Growth Strategy Practicum (STRT-615-0) While much media hype continues to focus on "launching" new ventures, real value is created in actually "growing" them. The Growth Strategy Practicum course is targeted at students who wish to develop their business execution skills by working on a real-life project with a growth-stage enterprise, putting their knowledge and skills to work to benefit an existing business. The course will be especially beneficial to students who aspire to:
- Join a fast-growing enterprise in a senior management role
- Acquire an existing business with a view toward rapid enterprise value growth
- Execute growth initiatives in the context of a family-owned business
Student teams will be assigned to strategically-important projects with Chicago-area companies and will work with guidance from faculty and selected mentors. Teams will meet with their clients three times (during class sessions) for collaboration, presentation, and feedback. Other class sessions will be devoted to exploration of topics relevant to running a growing business, including strategy, finance, marketing, and team building.
Field Study (STRT-498-5) Field Studies include those opportunities outside of the regular curriculum in which a student is working with an outside company or non-profit organization to address a real-world business challenge for course credit under the oversight of a faculty member.
Field Study (STRT-498-0) Field Studies include those opportunities outside of the regular curriculum in which a student is working with an outside company or non-profit organization to address a real-world business challenge for course credit under the oversight of a faculty member.
Strategy/Management Practicum (ENTRM-920-0) The Strategy/Management Practicum is an experiential course designed to give students a realistic virtual immersion in leading and managing a business, along with a set of practical tools and frameworks applied in real business settings. Curriculum will revolve around team participation in an immersive learning platform called Capstone 2.0. Teams will compete by analyzing the market, crafting a strategy, and then executing via a series of key decisions across eight “years†in four functional areas: Research & Development, Production, Marketing/Sales, and Finance. Progress will be measured via a “balanced scorecard†consisting of financial, customer satisfaction, and business process metrics, and results from each round will be discussed and analyzed in class. The simulation will be supplemented with content, discussion, and practical exercises covering strategy, marketing, operations, and finance. Course session will also include early-stage and mid-market investors and business leaders who can speak to decision making and management issues in a very specific way. There will also be a field visit to a local company to lend ground-level perspective, along with senior management Q&A. Final assessment for the course will be a team presentation to a company “board of directors†outlining decision-making strategy and results of the simulation.
Field Study (ENTR-498-0) Field Studies include those opportunities outside of the regular curriculum in which a student is working with an outside company or non-profit organization to address a real-world business challenge for course credit under the oversight of a faculty member.
