The MBA concentration in Venture Consulting is designed to address the ever-increasing needs of a broad base of clients -- large corporations, private equity firms, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurial firms -- who are interested in building value from existing businesses as well as capturing new opportunities that will either enhance their competitive advantage or establish new businesses. Through a mix of coursework and experiential learning, including project participation at the Innovation Accelerator, students build new knowledge and skill sets, acquire market-ready expertise, and work to solve, in real time, complex problems posed by an uncertain and unpredictable business environment. This concentration is designed to respond to the marketplace’s desire to create sustainable value and build new, transformational businesses. Additionally, it is designed to take advantage of the numerous opportunities presented by the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Primary Concentration:
all four courses listed below

MGMT 5634 (334): Opportunity Generation, Assessment, and Promotion
Identifying and pursuing opportunities is a central feature of the entrepreneurial process. But how do opportunities come about? Opportunities are nurtured, starting with the bold pursuit of an innovative idea. This course provides hands-on experience in opportunity development, exposing students to three distinct modules. The first, creativity and innovation, stimulates the flow of ideas. The second, feasibility analysis, runs these ideas through a comprehensive assessment framework. The third module, getting the first customer, focuses on the initial sales and marketing process needed to get the idea off the ground. At the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Identify, evaluate, and shape new business opportunities.
• Effectively present and sell their ideas to critical constituencies.
• Manage the resource constraints associated with launching new ventures.

MGMT 5335 (335): Venture Planning, Management, and Growth
This course presents students with an opportunity to put all of their business skills to the test as they prepare and pitch their business plans. The business plans will concentrate on the fundamentals of building a great business, including the business proposition and the business model. Through a business simulation, students are concurrently placed into a realistic business setting where they start and run a company. Students are given full control of the simulated business and must manage its operations through several decision cycles, challenged with business fundamentals and the interplay between marketing, manufacturing, finance, and accounting, as they manage and grow the business.

MGMT 5223 (383): Managing Innovation and Change
Successful venture consultants must have a well-developed understanding of the challenges, techniques, burdens, and best practices associated with initiating and implementing major changes within organizations. To that end, students will learn both the theory and practice underlying successful organizational change, thereby providing them with the understanding necessary to become effective change agents. The course addresses such topics as assessing organizational effectiveness/performance, fundamental organizational development techniques, change methodologies, individual, group, and organizational change processes, applied research methods for analysis of change problems, process interventions, along with the power and politics of change.

MGMT 5224 (384): Venture Consulting Practicum
The primary goal of the venture consulting practicum is to give students the opportunity to work in real-time, directly with clients (in teams, with faculty mentors) to gain additional hands-on experience in solving the complexities of problems posed by an uncertain and unpredictable business environment. Depending on the client’s needs, the scope of the intervention will likely focus on building value from existing businesses or capturing new opportunities that will either sustain/enhance competitive advantage or establish new transformational businesses. Students will be required to prepare a consulting proposal for the client (scope of work, timeline, etc.), negotiate an end-product with the client, perform the proposed intervention, and prepare a final report and present findings with recommendations to the client for evaluation and critique.