Wisconsin School of Business Coursework in Entrepreneurship - Graduate

715 – Strategic Management in the Life and Engineering Sciences

PREREQUISITES: Grad st

This introductory course explores key concepts, tools and questions about how to generate value from technology, with an emphasis on the life-sciences and engineering sectors.  The goals of the course are to develop capabilities at creating markets based on novel technologies, refine strategic thinking about technology issues, and sharpen management abilities by participating in an active learning environment that includes case discussions, exercises and guest speakers.  This course is open to graduate students from inside and outside of the business school.

722 – Entrepreneurial Management

PREREQUISITES: Grad st

The goals of this course are to identify the role of entrepreneurial ventures in the US economy; identify the processes involved in starting a new venture, identify the processes involved in funding and investing in a new or growing entrepreneurial venture; understand methods of organizing and managing an entrepreneurial ventures understand methods for advising owners/managers of entrepreneurial ventures; and suggest small business ownership, advising or financing as a possible career course.

727 – Entrepreneurial Growth Strategies

PREREQUISITES:  MHR 722, ACCT IS 700, & Grad st or cons inst

The key objectives of this course are to provide a clear understanding and useful frameworks for entrepreneurial growth strategies, particularly in dynamic environments.  We will address for-profit, not-for-profit, family-owned, public and global entities and their unique issues, especially during growth strategies.  We will investigate the specific needs and options for development of critical business processes to support growth such as product and service development, customer relationships, sales and marketing, alliance development, operations, outsourcing, structure, systems and talent.  The course explores and discusses real-world approaches to growth utilizing case studies from various industries and perspectives.  Students will explore concepts by actively participating in class discussions and individual case study write-ups.

734 – Venture Creation

PREREQUISITES: Acct IS 700 or cons inst

The academic goal of this course is to develop the skills necessary for evaluating and creating a new venture, with the ability to communicate the endeavor effectively through written an verbal presentations. At the end of this course, you will be able to evaluate business opportunities as both an entrepreneur and an investor, within start-ups and established companies.  This course also treats entrepreneurship as a form of strategy.  In today’s competitive environment, size of company does not correspond to entrepreneurship.  Regardless of the type of company that you will work in, it is critical to have a strong working knowledge of entrepreneurial strategies.

737 - WAVE Practicum I

PREREQUISITES: MHR 722, MHR 727 (may be con reg), & cons inst

This course is the first half of a two-semester sequence that provides a select group of students with an intensive hands-on learning experience in the management, evaluation, and financing of entrepreneurial businesses.  The students do so by learning from local firms with an opportunity to develop an in-depth understanding of a local venture, its competitive environment, its strategic options and a developing growth strategy.  The understanding is represented by a series of presentations, culminating in a Strategic Growth Plan and a presentation to the WAVE Board and the firm.

738 - WAVE Practicum II

PREREQUISITES: MHR 722, MHR 737, & cons inst

The course is the second half of a two-semester sequence that provides a select group of students with an intensive hands-on learning experience in the management, evaluation, and financing of entrepreneurial businesses.  Students do so by developing a business plan and attending speakers and lectures on unique entrepreneurial topics.  It taught as a seminar focused on students’ experiences working with their own ventures.  Class time is structured to serve as a resource to the student teams and students must make use of this resource. 

765 - Technology Entrepreneurship

PREREQUISITES: Grad st

This course focuses on identifying the entrepreneurial and strategic challenges faced by start-ups in two high-technology sectors of the economy – infotech and biotech – and provides tools/frameworks to address these challenges.  We begin with a quick review of the salient characteristics of these sectors and identify the key strategic issues associated with these fields.  After that, we turn our attention to understanding techniques for indentifying and assessing entrepreneurial opportunities in these fields.  Next we examine ways in which such opportunities can be resourced and how critical competencies for a high technology start-up are developed.  Finally, we focus on the strategic challenges that entrepreneurial firms in these fields need to address.  These include evaluation modes of commercialization, engaging in dynamic strategies and shaping the rules of the game in these fields.

765 – Economics of Innovation and Technology

PREREQUISITES: Grad st

Ideas and innovation have become the most important resource in today's economy. Successful managers should know how to recognize, manage and generate technological innovation for sustained competitive advantage. This course uses economic concepts to illustrate the nature of technological innovation and how it transforms competition between firms and generates economic growth.  Topics will include: historical and conceptual background of technology and innovation; economics of the intellectual property (IP) protection system; IP licensing, enforcement and litigation; the relationship between market structure and innovation; the diffusion of technological innovations; interaction between public and private sector innovation; current policy issues regarding the conflicts between IP rights, antitrust regulation, and consumer welfare; and globalization.

 Finance 757 - Entrepreneurial Finance

PREREQUISITES:  Finance 700, OIM 705 or equiv & ACCT IS 700 or equiv

Has the objective of reviewing the financial, control, and investment opportunities faced by startup and rapidly growing companies in entrepreneurial settings.  The main objective of study is to consider and select financing vehicles which are appropriate to securing the organizations' money requirements and to understand and analyze the issues in the institutional framework in which those decisions take place. Topics and issues covered include:  evaluation of a variety potential high growth opportunities; financial benchmarking of early stage and growth enterprises; market-based, earnings-based, and asset based approaches to the valuation and pricing of an organization at various life stages; the types and timing of financing; and a variety of harvest strategies.

977 - Emerging Entrepreneurship Theory and Research

PREREQUISITES: PhD stdt & cons inst

The seminar explores research on entrepreneurship, building on classic readings in an interdisciplinary framework.  It includes working research presentations by research faculty from outside and inside the UW-Madison.  The seminar offers doctoral students across the UW campus an opportunity to study and develop scholarly theories of entrepreneurial behavior and outcomes.  The course approaches entrepreneurship as a fundamental social process of vital interest to scholars in many fields.  Entrepreneurial processes covered include imagining, assessing, and discovering opportunities, mobilizing human and material resources, and multi-level learning during the creation of a new venture.

365 – Arts Enterprise: Art As Business As Art

PREREQUISITES: Junior, Senior, or Grad St, and cons inst

Artists and other creative workers have long balanced their expressive work with business realities—marketing, contracts, funding, financing, patronage, and public engagement. Whether as independent contractors, sole proprietors, company founders, contract artists, project collaborators, board members, or volunteers, successful artists have wrestled with the life of an entrepreneur in a complex and ever-evolving industry. But what if the business side of artistic expression wasn’t just an inconvenience, but an integral part of the expressive palette? What if the tools of business were used with a craftsman’s hand to advance an artistic vision in more elegant and connected ways? This course will explore the dynamic interplay between artistic life and business strategy, and will feature compelling national figures who cross that line everyday. It will offer new perspective and foster new connections for an interdisciplinary group of students, and advance the role of “arts enterprise” on the UW–Madison campus.