EPS - Entrepreneurship

EPS6300 Entrepreneurship, Analytics, and Strategy of the Firm
3 Blended Credits

This course provides an overview of the entrepreneurship method that will enable students to create, identify, assess, shape, and act on opportunities in a variety of contexts and organizations, while also introducing students to the use of analytics throughout the lifecycle of business applications. The method, called Entrepreneurial Thought and Action® (ET&A), is teachable and learnable, but is not predictable. This is a results-oriented course that emphasizes early action in order to test and refine new venture concepts. Topics will include: innovation uncertainty in the corporate environment, Design Thinking, Shareholder Value and EVA//Multi Business Strategy in Large Corporations, Industry Analysis, Ecosystems and Competitive Positioning and How Big Companies Make Decisions.

Prerequisites: Admission in to the MSBA program. CAM students should contact Graduate Academic Services to pursue enrollment in this course.

EPS7200 Entrepreneurship & Opportunity

2 Credits

Entrepreneurship & Opportunity (E&O) – This course provides an overview of the entrepreneurship method that will enable you to create, identify, assess, shape, and act on opportunities in a variety of contexts and organizations. The method, called Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® (ETA), is teachable and learnable, but is not predictable. This is a results-oriented course that emphasizes early action in order to test and refine new venture concepts.

EPS7201 Strategic Innovation in Mature Organizations

3 Core Credits - Blended Miami Program Core Course

Corporations caught up in the web of commoditization and stagnation have come to realize that they need entrepreneurial capabilities to create new platforms of business that will be the promise of the future. Yet overall, these efforts have produced uneven success. Although entrepreneurs in organizations can benefit from the resources, experience, financial assets and networks of the large company, they are constrained by its bureaucratic practices. Recent evidence points to corporate leaders’ renewed attention to developing management systems that work with, rather than against intrapreneurs. In this course we will examine various approaches companies have taken to build this organizational capability. We examine five different approaches and consider the shortcomings or each. We will build the rationale for why innovation must become an organizational function if a company truly wishes to compete for the Future. We focus at the organizational level rather than the individual project level, seeking insights about how organizations can institutionalize structures and processes for entrepreneurship, even within a dominant culture of operational excellence that, of necessity, pervades most large established firms.

EPS7500 New Venture Creation

(Formerly Entrepreneurship)

3 Credits

This course integrates many of the concepts, tools and practices of entrepreneurship. Students will learn to be superior opportunity assessors and shapers, to understand the integration of people and process in entrepreneurship, to write, articulate and present a new venture execution plan, understand the alternatives and trade-offs in financing, starting and operating a venture, and gain a better understanding of their personal entrepreneurial capabilities. Students will engage in feasibility assessment, venture viability analysis and resource acquisition. Students will learn how to conduct rigorous business-planning, and also how to network for resources and to be able to communicate about a new venture in a confident, articulate and effective manner. The course builds on foundation concepts from the Opportunity and Entrepreneurship courses, and is designed for students seriously considering launching a new venture in a variety of contexts (e.g. corporate, family, organization, franchise) or students planning to work in an early-stage venture.

Prerequisites: EPS7200 or EPS7800

EPS7503 Creating Epic Organizations
3 Elective Credits

This course welcomes students who seek an intellectual and professional “sandbox” to pursue “EPIC” opportunities for themselves or for their companies. EPIC opportunities empower you and others to pursue big, bold initiatives, pioneer new technologies, markets, or business models, inspire new solutions to address the UN Global Goals, and require courage to tackle different problems. You will wrestle with managerial and societal issues that call for entrepreneurial leaders to take a stand and chart a new path with EPIC initiatives.

In this course, you will study historical and contemporary examples, role models, and scenarios of EPIC opportunities and pursuits. You will examine both academic research and practical resources to understand the core principles of operating with an EPIC mindset. You will learn a set of EPIC tools to apply immediately in your own ventures, workplace, or careers. You will create an action plan that outlines how you intend to pursue an EPIC opportunity - now or in the future.

Prerequisites: None

EPS7504 Global Entrepreneurship

(Previously titled International Entrepreneurship)
3 Elective Credits 

Generating economic growth, fueling social development, and increasing individual wealth in developed and emerging economies around the world, entrepreneurship has drawn the attention of a wide range of stakeholders (e.g., government, academic, corporations, non-profits, etc.). International entrepreneurial opportunities abound as a result of technological advances, environmental challenges, and increased market access. International Entrepreneurship explores and analyzes these opportunities and challenges of launching and leading ventures in an international context. To accomplish this, the course uses a variety of frameworks, analytical models, and decision-making tools to better understand the entrepreneurial process and leadership in the context of cultures, economies, governments, and legal systems, primarily outside the United States. The primary assignment is an international venture plan completed by teams.

