EEE 3023 Introduction to Entrepreneurship

The foundation course in the program, to be taken first. Examines the nature of entrepreneurship and the role of entrepreneurship in society. Investigates the entrepreneurial process in a variety of contexts. The course 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 requirements, deal structure, technology issues, harvesting issues, and ethical issues, among others.
[Back] [Top]

EEE 3033 Women and Minority Entrepreneurship

Minorities and women are starting businesses at a faster rate than anyone else. So, how are we to understand race, gender, or ethnicity in this fact, especially when these same characteristics are identified as barriers to business success? This course will look at these factors and their influences and impacts on the entrepreneurial revolution, here in the U.S. and around the world.
[Back] [Top]

EEE 3263 Entrepreneurship Marketing

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 is the theme of this course. The course explores novel approaches to defining markets and market segments, examines inexpensive ways to conduct relevant market research, and identifies ways to leverage marketing resources and rely on networks to accomplish marketing tasks. Students are encouraged to focus on identifying unique approaches to creating value through each of the elements of the marketing mix.
[Back] [Top]

EEE 3513 Growing Small and Family Ventures

Examines special problems of family businesses and other closely held corporations. Attention is devoted to family business planning, effective governance approaches in family businesses, preparing heirs for entry into and management of family firms, tax and compensation planning, and succession strategies.
[Back] [Top]

EEE 3663 Imagination and Entrepreneurship

Explores the creative process and links it to the entrepreneurial context. This course helps students identify their own creative problem-solving styles. Students develop innovative solutions to a wide range of problems that arise in the process of pursuing entrepreneurial ventures. Special attention is devoted to coming up with breakthrough ideas for new ventures. The need for creative approaches to opportunity identification and business concept formulation when developing new products, services, and processes is also emphasized.
[Back] [Top]

EEE 4010 Special Topics: Supporting Emerging Enterprises in South Africa

Courses offered under EEE 4010 will focus on specialized topics not covered in the regular entrepreneurship curriculum. These specialty courses will be offered periodically to address major emerging issues and topics within the discipline of entrepreneurship.
[Back] [Top]

EEE 4113 Dilemmas & Debates in Entrepreneurship

This is a topical course taught exclusively by 32 entrepreneurs. Each week, one or more entrepreneurs are invited in to discuss the great controversies and debates that impact the practicing entrepreneur and on the field of entrepreneurship in general. Sample issues include starting a business right out of school, the role of individuals versus teams in entrepreneurial efforts, how to deal with partners, managers versus entrepreneurs, dealing with failure, building and using networks, harvesting strategies, how much growth is enough (and ceilings one hits along the way), ethical challenges in entrepreneurship, and being an entrepreneur and having a personal life.
[Back] [Top]

EEE 4263 Corporate Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is to the bigger company what speed is to the athlete. In the quest for sustainable competitive advantage, companies all over the world are finding that they must be faster, more flexible, more aggressive and more innovative in order to maintain the competitive edge. In short, they must be more entrepreneurial. The so-called “bottom line” of this course concerns how to capture the essence of Akio Morito (Sony), Richard Branson (Virgin), Masayoshi Son (Softbank), Ted Turner (CNN), and Michael Dell (Dell) within the mainstream of the company…on the shop floor, in the sales force, at the reception desk, in the research laboratory. The focus is on creating work environments where entrepreneurship is not the exception, it is the norm. We will first establish many of the basic concepts, principles, and perspectives of entrepreneurship and then examine the application of these ideas in established company settings. We will explore unique obstacles faced and unique approaches to making entrepreneurship happen in established organizations.
[Back] [Top]

EEE 4313 Emerging Enterprise Consulting

A course centering around student teams working with existing small business clients to conduct analysis, determine managerial priorities, and provide a series of deliverables that enable the business to operate more effectively and grow. Students will follow a systematic small business consulting methodology.
[Back] [Top]

EEE 4483 Entrepreneurship and New Technologies

New technologies are creating significant entrepreneurial opportunity but also have a number of pitfalls attached to them. This course examines the evolution of digital technologies, the underlying technologies that are driving the current digital revolution, and innovative application technologies, resources, and services. Students investigate a variety of emerging entrepreneurial opportunities surrounding new developments in digital technologies.
[Back] [Top]

EEE 4610 Practicum: Entrepreneurship Field Experience in South Africa

This course involves students in experiential learning opportunities. The focus is on engaging with the entrepreneurial community. The set of opportunities vary by student and per semester. Students work on entrepreneurship-related internships, entrepreneurial audits, consulting engagements, business plans, and a range of other practical applications of classroom learning.
[Back] [Top]

EEE 4653 Venture Capital

This course focuses on financing issues facing the entrepreneur. We will study the tools and methods used in determining how much money a venture actually needs in order to be viable. Further, we will explore tools and approaches used when selling an idea to potential investors. Attention will be devoted to the different types of financing alternatives available to new and early stage ventures. The venture capital market will be investigated in detail. In addition, we will explore issues involved in negotiating deals and in formulating deal structures. Students will be encouraged to understand financing issues and options from the vantage points both of the entrepreneur and the investor.
[Back] [Top]

Entrepreneurship Empowerment in South Africa --- 6 credits total for this program, two concurrent components:

