the driving force in entrepreneurship will be the theme of this course. The course will explore novel approaches to defining markets and market segments, examine inexpensive ways to conduct relevant market research, and identify ways to leverage marketing resources and rely on networks to accomplish marketing tasks. Students will be encouraged to focus on identifying unique approaches to creating value through each of the elements of the marketing mix.
New Economy: eBusiness, Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital (IMS 333)
This course is positioned within the Interactive Media Studies (IMS) program and the Entrepreneurship program within the Richard T. Farmer Schools of Business Administration and is designed to benefit students from each program as well as students from the broader university community as well.
