US Northeast

Fairleigh Dickinson University

Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurial Studies

James C. Barrood

Program Overview

The nationally-recognized Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurial Studies at Fairleigh Dickinson University was founded in 1989.  Its mission is to foster entrepreneurship and innovation in the academic and business communities.  The Institute offers undergraduate majors and concentrations in Entrepreneurial Studies as well as a major for MBAs and a Post-MBA certificate program.  All business students are required to study entrepreneurship and all students in the University may take Entrepreneurial Studies courses as electives, including one specifically designed for non-business students.  The Institute’s innovative outreach programs assist aspiring and current entrepreneurs, corporate entrepreneurs and innovators and support start-up, family and growth businesses throughout New Jersey and the region.

Organization

The Institute, part of the Silberman College of Business, occupies its own building on the College at Florham campus and has an office on the Metropolitan campus.  It has three full-time staff members, three full-time faculty (three in tenure track positions), twelve part-time faculty, and three student workers.  Personnel include James C. Barrood, Executive Director, James G. Almeida, Ph.D., Ethné Swartz, Ph.D., Associate Professors of Entrepreneurial Studies, Richard Archambault, Lecturer in Entrepreneurial Studies, Kim Dennison, Administrator of Family Business Programs, an Administrative Assistant, plus two graduate assistants.  The Institute’s Advisory Board consists of 20 regional business, nonprofit leaders and entrepreneurs.

Courses Offered to Undergraduate Students 

Undergraduates may major in Entrepreneurial Studies by completing 15 credits (five courses), four of which are prescribed, one being an elective.  Management majors may concentrate in Entrepreneurial Studies and all students may take E.S. courses as electives.  Over 700 students at FDU take at least one entrepreneurship course each year.  Courses include ENTR2000: Entrepreneurship for the Arts, Sciences, Sports and Technology; ENTR2200: Family Business Management; ENTR2300: E-Business for Entrepreneurs; ENTR 2400 Women in Entrepreneurship; ENTR3100: Entrepreneurship in the Corporate Environment; ENTR3101: Small Business Management (Blended, Online section offered as well); BUSI3160: Junior Business Forum; ENTR3100: Entrepreneurial Finance; ENTR3201: Special Projects in Entrepreneurship; ENTR3600: Guided Study in Entrepreneurial Studies; ENTR4100: Finance in an Entrepreneurial Environment; ENTR4000: Advanced Business Planning; ENTR4400: Creating Sales and Managing Growth; and ENTR4499: Co-op Program in Entrepreneurial Management.

Courses Offered to Graduate Students 

MBA students in the College of Business Administration may major in Entrepreneurial Studies by completing 15 credits (5 courses) including the capstone course, ENTR7802.  Courses include ENTR6100: Management of Small Business; ENTR6200: Corporate Entrepreneurship, ENTR6300: Family Business Management; ENTR6500: Entrepreneurial Finance; Exec 6653: Strategic Innovation Management; ENTR7000: Seminar in Entrepreneurship; ENTR7100: Guided Study in Entrepreneurial Studies; ENTR5518: Entrepreneurship and Business Strategy; ENTR7802: Venture Creation, Development and Financing; ENTR5516: Entrepreneurship/Organizational Strategy (Global MBA); EXEC6610: Introduction to Entrepreneurship (Executive MBA).  In addition, the Institute offers a Post-MBA in Entrepreneurial Studies for those who have already received a MBA or other business-related graduate degree. This program offers a concentration of courses (five) in Entrepreneurial Studies.

Outreach 

Innovation Programs: Include annual Innovation Summit each spring, Innovation Conference (ie: Creativity-2008; Media-2007; Open-2006); CEO Innovation Lecture: Annual event recognizes corporate leader in innovation; Executive Training: Innovation Management Certificate Program and custom programs. Voices of Innovation TV/podcast interview program. Family Business Forum: Established in 1992, the Forum is a membership-based program of approximately 25 family companies that meet on a regular basis.  New Jersey Family Business of the Year Award: Recognizes state’s finest family businesses; now in its 15^th year.  Executive Training: programs in growth and governance areas.  iSpace Creative Facility: Hosts and facilitates ideation, strategic planning, and team development meetings.  Female Entrepreneurs’ Alliance:  provides a venue where women owning businesses in region can network, attend workshops and mentor one another; also presents the annual Female Entrepreneur Lecture Series. Business Enterprise Forum: Offers seminars and workshops on timely topics of interest open to the business and entrepreneurial community. Business Plan Development/Review Service: Local businesses and non-profit organizations apply for inclusion in a project in which teams of MBA students (ENTR7802) develop detailed business plans for them.  Business Plan Review Service: faculty review and critique business plans for entrepreneurs, businesses and nonprofits.  East Coast Student Entrepreneur Awards Program: Recognizes undergraduate entrepreneurs in region; since 1998.  FDU Innovation Challenge: Recognizes the finest undergraduate and graduate and faculty/staff ideas. FDU Business Plan Competition: Recognizes the best undergraduate and graduate business plan; since 1998.  Distinguished Entrepreneurial Lecture Series: Recognizes successful entrepreneur from the region; since 1999.  Coordinates popular Discover Business Teen Camps, two week-long day camps held during the summer.  Operates the NJ Business Idea Competition, a contest to help foster an entrepreneurial mindset among all NJ high school students.  Online certificate programs teach teens about such topics as personal finance, creativity & innovation, and communication, networking and etiquette. Entrepreneurial Society, a club open to FDU students, presents and publicizes events. Quarterly Newsletter: Rothman Ink.

Research

Current research topics include: global start-ups and entrepreneurship, factors relating to the creation and growth of small and medium-sized businesses, female entrepreneurship, business continuity management, and the impact of entrepreneurship education.  Polling efforts include the annual NJ Consumer Confidence Index, the ‘State of Entrepreneurship’ survey for NJ.  Under development: innovation poll.

Recent Publications 

James Almeida, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Silberman College Associate Dean, has presented and published a number of papers that investigate the factors affecting growth of new ventures, the internationalization process in SMEs, impact of tradeoffs associated with decision-making in SMEs, and the interplay among strategy, resources, and firm performance in UK based SMEs.  An article, “Leveraging Knowledge in China: The Experience of a Foreign Entrepreneur,” was published in the June 2007 issue of the Journal of Technology Management in China. He recently surveyed executives in technology-based companies from the NY metro area to study their attitudes to globalization.  Almeida also co-designed a survey to measure the consumer confidence of NJ residents, which is now done annually.  He is presently working on a paper that uses options theory to better understand the issue of decision flexibility in new ventures and on understanding factors that affect their performance and growth.

Ethné Swartz, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Chair, Marketing and Entrepreneurial Studies, has co-authored “Business Continuity Management: time for a strategic role?,” published in Long Range Planning, Vol. 37, Number 5, October 2004.  Her manuscript “Psomunix LLC:  The Conception and Creation of a Biopharmaceutical Company” is currently under consideration with Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.  She is also co-author of one of the leading texts in the field of continuity and emergency management, “Business Continuity Management: a Crisis Management Approach”, published by Routledge in 1999, and is currently working on a new edition of this text, due for publication in 2006.

For More Information 

Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurial Studies, Fairleigh Dickinson University   

285 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ 07940   973.443.8842   fax 973.443.8847  

www.fdu.edu/rothman   rothman@fdu.edu