Course Catalog

**Students must be Juniors or Seniors to take this course EPS4515 Affordable Design and Entrepreneurship General Credit 1.4 billion people live on less than $1.25 per day (The Millennium Development Goals Report, 2009). While the problems afflicting the poor are great, there is power in thinking small - how a simple, focused innovation can change an individual life, a personal choice or a system. Affordable Design and Entrepreneurship (ADE) is an international, experiential social entrepreneurship and design course where students work in partnership with communities in India, Ghana, Morocco and Alabama to co-create and test innovation concepts and sustainable business models. The focus is on income generation and meeting daily human needs through new product and service design and development but the scope considers the cultural appropriateness of design choices and their impact on social venture success. This includes how design can impact the desirability and viability of innovations in different problem-opportunity contexts, examined in the innovation phases of observation, conception, strategic planning and implementation. A joint offering by Babson and Olin College, the course integrates core elements of user-oriented collaborative design and engineering design with entrepreneurial opportunity shaping and venture strategy. Babson and Olin College students work collaboratively in cross-functional teams to exploit their respective expertise and strengths. Starting with ethnographic research, venture teams collaborate first-hand with local communities on focused issues to identify addressable problems and to evaluate and test potential innovation solutions. Mixing entrepreneurship and design pedagogies, the course takes a systems view considering how design choices in product/service design and business model design can enhance-or diminish-a social venture's impact. The course is run as a virtual firm where students work on distributed teams to develop social ventures by engaging with partner organizations, prioritizing programs, and setting and pursing goals while deploying modest amounts of seed capital. The course is time-intensive but rich and immersive. Students travel once per semester to partner sites to build relationships, learn about local culture, understand and map needs, identify stakeholders, perform experiments and tests, and collect information on local infrastructure and value chains. (a) Prerequisites: FME1001, EPS3501, Junior standing Students must be juniors or seniors to take the course. Can be taken to fulfill the "Living the Entrepreneurship Experience" requirement.

EPS4510 Entrepreneurial Finance (formerly EPS3511) (General Credit) This course focuses on the various aspects of funding and managing entrepreneurial ventures through the various stages of business growth and focuses on understanding business models and kinds of organizations and the various ways these can be financed (i.e corporate, technology, non-profit). Students will learn: 1) the value of pro forma financial planning and what if analysis; b) the various ways to fund and manage the growing firm from inception through harvest with a particular emphasis on deal structure and risk/reward scenarios for different investor types. The class will utilize cases based on real world companies from various industries to cover topics in investment analysis, financing the entrepreneurial firm, managing the growing business and harvesting. Frequent guests ranging from entrepreneurs, private equity venture capital, banking and legal professionals will bring the entrepreneurial experience to life in this course Prerequisite: MCE and OEM & EPS3501 This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Spring

EPS3501 Entrepreneurship and Opportunity (General Credit) EPS3501, EPS3502, EPS3503, EPS3530 and BRC3501 are equivalent courses. Students can take only ONE of these courses. This course concentrates on identifying and evaluating opportunities for new business. The primary purpose is to investigate concepts tools and practices associated with identifying or creating new venture opportunities. Students will explore ways to shape and evaluate the viability of these opportunities by understanding key industry factors, market and competitive factors and customer needs. Students will gain a better understanding of personal entrepreneurial capacity, team building and management, and are augmented with readings, guest speakers, videos, and software simulations. Student teams will do at least two opportunity feasibility assessments. Prerequisites: MCE

BRC3501 Entrepreneurship and New Ventures in China 4-cr General Credit (Note: This course is equivalent to EPS3501, EPS3502, EPS3503 and EPS3530. Students can take only one of these courses. BRC3501 satisfies the pre-requisite for EPS350x and in meeting the Entrepreneurship concentration requirement of EPS350x.) This four-credit entrepreneurship elective is part of the 16-credit Russia-China program. The course will introduce students to the nature and process of assessing and shaping entrepreneurial opportunities in China. It will build on the Liberal Arts China elective, enabling students to apply their understanding about China's cultural, political, social and economic environment to understand drivers of entrepreneurship and to identify and assess entrepreneurial opportunities. Near the end of the 1970s, entrepreneurship was introduced as a supplement to China's socialist economy, and the government has increasingly acknowledged the key economic role played by the private sector. This provides a relevant and unique context through which to study entrepreneurial activity. We will examine the distinct qualities of entrepreneurship, and the factors that influence new venture creation in this diverse and rapidly changing economy. We will accomplish this, not just through discussions, readings and cases, but also through immersion in the culture and direct contact with Chinese entrepreneurs. We will visit entrepreneurial firms and to other entities involved with entrepreneurship, such as investors and government officials. Students will maintain a journal reflecting on their visits and experiences from an entrepreneurship perspective. They will write a paper analyzing an entrepreneur and their own entrepreneurial capacity. They will work in teams to conduct a qualitative assessment of customers and write a feasibility plan for a entrepreneurial opportunity in China. Prerequisites: OEM & MCE Co-requisites: BRC3502, BRC3601 and BRC3602 Concentration mandatory course for Entrepreneurship, equivalent to EPS 3501