EPS7506 Social Innovation
3 Elective Credits

We are living in a world where societal expectations of business have shifted and the lines between business, government, and the social sectors are being blurred. Businesses are called upon to create both economic and social value in new ways. This course addresses issues related to the social, economic, and environmental responsibilities of business. The topic of sustainability is also addressed.

EPS7507 Corporate Entrepreneurship

3 Credits

Corporations caught up in the web of commoditization and stagnation have come to realize that they need entrepreneurial capabilities to create new platforms of business that will be the promise of the future. Yet overall, these efforts have produced uneven success. Although entrepreneurs in organizations can benefit from the resources, experience, financial assets and networks of the large company, they are constrained by its bureaucratic practices. Recent evidence points to corporate leaders’ renewed attention to developing management systems that work with, rather than against intrapreneurs. In this course we will examine various approaches companies have taken to build this organizational capability. We examine five different approaches and consider the shortcomings or each. We will build the rationale for why innovation must become an organizational function if a company truly wishes to compete for the Future. We focus at the organizational level rather than the individual project level, seeking insights about how organizations can institutionalize structures and processes for entrepreneurship, even within a dominant culture of operational excellence that, of necessity, pervades most large established firms.

EPS 7508: Initiation of Corporate ventures

3 elective credits

The course focuses on ways to profitably exploit business opportunities (as opposed to what opportunity to pursue). It will allow you to acquire the skill set necessary for crafting a winning business model for your venture - developing and writing a concise, coherent, effective, and complete business development plan and prepare you to gain support within a mature corporation for your plan.

Prerequsites: EPS 9501

EPS 7509: AI Pioneers: Creating the Future of Business

3 elective credit

This experiential seminar explores the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential for creating new business opportunities. Students will learn about cutting-edge technologies in AI, such as machine learning, computer vision, neural networks, and natural language processing. We will also cover recent developments in the AI industry and the impact of venture capital investment on AI startups. Throughout the course, students will have the opportunity to experiment with AI technologies and develop their own innovative projects. By the end of the course, students will have a deep understanding of the current state of AI and the potential for new business opportunities in this field. This course is ideal for students interested in the intersection of entrepreneurship and technology.

Prerequisites: None

EPS7510 Financing Your Entrepreneurial Business
(Formerly Entrepreneurial Finance)

3 Credits

Focuses on raising seed and growth capital from venture capital, business angels, investment banking, and commercial banking sources; and financial problems unique to the small- and medium-sized firm undergoing rapid growth. Examines actual proposals made to venture capital firms, particularly in terms of their financial viability. Course also examines financial management for entrepreneurs over the life of a business project. Includes financing start-ups, financial planning for the nonpublic smaller enterprise, going public, selling out, bankruptcy, sources of capital, and other related topics.

Prerequisites: None

EPS7520 Managing Growing Businesses

3 Credits

This case-based course is designed to provide insight into the challenges and opportunities accompanying growing an entrepreneurial company. The course provides the concepts and framework necessary to enable entrepreneurial management in organizations of all sizes and types. It is intended for individuals interested in managing growth in their own companies as well as those growing an existing company by creating value through innovation and opportunity capture. The course focuses on the decisions entrepreneurs must make to recognize and capture opportunities, obtain and allocate resources, challenge and direct personnel, and adapt personal goals and corporate strategies to a changing business environment. In this process, the course examines management challenges commonly encountered at different stages in the life-cycle of an entrepreneurial business, including start-up, growth, change of direction, and harvest.

EPS7530 M & A for Entrepreneurs
3 Credits

This course focuses on the strategies and processes entrepreneurs and business leaders employ in various types of middle market acquisitions and divestitures (leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, etc.). Its content is applicable for students pursuing either entrepreneurial opportunities or corporate positions where they may be called upon to acquire or divest a division or product line or company. Although this course is mainly at a strategic level, a basic knowledge of accounting and finance is required to understand valuation, income statements, cash flow and balance sheet issues. Students would benefit from taking Entrepreneurial Finance, Private Equity (or Investment Banking) before enrolling in this course. A good deal of the work required in this course will be done through student learning groups.

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of accounting and finance will be helpful in understanding valuation, income statements and balance sheet issues

EPS7534 Franchising, Licensing & Distributorship Collaborative Business Models
3 Elective Credits

If you have taken and passed EPS7571, you cannot register for EPS7534, as these two courses are equivalent

This course focuses on the process, challenges and opportunities in franchising, which is a $2T part of the U.S. economy and a multi-trillion-dollar market worldwide. _Franchising_ is a very specific term referring to a business that licenses its brand, operating model and provides support to franchisees who pay a number of fees and then invest their own capital to build the corporate brand. The course is practical in approach and touches on a large number of issues in seven weeks. Previous exposure to franchising, M&A or small business is not assumed.

