EPS3501
Entrepreneurship and New Ventures
(General Credit)
Course concentrates on starting and growing new businesses. There are two primary course objectives:
1. To investigate the concepts, tools, and practices of entrepreneurship. We will concentrate on:
- Identifying new venture opportunities (versus ideas),
- Evaluating the viability of a new venture,
- Writing a business plan,
- Understanding which skills are necessary for success and building a team that possesses those attributes, and
- Financing, starting, and operating a business.
2. To identify and exercise entrepreneurial skills through classroom debate and assignments. Upon your completion of Entrepreneurship & New Ventures you will:
- Be superior opportunity assessors and shapers,
- Understand the integration of people and process in entrepreneurship,
- Be able to write, articulate, and present a business plan that will be ready for investor review,
- Have a better understanding of your personal entrepreneurial capacity.
Case studies are used as the primary tool for discussion, and are augmented with readings, guest speakers, videos, and software simulations. Student teams will write a business plan for a new venture.
EPS3501- T
Entrepreneurship and New Ventures (technology)
(General Credit)
Course concentrates on starting and growing new businesses. (See description for EPS3501 above.) While the course will deal with a variety of types of ventures, there will be a particular focus on technology-based businesses.
Prerequisite: IMCII or IME 2
This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Fall and Spring
EPS3511
Financing Entrepreneurial Ventures and the Business Plan
(General Credit)
Course covers various aspects of financing an entrepreneurial venture. Major topics include attracting seed and growth capital from sources such as venture capital, investment banking, government, and commercial banks. Among the issues discussed are valuing a company, going public, selling out, acquisitions, bankruptcy, different legal forms of organization, partnerships, and taxes.
Prerequisite: IMCII or IME 2
This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Spring
EPS3515
Family Business Management
(General Credit)
We at Babson believe that entrepreneurship is the key to family business success. We also believe that to be successful, a family business enterprise must view each challenge from a multigenerational perspective. The business must also examine its goals, objectives, ability to reinvent itself and its growth.
This is a unique course in that:
- It is designed by the students, who are the customers for this class;
- It is also 100% case method;
- The students form teams and grades are team scores;
- Most of the case studies come from actual experiences of family businesses or start up.
The students decide on what subjects are stressed. The course is most useful for students interested in the issues, challenges and unique concerns of family business involvement and management and in starting up businesses with family members. It is intended for those who are now affiliated with family firms or may be in the future.
The course draws heavily on the personal experiences, cases, videos, and guest speakers, and it focuses on the critical aspects of family business success.
The course is organized around the following themes: mentoring, reinvention, individual development and career planning; management of family structure, conflicts, and relationships; and organizational issues including succession and estate planning, strategic planning, and formalizing the firm.
It is designed for those students who will be entering a family-owned business, now or in the future, or expect to someday establish a business which they can leave to their children. The classes emphasize the tools and techniques that provide the entrepreneur with the greatest opportunity for success. The foundation of learning for the classes comes from case studies, readings, and lively class discussions that focus on practical methods of handling the challenges unique to business owned and managed by families. No formal textbook is used and the students make the decisions as to what subjects will be covered and how the class is graded.
Some of the topics covered in prior classes include succession planning, handling conflicts, dealing with non-family members, re-invention of the business, management styles, strategy, leadership, SWOT analysis, performance expectations, family risk profiles, the family issue, building teams, fairness, taxes, estate planning, negotiation, passing the baton, etc.
We also spend considerable time on the practical challenges facing our students, involving the evolution of the enterprise from the first generation entrepreneurial stage into the family business of the second, third and succeeding generations. We work hard to find methods whereby these entities will be successful in the future.
A special feature is a Family Business Weekend involving students, siblings, friends, alumni, family and professors in which actual situations are discussed and solutions offered.
Prerequisite: (IMCII or IME 2) and EPS3501, but may be waived if student can demonstrate equivalent experience.
This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Fall and Spring
EPS3520
Managing A Growing Business
(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, professionalizing the business, turning around a troubled business, establishing and communicating culture, and creating a vision to drive the organization toward the future.
Prerequisites: (IMC2202 or IME 2) and EPS3501
This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Fall and Spring
EPS 3521
Venture Growth Strategies
(General Credit)
The course focuses on the opportunities and challenges involved in the management of growth in entrepreneurial settings, either in an individual company or as part of a larger corporation. Growth is the ultimate resource constrainer, stretching all systems in a company to the limit and often beyond. Consequently, this course will emphasize management "at the limit" of what students may have already learned in other functional courses. It will provide students with a series of frameworks, analytical skills and techniques, and decision-making tools that can be used in growing entrepreneurial businesses.
