The majority of new job openings in the United States today are in small businesses, and most successful business leaders display a great deal of entrepreneurial behavior.
The Business Administration department is responding to this business trend and creating new specializations within the business field. The keynote specialization change may come in the form of a minor that, according to Business Administration Dean James A. Sullivan, will well-suit people interested in starting their own business.
The purpose of the new minor in Entrepreneurial Studies is to educate students about starting new business ventures. Open to both business majors and non-business majors, the minor serves to compliment the students’ major area of study. For example, Sullivan said artists could gain the entrepreneurial knowledge to open their own gallery. The minor would provide the knowledge and skills needed to start and grow new ventures.
To spark interest in the program the Business Administration department has implemented two new classes this coming spring semester: Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Finance.
“These are what we like to call pilot programs. We’re using them to judge the interest before we implement the program,” associate professor Brent Nicholson said.
This semester the department added Introduction to Entrepreneurship to the curriculum for juniors and seniors. Nicholson said that it filled up in no time, and the classes offered in the spring show strong promises.
Entrepreneurial Finance is similar to an existing program, Business Finance, which is the basic finance for business majors, but significant differences exist between the two. Terry Richardson, instructor of Entrepreneurial Finance, said, “In particular, a focus on financing a start-up business, day to day cash and financial management, but also unique issues like venture capital contracting, harvesting strategies and small business financing.”
“The minor program design is based on models used at other universities, but adjusted for the perceived need in Northwest Ohio, “Richardson said.
Nicholson said, “We’ve talked to a number of entrepreneurs and sent graduate students to tour the pre-existing programs at other universities.”
Before the minor can be added to the curriculum the College of Business Administration Curriculum Committee must review the minor.
“There is strong support for the program so no one anticipates it failing,” Richardson said.
Sullivan sees the entrepreneurial program as a learning opportunity for students who want to start their own business and want to develop their entrepreneurial knowledge and skills.
With assistance from the business administration department, Sullivan hopes to have summer institutions where individuals can receive firsthand experience of what an entrepreneur must go through on a daily basis. These institutions would then allow students to receive credit for an entrepreneurial internship.
“This program is something for business students and non-business students,” Nicholson said. “The hope for the program is to assist students to become more entrepreneurial in their thinking. To understand and evaluate risk.”