For more information: https://babson.webex.com/webappng/sites/babson/recording/ac84a20eebe8103abbfa005056812cb9/playback 

Prerequisites: EPS7200 or EPS7800

EPS7539 Future Trends in Entrepreneurial Ventures
3 Credits

Changing industry and market forces create scalable, emergent markets for new ventures. Entrepreneurs and Corporate Innovators who can grasp future trends have a distinct advantage in being able to focus their efforts where opportunities and markets converge. In this course, we will scan the future in Three Areas (Business and Economic, Technology, and Organization) that are further expanded into twelve dimensions. The goal of this course is to create an understanding of how to develop entrepreneurial and innovative vision and action in order to scan, identify, and test future customer needs; design products and services to meet those needs; and build support from the entrepreneurial eco-system including investors and business partners. Students will develop an understanding of the future that applies to her/his own innovation leadership vision; identify Key Future Factors that allow innovative leaders to address customer needs currently unmet; and develop an action approach to scale an opportunity with an assessment of future trends and markets.

EPS7545 The Entrepreneurial Extension: Buying a Small Business

1.5 Credits

This course will delve deeply into the challenges, process, and risks of buying a small business. Students will explore the intricacies of planning, evaluating and negotiating to buy a small business from a family-controlled or privately-owned enterprise. All aspects of financing and equity structure alternatives plus the industry peculiarities of acquiring a small business will be explored via cases, discussion, and an individual research paper.

This course is geared specifically to buying a small business and links with EPS7530 (M&A for Entrepreneurs) which focuses on a broad understanding of middle-market company M&A and is geared to students looking to buy a business in the future or students entering the corporate or advisory world.

Prerequisites: None

**It is recommended that students also take EPS7530 (M&A for Entrepreneurs) in order to develop a deep understanding of the M&A process**

EPS7546 Buying a Small Business: The Search Experience

1.5 Credits

This course compliments EPS 7545 (Buying a Small Business) and EPS 7530 (M&A for Entrepreneurs) by allowing students interested in buying a business the opportunity to conduct a live search under the supervision of their Professor. Enrollment in or successful completion of either of the courses listed above is a prerequisite for this course.

The latter stage of the MBA program is an excellent time to conduct a business search. Students can learn from their experiences, share lessons with fellow students and actually find a serious business acquisition opportunity within a three-month semester.

The course will include group seminars and private sessions with the Professor for planning and review of the individual search plan. Students are expected to spend 30-40 hours during the semester conducting a serious search.

Group seminars will cover the following areas:
- Self Assessment
- Definition of the Search Objectives
- Preparation of a Business Plan for the Search
- Preparation of a Communications and Target Plan
- Opportunity Risk and Opportunity Process
- Strategies for Information, Due Diligence & Negotiations
- Keeping the Deal Alive
- The Closing Process

Prerequisites: Students who enroll in this course must be currently enrolled in EPS7530 or EPS7545 or have completed one of these courses in a prior semester AND also have completed EPS7200 or equivalent core

EPS7556 Foundations of Family Entrepreneurship

3 Credits

This course provided a broad overview of topics that are relevant to understanding the nature and dynamics of entrepreneurial families. The course will cover such topics as; defining family entrepreneurship versus family business, identifying the pervasiveness of family entrepreneurship and its economic and social contributions, governance and succession in entrepreneurial families, the management of change and transgenerational value creation, conflict management, and the development and allocation of financial and human assets.

For more information please view this video.

Prerequisites: None

EPS7578 Raising Money-venture Capital and Private Equity

3 Credits

By the end of this course, students will be able:

1. To identify different types of private investors

2. To understand into what types of businesses and at what stages different equity investors invest

3. To learn and understand how private investors make their decisions

4. To understand and negotiate detailed term sheets typical of venture capital and private equity deals

5. To be aware of the full investment cycle and how that impacts entrepreneurs

This class concentrates on developing knowledge of the private investor markets: focusing primarily on early-stage venture capital investing (both venture capital funds and angel investors) and later stage private equity investing (buyout funds).  We will examine the evolution of private investing and the development of alternative asset classes.  Most of the class is taught from the entrepreneur’s perspective, but we will learn the dynamics of establishing and operating an institutional VC or private equity fund.  A key to successfully raising money from private investors is to understand THEIR business model and structural dynamics.  Course materials provide future entrepreneurs with a detailed understanding of how private investors analyze, think and behave so that the entrepreneurs can understand the founding, fund raising and strategic assessment process of the investing entities. 

