Entrepreneurship & Innovation Minor

About Our Minor

Entrepreneurs are extremely important to society. They spur economic growth, add to national income, drive innovation, enable new markets, and create social change. Great entrepreneurs have the ability to change the way we live and work. Entrepreneurship and innovation is an essential skill for the future for three key reasons:

  1. The ability to identify opportunities and innovative ideas capable of transforming the world is sought after by companies looking to grow.
  2. The cultivation of an idea into a commercially successful and sustainable business requires knowledge of specific tools used in testing and validation.
  3. Innovations that drive change are likely to be resisted by existing managers of established organizations or competitors. Managing this process requires unique communication skills in order to gain legitimacy in the market place.

Students who finish the 15 credit-hour curriculum will receive the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Minor upon completion of their bachelor's degree.

See Course Listings in the MU Course Catalog

Career Paths in Entrepreneurship

  • Starting Your Own Business
  • Joining a Startup Company
  • Sales
  • Marketing
  • Finance
  • Tech Analysts 
  • Analytics & Data Management

Are you eligible?

 

This Entrepreneurship Minor is available to all University of Missouri undergraduate degree-seeking students.

 

Click Here to Apply Now

Required Core Course

(3 CREDIT HOURS) - CHOOSE ONE

 

An introductory course designed to provide a solid foundation of the role of entrepreneurship. The focus is on the creation of new ventures, the decisions leading to their development, and the factors that lead to their success.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
ABM 3283: FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Introduce students to entrepreneurial way of thinking. Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking about identifying/creating opportunities and transforming those opportunities into new businesses, new institutions, or solutions to problems. Students will participate in the process of formulating and evaluating solutions to problems and identifying and exploiting opportunities.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: ABM 1041 or ECONOM 1014 and ACCTCY 2036 or ACCTCY 2026. Restricted to Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management majors during early registration

 

T_A_M 3800: RETAIL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

This course covers the fundamental principles and practices of retail entrepreneurship. Students will learn how to identify opportunities, analyze the competitive marketplace, and propose new retail entrepreneurial business ventures for both online and offline environments. 

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours

Experiential Core

(6 CREDIT HOURS) - CHOOSE TWO

This course introduces a wide range of entrepreneurial concepts, most of which will be explored more deeply in advanced courses in the entrepreneurship and innovation management minor. Students learn about attitudes and aptitudes that are highly associated with entrepreneurial and innovation behaviors including working effectively in teams under deadline pressure. Processes for opportunity identification and recognition, working under severe resource constraints, identifying and testing key assumptions about business models, prototyping, and innovation diffusion are explored. Students will engage in experiential exercises in the field to learn more about these principles and processes. Students are encouraged to meet with and learn from real entrepreneurs through selected assignments.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours

 

The course will engage students in experiences that develop entrepreneurial characteristics such as a passion for business, tenacity despite failure, self-determination, management of risk, self-confidence, creating opportunities, creativity, initiative, and detail orientation. The product of this course intends to be a well-prepared student-entrepreneur fully confident to launch a thought-out business model.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours

The Design Thinking for New Business Innovation course is ideally taken as the second course in a three course sequence (sequencing of courses is not required). Students, working in teams, first learn how to recognize potential opportunities in a range of business contexts (MANGMT 4700). Next, students learn how to identify meaningful issues for customers in a more focused context, how to generate multiple solutions and form these into cohesive business concepts, and how to carefully test for feasible value with potential customers using rough prototypes (this course). Finally, students learn how to develop a comprehensive business plan in areas like operations, marketing, finance, and human resources based on a business model concept for a given industry (MANGMT 4730). Such a detailed plan can used to appeal to potential funding sources and serves as a guide for strategic action by a new venture. This course, as the middle course, bridges into the domains of both of the other two courses to give students a flavor for what can be learned in both.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours

This course aims to introduce students to a specific area of consulting, being that of assisting entrepreneurs and inventors to create new ventures. Assisting others in creating new ventures is very different from creating your own business or consulting to established companies and facilitators are required to take different actions depending on the situation. In this course students will work directly with aspiring entrepreneurs and/or investors and be guided through the process of conducting an entrepreneurial human and social capital analysis, before conducting an in-depth audit of resources available to the entrepreneur that will fill identified gaps. In the second half of the course, students work with the entrepreneur/inventor and other relevant resource providers in a structured and disciplined manner using a design-innovation process that has been shown to dramatically increasing the probability of creating a successful innovation.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
FINANC 4840: ANGEL CAPITAL EDUCATION PROGRAM

