UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

www.entrepreneurship.umn.edu

Gary S. Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship

Carlson School of Management

Shaker Zahra

Academic Director

John Stavig

Professional Director

 

 

 

 

 

Overview

 

 

The mission of the newly renamed Gary S. Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship is to inspire and educate the next generation of entrepreneurs.  This is accomplished through a combination of research, teaching and outreach services.  Last year we saw tremendous progress in the following areas:

 

 

Meeting Surging Demand for Entrepreneurial Curriculum – Enrollment in entrepreneurial classes has more than quadrupled over the past five years, with annual enrollment exceeding 1,200 students.  The Center supports a range of courses that involve both cutting-edge theory and applied practices (e.g., courses in which new products/businesses are developed, analyzed and launched).  We pride ourselves on quality teaching, with our department having won 5 Teacher of the Year Awards in the past 10 years.

 

 

Nurturing Student Interest in Applied Entrepreneurship – No longer content with simply drafting a business plan, today’s students are eager to launch their own businesses.  For the past two years, thirty undergraduate students received up to $20,000 in funding to launch their own companies as part of a two-semester course.  Through this course, more than $45,000 has been donated back to the University to endow scholarships and support internship programs.  The Center also administers the Minnesota Cup which received more than 800 entries in a state-wide business plan competition to award $70,000.  Other entrepreneurial students benefit from the use of our undergraduate business hatchery where students can plan and operate their businesses with technical, research, legal and other advisory services.

 

 

Leveraging World-Class Research Capabilities – Shaker Zahra, Harry Sapienza, and Andy Van de Ven anchor the Carlson School’s standing as a leading research university in the areas of corporate entrepreneurship, venture capital, innovation, technology-based entrepreneurship and international entrepreneurship.

 

 

Spreading Entrepreneurship Across Campus – The Center organizes the 3M Seminars on Technology Commercialization for graduate students in technology and science-related colleges from across the University.  Shaker Zahra led the initial development of the Center for Integrated Leadership, bringing together research faculty from across the University.

 

 

Bringing Business Community Together with Entrepreneurial Students – Through our courses and student-led clubs, more than 200 entrepreneurial speakers visit the Carlson School each year.  This year more than 30 local entrepreneurs have been recruited to serve as mentors for undergraduate entrepreneurial students.  Alumni entrepreneurs are volunteering to teach courses, lead business plan competitions and advise student-run companies.  Ventures Plus continues to organize monthly entrepreneurial speaking events featuring prominent alumni entrepreneurs and Carlson faculty.  More than 300 undergraduate and graduate students participated in entrepreneurial clubs.

 

 

Creating Opportunities for Students with Entrepreneurial Companies – The Center is expanding its Deluxe Corp Student Internship Program in which 20 undergraduate students are placed in part-time job opportunities with local, early-stage companies.  Students assist in the research and analysis of new business opportunities while getting exposure to the fast-paced environment of early-stage entrepreneurial companies.  The Center subsidizes half the cost of the internship providing students with the chance to work with very early stage companies.

 

 

Key Faculty & Staff

 

 

Shaker A. Zahra, Academic Director, Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship and Robert Buuck Chair in Entrepreneurship.  Shaker holds a Ph.D. from the University of Mississippi and an MBA from National University.  Shaker is a leading researcher in the areas of corporate venturing, international entrepreneurship and technological entrepreneurship.  He has published six books and his research has appeared in leading academic journals.  He has received numerous grants and awards, including Best Paper awards from three divisions of Academy of Management, Academy of Management Journal and Journal of Management.  Shaker has held visiting professorships at several institutions in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.  Shaker is Chair of the entrepreneurship division of the Academy of Management.

 

 

John D. Stavig, Professional Director, Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship.  John directs the activities within the Center and is primarily responsible for leading the outreach services.  John holds a BSB from the Carlson School and an MBA from the Wharton School.  His professional background covers management consulting, private equity, and operating positions in a range of early-stage companies.  John has led numerous investments/acquisitions/divestitures and raised in excess of $300 million of capital.  John was a founding Principal in a $100 million private equity fund and has been a CEO, CFO, director or advisor for multiple early-stage ventures.

