EPS7517 Entrepreneurship In Health Care Technology
1.5 Elective Credit
This course will provide you with a review of the entrepreneurship method and guide you through applying it in the healthcare industry. The entrepreneurship method enables you to define, develop, and promote innovative initiatives through the creation of a new venture or through the addition of a value-added component in an existing venture. The first part of the class will focus on understanding the structure of and identifying opportunities within the healthcare IT services industry. The cases and current readings will be used to review parts of the healthcare IT ecosystem from a high level, describing the major players (government, providers, payers, patients, intermediaries). An emphasis will be placed on understanding possibilities for opportunities, drivers of these opportunities, and appropriate market research techniques to examine feasibility of new ventures in the healthcare industry. The course will use case studies and current materials on websites. In the second part of the class, students will conduct field observations and/or interview people in the healthcare industry to identify business ideas for value creation opportunities or pain-point-elimination opportunities in the healthcare ecosystem. Students will work individually to develop a feasibility blueprint for their idea. In the third part of the class students will form groups and each individual will pitch their business idea to the group. The group will review the opportunities identified by each individual group member and select what they think are the most promising ideas to pitch to an investor. Each group will select one idea for which to develop a Market Feasibility Plan. The Market Feasibility Plan will document the outcomes of each group's market research to customer needs analysis, competition, governmental influences, industry forces, value proposition, positioning, risk analysis, the marketing mix and financial attractiveness. Each group will present (_pitch_) their idea to the class. Ultimately the investors (fellow students, professor, and possible outside guests) will decide whether they would conceivably fund this venture. This is an action and results oriented course that concludes with the creation of your own feasibility blueprint and a market feasibility plan for _something new_ - a new commercial venture, a nonprofit organization, the next generation of a family enterprise, buying a business or franchise, or a new initiative within a corporate environment. Babson celebrates entrepreneurship of all kinds, so you are free to practice the form of entrepreneurship that fits your best.
Prerequisites: None