Introduction to organizations; how the individual relates to the basic management functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Survey of the evolution of management theory.

This course focuses on what effective managers actually "do" based on proven principles supported by research and theory. The course is designed around experiential activities centered on building managerial soft skills in the areas of personal development, interpersonal skills, group skills, and communication skills. It is designed to help students discover insights about themselves as managers, fostering the development of a self-awareness regarding their strengths and weaknesses. Students will have the opportunity to practice and apply the managerial skills throughout the course preparing them to be successful managers in a variety of work environments. PR, MGT 301 or PERM

A study of the interface between business and the social environment. Areas stressed are social responsibility, ethics, corporate strategy, public policy, government regulation, and stake-holder relations.

Six Sigma Innovation & Design Methods have developed largely in parallel with Lean Enterprise Theory & Methods. Their integration yields a result referred to as Lean Six Sigma, wherein radical innovation in and / or design of products, processes, services and systems is approached through a “lean lens” that is intended to be highly resource sensitive, including resources that often seem less tangible such as time and motion. This course is project focused and emphasizes both Innovation (primarily) and Design for Six Sigma from a “lean and green” perspective. The subject is useful across a value continuum that spans the range from recovery of value sacrificed to poor practices, poor processes, poor partnerships, ad infinitum to creation of new value. 

A study of the problems relating to international business organization, production, finance, marketing, and coping with different economic systems. The emphasis is placed upon overseas operations of American firms through examination of the major differences between foreign and domestic environments and the impact of these differences on managing the international business corporation.

Since the establishment by the U.S. Congress of America’s national quality award in 1987, the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence in 1988, and the European Foundation for Quality Management Excellence Award in 1992, the field of total quality management has transformed into Sustainable Enterprise Excellence. Sustainable Enterprise Excellence may also be referred to any of Business, Enterprise, Operational, Organizational, or Performance Excellence.

An enterprise is sustainable to the extent that it is able to create and maintain economic, ecological, and social value for itself, its stakeholders, society at large, and policy makers. It is resilient to the extent of its capacity to self-renew through innovation and to adapt to negative shocks and challenges over time. It is robust to the degree it is highly resistant or immune to a critical subset of such shocks and challenges. An enterprise is excellent when its governance, leadership, and strategy, as deployed through people, processes, partnerships, and policies deliver sustained and superior performance in specified areas that include its human ecology, innovation, financial, social-ecological, data analytics and intelligence, and supply chain management

Management theory and practice as applied to the personnel field including an understanding of the recruitment, selection, testing, and development functions; an examination of current laws, learning, and training devices; and a preview of organization and government constraints relative to personnel problems and methods of problem resolution. Graduate students will complete all the course requirements and, in addition, are required to prepare additional materials throughout the course to integrate information.

Focuses on the development, legal environment, and current problems of labor relations. Historical evolution of the labor movement, applicable laws of labor relations, collective bargaining processes, and dispute resolution are addressed. Course addresses employee performance appraisal issues and international comparative labor relations.

This is the capstone course for all undergraduate BBA majors, to be taken immediately preceding graduation. It is a study of policy development of corporate strategy from a general manager point of view. This course integrates and builds upon the work completed in the entire BBA core curriculum.

This is a foundational course that introduces entrepreneurship broadly as both a mindset and a process. The entrepreneurial mindset "...is one in which opportunities are pursued regardless of resources currently controlled." The modern process of entrepreneurship is defined as reorganizing, evaluating and exploiting such opportunities. Entrepreneurship is a manageable process that can be taught and applied in virtually any organizational context. Various approaches to entrepreneurship are discussed including application to the contexts of both forprofit and not-for profit orgaizations, and approaches to one's life and career. This course is a prerequisite for all subsequent courses in entrepreneurship. This course does not have any required pre-requisites, and is open to any student. However the following courses are strongly encouraged either prior to enrollment or as concurrent enrollment.