The course relies on non-traditional, experiential learning methods in addition to the usual case-based method. A central part of the course is a sophisticated international simulation exercise known as the "Sigma Challenge," which will take place on one weekend during the semester (Friday through Sunday). Students working in teams will be asked to manage the growth of a multi-product company from a single undifferentiated, imported product to a portfolio of differentiated products. Management decisions will involve strategy, marketing, finance, production, technology, R&D, and other functional areas. The course thus provides students with an opportunity to apply functional skills they have learned in other courses to build a growing company in an exciting, highly competitive, and rapidly changing environment.
The course is particularly useful to students who have interests in one or more of the following areas: (1) growing their own entrepreneurial companies, (2) managing the growth of existing companies in an entrepreneurial fashion by emphasizing innovation and opportunity capture in a dynamic environment, and/or (3) helping companies manage their growth through consulting assignments.
*****Please note: Lab fee required*****
Prerequisite: (IMCII or IME 2) EPS3501 is NOT a prerequisite for this course.
This course is typically offered in the following semester: Spring
EPS3525 (formerly EPS3575)
Social Enterprise Management
(General Credit)
In this course, student will explore:
-Concepts of Social Entrepreneurship and Non-Profit Enterprise (NPE). These NPEs, driven by innovative non-profit entrepreneurs, generate social value, in a triple bottom line model – (social return to mission customers, operational performance return for sustainability for organizational, employee, leadership and brand value and stakeholder/donor return). Various NPE business models seek to generate and leverage resources via a process we will explore known as “Entrepreneurial Philanthropy.”
-Best practices in the entrepreneurial process, found in for-profit and non-profit enterprises (via case studies and key readings) and learn to find them and apply them in the philanthropic sector in order to achieve social good.
-The “call to serve” in America’s 1.4 million NPEs; concepts of “voluntarism now”; and the potential for future leadership roles in the field-voluntary and professional.
-The non-profit entrepreneur within. Students will learn essential steps for launching, building and driving a non-profit enterprise. Students will develop their own NPE start-up model and also provide NPE business model analysis for fellow classmates as well as develop a 5-year personal philanthropy plan.
-The “how” and “why” of socially responsible for-profit enterprises.
-Cutting edge tools used in the NPE field today such as NPE Management Basics, NPE Sustainability Basics, Open Book Management, Balanced Scorecard and Theory of Change
-The limits and rewards of pursuing a NPE career.
-Explore the great range of management, marketing, financing and service process issues affecting the NPE sector- the 3rd largest segment of the economy. Non-profit enterprises generate $4 trillion in Gross Domestic Product and many hundreds of thousands of jobs (% ranking of GDP puts the NPE industry segment above construction, banking services, the US Govt., transportation, electronics, agriculture/forestry and fishing and motor vehicles or equipment) – Source: US Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis).
Students who have taken EPS3575 INTRO TO SOCIAL ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT may not take this course.
Prerequisite: IMCII or IME 2
EPS3530
Living the Entrepreneurial Experience
(General Credit)
This is a practical course in which students work in the field, individually or occasionally in pairs, on real entrepreneurial projects. Students will apply concepts that students have learned in class by either implementing students own business plan or working with an entrepreneur on a specific project. Students are guided by the instructor, but are expected to provide most of the initiative to complete the project. Contact time for this course will be split between in-class sessions and out-of-class individual meetings with the instructor.
Prerequisite: (IMCII or IME 2) and EPS3501
This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Fall and Spring
EPS3540
Venture and Growth Capital
(General Credit)
This course will focus on how to raise money for an early stage company from the founder/entrepreneur's point of view.
The first part of the course will focus on the fund raising environment and the different sources of equity money, family and friends, angels and angel groups, incubators, and organized asset classes such as venture capital so that there is a clear understanding of what investors of different types are seeking. This includes analysis of the sources of capital, their structure, process, demands and behavior. We will also cover resources such as SBA loans, special commercial banks and vendor financing.
The second part of the class will cover how to make the company an attractive investment and positioning the company so that the valuation is realistic and reflective of the environment, industry and management team, including when, how, and how much capital to raise and the specific sources for the capital and the deal terms.
The third part will focus on how to raise money strategically and how to work with the various potential investors and asset classes.
Prerequisite: (IMCII or IME 2)
This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Spring
EPS3550
Corporate Venturing: Entrepreneurs in Organizations
(General Credit)
This course focuses on entrepreneurship in existing organizations, taking the position that, in order to compete in today’s dynamic, highly competitive business environment, organizations will need to spur and promote entrepreneurship as a way of doing business. The three main topics covered are: (1) how established organizations can be entrepreneurial, (2) how the corporate entrepreneurship process works, and (3) the role of individuals in promoting entrepreneurship in their organizations. Students will study the various approaches leading companies in the US and elsewhere use to create entrepreneurial businesses within their organizations. We will also examine how entrepreneurs can recognize and investigate business opportunities for established firms. In addition, we will study how entrepreneurs gain support for their ventures, given an organizational context with various enablers and inhibitors to entrepreneurship.
