Entrepreneurship on the MBA Expands
Following the introduction of the new entrepreneurship course on the MBA by Dr. Luke Pittaway in Fall 2009 the MBA has expanded its entrepreneurship provision by providing a Business Plan Development Competition.
The new entrepreneurship course asks teams of MBA students to develop and entrepreneurial idea, that the develop over a semester into a full considered business proposition. The teams then present these business propositions via a fully written business plan, a two-page executive summary, a presentation and interview in front of real investors.
The new addition to entrepreneurship on the MBA is a ‘Business Plan Development Competition’ where student’s real world application of course knowledge is further developed. The MBA director Melissa Holand and Professor Bill Wells the chair of the Department of Finance and Quantitative Analysis developed the course along with sponsors and partners Chuck and Anthony Tippins, who recently purchased 1,650 acres of property. Students worked with the Tippins brothers in groups of three or four to construct real-world business plans focused on opportunities to generate revenue growth through timber management, hunting and other agri or recreational activities.
When the business plans were presented in late April, the winning team was chosen by the managing partners, MBA faculty and the professors. The criteria for the winning team were the practicality of the business plan, ease of implementation, originality and creativity, as well as, projected outcome in terms of leverage, profitability and return on assets. Sponsors provided the winning team a cash prize of $3,000. The winning team consisted of MBA students James Dodelin, Jessica Vanner and Cory Zahner.
Posted in Teaching and Learning