The course will be taught in a BLENDED format, comprised of readings, lectures, case discussions as well as outside guest speakers (both entrepreneurs and investors).  There will be weekly asynchronous assignments, two full days of face-to-face instruction and optional weekly synchronous online sessions.

Prerequisites: None

EPS7580 Independent Research

1.5-3 Credits

Independent research is available for all academic divisions. Registration is manual for students through Graduate Programs and Office of Graduate Academic Services.

Independent Research provides an opportunity to conduct in-depth research in areas of a student's own specific interest. Students may undertake Independent Research for academic credit with the approval of a student-selected faculty advisor, the appropriate division chair, and Graduate Academic Services. Please note that a student is responsible for recruiting a faculty advisor through the student's own initiative and obtain the advisor's prior consent/commitment before applying for an independent research project. The research project normally carries 1.5 or 3 credits.

For more information and a proposal outline please visit: http://www.babson.edu/Academics/graduate/mba/Pages/independent-research.aspx

EPS7800 Entrepreneurship
2 Credits (Core MBA)

If you have taken and passed EPS7200, you cannot register for EPS7800, as these two courses are equivalent

Through the Entrepreneurship components of the course, you will explore and practice the concepts of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and how these three concepts come together to create the future. You will examine the importance of creativity in this process, and how it fosters an innovative and entrepreneurial approach to identifying, solving and acting on management challenges. You will build an ET&A toolkit to create and evaluate entrepreneurial opportunities, marshal resources, and form teams driven by creativity, leadership, and smart action. You will explore questions about value exploration and value appropriation - for yourself and for others in society. In sum, this course is a journey through the fuzzy front-end of early-stage entrepreneurial activity. This course is not intended to be a complete overview of entrepreneurship. It makes no effort to deal with all the complex issues of entrepreneurial practice. Topics such as managing growth, franchising, entrepreneurial finance, corporate entrepreneurship, family entrepreneurship, or buying businesses are not covered in the course. Other courses offered during your MBA program go into greater depth in many of these issues. This course is an immersion experience for finding, creating, and evaluating early-stage opportunities for value creation. It also expands your horizons about how to determine what is valuable not only for yourself, but for others across people, organizations, and society in new and creative ways.

EPS8573 Entrepreneurship Intensity Track (EIT)
Regular Speaker: EIR Rich Palmer

****THIS COURSE REQUIRES ACCEPTANCE INTO THE EIT PROGRAM. Registration is manual for students who have been accepted into the program****

Students selected for the EIT: Entrepreneurship Intensity Track course will engage in rigorous practice and a reality-based curriculum that includes both classroom and outside class activity.  Students will also work with an outside mentor to help them execute on their business concept.  As such, the emphasis of the course is not idea conception or creation but execution of an already formed concept from your prior courses and experiences.    EIT is focused on developing and enhancing the student’s knowledge and experience in order to maximize their prospects for starting a successful business during the course or soon after completion. The course combines readings, discussions, lectures, conceptual tools, and guest speakers, all with an emphasis on the practical steps that students need to get their business up and running.  Given this, EIT is not an introductory course focused on the beginning of the entrepreneurial experience, but instead focuses on idea refinement, execution, launch, and growth.   

Prerequisites: Completion of one of the following courses: EPS7500 or EPS7530 or EPS7545 or EPS7546

EPS9507 Food Entrepreneurship
3 Elective Credits
 

There is disruption everywhere in food!  With challenges due to COVID, there are global food shortages, supply chain interruptions, and innovations in food science that affect how food entrepreneurs identify or create opportunities, launch and grow ventures.  Once alternative foods are now mainstream, large food companies are struggling to reinvent themselves and consumers are driving significant change.  There is a proliferation of start-ups, food science and technology innovations as well as rising awareness for food priorities, nutrition, education and health.