EPS4530: Living the Entrepreneurial Experience General Credit EPS4530 (formerly EPS3530), EPS4525, EPS4531, EPS4532, EPS4533 and EPS4534 are equivalent courses. Students can only take one of these courses. Living the Entrepreneurial Experience is about being in action, individually or in pairs, while executing upon a real entrepreneurial opportunity. Building on the foundation from EPS 3501, in this course, students put Entrepreneurial Thought and Action into practice by developing, taking and building on key action steps to advance their own venture or on projects for existing enterprises. Key elements of the process involve both primary and secondary research while engaging prospective customers, experts, suppliers, stakeholders, analogous/complementary ventures, and investors. Students are challenged to test ideas and gain a clearer understanding of the interdisciplinary complexities involved within the entrepreneurial landscape. Course readings and cases will provide supplemental background. Core to the class experience is the question - how do you build and lead an enterprising new venture? Students will set milestones to move their venture forward, working with both external mentors and peer advisors. The core is “action based learning” which will result in pivoting your venture based on information gained in experimenting and testing assumptions. The course has multiple deliverables related to key actions and decisions in marketing, finance, customer service and operations. Students are expected to work independently as well as interdependently with other entrepreneurs in the course. Contact time for this course will be split between in-class sessions and out-of-class individual meetings with the instructor. Prerequisites: (OEM and MCE) and EPS3501 This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Fall and Spring

EPS4525: Living the Social Entrepreneurship Experience (General Credit) EPS4525, EPS4530 (formerly EPS3530), EPS4531, EPS4532, EPS4533 and EPS4534 are equivalent courses. Students can only take one of these courses. Living the Social Entrepreneurial Experience is about solving "people and planet" problems while generating societal and economic value. Building on the foundation from EPS 3501, this course is action focused, where you will execute on a real opportunity in teams. Students put Entrepreneurial Thought and Action into practice by developing, taking and building on key action steps to advance their own social venture or on projects for existing social enterprises. Key elements of the process involve secondary research and engaging experts, stakeholders, analogous/complementary ventures, and investors/donors to enrich understanding of the social entrepreneurship landscape and test ideas. Course readings and cases will provide supplemental background. Core to the class experience is the question - how do you build and lead a social venture? Students will set milestones to move their venture forward, working with both with external mentors and peer advisors. The core is “action based learning” which will result in pivoting your venture based on information gained in experimenting and testing assumptions. The course has multiple deliverables related to key actions and decisions in marketing, finance, customer service and operations. Students are expected to work independently as well as interdependently with other social entrepreneurs in the course. Contact time for this course will be split between in-class sessions and out-of-class individual meetings with the instructor. Prerequisites: (OEM and MCE) and EPS3501 This course is typically offered in the following semester: Fall

EPS3520 Managing Growing Businesses (General Credit) This course covers the growth phase of an entrepreneurial business, focusing on the nature and challenges of entrepreneurial businesses as they move beyond startup. The primary task for entrepreneurial firms in their growth phase is to build an organization capable of managing this growth, and then ensure the organization can sustain growth as the market and competitive environment changes. The entrepreneur needs to create a professional organization both responsive to external change and entrepreneurial enough to continually create new businesses through innovative thinking. Issues of particular importance to rapidly growing companies include: getting the right people and systems in place, managing with limited resources, cash flow planning, leadership and delegation, professional zing the business, turning around a troubled business, establishing and communicating culture, and creating a vision to drive the organization toward the future. Prerequisites: OEM and MCE and EPS350%

