ENT 601 Entrepreneurship

This course focuses on the issues faced by start-ups and early-stage enterprises. A review of the entrepreneurial mind and spirit is covered first and then generation of ideas and how to screen and evaluate them. The market validation process is also examined. The course covers financing decisions, including debt versus equity, alternative sources of financing and the considerations involved in internal and external sources of funds. After reviewing a business plan model, student teams present their own business plan as their term project.

 ENT 602 Entrepreneurial Finance

This course applies current financial economics research and theory to the study of entrepreneurship and new venture finance. This approach shows how entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and outside investors can rely on financial economic foundations as a framework to guide decision making. Topics covered include assessing the timing and amounts of financial needs, evaluating alternative new venture strategies, designing and negotiating “deals” and attracting outside funding.

 ENT 603 Strategic Corporate Entrepreneurship

Executives of large or mature firms have recognized the need for becoming more active, less bureaucratic, and more competitive in today’s and tomorrow’s fast-paced global marketplace. This course brings together the very latest and most impactful knowledge and applications of how companies become more entrepreneurial. The focus is on the various factors that affect the organization’s need to become more innovative and entrepreneurial, its current internal state of entrepreneurialism and its outcomes, structural and process elements that hinder achieving a higher level of entrepreneurial functioning, strategies to infuse a culture of entrepreneurial orientation, and the role of executives in promoting and sustaining the organization’s entrepreneurial strategy. This course emphasizes the pragmatic aspects of analyzing and formulating entrepreneurially-related strategies and the processes by which they are implemented. Case studies of leading companies in the US and elsewhere are used to integrate and apply the concepts developed. A project is a required element of the course, to provide further familiarity with aspects of the course pertinent to the student’s interests and career goals.

 ENT 604 Technology Entrepreneurship

New and emerging technologies create opportunities for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial organizations to compete more efficiently in established markets and create new markets. This course builds on the core elements of INTL 501 International Business (culture, market selection, and mode of entry) and ENT 601 Entrepreneurship (idea generation and business plan creation) with the goal of having students focus on technology-related entrepreneurial opportunities. Central Florida is rich with companies that have developed new technology or commercialized existing military technology to create start-ups that are now selling their products worldwide. This course will examine how high-tech start-ups migrate successfully from technology to product to sales. Prerequisite: ENT 601.

 ENT 605 Applied Entrepreneurship*

*Only open to students in the Professional MBA program on the Entrepreneurship track

This course, which will compliment and expand on the topics considered in ENT 601, will examine a wide variety of subjects in the area of entrepreneurship. The class will be divided into six thematic blocks, which are:

1. Marketing

2. HR

3. Legal/Accounting

4. Growing Your Business

5. Funding the Business

6. Exit Strategies

One theme will be offered each semester. Each block will have four related seminars conducted through the course of the semester, with each seminar being three hours in length. Students will be required to participate in two of the seminars offered in each term.

ENT 606 Accounting for Entrepreneurs

This course is designed to introduce students to the basic accounting issues that an entrepreneur will face - from forecasting cash flows to calculating the cost of a new product. It builds on the basic knowledge and skills students learned in core courses, and the topics discussed will integrate entrepreneurship and accounting issues (both financial and managerial). It will be a case and discussion based course.