EPS7545 The Entrepreneurial Extension: Buying a Small Business

1.5 CreditsThis course will delve deeply into the challenges, process, and risks of buying a small business. Students will explore the intricacies of planning, evaluating and negotiating to buy a small business from a family-controlled or privately-owned enterprise. All aspects of financing and equity structure alternatives plus the industry peculiarities of acquiring a small business will be explored via cases, discussion, and an individual research paper.

This course is geared specifically to buying a small business and links with EPS7530 (M&A for Entrepreneurs) which focuses on a broad understanding of middle-market company M&A and is geared to students looking to buy a business in the future or students entering the corporate or advisory world.

Prerequisites: None

**It is recommended that students also take EPS7530 (M&A for Entrepreneurs) in order to develop a deep understanding of the M&A process**

EPS7546 Buying a Small Business: The Search Experience

1.5 CreditsThis course compliments EPS 7545 (Buying a Small Business) and EPS 7530 (M&A for Entrepreneurs) by allowing students interested in buying a business the opportunity to conduct a live search under the supervision of their Professor. Enrollment in or successful completion of either of the courses listed above is a prerequisite for this course.

The latter stage of the MBA program is an excellent time to conduct a business search. Students can learn from their experiences, share lessons with fellow students and actually find a serious business acquisition opportunity within a three-month semester.

The course will include group seminars and private sessions with the Professor for planning and review of the individual search plan. Students are expected to spend 30-40 hours during the semester conducting a serious search.

Group seminars will cover the following areas:
- Self Assessment
- Definition of the Search Objectives
- Preparation of a Business Plan for the Search
- Preparation of a Communications and Target Plan
- Opportunity Risk and Opportunity Process
- Strategies for Information, Due Diligence & Negotiations
- Keeping the Deal Alive
- The Closing Process

Prerequisites: Students who enroll in this course must be currently enrolled in EPS7530 or EPS7545 or have completed one of these courses in a prior semester AND also have completed EPS7200 or equivalent core

EPS6601 Corporate Entrepreneurship

3 Credits (MSAEL Core)Corporations caught up in the web of commoditization and stagnation have come to realize that they need entrepreneurial capabilities to create new platforms of business that will be the promise of the future. Yet overall, these efforts have produced uneven success. Although entrepreneurs in organizations can benefit from the resources, experience, financial assets and networks of the large company, they are constrained by its bureaucratic practices. Recent evidence points to corporate leaders' renewed attention to developing management systems that work with, rather than against intrapreneurs. In this course we will examine various approaches companies have taken to build this organizational capability. We examine five different approaches and consider the shortcomings or each. We will build the rationale for why innovation must become an organizational function if a company truly wishes to compete for the Future. We focus at the organizational level rather than the individual project level, seeking insights about how organizations can institutionalize structures and processes for entrepreneurship, even within a dominant culture of operational excellence that, of necessity, pervades most large established firms.

Prerequisites: MOB6600 and EPS6600

EPS7507 Corporate Entrepreneurship

3 Credits Corporations caught up in the web of commoditization and stagnation have come to realize that they need entrepreneurial capabilities to create new platforms of business that will be the promise of the future. Yet overall, these efforts have produced uneven success. Although entrepreneurs in organizations can benefit from the resources, experience, financial assets and networks of the large company, they are constrained by its bureaucratic practices. Recent evidence points to corporate leaders' renewed attention to developing management systems that work with, rather than against intrapreneurs. In this course we will examine various approaches companies have taken to build this organizational capability. We examine five different approaches and consider the shortcomings or each. We will build the rationale for why innovation must become an organizational function if a company truly wishes to compete for the Future. We focus at the organizational level rather than the individual project level, seeking insights about how organizations can institutionalize structures and processes for entrepreneurship, even within a dominant culture of operational excellence that, of necessity, pervades most large established firms.