EPS 3580 Marketing for Entrepreneurs (General Credit) This course provides an in-depth study of entrepreneurial marketing strategies for the 21st century. It examines how start-up and small/medium-size companies reach the marketplace and sustain their businesses, within highly-competitive industries. Recognition is given to the need of management to operate flexibly, make maximum effective use of scarce resources in terms of people, equipment and funds, and the opportunities that exist within new and established market niches. Classes focus on a combination of brief lectures, extensive case study analyses and a term-long group assignment involving student-generated entrepreneurial product or service offerings. Prerequisites: OEM AND MCE

EPS3503 New Technology Ventures (General Credit) EPS3501, EPS3502, EPS3503 and BRC3501 are equivalent courses. Students can take only ONE of these courses. Creating a new venture that has technology as a basis for its products or services presents special challenges. On one hand is the "push" of new technology, as evidenced by the plethora of scientific invention and technological innovation. On the other hand is the "pull" of the market as it presents new entrepreneurial opportunities. Other key challenges present themselves in areas of intellectual property protection, team building and funding opportunities. In this course we will explore entrepreneurship in technology industries in depth with the hope of penetrating the popular veneer, and uncovering the guts of starting a growing new technology ventures. Of course, there is a lot about new technology venturing that is common to all new venture creation, and also the qualities entrepreneurs demonstrate are valuable in a wide spectrum of life's activities. A unique aspect of this course is its desire to include students from both Babson as well as the F.W. Olin College of Engineering. Particular value from this intermingling will be evidenced in the true interdisciplinary nature of the course field project teams that are formed, and the ability for students to begin to develop networks of relationships outside their individual domains of business or engineering. Primary Course Objectives: 1. To investigate the components, tools, and practices of technology entrepreneurship: identifying new venture opportunities, evaluating the viability of a new business concept, calibrating risk of successful technology development, protecting intellectual property, building a team that possesses the attributes necessary for success, obtaining appropriate financing, writing a business plan, and developing an investor presentation, creating an entrepreneurial culture that increases the odds of success, and creating liquidity for shareholders. 2. To identify and exercise entrepreneurial skills through classrooms debate and assignments. 3. To introduce students to a variety of technology entrepreneurs. Case studies are used as tools for discussion, and are augmented with readings and guest speakers. The core project for this course will be the development of a technology based business plan. Students will form teams to explore a business opportunity, and develop a business plan and investor presentation. Prerequisites: OEM and MCE

EPS3540 Raising Money-VC, Angels & Incubators (General Credit) This class concentrates on developing a knowledge of the asset classes in early stage funding, both equity and debt, including money from family and friends, angels- both individual and networks- early and mid stage VC, private equity, incubators- both for profit and not for profit- and debt from venture debt funds and special commercial banks. Much of the class is taught from the entrepreneur's perspective but it will also cover the dynamics of starting and running a VC fund since many of the investor classes rely heavily on the VC when making investment decisions. Case material, lectures, frequent exercises/presentations and guest speakers will provide future entrepreneurs with a detailed understanding how investors think, analyze and behave so that entrepreneurs can understand the deals they make with investors and how to manage the process to a mutually beneficial conclusion. Prerequisite: None

EPS1210 The Ultimate Entrepreneurial Challenge (Free Elective) Formerly EPS3510 and EPS3579 This highly competitive course, patterned after the Donald Trump TV show, "The Apprentice," involves intense TEAM competition and problem solving. Students will elect CEO's, negotiate to acquire team members and compete for ten weeks to determine the ultimate winner. We will test your skills in strategy, marketing, negotiation, management, finance and the actual utilization of "out of the box thinking." The assignments will be based on actual business and case studies. In many cases, the entrepreneurs, or their representatives who are involved in that particular case, will come to class to judge the students on their presentation of solutions. Answers to solutions will be discussed in class. Details The class will be open to both graduate and undergraduate students who possess "out of the box thinking" abilities and are creative and want to be successful entrepreneurs. The students are treated as customers and their input will be solicited as to subjects covered. Last year, these subjects were selected. Understanding what it really takes to be a successful entrepreneur Starting and growing a business Creating an entrepreneurial team Obtaining capital Negotiations Ethics Eureka Ranch creativity Financial analysis and tax planning Guerrilla marketing Succession Harvesting Social entrepreneurship Selecting the right management style for yourself Methods to develop inspiration and the tools to achieve success and confidence How to take calculated risks Other timely subjects What You Will NOT Do Have the Professor lecture to you for long periods of time. Have chapters to read and then go over the chapters in class. Have students hog air time. Learn formulas that you have to memorize. Have boring classes. I believe in business, as in life, nothing is ever handed to you. So, in this class, you will work harder than you have before. But, if you believe you have the passion to learn to be a successful entrepreneur, this is the class for you. Final Note This class will come as close as you can get while in college to be challenged to come up with the most successful solutions to the real problems you will encounter in the real world. The Professor will share the knowledge he has obtained in over 30 years of business expertise to assist you in learning the essentials you will need to be successful. Students will also have one-on-one time with the Professor. Prerequisites: FME1001 or (MIS1000 and MOB1000) This course is typically offered in the fall.

