Resource Partners

Assesment

Bibliographies

Curricular Models

IP Policies

IP Policies Primer

The EntreClub Handbook

Getting Started as an
Entrepreneur

National Instruments Equipment Grant

Rapid Prototyping Pilot Program

N2TEC

I-SHOW

Curricular Models - Detail

Management 306--Entrepreneurship
University of Tennessee Martin
Principal Investigator:Tommy Cates

A course in entrepreneurship and business development open to juniors and seniors of all majors

PDF Form:http://www.nciia.org/resources/CurrModelPDFs/185-98.pdf

The NCIIA grant allowed Dr. Tommy Cates of University of Tennessee Martin to revamp the curriculum of an existing Entrepreneurship course in the Management, Marketing and Political Science Department within the College of Business and Public Affairs. Previously the course had five prerequisites and was therefore open only to business majors. As a first step in revamping the course, the College of Business eliminated all prerequisites except junior standing.

The six preliminary objectives of the course were to help the students to accomplish the following:

1. understand entrepreneurship and the role of the entrepreneur in the economy
2. understand the alternative types of small business
3. understand the business plan and develop a business plan
4. understand small business marketing and financing
5. understand ethics and law as they relate to small business
6. develop team-building skills and leadership

The students began by visualizing projects as potential business opportunities. The instructor then divided them into E-teams balanced between business and non-business majors. Within the E-teams, the students expanded their initial ideas and wrote business plans.

Additional coursework included readings from New Venture Experience by Karl H. Vesper and tests on the book's content to introduce students to concepts of entrepreneurship and examples of businesses throughout the startup process. Students also purchased and learned to use Ronstadts Financials, an integrated financial planning package that allows users with limited accounting skills to generate financial statements.

History and Context:
When the University of Tennessee Martin received an NCIIA grant, Management 306 (Entrepreneurship) was an established course in the Management, Marketing and Political Science Department within the College of Business and Public Affairs. Traditionally, the course had been taught using a lecture format. Business students participating in the course generally had little or no technical background

As part of an initiative to develop a concentration, minor, and certificate programs in Management, focusing on entrepreneurship and open to students of all disciplines, Professor Tommy Cates re-designed the Entrepreneurship curriculum and introduced an interactive, team-oriented approach. Although not all the departments he approached were initially supportive, he gained enough support to tailor the course to meet the needs of students from a variety of departments. With the help of the NCIIA grant, Professor Cates added the E-team structure to the course, allowing the students greater freedom to choose and direct their own projects. The course was opened to "anyone who wants to start a new business."

E-Teams:
The E-team approach allows for an easier integration of non-business students into a course traditionally targeted only to business majors. Students with technical backgrounds (primarily Natural Resources Management, but also Agriculture, Human Environmental Sciences, and other disciplines) benefit from business approaches, and business students learn about technological basics necessary to new product invention.

The ratio of business and non-business majors participating in the course fluctuates each year, depending upon course marketing efforts. Business major participation generally ranges from 50 to 65 percent. Professor Cates assigns students to E-teams according to their majors. The E-teams regroup partway through the semester. Working in E-teams motivates the students to take ownership of their projects and to invest their own time and resources.

To encourage the students to use each other's skills effectively, Professor Cates requires them to prepare resumes stressing their skills and abilities. When they rotate E-teams, the students revise their resumes to highlight the skills they want to "sell" to the next group.

Innovative and Entrepreneurial Outcomes:
When the course opened to non-business majors, it drew students from a variety of technical fields, particularly from Natural Resources Management, a strong major at UTM. Professor Cates says that many Natural Resources Management majors see their careers as linear and limited, and the possibility of inventing new products to serve clients in their field (e.g. hunting and fishing hobbyists) provides exciting and potentially lucrative alternatives. Thus, many of the products and businesses generated by E-teams in the course have an outdoor-recreation focus.
One student who completed the course has started two Internet-based businesses. Another used the skills he gained to prepare a business plan and sell his idea and his skills to a grocery store chain to develop a new Internet grocery business. Professor Cates says that this student demonstrates an important aspect of the course: the idea that a person can be entrepreneurial within the sphere of an existing business.

Challenges and Lessons Learned:
One of the challenges of working with diverse E-teams was helping business and non-business students recognize what they could gain by working with others from different disciplines. Professor Cates says that one advantage of working with this particular group of students is that they tend to enter the course with open minds. Still, it takes effort on the part of the instructor to get the students to fully recognize and utilize one another's skills and to network with both each other and others outside the university. Another advantage is that students learn to work with people from other academic disciplines, reflecting the way that entrepreneurs work as they start businesses.Future

Directions:
Entrepreneurship is an ongoing class at UTM. Professor Cates now also offers advanced courses called "technical electives" in non-business fields. These are independent studies open only to established E-teams who have taken Management 305 (Creativity and Innovation), Management 306 (Entrepreneurship), and Marketing 302 (Personal Selling). Professor Cates teaches the technical electives informally and in cooperation with other faculty. Participating students use the course as a forum to develop ideas for new businesses and write feasibility studies and business plans.
Professor Cates sees student interest in entrepreneurship expanding into less traditional majors, such as music. Several music majors have approached him wanting to develop music-based inventions and/or begin music-related businesses. Another new trend is an interest from businesses outside the University community in using the students as consultants.

If you have further comments or want more information, please contact us.

© 1997 - 2002 The NCIIA. All rights reserved.