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their experiences and make weekly reports to the instructor. In addition,
students will arrange for their supervisors to provide an evaluation of
their performance to the instructor. Students are encouraged to arrange
an internship well before registering for Exploration Term and to have it
approved by the instructor.
BA*E299*11
e Fringe Benefits of Failure (In Both Entrepreneurship and Life)
Brad Spencer
Prerequisites:
None
Open To:
All Students
Grading System: Option
Max. Enrollment: 20
Meeting Times:
MW F 11:00am-1:00pm
e “play not to lose” mentality has never yielded great results. “Playing to
win” requires informed risk-taking that will, despite the best analysis, lead
to the occasional failure. Yes, failure WILL happen to you. It might be of your
own making, or it might be visited upon you. Howwill you respond?
e instructor has experienced both unlikely successes and gut-wrenching
failures. Learn from both his wins and losses. e materials for the class will
address both personal and entrepreneurial risk-taking. We will use Peter
iel’s
Zero to One
, Whiney Johnson’s
Disrupt Yourself
, and Megan McArdle’s
e Upside of Down
. TED Talks and YouTube videos are liberally sprinkled
throughout the projct.
Entrepreneur
, in native French, literally means “bearer of risk.” You will meet
several. During class we will have visiting speakers who share their stories …
from a successful entrepreneur who founded and is growing a multi-state
franchised business to an inspirational businessman who battles an addictive
personality and is working to win every day. With each speaker the student
is offered a transparent view into a real life and the analysis that the speaker
has undergone to get to where he/she is.
Previous students have described the class as “the best class I’ve had in
college” and “I want other students to share this experience.”
BA*E299*12
Moving Up the Food Chain: Vertical Integration in European
Agribusiness Firms
Bert Morrow and Rick Lester
Prerequisites:
Instructor Consent
Open To:
Junior Business Majors
Grading System: S/U
Max. Enrollment: 5
Meeting Times:
On-campus meetings Jan 3-5, Travel Jan 6-20
Students will visit the Czech Republic and Italy to study agribusiness firms
engaged in food production. Particular emphasis will be given to the issues of
vertical integration and the extent to which technological innovations have
been adopted in a firm’s value chain. We will also explore how these firms
acquire inputs, access distribution channels, and manage their labor and
product markets. All students will be required to provide a written paper of
their experiences in Europe.
Estimated Student Fees: $4950
BA*E499*13
Moving Up the Food Chain: Vertical Integration in European
Agribusiness Firms – Senior Project
Bert Morrow and Rick Lester
Prerequisites:
BA 400; either BA 474 or 475; and Instructor Consent
Open To:
Senior Business Majors
Grading System: Letter
Max. Enrollment: 15
Meeting Times:
On-campus meetings Jan 3-5,
Travel Jan 6-20
Students will visit the Czech Republic and Italy to study agribusiness firms
engaged in food production. Particular emphasis will be given to the issues
of vertical integration and the extent to which technological innovations
have been adopted in a firm’s value chain. We will also explore how these
firms acquire inputs, access distribution channels, and manage their labor
and product markets. BA 499 is intended to be a challenging and exciting
Capstone project for undergraduate business students. Students taking this
course for BA 499 credit will be required to prepare an oral presentation
of a substantial research project on a topic of their choosing that has been
approved by the professor. All students will be required to provide a written
paper of their experiences in Europe.
Estimated Student Fees: $4950
BA*E499*14
Senior Capstone in Business
Carolyn Garrity, Mary Harrison, and Tracy Smith
Prerequisites:
BA 400; either BA 474 or 475
Open To:
Senior Business Majors
Grading System: Letter
Max. Enrollment: 60
Meeting Times:
M Tu W F 8:30am-4:30pm
is project is designed for students to develop entrepreneurial thinking.
e project will emphasize the entrepreneurial process, which includes
evaluating entrepreneurial opportunities, launching the new venture, and
managing the new business. e goal of this project is to familiarize the
student with the entire entrepreneurial process and in so doing boost the
student’s confidence in his or her ability to actually develop and open a new
venture. Emphasis will be placed on identifying available resources and then
matching those resources with environmental opportunities. e goals of
this project will be accomplished by pitching a new business idea, writing a
business plan, running the business for two weeks, and then presenting the
plan and experience to a group of faculty and executives. Each student group
will receive seed money after the successful completion of their business
proposal.
Estimated Student Fees: $275