Meeting Dates: This class will meet on the following dates from 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM • Thursday, June 13 • Sunday, June 16 • Friday, June 28 ESP3517 21ST Century Entrepreneurship 2 credit – general credit Business has tremendous societal ramifications. Inventions and industries from the automobile to the internet impact everything from air quality to economic and political freedom. Entrepreneurs, who are often at the forefront of business and thus societal innovation, are changing the way business is conducted by creating businesses that are beneficial to the bottom line, society and the environment. Through cases, projects and present day examples, the course will challenge students to understand the impact of business on society and the challenges and pitfalls of creating a sustainable venture. In addition, it will offer new frameworks for creating entrepreneurial ventures, which capitalize on social responsibility to gain competitive advantage, and increase valuation while benefiting society and the environment. The final deliverable for the course is an in-class presentation in which student teams will either: (1) present an outline business plan for a sustainable business opportunity; (2) recommend ways to improve the social and environmental impacts of a company, while increasing its competitive advantage and its bottom line; (3) benchmark two industry competitors, a sustainably oriented company versus a traditional company.

EPS1501 BABSON ENTREPRENEUR DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCE 4 credits - general credit Develop your skills as a passionate, self-motivated entrepreneur within a close-knit driven community. If you already have an idea that you want to grow, this is the program to help make that happen. Don't have an idea? You'll learn to identify opportunities and act on them. In the classroom, you will learn how to grow your commercial or social venture and develop tools and resources for your business. Most significantly, through lessons of corporate citizenship, you will discover how your business ideas fit into the greater world picture. Attend engaging classroom discussions, collaborate across businesses and meet with business leaders and Babson undergraduate and graduate student mentors. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES: Discovering how to position your business idea into the greater world picture through corporate citizenship and business development is the primary objective of EPS1501. The feasibility of the right business idea and learning to identify opportunities and the methodology to successfully act on them. Classroom activities and discussion will focus on learning how to grow your commercial or social venture, and to develop tools and resources for a business. Each student will acquire a unique understanding of the entrepreneurial process - a process of opportunity recognition, resource marshalling, and team building driven by business methodologies in idea generation, feasibility analysis and business plan communications.

EXP3555 Culture, Society and the Developing Economy in South Africa 4 credits (general credit) Elective Abroad Pre-travel Academic Course Meeting Dates: Thursday, March 7, 6 - 8 pm; Wednesday, March 27, 6 - 8 pm; Thursday, April 4, 6 - 8 pm; Thursday, April 11, 6 - 8 pm; Saturday, April 20, 10 am - 2 pm *Attendance Mandatory at all sessions Travel Dates: June 26 – July 17, 2013 (arrival in country June 27) This course combines an academic background of the culture, history, politics and economy of South Africa with experiential, global service learning. Students engage in in-depth discussions centered on plays, novels, business cases, journal articles and other texts. Students also read economic and business literature and consider approaches to economic development in the post-apartheid period. We then depart for a three-week in-country experience. While in South Africa, Babson students, together with students from the University of Stellenbosch, teach a two-week developmental entrepreneurship class to students from impoverished local communities. We travel to Cape Town to visit selected cultural, geographic and historical sites on the weekend between teaching sessions, and we travel to the northern part of the country to experience an extraordinary safari at the end of the trip. Prerequisites: OEM and MCE

This class is set in San Francisco, being held in an intensive format from May 19 – June 1; students will live in provided housing (there is a program fee associated with these additional arrangements). There will be three additional pre-departure academic sessions scheduled in early May. Students must apply to participate in this course; application materials and additional information can be found at survey http://babson.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_eOHG8hqP8y6dCWV. The application deadline is April 15, 2013. For questions, contact Rachel Reiser at rreiser@babson.edu Living the “ETA” Life in Silicon Valley (SV) 4 Credit – General Credit This course will focus on selecting a Silicon Valley (SV) enterprise which having been successful in the last decade, now seems to have lost its way and coming up with a creative solution to set it back to its glory. You and your team will analyze this company and see whether you can apply ETA to bring it back to its early glory. You will do this while living in the "magical" SV for 2 weeks. Emphasis should be given to using "CREACTION" in coming up with your solution. The team will work as the top management team of the company with a CEO and the necessary support functional heads. Preliminary research and analysis will be done prior to arriving in SV. In SV, the team will work with the faculty member who will act as the Chairman of the Board of this company. During the first four days of the last week, the teams will present their solutions to some select VCs and CEOs and fine tune the solutions. On the last day, the final solution will be presented and the final grades will be given. Prerequisite(s) OEM and MCE

