Entrepreneurship Minor

This course studies the process of creating new ventures with an emphasis on understanding the role of the entrepreneur in identifying opportunities, seeking capital and other resources, and managing the formation and growth of a new venture. It addresses the role of entrepreneurship in the economy and how entrepreneurial ventures are managed for growth. (This class is restricted to undergraduate students with at least 3rd year standing.) Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring, Summer).

This unique undergraduate course enables students to learn the entrepreneurial (value creation) process by advancing a business idea. The course provides weekly seminars focusing on customer discovery and business model development and weekly coaching mentoring sessions with an established entrepreneur/early stage marketer. The project is team based. Students may enter the course with a business concept or be integrated into an existing team in the course. Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring, Summer).

Students nearing the completion of their program work in consulting teams to assist startup ventures, small businesses, or other clients from within RIT. Problems are isolated and solutions then developed. Affiliated course projects may focus on a number of areas. For example, they may seek to develop commercialization plans for specific technologies, products, or services; focus on unique problems associated with small businesses, and develop growth strategies. Students also complete an integrative paper that applies previous coursework to this project. (This class is restricted to undergraduate students with at least 4th year standing.) Lecture 3 (Fall).

An introduction to the way in which corporations report their financial performance to interested stakeholders such as investors and creditors. Coverage of the accounting cycle, generally accepted accounting principles, and analytical tools help students become informed users of financial statements. (This course is available to RIT degree-seeking undergraduate students.) Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring, Summer).

Introduction to the use of accounting information by managers within a business. Explores the value of accounting information for the planning and controlling of operations, assessing the cost of a product/service, evaluating the performance of managers, and strategic decision making. (Prerequisites: ACCT-110 or NACC-205 or equivalent course.) Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring, Summer).

A first course in accounting for students in technical disciplines. Topics include the distinction between external and internal accounting, cost behavior, product costing, profitability analysis, performance evaluation, capital budgeting, and transfer pricing. Emphasis is on issues encountered in technology-intensive manufacturing organizations. This course is not available for Saunders College of Business students. (This class is restricted to undergraduate students with at least 3rd year standing.) Lecture 3 (Spring).

The course focuses on financial issues affecting an entrepreneur. The course emphasizes, identifies and follows the wealth creation cycle. The wealth creation cycle begins with an idea for a good, product or service, progresses to an initial company startup, passes through successive stages of growth, considers alternative approaches to resource financing, and ends with harvesting the wealth created through an initial public offering, merger or sale. Identification and valuation of business opportunities, how and from whom entrepreneurs raise funds, how financial contracts are structured to both manage risk and align incentives, and alternative approaches by which entrepreneurs identify exit strategies are reviewed. (This class is restricted to undergraduate students with at least 3rd year standing.) Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring).

As an introductory course in managing and leading organizations, this course provides an overview of human behavior in organizations at the individual, group, and organizational level with an emphasis on enhancing organizational effectiveness. Topics include: individual differences, work teams, motivation, communication, leadership, conflict resolution, organizational culture, and organizational change. (This class is restricted to undergraduate students with at least 2nd year standing.) Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring, Summer).

Design thinking is a process that aids collaboration among designers, technologists, and business professionals. The process provides a structured creative process for discovering and developing products, services, and systems for profit and non-profit applications. Students will apply a wide range of design tools in a hands-on project. Topics include problem-framing, end-user research, visualization, methods for creative idea generation, and prototyping. (This class is restricted to undergraduate students with at least 3rd year standing.) Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring).

An introduction to the field of marketing, stressing its role in the organization and society. Emphasis is on determining customer needs and wants and how the marketer can satisfy those needs through the controllable marketing variables of product, price, promotion and distribution. (This class is restricted to undergraduate students with at least 2nd year standing.) Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring, Summer).

Internet marketing is critical to an organization's overall strategy. This course focuses on tactics and strategies that enable marketers to fully leverage the internet. Topics include the overall internet marketing landscape, technologies, customer segmenting and targeting, search, analytics and emerging internet-marketing platforms. (Prerequisites: MKTG-230 or NBUS-227 or equivalent course.) Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring).