FEATURE
PAPER
Teaching
Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Creativity Using Student
Self-Selcted Change Management Projects
The
following paper was presented at the 2006 USASBE Conference.
It was written by James D. Bell of Texas State University.
Abstract
A
recent book, Ideas Are Free: How the Idea Revolution is Liberating
People and Transforming Organizations, highlighted in the
AMA Review stated: "another tactic that can
help employees ‘get …more and better ideas’ to solve problems or take advantage
of opportunities is the self-discipline of sharpening their senses by becoming
alert to details and understanding the meaning reflected by details. Ways to
increase employee’ degree of alertness include having them record observations—particularly
exceptions; conduct in-depth research; take time to study problems and potential
opportunities; maintain a keen awareness of the ongoing changes in their environment;
and realize ‘that every change—whether initiated inside
the organization or outside—can create either the opportunity or the need for
a further change’." (B. Hayden & Sheets, AMA Review, 2005, 639-641).
This
paper describes and discusses results of a course taught
over two years to non-business freshman and sophomore honors
students where entrepreneurship, innovation and effecting
change was the course focus. In addition to providing background
information relevant to professors interested in offering
a similar course, deliverables, outcomes, and a course syllabus
web site link will be shared.
Introduction
Is entrepreneurship "more
than" starting and running businesses? Do entrepreneurs exist
in private AND public arenas? Are students in all majors,
inherently focused on success, longing to make a difference,
and interested in entrepreneurship? This paper provides strategy
and
details as to how courses in entrepreneurship may be "modified" and targeted
to non-business majors on any campus. Specifically, a successful Studies in Entrepreneurship
course, housed in the College of Business Administration, was modified by changing
the course deliverable from
writing a business plan to "effecting and instituting" change on campus. Further,
a University
Honors Program (>600 students are enrolled in this campus program) offered and
promoted the
course, which was "targeted" to non-business freshmen and sophomores.
So What
Issue: Over the past two years, an entrepreneurship course
has been modified, offered, and taught to non-business honors
students; but instead of creating business plans or working
with case studies or simulations, effecting campus change
management to projects is the course focus. This paper describes
and discusses results that emphasize a method of teaching
innovation and creativity as well as introducing the concept
of entrepreneurship to very smart, motivated students. Since
there are over 700 official Honors Programs (National Collegiate
Honors Association {NCHA}) in the United States and Canada,
where 95 % of the students are nonbusiness majors and 99%
of these bright students (gpa’s >3.5) will never take a course
in entrepreneurship, this paper should be of interest to
USASBE members.
Read
the Entire Paper...
TIP
OF THE WEEK
Cost
Containment and Value-Driven Retailing
With a
cost-containment approach, retailers strive to hold down
both initial investments and operating costs. Many firms
use this strategy because of intense competition from discounters,
the need to control complicated chain or franchise operations,
high land and construction costs, the volatility of the economy,
and a desire to maximize productivity. Today, "retailers
are examining every aspect of their businesses in order to
streamline processes and costs."
Cost containment
can be accomplished through one or more of these approaches:
• Standardizing
operating procedures, store layouts, store size, and product
offerings.
•
Using secondary locations, freestanding units,
and locations in older strip centers and
by occupying sites abandoned by others (second-use
locations).
• Placing stores in smaller communities where building regulations are less strict,
labor costs are lower, and construction and operating costs are reduced.
•
Using inexpensive construction materials, such as bare cinder-block
walls and concrete floors.
•
Using plainer fixtures and lower-cost displays.
•
Buying refurbished equipment.
•
Joining cooperative buying and advertising groups.
•
Encouraging manufacturers to finance inventories.
A driving
force behind cost containment is the quest to provide good
value to customers. Value remains a retailing buzzword. The
word's meaning, however, is subjective; it can mean price,
quality, service, convenience, or a combination thereof.
Price clearly pays a big role in what consumers buy and where
they buy it. Indeed, retailers' pricing policies - particularly
those of discounters - have encouraged consumers to shop
for bargains and to distrust traditional sales and sale prices.
Pragmatic consumers have discovered they can get reasonable
quality at everyday low prices. Price is no longer an accurate
reflection of value.
| Barry
Berman & Joel R. Evans Retail Management: A Strategic
Approach 10th Edition. Pearson Prentice Hall Upper
Saddle River, NJ. 2007. p135-136. |
|
CONFERENCES
Conference
Organising Committee
|
| Who: |
Conference
Organising Committee
|
| What: |
The
Transformations Conference 2006
|
| Where: |
Australian
National University, Canberra, Australia |
| When: |
November
27-29, 2006 |
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|
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IPSI
|
| Who: |
Internet,
Processing, Systems, and Interdisciplinary (Research)
|
| What: |
IPSI
2006 - Slovenia
|
| Where: |
Lake
Bled, Slovenia |
| When: |
November
30-December 3, 2006 |
|
|
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SES
|
| Who: |
Search
Engine Strategies - Incisive Media
|
| What: |
Search
Engine Marketing & Optimization
|
| Where: |
Hilton
Chicago - Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| When: |
December
4-7, 2006 |
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AACSB
|
| Who: |
AACSB
Communications
|
| What: |
Lessons
for Aspiring Deans Seminar
|
| Where: |
Charlotte,
North Carolina, USA |
| When: |
December
9-10, 2006 |
|
|
|
ICSB
|
| Who: |
International
Council for Small Business (ICSB)
|
| What: |
World
Conference
|
| Where: |
Turku,
Finland |
| When: |
June
13-15, 2007 |
|
|
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CALLS FOR PAPERS
CIJM
|
| Who: |
Cyprus
International Journal of Management |
| What: |
11th
volume, No.1, Autumn 2006 of the Cyprus International
Journal of Management
|
| Where: |
N/A |
| When: |
May
24-27, 2007 |
Submission
Deadline:
November 30, 2006
|
|
|
|
HIC
|
| Who: |
Hawaii
International Conference
|
| What: |
7th
Annual Hawaii International Conference on Business
|
| Where: |
Waikiki
Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, Honolulu Hawaii,
USA |
| When: |
May
24-27, 2007 |
Submission
Deadline:
January 19, 2007
|
|
|
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IFERA
|
| Who: |
International
Family Enterprise Research Academy
|
| What: |
7th
Annual IFERA Conference 2007
|
| Where: |
European
Business School, Oestrich-Winkel, Germany |
| When: |
June
20-23, 2007 |
Submission
Deadline:
February 10, 2007
|
|
|
|
FHSU
|
| Who: |
Fort
Hays State University
|
| What: |
Annual
Business and Leadership Symposium 2007
|
| Where: |
Hays,
Kansas |
| When: |
September
26-27, 2007 |
Submission
Deadline:
September 17, 2007
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