Entrepreneurship is a vital part of modern business.Entrepreneurial skills are critical for students interested in starting or growing a small business.They are also increasingly driving the success of managers in large corporations, who must identify and pursue new business opportunities in changing technological and consumer landscapes.In large corporations and other institutions many entrepreneurial activities are called business development.Courses such as Innovation Management and New and Small Business Ventures offer students tools to recognize and value new business opportunities, develop and design technology-related new products and services, and effectively start and grow new business ventures or develop new products and services within established corporations.

Whether you are working for an established company or starting a new venture, chances are you will be calling on skills developed in this area of concentration. Students select courses that best meet their educational objectives. Innovation is the process of identifying and driving productive change in organizations and the market. Understanding how innovation unfolds and how it may be managed to strategic advantage are the shared focus of most of this concentration’s courses.

Students concentrating in Entrepreneurship are strongly encouraged to participate in clinics and competitions involving the analysis of “live” opportunities, the development of business plans and the presentation of those plans to outside parties (e.g., venture capital firms). In cooperation of with the UC Davis Office of Research, a select group of scientists and engineers will be enrolled in some of these courses and work alongside MBA students, providing MBA students a unique opportunity to apply their business acumen to projects with cutting-edge technology and enormous commercial potential.

Possible Career Paths

• Startups
• Business Development
• New Product Launch
• Venture Capital

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