This experiential elective focuses on the food entrepreneur’s journey from idea to launch. We begin with an exploration of your personal passions in the food industry, then examine global megatrends in food where needs, gaps and opportunities are identified. In teams, students will design a new initiative to meet this need/opportunity. Students will engage with food industry experts, consumers and other stakeholders to develop and explore their new initiative as a solution to a food related problem or opportunity. Students will obtain feedback on these initiatives, develop a prototype and experiment with the business model. Resource acquisition strategies and metrics for these new initiatives' food will be developed and investigated. New initiatives may be a program, non-profit, corporate venture or new venture, and can be in any sector related to food— including the following:

• growing (e.g. agriculture, production, nutrition)

• making (e.g. producing food in restaurants, beverages, consumer packaged goods)

• moving (e.g. food services, distribution, shipping, packaging, delivery)

• selling (e.g. wholesaling, marketing, retailing, ecommerce)

• serving (e.g. staffing, feeding, food health)

• disposing (e.g. food waste, packaging, composting)

In addition to working on your own initiatives, students will also co-create solutions to a real-world business problem facing food entrepreneurs who will visit the class. Further, using Babson’s Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® (ET&A) method, each student will consider the dynamics and interconnectedness of the food industry through a series of individual activities in each of the six food sectors, sharing their experiences and reflections. Be prepared to share family recipes, participate in a “chopped challenge” and measure your food waste. Bring your appetite for learning and food! 

EPS9508: Building a Corporate Innovation Capability: Strategy and Tactics

(Previously Corporate Innovation as a Profession: Designing Innovation Roles)

Corporate Intrapreneurs get by through breaking rules and seeking protection by senior leaders. It doesn't need to be this way. Companies are undertaking much more systematic approaches. To build a capability for truly Strategic Innovation that helps a company disrupt itself before others do, a new set of competencies and supporting management system must be instituted. In this course we will examine the elements of that management system and focus on two aspects that are most pressing in today’s companies. The first is strategic, that is, Senior leadership’s role in setting direction for and governing Strategic Innovation Initiatives, by defining and committing to Domains of Innovation Intent for the organization. The second is more tactical, and that is the issue of talent management. Leading edge companies are working to design innovation functions that require clearly defined innovation roles. We'll examine emerging roles for the corporate innovator, possible career paths, and newly designed tools for their selection and development.

EPS9551 Critical Questions Facing Business Families: A Coaching Retreat
1.5 Intensive Elective Credits

How do I move from a parent-child to a professional-peer relationship with my parents?

Topics include, how to build relationship capital in the family, living with your family history, understanding the goals for effective communication, developing next stage communication skills, learning to have hard conversations, how to stop acting like a child, how to get your parents to start acting like a peer, giving and taking feedback in the family, creating a self-coaching family team, creating sibling unity, having successful family meetings, and many more.

EPS9553 Family Business to Next Stage of Growth

1.5 Credits

Meeting Dates TBD

Drop Deadline TBD

Growth is the necessary condition for a trans-generational enterprising family. This course will explore the challenges and complexity of growth in the generational context of the family. The inflection point question, _How do we take the family business to the next stage of growth?_ requires that families discover the _power of f_ in wealth creation. The question of growth raises additional questions for reflection and conversation:

• Do you have a compelling multi-generational vision for growth?

• What is the difference between an enterprising family and traditional family business?

• What are the constraints to growth in your family business?

• How does the family context create a unique _entrepreneurship to the power of f_?

• What is your _power of f_ familiness advance performance model?

• How does your governance support or constrain growth?

• How do your planning capabilities support growth?

• How do you align the family risk profile for growth?

• What do you do if family shareholders don't want to grow (but don't know it)?

• How do you establish an ownership strategic options continuum to support growth?

The Inflection Point Question Course is a Friday/Saturday _family retreat_ format that provides personalized coaching to participants based upon their individual family cases - family members are welcome to join students. The Goal is to stimulate deeper personal and professional Reflection…facilitate peer collegial Conversation…set participants up for Collaborative decision making in the family…and lead to an action plan for Execution by the students on their goals.

MBA7601 Special Topics: Entrepreneurial Growth
3 Elective Credits

This course provides students insight into the challenges and opportunities that arise as a company grows. It provides students with concepts and frameworks necessary to facilitate entrepreneurial management in organizations of all sizes and types. It is relevant to individuals interested in managing growth in their own companies as well as those growing an existing company.

Prerequisites: None

MBA7602 Special Topics: Social Innovation
3 Elective Credits

We are living in a world where societal expectations of business have shifted and the lines between business, government, and the social sectors are being blurred. Businesses are called upon to create both economic and social value in new ways. This course addresses issues related to the social, economic, and environmental responsibilities of business. The topic of sustainability is also addressed.

MSM6110 Global Entrepreneurship Experience

MSEL Course

3 Credits

At Babson, we consider a global mindset necessary for the 21st century. In addition to learning from the diversity of students in the program, in this course students will explore entrepreneurial ecosystems in a context different than the one in which they grew up. Groups of approximately 25 students will travel with instructors to other regions of the world to engage with locals on topics of entrepreneurial concern. Travel for this course occurs for 8-12 days during winter term and the course includes pre-departure preparation sessions, as well as post-return reflection exercises.