The primary goals of this course are to explain 1) how business opportunities arise out of problem-solving; 2) how to generate and refine a desirable, feasible, viable and sustainable product/service idea; and 3) how to develop a minimum viable product (MVP) or an earliest testable product (ETP) from that idea.

This requires conducting experiential (i.e., hands-on) activities. You will learn various tools and concepts related to purposeful, imaginative, innovative, and creative entrepreneurship and design thinking. These are then applied to generate pursuit-worthy business ideas that are then converted into your own product or idea via prototyping. The course uses a "learn by doing" approach that focuses more on action (experience) than on theory (texbook). 

Emphasis is placed on generation, evaluation, and refinement of ideas. This is accomplished via both quantitative and qualitative feasibility analysis, as filtered through a design thinking approach. Students learn to create and evaluate business models as a means of assessing and differentiating between an idea, an idea that is an opportunity, and an opportunity that has potential as a commercially viable new venture. Focus is placed on contexts and conditions favoring successful business model implementation.

Offered as a combination of face-to-face / virtual dialogues with practicing intrapreneurs, entrepreneurs or individuals with aligned skills and experience such as intellectual property or angel investing.

Human-Centered Innovation & Design integrates theory, methods, and tools from the fields of creativity, innovation, design thinking, sustainability, and entrepreneurship to generate solutions that balance and are sensitive to business-oriented measures of success, societal benefit, and ecological neutrality or restoration. Solutions typically take the forms of new products, services or enterprises but might include such artefacts as new policies or practices.  Human-Centered Innovation & Design requires empathy for those being designed for, prototype creation, and sharing solutions with the target market and affected parties. The course is highly experiential with participants constructing and using a designer’s toolbox that is composed of creativity and innovation techniques and materials. Content is delivered as a blend of traditional lecture and experiential workshop that leans heavily toward practice.  Prerequisites: prior or concurrent enrollment in ENTR 301 is encouraged, but not required. All disciplines are welcome.  Participants will learn and apply a broad array of tools, methods and strategies useful in HCID.

This is the capstone course for all undergraduate Entrepreneurship students, to be taken after completing ENTR 301 and ENTR 350. Students develop a business plan or launch a new venture. This course integrates and builds upon the work completed in the ENTR (core) curriculum.

This is the capstone course for all undergraduate Entrepreneurship students, to be taken after completing ENTR 301 and ENTR 350. Students develop a business plan or launch a new venture. This course integrates and builds upon the work completed in the ENTR (core) curriculum.

Venture Acquisition addresses the experience of many entrepreneurs: most startups either fail or never reach sustainable size. Venture Acquisition presents an enterprise acquisition approach aimed at skipping the startup phase and generating profit immediately. Detailed in the course is a means to acquire a sustainable, profitable company that can then be grown.

Participants completing this course will have learned how to:

• Acquire (buy) an existing company rather than launching a startup
• Leverage ownership as a path to financial independence
• Invest less time raising capital
• Identify skilled brokers to aid acquisition
• Uncover the best opportunities and biggest risks of any company one might acquire
• Navigate the acquisition process
• Become a successful acquisition entrepreneur.

Venture Acquisition addresses the experience of many entrepreneurs: most startups either fail or never reach sustainable size. Venture Acquisition presents an enterprise acquisition approach aimed at skipping the startup phase and generating profit immediately. Detailed in the course is a means to acquire a sustainable, profitable company that can then be grown.

Participants completing this course will have learned how to:

• Acquire (buy) an existing company rather than launching a startup
• Leverage ownership as a path to financial independence
• Invest less time raising capital
• Identify skilled brokers to aid acquisition
• Uncover the best opportunities and biggest risks of any company one might acquire
• Navigate the acquisition process
• Become a successful acquisition entrepreneur.

Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurship & Design Thinking is open to undergraduate and graduate students. The class is designed to introduce basic concepts of intellectual property, including its role in innovation, invention, and business.

Course Goals and Learning Outcomes: Upon course completion you will be able to answer:

• What is the difference between a patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret?
• What are intellectual property rights?
• How does an individual or company obtain intellectual property protection?
• What are the business and commercial values and uses of intellectual property?

Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurship & Design Thinking is open to undergraduate and graduate students. The class is designed to introduce basic concepts of intellectual property, including its role in innovation, invention, and business.

Upon course completion participants will understand:

• What the difference is between a patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret?
• What intellectual property rights are?
• How an individual or company obtains intellectual property protection?
• What are the business and commercial values and uses of intellectual property?

This course requires travel to domestic or international areas where there are concentrations of successful practicing entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. Participants will be able to interact with these individuals at their Gemba (the places where the work is actually done), in competitive landscapes that differ significantly from ones commonly found in the Midwest United States. Examples of such landscape include Silicon Valley, the Napa Valley, Denmark, and the Czech Republic. In participating, students will develop a broader view of entrepreneurship and will cultivate a broader professional network.

This course requires travel to domestic or international areas where there are concentrations of successful practicing entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. Participants will be able to interact with these individuals at their Gemba (the places where the work is actually done), in competitive landscapes that differ significantly from ones commonly found in the Midwest United States. Examples of such landscapes include Silicon Valley, the Napa Valley, Denmark, and the Czech Republic. In participating, students will develop a broader view of entrepreneurship and will cultivate a broader professional network.

Although effort will be made to partially fund student travel, course participants should expect self-funded travel.  Hotel and on-site transportation will be arranged by faculty chaperone / guide.  

Venture Harvest explores the process associated with creating and executing a comprehensive and integrated venture exit plan. Special attention is paid to preparing a venture prior to harvest in order to maximize shareholders’ return on investment.

After completing this course, students will be able to:

Understand the importance of Harvest Planning for successful businesses

Explain the top three Harvest strategies, how to implement each and how to choose the most appropriate strategy

Identify the factors to consider when choosing and creating a Harvest Plan

Categorize the key elements of a successful Harvest Plan

Demonstrate how to value assets and evaluate ownership interests

Discuss the strategy and action items associated with preparing a venture prior to sale

Discuss the elements of a succession plan in terms of roles, responsibility, function, scope, and evaluation

Venture Harvest explores the process associated with creating and executing a comprehensive and integrated venture exit plan. Special attention is paid to preparing a venture prior to harvest in order to maximize shareholders’ return on investment.

• Understand the importance of Harvest Planning for successful businesses
• Explain the top three Harvest strategies, how to implement each and how to choose the most appropriate strategy
• Identify the factors to consider when choosing and creating a Harvest Plan
• Categorize the key elements of a successful Harvest Plan
• Demonstrate how to value assets and evaluate ownership interests
• Discuss the strategy and action items associated with preparing a venture prior to sale
• Discuss the elements of a succession plan in terms of roles, responsibility, function, scope, and evaluation

Digital Product Design is open to undergraduate and graduate students. The class is designed to introduce students to the process of web development using no-code tools and other digital resources in the pursuit of entrepreneurial venture ideas.

Course Goals and Learning Outcomes: Upon course-completion students will be able to:

• Understand the role of UI (user-interface) and UX (user-experience) in the creation, evaluation, and success of digital products.   
• Identify problems that may be resolved using digital products (e.g., websites, mobile applications, collaboration platforms).
• Acquire skills in understanding and fulfilling user-needs by developing and executing a value-proposition specific to a digital offering.  
• Create a landing page (webpage) using no-code tools to test the market opportunity for an entrepreneurial idea.   
• Build an interactive and responsive website to execute an entrepreneurial idea using a no-code website builder.

Digital platforms and associated technologies are reshaping businesses and industries worldwide. For the foreseeable future, a critical need in this domain will be to create new and innovative digital offerings as well as transform traditional products and services into their digital variants. Companies globally are opening new job positions that seek individuals possessing research, analysis, and design skills to create desirable, feasible, viable and sustainable digital products for global markets. 

Digital Product Design can be defined as the process of strategizing, coordinating, and influencing the direction of a digital product’s creation through research, analysis, and integration of design components. While the developers/programmers are in charge of the actual “manufacturing” of the digital product, product designers incorporate and coordinate the tasks of UX design, UI design, market/organizational research, and commercialization to create and test the concept of the digital product, and to ascertain its overall value in the market.