EPS3516 The Principle of Objectivity 2 credit elective – general credit Have you ever over-reacted to a situation? Have you read tone in an e-mail or text message? Have you ever mis-judged someone and regretted it later? We all do this. It is simply the nature of the mind! To be effective today, requires objectivity. Whether you are starting a business or seeking to be entrepreneurial in a corporate setting, increasing your objectivity will enable you to see things more clearly and make better decision. The challenge is that most of us cannot be objective about how we related to ourselves, situations or the other people in our lives. . This is what we tend to do: We experience through our senses a fact whether it is an object, a person, an action, or a situation. In an instant, we project our own fears, mental models and background onto that fact. The result: We see something other than what it is, a misperception or; one object or situation is mistaken for another or the value of an object or circumstance is exaggerated; seen for more than it is. With all that going on, how can we see things as they are and be effective leaders? The goal of this course is to help you to increase objectivity to engage the people, business challenges and performance expectations with the clarity of mind to maximize your overall effectiveness. In our discussions we will talk about objectivity, a mindset that will help you react appropriately to changing dynamics, make sound decisions and improve your relationships with your peers. We will apply this framework to the entrepreneurial process and the corporate environment. You will work together to craft a customized personal framework from which to build a successful career.

EPS3528 Entrepreneurship with Chinese Characters 4 credit (general credit) The purpose of this experimental course is to create informed China centric entrepreneurs who can effectively use the learning from the course, combined with other Babson entrepreneurship classes, to create and manage for profit and social enterprises more efficiently and effectively. This advanced entrepreneurship elective will be offered to highly motivated juniors and seniors and will provide them with practical knowledge of the entrepreneurship paradigm in China and how it is quickly changing and evolving. Incorporating Entrepreneurial Thought and Action, the course will inform students on how to assemble and leverage resources in the China context. Prerequisite: Completion of OEM/MCE and Junior/Senior Standing

EPS4523 Environmental and Sustainable Entrepreneurship (FORMERLY EPS3523) 4 credit (General Credit) Like never before, corporations and consumers around the world are confronting the realities of climate change, energy consumption, and economic growth. At its most fundamental level, humanity's demand for energy in order to grow and prosper is set hard against the realities of climate change and the impacts of business-as-usual on the environment. A new generation of opportunity obsessed, environmentally passionate entrepreneurial leaders will go beyond business-as-usual and identify and commercialize the green, sustainable businesses of the future. Many believe this green transition will be the equivalent to what information technology was when it was booming. The course will guide students through a historical "walk" which will provide the context of how we got here, understand what the drivers of change are in environmental businesses and understand how the carbon economy will affect business. Students will be better able to analyze, identify and shape opportunities in key industries as they relate to the environmental economy: energy (wind, solar, geothermal, etc.), water, waste, food, etc. This course will be carbon neutral and students will calculate their carbon footprint. Prerequisites: EPS3501 or EPS3502 or SUS1201

EPS3505 Great Entrepreneurial Wealth: Creation, Preservation and Destruction General Credit This course will explore the stages of great entrepreneurial wealth creation, preservation and destruction. Topics will cover geographical and sector concentrations of great wealth formation, along with socio and economic conditions prevailing at the time of generation. Particular emphasis will cover the detailed paths of notable entrepreneurs from the past century, along with the ethical dilemma and social contributions attributed to each of them. The course also discusses the rise and fall of great family dynasties in the section of wealth destruction. Current practice of wealth generation, preservation and destruction methodologies will be reviewed, covering hedge funds, family offices and entrepreneur impropriety. Participants of this course will be expected to enhance skills in identifying market opportunity and wealth generation techniques as well as gain greater insight on interpersonal and market forces that contribute to wealth evaporation. Ethical dilemma, including a thorough discussion of high profile industry scandals, will be explored along with factors contributing to fraud and investor impropriety Prerequisites: none