EPS9508 Corporate Innovation as a Profession: Designing Innovation Roles
1.5 Intensive Elective CreditsF2F Dates: TBD
DROP DEADLINE: TBD

Corporate Entrepreneurs get by through breaking rules and seeking protection by senior leaders. It doesn't need to be this way and, in fact, leading edge companies are working to design innovation functions that require clearly defined roles. In this course we'll examine emerging roles for the corporate innovator, possible career paths, and examine newly designed tools for their selection and development.

EPS7503 Creating Epic Organizations
3 Elective CreditsThis course welcomes students who seek an intellectual and professional "sandbox" to pursue "EPIC" opportunities for themselves or for their companies. EPIC opportunities empower you and others to pursue big, bold initiatives, pioneer new technologies, markets, or business models, inspire new solutions to address the UN Global Goals, and require courage to tackle different problems. You will wrestle with managerial and societal issues that call for entrepreneurial leaders to take a stand and chart a new path with EPIC initiatives.

In this course, you will study historical and contemporary examples, role models, and scenarios of EPIC opportunities and pursuits. You will examine both academic research and practical resources to understand the core principles of operating with an EPIC mindset. You will learn a set of EPIC tools to apply immediately in your own ventures, workplace, or careers. You will create an action plan that outlines how you intend to pursue an EPIC opportunity - now or in the future.

EPS9551 Critical Questions Facing Business Families: A Coaching Retreat
1.5 Intensive Elective CreditsHow do I move from a parent-child to a professional-peer relationship with my parents?

Topics include, how to build relationship capital in the family, living with your family history, understanding the goals for effective communication, developing next stage communication skills, learning to have hard conversations, how to stop acting like a child, how to get your parents to start acting like a peer, giving and taking feedback in the family, creating a self-coaching family team, creating sibling unity, having successful family meetings, and many more.

EPS8573 Entrepreneurship Intensity Track (EIT)
Regular Speaker: Craig Benson

****THIS COURSE REQUIRES ACCEPTANCE INTO THE EIT PROGRAM. Registration is manual for students who have been accepted into the program****

Students selected for the EIT: Entrepreneurship Intensity Track course will engage in an academically rigorous and reality-based curriculum that includes both classroom and outside class activity. Students will also work with an outside mentor. EIT is focused on developing and enhancing the student's knowledge and experience in order to maximize their prospects for starting a successful business soon after completing their MBA program. The course combines readings, discussions, lectures, conceptual tools, and guest speakers, all with an emphasis on the practical steps that students need to take to get their business up and running and keep it that way. Students should be those who can stand on their own and have the will to make it happen in a challenging environment. While EIT is focused on developing and enhancing a student's knowledge and experience, students should keep in mind that the business they are developing is theirs and its success is completely dependent on what they make of it.

This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Spring

Prerequisites: Completion of one of the following courses: EPS7500 or EPS7530 or EPS7545 or EPS7546

EPS7501 Entrepreneurial Families
(Formerly Family Entrepreneurship Amplifier)
1.5 Elective Credits

The Family Entrepreneurship Amplifier course is created specifically for students who come from family businesses. The purpose of the course is to enable students and their families to enhance their ability to utilize entrepreneurship in their families and their businesses in order to create sustainable value. In this course students engage with at least one family member in a series of exercises that explore the family's entrepreneurial history, current capabilities, and, future goals. Course sessions involve peer to peer sharing about their families and their businesses in a series of guided sessions with family business experts. This course provides the foundation for a follow-on course where students pursue an entrepreneurial opportunity in conjunction with the family.

EPS7510 Entrepreneurial Finance
(Formerly Financing the Entrepreneurial Venture)

3 CreditsFocuses on raising seed and growth capital from venture capital, business angels, investment banking, and commercial banking sources; and financial problems unique to the small- and medium-sized firm undergoing rapid growth. Examines actual proposals made to venture capital firms, particularly in terms of their financial viability. Course also examines financial management for entrepreneurs over the life of a business project. Includes financing start-ups, financial planning for the nonpublic smaller enterprise, going public, selling out, bankruptcy, sources of capital, and other related topics.

This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Fall and Spring

Prerequisites: None