Certificate in Entrepreneurship

Read a Q&A session about the Mays MBA program with Graduate Business Career Services Director Jim Dixey at BusinessWeek Online.

A certificate in entrepreneurship and technology commercialization provides a base understanding of new business planning; key issues encountered when developing commercial applications for new technical discoveries; the general legal aspects of intellectual property protection; fundamental business start-up and securities laws; and the management of creativity and innovation in organizational settings. To complete the certificate program, you would need to take the following four courses, for a total of 12 hours.

MGMT 632 – Technology Commercialization. This course is offered in the spring semester. It focuses on technology, the process of evaluating the viability of raw technology, and the process of converting the raw technology into commercially viable products and services. Additionally, the course includes a module on the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant program. The course generally strives to develop the competencies and skills needed to evaluate the commercial viability of technology, and to bring viable technologies to commercial success.

MGMT 637– Foundations of Entrepreneurship. This course is offered in the fall semester. It addresses: (1) the process of launching a new venture; (2) the process by which opportunities can be discovered and selected; (3) the attributes of entrepreneurs and new venture teams; (4) the process of developing a business plan, including the related resource requirements; and (5) core entrepreneurial strategies; including business-level, organizational design, marketing, and financial. The course generally strives to develop the competencies, concepts, and operational tools that are relevant to creating and implementing new ventures.

MGMT 638 – Strategic Entrepreneurship. This course is about entrepreneurship involving the establishment and management of new ventures by corporations or independent new venture teams. Firms create value by identifying opportunities in their external environment and then developing a competitive advantage to exploit them. Strategic entrepreneurship involves simultaneous opportunity seeking and advantage seeking behaviors. The course describes opportunity seeking, advantage seeking and the balance between these two that is critical for organizational success. The course examines the development of an entrepreneurial mindset and culture, managing resources strategically, developing and exploiting innovation, along with a number of other important topics (e.g., international entrepreneurship).

MGMT 640 – Managing Creativity and Innovation. This course is offered in the spring semester. It examines factors that may foster or stifle individual, team or organizational creative performance. The course also presents techniques designed to improve the student’s creative thinking skills.