Entrepreneurial Studies

Entrepreneurial Leadership
As technology and globalization continue to spur interconnectedness, leaders must navigate tumultuous environments where change is rapid, discontinuous and unpredictable. Innovation, ingenuity and an ability to add value by solving problems are necessary. This course will examine the attributes required of successful entrepreneurs in contemporary leadership roles. Students will learn how to take an idea to impact. They will consider important concepts, such as ethics, sustainability, economic Darwinism, and managing uncertainty. They will discuss product invention, service implementation, economic choice, risk and return, scale and scope, value creation, and small business generation. As a significant course assignment, students will develop a strategic plan for a product, service or startup or organization that is worthy of implementation.

Economic Principles for the Entrepreneur
The course seeks to provide students with the foundational understanding of microeconomic theory necessary to pursue entrepreneurial enterprises in contemporary markets. Students will acquire the analytical tools for solving complex organizational or policy issues. Key topics will include: economic principles guiding various types of organizations; rational behavior; competition vs. monopoly power; simple game theory; pricing strategies; and production costs and behavior in the short and long-term. This course will be more applied than a traditional intro to economics class, relying on entrepreneurial case studies and news reports as appropriate.

Quantitative Tools for the Entrepreneur
This course teaches the basic accounting, statistical, and Excel skills necessary for success in the Entrepreneurial minor. All of the examples will be done using Excel. The accounting techniques covered will include: accounting terminology; the accounting equation; how to prepare and analyze financial statements (the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows); operational costing considerations; cost behavior and cost-volume-profit analysis; differential analysis and product pricing; and budgeting. The statistical concepts which will be covered include: data collection; basic measures of summarizing data; presenting data in tables and charts; hypothesis formulation and testing; sampling techniques; normal distributions; and simple regression techniques.