Have a look at the students from 1997:

Web Page:

Please check out my Web Page as soon as possible. My Home Page at UNC

Goals of the Seminar:

The goal of the seminar is to introduce you to an evolutionary perspective on entrepreneurship. We will study the process by which new organizations and new industries come into existence. We will also study the importance of social networks in organizational entrepreneurship, and conduct a survey of the social networks small and medium sized business owners. Finally, we will consider the importance of human resource management in startups.

Teaching Methods:

My teaching method involves active learning and cooperative groups, rather than lecturing. In class, we will discuss the readings assigned for the day, often breaking into groups to carry out an exercise or role play on the issues.

Before the Class Begins:

To prepare for the class, please read:

Gabriele Wiedenmayer, Howard E. Aldrich, and Udo H. Staber. 1995. "Von Gründerpersonen zu Gründungstraten: Organisationsgründungen aus Populationsökologischer Sicht." Die Betriebswirtschaft, 55, 2 (März/April): 221-236.

To see what resources are available for studying entrepreneurship, please go to my web site and follow the hyperlinks on this page: Entrepreneurship Links

Plan of the Course:

We will meet each day in the morning from 10 am to noon, and then in the afternoon from 2 pm to 5 pm. We will start promptly at 10 am, so please arrange your schedule so that you arrive at the classroom before 10 am. (Check bus and tram schedules, arrange for a ride, and so forth.) We will take a short break at the end of each hour. Thursday you will meet in your teams to work on your papers, and so we won't meet at the university on that day.

Readings:

Please pick up a copy of the readings from Dr. Mugler's Institute. The book chapters are NEW for this year. Last year's book chapters won't work! So, please get the new ones from Dr. Mugler's Institute.

Reading assignments are listed below.

Our daily schedule is as follows:

May 11^th, Monday:

READ: Aldrich, "Emergence: New Organizations," Chapter 3 from Organizations Evolving.

Lessons: Morning: Who are entrepreneurs and what do they do?

Afternoon: (1) How difficult is the startup process in Vienna?

(we will do a field work assignment on this question.)

(2) Under what conditions do people move from nascent entrepreneurs to business owners?

May 12^th, Tuesday:

READ: (1) Aldrich, "Chapter 8: New Populations," Chapter from Organizations Evolving.

(2) Howard E. Aldrich and Amanda Brickman Elam. 1997. "A Guide to Effective Networking for Entrepreneurs." In Sue Birley and Dan Myzuka, editors, Managing Enterprise. London: Pitman.

Lessons: Morning: Where do new populations come from?

Afternoon: (1) Why are social networks important in organizational foundings?

(2) Preparation for social network survey. We will prepare questionnaires, and then each student will survey 2 or 3 Viennese business owners. We will analyze the data on Wednesday.

May 13^th, Wednesday:

READ: Tables of survey results from previous years

Lessons: Morning: Meet in PC Room 2, Main Building. Complete interviews & meet in teams to code data. Enter data into database/spreadsheet form for sharing among ALL teams. Each team should have ALL the data from every interview.

Afternoon: Work on reports, in teams, for presentation on Friday morning

May 14^th, Thursday:

WORK ON PAPERS TODAY, in team. Meet wherever you like! No class meeting at the university.

May 15^th, Friday:

READ: Aldrich, "Boundaries," Chapter 4 from Organizations Evolving.

Lessons: Morning: Present reports from survey results. Use tables and graphs. Show them with the overhead projector.

Afternoon: Human resource management practices & startup success

Evaluation and Assessment:

You will be evaluated on the basis of your contributions in class, your contributions to team work, and the quality of your Friday report.