EEE 4010-Special Topics: Supporting Emerging Enterprises in South Africa

(3 credits, graduate or undergraduate)
This course introduces students to the South African context, township entrepreneurship, the basics of the consulting process, the SEE consulting model, and creative yet practical approaches to addressing managerial issues in emerging enterprises. Approaches to addressing client issues in the areas of marketing, sales, economics, accounting, the business model, operations, financing, information technology, logistics, supplier relationships, human resource management and related areas are covered. The course is offered on the University of the Western Cape campus.
[Back] [Top]

EEE 6010-Practicum: Entrepreneurship Field Experience in South Africa

(3 credits, graduate or undergraduate)
This course provides interaction with township entrepreneurs over six weeks as part of structured consulting engagements. The consulting engagements start at the same time as meetings of the Supporting Emerging Enterprises course. Teams of three to four students are assigned to work on two projects each. Team members must develop a relationship with the entrepreneur, establish trust, learn as much as possible about the entrepreneur and his/her venture, determine priorities, select tasks that can be accomplished within the time of the consulting engagement, perform the necessary research and analysis on possible solutions to these tasks, and design detailed solutions and related action plans. There is heavy interaction and mentoring of the teams by the three faculty members involved in the program. A final consulting project report summarizes the teams' assessment of each venture and the set of at least four deliverables produced for the clients. Students must also maintain journals of their experiences.
[Back] [Top]

EEE 4610a/5610a 3-credit classroom work

Consists of lecture sessions that address various aspects of an entrepreneurial venture and the consulting experience. These sessions and the entire course sequence is designed around the SEE (Supporting Emerging Enterprises) Model, which is a three-stage model intended to guide teams as they approach, analyze, and implement a set of value-creating deliverables for the client’s entrepreneurial enterprise.
[Back] [Top]

EEE 4610b/5610b 3-credit field work experience

Taken in tandem with the course above. It involves the actual field experience in the form of consulting interventions. Students will be organized into teams consisting of three members, and each team will be assigned to two clients. The teams will meet regularly with each client, and, employing the SEE Model, move through an evolving series of steps which culminate in an oral presentation to each client and a final consulting report to be submitted to the client and to OSU.
[Back] [Top]

EEE 4513 Strategic and Entrepreneurial Management

This is a capstone course that business students take at the end of their program. It is referred to as the "business plan course." Students must develop an original idea for a new venture and write a comprehensive business plan for that venture. The course examines a variety of topics, issues, and frameworks that are useful to the student in addressing the financial, marketing, economic, operational, legal, and other aspects of new venture creation and entrepreneurial management. Student plans are presented to successful entrepreneurs and financiers during an end-of-the-semester business plan competition, and the best ones are entered in national competitions.
[Back] [Top]

ECON 3010 Economics of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

The macroeconomic and microeconomic analysis of innovation and entrepreneurship. The microeconomic analysis includes a consideration of the informational role of risk and uncertainty in the decision-making process, differences market structures as a source of innovation, a comparison of alternative sources of profit (innovation, monopoly, economic, and normal), and the evaluation of innovation as a public good. The macroeconomics analysis includes the role of innovation as an inducement to economic instability, the economy-wide diffusion of innovation across both space and time, the interaction between institutional rigidity and innovative change, and the importance of innovation to economic growth.
[Back] [Top]

LSB 3010 Business Law and Entrepreneurship

Law as a regulator and enhancer of start-up and emerging enterprises. Looks at the formation, financing and managing of the venture from a legal standpoint. Attention is devoted to intellectual property, financier-entrepreneur relations, employer-employee relations, and operational aspects of entrepreneurial ventures that have legal implications. Explores the law as an opportunity and a force in the furthering the objectives of new and small ventures.
[Back] [Top]

MKTG 3323 Consumer and Market Behavior

An assessment of customers and the way in which they make decisions to purchase products and services. Attention is devoted to understanding who makes buying decisions and the processes they go through both in consumer and business markets. Different types of purchasing situations are examined. Implications are drawn from an understanding of the customer for the way in which marketing programs are designed.
[Back] [Top]

MKTG 4333 Marketing Research

Examines how and why marketing research is conducted so as to aid in business decision-making. Explores different types of research designs and the underlying research decisions that make up a research design, such as questionnaire development, scaling, and sampling methods. Attention is also devoted to qualitative research methods. Provides an overview of analytical techniques employed in survey research.
[Back] [Top]

DHM 4453 Entrepreneurship and Product Development for Apparel and Interiors

In depth study of entrepreneurship concepts as applied to manufacturers and retailers of apparel and interior products. Topics covered include product development, accounting and control, merchandising and buying, operations and management, and advertising and promotion, among other key issues.
[Back] [Top]

MKTG 4500 Creative Marketing Strategies for Small Firms

While the Entrepreneurial Marketing (EEE 3263) course examines leading edge approaches to applying entrepreneurial thinking to the marketing function in organizations of all sizes and types, MGTG 4500 focuses exclusively on the marketing related challenges of small firms. Unique ways in which these firms can leverage resources and reach key target audiences are reviewed. Detailed attention is devoted to guerrilla, viral, and buzz marketing.
[Back] [Top]

MKTG 4973 New Product Development

An examination of the role of innovation in sustainable marketplace advantage. Investigation of the process of converting ideas, technologies, and customer needs into new products, services and processes. Extensive focus on the new product development process. Attention is devoted to the nature of innovation, types of innovation, and the implications of different innovation types for new product/service development processes.
[Back] [Top]