This course will introduce students to the process of designing innovative digital products (e.g., websites, applications) beginning from problem-identification and concept-development to user-testing and creation of a prototype using no-code/low-code digital tools.

Entrepreneurial Systems and Design Thinking (ESDT) integrates theory, methods, and tools from the fields of creativity, innovation, design thinking, sustainability, and entrepreneurship.  SDTM provides means of viewing and designing systems broadly and through multiple lenses to see overall structures, patterns and cycles in systems, rather than seeing events and processes within the system in isolation.  This facilitates broad system optimization that yields performance superior to that which results from separate optimization of the system’s interrelated processes. Examples of systems in this context include products, services, and enterprises, so that, for example, organizational design can be approached through methods presented in this course. Systems thinking is facilitated by viewing systems through multiple perspectives and though use of creative and organizational tools. Within this broad context, students are expected to design and prototype a system (product, service, enterprise, policies, practices) that is informed by and sensitive to business-oriented measures of success, societal benefit, and ecological neutrality or restoration.

The course is highly experiential. Content is delivered as a blend of traditional lecture and experience-driven activities and balances theory and practice.  Prerequisites: prior or concurrent enrollment in ENTR 301 is encouraged, but not required. Participants will learn and apply a broad array of tools, methods and strategies useful in ESDT.

The Faulkner Entrepreneurship & Design Challenge (FEDC) is an integrated and immersive entrepreneurship & design experience.  High-level entrepreneurship and design challenges are competitions that aim to create ways to leverage opportunities or create better solutions to important societal or environmental problems. More generally, such challenges articulate opportunities to be leveraged or problems for which solutions are sought and help define a scope that is neither too narrow nor too broad. The Faulkner Entrepreneurship & Design Challenge provides a fertile environment in which innovators and designers create or design products, applications, services, or launchable enterprises with high potential for meaningful social or environmental impact. This is done within a competitive entrepreneurial framework.

Submission of a well-thought-out and articulated business plan is a formal challenge requirement. Entries should address relevant principles and goals from the United Nations Global Compact 10 Principles and the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

The Faulkner Entrepreneurship & Design Challenge (FEDC) is an integrated and immersive entrepreneurship & design experience.  High-level entrepreneurship and design challenges are competitions that aim to create ways to leverage opportunities or create better solutions to important societal or environmental problems. More generally, such challenges articulate opportunities to be leveraged or problems for which solutions are sought and help define a scope that is neither too narrow nor too broad. The Faulkner Entrepreneurship & Design Challenge provides a fertile environment in which innovators and designers create or design products, applications, services, or launchable enterprises with high potential for meaningful social or environmental impact. This is done within a competitive entrepreneurial framework.

Submission of a well-thought-out and articulated business plan is a formal challenge requirement. Entries should address relevant principles and goals from the United Nations Global Compact 10 Principles and the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

The study of the origin of business law with a focus on contracts, agency, and bailments.

This course examines the complex dynamics among boards, executives, and shareholders; the evolving rights and powers of shareholders; the work that boards do and the critical decisions they make; the legal, financial, managerial, and behavioral issues that directors must contend with in order to be effective; the classic dilemmas that boards confront; and the challenges faced by individual directors.

Throughout the course, “good governance” and what it means for boards, executives and companies will be explored. Students will also explore contemporary debates about shareholder activism, board diversity, board leadership, executive compensation, environmental and social factors in governance, hostile takeovers, and the market for corporate control.

(1) Accounting; (2) management; and (3) marketing. The student will work directed problems related to a field of business administration. This course will not substitute for any departmental theory course. Permission of Department Chair is required before enrollment. See advisor for details.

(1) Accounting; (2) management; and (3) marketing. The student will perform meaningful professionally related work. A job in the student's major must be obtained in advance and be approved by the advisor and the Department Chair prior to enrollment. See advisor for details.