Prerequisite: (IMCII or IME 2) and EPS3501
This course is typically offered in the following semester: Fall
EPS3576
Powerful Practices in Family Enterprising: Strategies and Structures for Stimulating Innovation in Family Groups
(General Credit)
This course will explore the strategies and structures utilized by family groups to stimulate innovation and lead growth. It will provide students with a framework for understanding the family form of business organization and allow them to investigate the innovation and growth practices of real family companies. The class will function as a powerful practices laboratory where students conduct background research on innovation in family groups and then work in investigative teams to conduct an applied research study of a particular company. The goal for the class is to investigate ten companies and produce a Powerful Practices Journal to report their findings and apply them to family groups. The class will provide students with a significant experiential learning opportunity.
Course Objectives: The course will provide students with a rich experiential learning opportunity by meeting the following objectives:
- To provide students with a theory framework for understanding the family form of business organization.
- To provide students with a structured environment for self-directed research on a select powerful practice important to family groups.
- To provide students with an opportunity to interact professionally with family companies in order to better understand their strategies and structures.
- To provide students with the opportunity to work as teams in order to create a professional deliverable that can be used by family groups.
- To provide students with a deeper understanding of a particular powerful practice in family groups.
- To provide a pilot powerful practices course for Babson College that produces a professional output (Powerful Practices Journal).
Prerequisites: Junior or Senior status required
EPS3577
Entrepreneurship: The Real-Time Case Study
(General Credit)
As you read this, the managers of a new high-tech company, (to be announced), are striving to achieve the entrepreneurial dream. On a special website you will follow that company, and see their progress week by week. But you will do more than just watch. You will be actively engaged with the company, analyzing its problems, and making input. You will be participating in an in-depth, real-time case study.
Unlike traditional case studies, this real-time case will dig deeply into one company during an entire semester. At this moment, a case writer is stationed full-time at the case company. Each week the writer will provide us with the information we need to analyze a particular problem or question about the company. But our goal is not analysis for its own sake. Instead, we want to go beyond critiquing, and make valuable recommendations to the company. The company is counting on us to perform, and we want to deliver.
EPS3579
The Ultimate Entrepreneurial Challenge
(General Credit)
The Ultimate Entrepreneurial Challenge - Success or You Are Fired! -- a new course with a structure similar to Donald Trump's "Apprentice" TV show. Students will be divided into teams and compete for ten weeks to determine the ultimate winner.
The assignments will be based on actual case studies with the entrepreneurs involved in that particular case present in class to judge the students on their ideas. The entrepreneur will discuss the students' input and the students will be graded with "success points" for great ideas and "you're fired" minus points for input that would not make it in the real world.
Details: It 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 class will utilize the case method and have the entrepreneurs involved in the cases, as guests.
- The class will utilize teams that will be in direct competition with each other.
Subjects to be covered:
1. Starting and Growing a Business
2. Creating the Entrepreneurial Team
3. Obtaining Capital
4. Selecting the Right Management Style for Yourself
5. Negotiations
6. Ethics
7. Eureka Ranch Creativity
8. Financial Analysis and Tax Planning
9. Guerrilla Marketing
10. Succession
11. Harvesting
EPS3580
Marketing for Entrepreneurs
(General Credit)
The reality is that “Marketing for Entrepreneurs” could also be named “Building the Plane as You Fly It.” This course takes a real world, experience-driven look at the role of marketing within a startup company. The on the fly, dynamic, ever-changing world rules in a startup, while the orderly, linear, “have all the questions answered before you make a decision” marketing environment is nowhere to be seen.
This course will cover just about everything and anything (strategic and tactical) a marketing person at a startup with a limited budget would be expected to do within the first 12-18 months of the company’s life.
The format will be constructed of a highly interactive blend of lectures, case discussions, exercises, war stories, movies, videos, guest speakers and a semester-long group project.
Prerequisite: (IMCII or IME 2) and EPS3501
This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Fall and Spring
EPS3590
Entrepreneurial Nonprofits
(General Credit)
This practitioner-oriented course focuses on innovative, values driven organizations which have explicit civic missions or social purposes and which are most typically associated with the nonprofit sector of the economy. The sector includes such organizations as foundations, schools and colleges, arts and cultural organizations, as well as advocacy and community development groups. The nonprofit sector plays a significant role in the economy. It has been growing at a rate four times that of the overall U.S. economy since 1970 (America’s Nonprofits, 1999). The chief aims of the course are 1) to understand and appreciate the role of the nonprofit sector in creating societal wealth in the American economy; 2) to engage participants in institutional efforts to create a good society through exposure to the work of these organizations; 3) to consider a variety of forms of involvement available to aspiring entrepreneurs in preparing for leadership roles in their communities. Course materials include cases, readings, films and, when available, speakers.