 

 

Harry J. Sapienza, Curtis L. Carlson Chair in Entrepreneurship.  Harry holds a Ph.D. and MBA from the University of Maryland.  His career covers more than a decade of research on inter-organizational relationships, strategic decision making, international entrepreneurship, and the creation of value in entrepreneurial ventures.  He has published extensively in academic journals, and his work on venture capital has appeared for the last 10 years in the well-known practitioner resource, Pratt's Guide to Venture Capital Sources. 

 

 

     Andrew H. Van de Ven, Vernon Heath Professor of Organizational Innovation and Change.  Andrew received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1972, and taught at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania before his present appointment. He teaches courses in the Carlson School on the management of innovation and change, organizational behavior, and research methods. Since 1994, Van de Ven has been conducting a longitudinal real-time study of the changes that are unfolding in Minnesota health care organizations and industry. He is co-author of The Innovation Journey (1999), Organization Change and Innovation Processes (2000) and Handbook of Organizational Change and Innovation (2004), and Engaged Scholarship: A Guide for Organizational and Social Research (2007) all published by Oxford U. Press. During 2000-2001 Van de Ven was President of the Academy of Management.

 

 

 

 

Undergraduate Curriculum

 

 

MGMT 3010: Introduction to Entrepreneurship (4 cr.)

MGMT 4008: Entrepreneurial Management (4cr.) Assessing opportunities, managing constraints in developing new business, structuring the venture, obtaining skills needed to succeed.

MGMT 5050: Management of Innovation and Change (2 cr.) Applying theories/research on how new organizational programs, products, and technologies are developed/implemented.

MGMT 5177: The Business Plan (2 cr.) Structure of business plans. Critically analyzing business plans. Formulating an original business plan.

BA 3900: Entrepreneurship in Action (8 cr.)  This two-semester course requires students to conceive of, plan, launch, and operate a business.

BA 3900: Entrepreneurial Perspectives (2 cr.)  Students work in teams alongside a founding entrepreneur to write and then analyze a case study related to the entrepreneur’s business.

 

 

Graduate Curriculum

 

 

ENTR 6020 Business Formation (4 cr.) Focuses on critical issues at the launch and development of a business from concept development through business entry, either as a startup or through an acquisition.

ENTR 6021 Preparing and Implementing the Business Plan (2 cr.) Students work collaboratively to develop and implement business plans for their “own” business venture launch.

ENTR 6023 Financing Business Ventures (4 cr.) Students learn how to translate a business plan to a financing plan, develop alternate financing plans for a specific business/plan and choose the “best” one ENTR 6036 Growing the Independent Business (2 cr.) Focuses on unique challenges posed by rapid growth and change in newly-formed independent startups.

ENTR 6037 Corporate Venturing (2 cr). Unique aspects and approaches to formation and/or acquisition of new businesses within established corporations.

ENTR 6041 New Product Design and Business Development (6 cr.) In this two-semester course, engineering and business students work in teams on real product development projects sponsored by companies to design prototype products and develop business plans for their commercialization.

MBA 6503 Carlson Ventures Enterprise (6 cr.)  In this two-semester course, students work with sponsoring companies and the University to identify and screen new business opportunities, evaluate the value proposition and prepare to launch the company.

ENTR 6090 – Topics in Entrepreneurship:  Technology-based Entrepreneurship (2 cr.)  Addresses the unique challenges faced in launching and managing technology-based companies.

ENTR 6090 – Topics in Entrepreneurship:  Managing Venture Capital  (2 cr.)  Overview of VC industry and the issues facing VCs and entrepreneurs engaged in seed and early-stage fundraising process.

MGMT 8304 – Doctoral Seminar on Entrepreneurship (2 cr.)  This seminar is an introduction to scholarly entrepreneurial management literature.