Entrepreneurship Concentration

The Heidelberg Entrepreneurship program is designed for those students who expect, sometime in their career, to pursue a dream of creating their own business whether for profit or not-for-profit. Whether this dream is for the immediate future or for 5, 10 or 15 or more years away, this series of courses will help guide the student toward achieving that dream.

Entrepreneurship Concentration Descripition

The Heidelberg MBA offers two concentrations, one in General Management (GM) and one in General Management plus Entrepreneurship (GM+E). The GM concentration consists of 39 credit hours and the GM+E concentration consists of 45 credit hours. The MBA degree, regardless of concentration, is designed to be completed in 24 months of part-time study by students entering with all prerequisites. Students selecting the GM+E concentration will take 4 courses in Entrepreneurship but will not take the 2 Field Study courses required of those on the GM concentration, provided they complete GSB 587. Concentration selection will take place at the beginning of the second year of part-time study. Students may also be admitted to the Entrepreneurship courses as “Coursework Only” students.

The 4 Entrepreneurship courses are:

GSB 585 Entrepreneurship I: Creativity and Opportunity
GSB 586 Entrepreneurship II: Opportunity and Research
GSB 587 Entrepreneurship III: Innovation and Planning
GSB 588 Entrepreneurship IV: Negotiation and Startup

The Entrepreneurship program starts with GSB 585 and explores the creativity techniques that will help you decide on an opportunity path to follow for the remainder of the program. GSB 586 is designed to assist you to perform the research necessary to thoroughly understand the industry economics, markets, competition, risks and financing connected with your opportunity choice and, using decision-making tools, to devise strategies to minimize the risks. GSB 587 will help you develop a business plan of high professional quality suitable for presentation to a venture capitalist. The final course, GSB 588, will hone your skills in negotiation as you prepare to present your opportunity to a panel of experts and proceed to the startup phase. All course concepts are applied to your specific opportunity dream.

Entrepreneurship Concentration and Transcripts

Students wishing to pursue the Entrepreneurship concentration, either as a Coursework Only student or as an MBA degree-seeking student, must complete the MBA Concentration Form. Transcripts of students completing the Entrepreneurship concentration will indicate two concentrations in their degree -- General Management and Entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurial Concentration and the MBA Mission

The entrepreneurship concentration carries on the tradition of the MBA program of “developing in students the knowledge and skills needed for general management” by placing additional emphasis on the entrepreneurial component that distinguishes management as a discipline.