STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT OSWEGO
MGT 350 – Entrepreneurship
Fall 2008
Class Hours:
Thursday 6:00 to 8:45 pm, Rich 223
Instructor:
Sarfraz A. Mian, Ph.D.
Professor of Business Administration.
310 Rich Hall, Ext. 3154, Mian@oswego.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday & Thursday: 11:00-02:00
And by appointment
Required Text:
Robert Hisrich, Michael Peters, and Dean Shepherd (2008)
Entrepreneurship” 7th Edition (007-3210560)
McGraw-Hill /Irwin Publishers
Recommended Books:
Jeffrey Timmons and Stephen Spinelli, Jr., (Authors) (2006) "New Venture Creation:
Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century." 7th Edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin Publishers
Robert Baron & Scott Shane (2005) "Entrepreneurship: A Process
Perspective." Thompson South-Western Publishers
Donald Kuratko and Richard Hodgetts (2007)"Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, Practice," 7th
Edition. Thompson South-Western Publishers
Kathleen R. Allen (2006) "Launching New Ventures: An Entrepreneurial Approach 4th Edition,
Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company
Recommended
Readings & Web:
Current issues of Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Fortune,
<http://www.entreworld.org>
Recommended Journals:
1. Journal of Business Venturing.
2. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice
3. Journal of Small Business Management
4. International Small Business Journal
5. Journal of Small Business Economics
Course Overview:
This course deals with the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and new venture development. It is
designed for students with little or no experience with academic theories and practical approaches to the
entrepreneurial phenomenon. The main objective of the course is to portray the nature and process of
entrepreneurship in such a way that students become intrigued with concepts, research, and current
issues in the field.
It is important to understand that entrepreneurship means more than small business management; it
means identifying market opportunities and then marshaling the resources and designing the strategy and
organization to capitalize on these opportunities. This definition cuts across types of organizations and
industries. Even if you are not going to be an entrepreneur, the odds are you will be working with some
entrepreneurs in your professional career and be able to empathize what their problems are and how they
perceive the business world.
Creating and growing a new venture inside or outside the corporation is task that a few individuals are
able to accomplish, even though many profess the desire. This course is based on an understanding of all
the functional areas of business and applies the tools and analytical techniques of these functional areas
to the new venture creation process in both domestic (regional, national) and international settings.
Course Objectives:
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Develop an understanding of entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial process.
Integrate functional area material as it applies to new venture creation and growth.
Develop an understanding of the role of entrepreneurship and new venture creation and the
assumption of risk in the process of economic development.
Develop an understanding of the role of activities of entrepreneurship in regional, national
and global settings.
To increase awareness of economic and political trends, discuss global and ethical issues in
new ventures along with other external and internal influences.
Emphasize technological developments (including information technology), which have a
significant impact on the role of the entrepreneur and the direction of the new venture.
Provide an opportunity to evaluate real-world entrepreneurs to learn from their first hand
experiences.
Method of Instruction:
Lecture, video and written case discussions, exercises, term projects and any other methods deemed
appropriate by the instructor.
Course Requirements/Evaluation:
1. Class participation: Business leaders and effective managers are also good communicators. Therefore
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communication (oral as well as written) is an important element of this course. The School of Business
recognizes and expects good communication to be the norm for course work. To this end, all papers,
individual and group work, must exemplify BS senior/MBA level writing and in-class communication
requirements. Careful attention should be given to active class participation in discussions, student
presentations, and professional writing. (15 %)
2. Exams: Each student is required to take two exams that fully cover the assigned topics. (40%)
3. Term paper: Students will be required to prepare a term paper based on entrepreneur interviews that
will be presented to the class. The quality of these presentations will be judged through instructor and/or
peer evaluations. (25%)
4. Take Home Assignments: Student will also be required to submit synopsis of assigned articles and/or
write case analysis memos. (20%)
5. Grading: Grades will be determined as follows:
90 to 100% = A; 80 to 89 %= B; 70 to 79 %= C; 60 to 69% = D; 59% & below = F
NOTES
 Prerequisites: This course is primarily designed for business students with familiarity in business
management functions. Therefore, a successful completion of MGT 261 or equivalent is required.
Otherwise, instructor approval must be sought to ensure necessary prior preparation.
 Attendance: Individual attendance is mandatory. Students who miss more than two classes without
prior permission may not continue in the course.
 Disability: If you have a disability condition, which might interfere with your ability to successfully
complete this course, please contact me (the instructor) within the first two class sessions to make
appropriate arrangements. For questions contact the college Office of Disability Services at 312-3358.
 Intellectual integrity: Intellectual integrity on the part of all students is basic to individual growth
and development through college course work. When academic dishonesty occurs, the teaching/learning
climate is seriously undermined and student growth and development are impeded. For these reasons,
any form of intellectual dishonesty is a serious concern and is therefore prohibited. Students are expected
to be fully familiar with the campus policy on intellectual integrity which can be found in the
undergraduate catalog.
 Drop and Withdrawal: It is the responsibility of the students to be fully informed of the college
catalog policies regarding course add, drop and withdrawal.
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Schedule of Events
TOPIC
STUDENT ASSIGNMENTS
Aug 28
Session #1: Introductions, course overview
Session #2: The nature & importance of entrepreneurship
Sept 04
Session #3: The entrepreneurial mind-set & individual entrepreneur
Session #4: Profiles in entrepreneurship (video)
None
Ch 1
Ch 2
Sept 11 — No classes
Sept 18
Session #5: Entrepreneurship verses intrapreneurship
Session #6: National & int’l opportunities in entrepreneurship
Sept 25
Session #7: Overview of the new venture process
Session #8: It’s the journey (video)
Ch 3
Ch 4
Ch 7
Oct 02
Session #9: Case discussion (case to be assigned)
Session #10: EXAM 1 (covering sessions # 2 to #8)
Oct 09: No Classes
Oct 16
Session #11: The opportunity, business idea, business model
Session #12: Case discussion (case to be assigned)
Oct 23
Session #13: The business plan
Session #14: Marketing & financial plans
Oct 30
Session #15: Sources of capital, risk/venture capital
Session #16: Money sources (video – small business school)
Ch 5
Ch 7
Ch 8, 10
Ch 11, 12
Nov 06
4
Session #17: Organizational plan, legal issues
Session #18: Business plan funding decisions (video)
Ch 6, 9
Nov 13
Session #19: Venture management, growth, sustainability, IPOs
Session #20: Incubating SMEs: learning from North American experience
Ch 13-17
Nov 20
Session #21: Science parks, incubators & innovation centers (video - URP)
Session #22: EXAM 2 (covering sessions # 11 to #20)
Nov 27
NO CLASS – Thanksgiving break
Dec 04
Session #23: Presenting Student Projects – entrepreneur interviews
Session #24: Presenting Student Projects – entrepreneur interviews
Dec 11
Session #25: Presenting Student Projects – entrepreneur interviews
Session #26: Course review, discussion and conclusion
written papers due
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