Hands-on experiential investing in start-up enterprises from sourcing, evaluating, and investing to monitoring those investments. Students will learn about angel and venture capital investment strategies, perform pre-screening duties, complete due diligence, structure investment contracts, and monitor portfolio holdings. Graded on A-F basis only. Repeat course is allowed, participating two semesters is preferred. Application to the program is required.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: Instructor Consent
  • Course can be repeated up to 6 credit hours but only 3 credit hours can apply towards the Entrepreneurship Minor

 

BUS_AD 4500: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM - INTERNSHIP

This course is designed to help students practice professional core competencies in the workplace. Students will secure a professional-level work experience and apply classroom knowledge and interpersonal skills. This course is a graduation requirement for students seeking the BSBA degree. Graded on S/U basis only.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: Restricted to Upper Level Business Majors only who have had their internship approved by the BA 4500 Coordinator. To apply for BA 4500, click here
  • Approval Process:
    • Please email businessminor@missouri.edu to see if your BA 4500 credit can count towards the Entrepreneurship Minor.
    • No more than three credit hours total of internship credit can be counted toward the minor.

 

MANGMT 4940: PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT INTERNSHIP

Provides experience with management activities in business organizations (or, occasionally, in a governmental or not-for-profit setting). Students are required to prepare and execute a plan of study approved by the instructor and to complete written assignments detailed in the plan. Graded on S/U basis only.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: Internship Coordinator's consent. To see if you're eligible to enroll in MANGMT 4940, please email management@missouri.edu
  • Approval Process:
    • Please email businessminor@missouri.edu to see if your MANGMT 4940 credit can count towards the Entrepreneurship Minor.
    • No more than three credit hours total of internship credit can be counted toward the minor.

 

JOURN 4246: TAKING PEOPLE WITH YOU: ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP & INNOVATION

In this course, students explore the current landscape of entrepreneurship (with specific reference to the strategic communication space) and practice a human-centered approach to solving problems. Students will gain valuable leadership skills and develop the knowledge and mindset needed to pursue their own entrepreneurial ventures or to become innovators and "intrapreneurs" within existing organizations.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: Restricted to Journalism majors only

 

JOURN 4444: TEAM-BASED MOBILE DEVICE APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

This is a multi-disciplinary, team-based course on developing applications for mobile devices. Teams will be comprised of students who are software developers and students who are designers.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: JOURN 4804 or JOURN 4204 or JOURN 4306 or JOURN 4450

 

JOURN 4734: JOURNALISM & CHAOS - HOW TO UNDERSTAND & COVER 21ST CENTURY BUSINESS MODELS

The purpose of this class is to explore alternative business/journalism models that can be grown from the rib of the traditional newsroom.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: C- or higher in JOURN 4180 or JOURN 4200

 

JOURN 4736: CHANGING MEDIA BUSINESS MODELS

Analysis of the economic changes in news media industry. Explore concepts and theories of monetizing media. Hands-on experience in creating innovations in media business models.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: C- or higher in JOURN 4180 or JOURN 4200

 

ABM 4940: INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Combines study, observation, and employment in a public agency or private firm in marketing, farm management, or credit. Staff supervision and evaluation. Reports required.

Course Details:

  • 1-3 Credit Hours
  • No more than three credit hours total of internship credit can be counted toward the minor.

 

ARCHST 4940: INTERNSHIP IN ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

Field experience in design under professional and educational supervision.

Course Details:

  • 1-4 Credit Hours
  • No more than three credit hours total of internship credit can be counted toward the minor.

 

MUS_GENL 4540: MUSIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP PRACTICUM

Students either A) design and execute an entrepreneurial music leadership project in the community, or B) complete an internship (and accompanying report) with an approved partner organization, supervised by the instructor.

Course Details:

  • 1-2 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisite: MUS_GENL 4510, sophomore standing or instructor's consent
  • No more than three credit hours total of internship credit can be counted toward the minor.

 

T_A_M 4949: FIELD TRAINING IN TEXTILES & APPAREL MANAGEMENT

Practical aspects of internship experience coordinated with the university curriculum. Available for various areas of emphasis. Students may have up to 3 hours for any one internship experience and with a total maximum of 6 hours.

Course Details:

  • 1-3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: 2.5 GPA, T_A_M 2120, or instructor's consent
  • No more than three credit hours total of internship credit can be counted toward the minor.

ELECTIVES

(6 CREDIT HOURS) - CHOOSE TWO

Any one 2000+ level Accounting course will be accepted towards the Entrepreneurship Minor. 

This course teaches a structured approach to bulletproof problem-solving. Designed as a foundation course for students interested in consulting, it is also for those that want to learn to think like a consultant. Strategies for approaching problems and clients are introduced as well as frameworks for investigation and analysis. The majority of class work involves casework, completed in teams, on the practical application of diagnostic, communication and problem-resolution tools as they would present in a client/employer environment

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisite: Junior Standing 

This course deals with critical thinking, logic, emotional intelligence, ethics and a problem solving/decision making frame in the context of the entrepreneurial business phases: opportunity identification; launch after gathering resources; managing growth and harvesting rewards.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisite or Corequisites: MANGMT 3000, MANGMT 3000H, MANGMT 3000W, or MANGMT 3000HW

Analysis of the major functional areas of the start-up firm including accounting, finance, human resources, information systems, logistics, management, marketing, production/operations, purchasing and sales. Focus is also placed on generating ideas, scanning for environmental trends, and critically evaluating opportunities.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours

Methods and tools employed by salespeople and field sales managers; emphasis on underlying behavioral and quantitative theory.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: MRKTNG 3000

Strategic and managerial challenges and issues related to use of the Internet and other electronic channels as marketing tools.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: MRKTNG 3000
ABM 3224W: NEW PRODUCTS MARKETING - WRITING INTENSIVE

Learning experience to develop skills in marketing new agriculture products. To include market analysis, goals and objectives, action plan, financial evaluation and monitoring and measurement. In small groups, students will develop complete marketing plan for a new product.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: ABM 1041 or ECONOM 1014
ABM 4983W: STRATEGIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN AGRI-FOOD - WRITING INTENSIVE

Strategic entrepreneurship is the search for opportunities to generate income streams from innovation, development of new markets, and altering the rivalry positions in existing markets.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: ABM 3283 and ABM 3282 or FINANC 3000
ARCHST 4710: DESIGN BUSINESS PRACTICES

Analysis of basic professional, human, and business skills necessary for the successful design practice. Studio work in development of portfolio and self-marketing materials with refinement through critiques.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites or Co-requisites: ARCHST 4814 or ARCHST 4824
MUS_GENL 4512: PRINCIPLES OF ARTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP

This course provides a solid foundation on the core principles of entrepreneurial practice. The focus here is on the development, creation, and implementation of new arts ventures. Students will identify career objectives and develop a framework for achieving it. In addition, students will receive an in-depth survey of the commercial arts industry world, with emphasis on career opportunities within the music recording, performing, music retail, and music management sectors.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
MUS_GENL 4514: ARTS ENGAGEMENT 

This course introduces undergraduate and graduate students to the broad field of community engagement in the arts. Students will explore case studies of community arts engagement within US contexts, examine how arts engagement can foster economic and cultural growth, and explore creative placemaking as a kind of community arts engagement. The course culminates with students proposing a creative placemaking project that to draws on each student's arts background, creative and/or research interests, and works in dialogue with the needs and assets of a particular community.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: MUS_GENL 4510; Sophomore standing or instructor's consent
JOURN 4150: USING INFOGRAPHICS

An introduction to the various types of information graphics and how each can be used effectively to help explain the news. Additional emphasis on generating graphic ideas and on the specific challenges of gathering information for graphics.

Course Details:

  • 1 Credit Hour
  • Pre-requisites: instructor's consent required. Restricted to Journalism and Science and Agricultural Journalism majors only
JOURN 4212: SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT PROMOTION

Course focuses on the role that research, sponsorship, advertising, public relations, social media, positioning, target marketing, psychographics, and other strategic communication processes play in the promotion of the sports and entertainment industry. The course will critically analyze and examine how chief executive officers of sport and entertainment organizations choose, maintain, or redirect their promotion strategies and activities to help achieve organization missions, encourage tickets sales, and attract large audiences.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: JOURN 4204 and JOURN 4952 with C- or higher
JOURN 4213: STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION MOBILE SPORTS PRODUCTION

This class is designed to prepare Strategic Communication students for vital new positions in the world of sports marketing with the emphasis on video productions, strategic planning, and strategic dissemination of video content via multiple media, channels and platforms.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: C- or higher in JOURN 4180 or JOURN 4204
JOURN 4214: STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION INTEGRATED SPORTS PRODUCTION 

This course will prepare Strategic Communication students for vital new positions in the world of sports marketing with an emphasis on video production, graphics, social media analytics, messaging management and strategic planning. Students will be taught basic information, techniques and strategies necessary for success in these fields. You will be working closely with the Mizzou Sports Network and Strategic Communication faculty from day one.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: JOURN 4204 and JOURN 4952 with a C- or higher
JOURN 4216: MEDIA SALES

Focus of this course is to familiarize students with how to sell a variety of media, including newspaper, radio, television, outdoor, new media, and others.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: JOURN 4200 or JOURN 4180 with a C- or higher
JOURN 4250: MANAGEMENT OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION

How to lead and contribute to strategically sound, highly creative and seamlessly integrated strategic communication on the agency or client side of the business. Directly relevant to agency account management and account planning, as well as client career paths.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: JOURN 4204 and JOURN 4952 with a C- or higher. 
JOURN 4252: BRANDED STRATEGIC STORYTELLING

This course for Strategic Communication students integrates digital and content marketing planning and operational methodologies designed to deepen students' knowledge of content creation, distribution strategies and audience engagement.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: JOURN 4204 and JOURN 4952 with a C- or higher
JOURN 4254: TOOLS, TECHNIQUES & TECHNOLOGY OF VISUAL STORYTELLING

In this course, students will learn how to professionally shoot and strategically edit video, visuals and textual content, strategize how to publish that content on owned media and social media platforms, utilize tools like GoPro and Drone technology, and even VR/AR and 360 attachments to make content that is more immersive, influential, impactful and persuasive.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: JOURN 4200 with a C- or higher
JOURN 4375: DOCUMENTARY BUSINESS & THE PUBLIC SPHERE

Whether it be through contract employment, freelancing, or independent production, creating documentaries requires a knowledge of professional and business practices that differ from many other parts of journalism. The course will introduce important concepts related to the development and production of documentary work, as well as the public distribution of that work. Students will research the industry and develop skills to manage business and professional relationships with the documentary world. Students will build and maintain personal branding materials.

Course Details:

  • 2 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: JOURN 4564
JOURN 4464: MAGAZINES ACROSS PLATFORMS

As digital editors for Vox Magazine, students manage and create content for Vox's digital platforms, including its WordPress website, blog, social media accounts and award-winning iPad app. Students also work with analytics, engagement and multimedia.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: Consent of instructor required
JOURN 4502: MULTIMEDIA PLANNING & DESIGN

Class covers the basics of web design - Storyboarding, navigation, information architecture, reader behavior, usability studies - as they relate to journalistic stories and persuasive messages.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: C- or better in JOURN 4180 or JOURN 4200
JOURN 4700: ENGAGED JOURNALISM

The relationship between journalists and their audiences is evolving. How can we reach out to communities in an authentic way? How we ethically navigate being an individual participant and a journalist? How can we be in a conversation rather than a monologue? How can we invite the community into our processes and our products? In this course, we look at how a collaborative culture is changing journalism, and how journalists can take part.

Course Details:

  • 1-3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: Missouri Online/Distance students only
JOURN 4820: SOCIAL MEDIA & AUDIENCE STRATEGY 

With tech companies controlling the distribution game, journalists and strategic communicators are often left to play cat and mouse. There are some tricks you can master, though, to stay competitive. Students will learn how algorithms work and how to create content designed to rank highly, while encouraging engagement and interaction with your audience. They'll learn how to read and understand analytics to spot trends in web and social traffic, how to develop a strategy steeped in data.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: C- or higher in JOURN 4180 or C- or higher in JOURN 4200
JOURN 4824: APPLIED PRACTICE IN SOCIAL MEDIA & AUDIENCE STRATEGY 

This course offers students hands-on experience in developing an audience through on- going engagement efforts. Students will build on past experiences as they develop skills and expertise in interpreting web and social media analytics, and apply them to build a strategy to connect readers, viewers, and customers to a brand. There will be weekly shifts at the Missouri School of Journalism's professional newsrooms and agencies, where students will carry out the work of managing social media accounts, planning and running face-to-face events, and experimenting with content creation and writing for various platforms to establish new best practices.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: C- or higher in JOURN 4820; Restricted to Journalism majors
JOURN 4970W: STRATEGIC CAMPAIGNS - WRITING INTENSIVE

This capstone course, gives students a hands-on opportunity to use their skills and apply strategic communication learning to a real client situation. To be taken final semester. Application required for Mojo Ad section and will include additional leadership responsibilities.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: JOURN 4204 and JOURN 4952 with a C- or better. Consent of Instructor required
JOURN 4992: INNOVATION & AUDIENCE OUTREACH IN CONVERGED MEDIA

Capstone course brings together the reporting, editing, audience focus, management and marketing skills gained in previous journalism courses. Students evaluate audiences and sustainability for journalistic content, applications, products and experiences and plan, produce and promote internal and external projects.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: C- or higher in JOURN 4300 or JOURN 4490 or JOURN 4560 or JOURN 4824 or JOURN 4832 or JOURN 4952
JOURN 4994: MAGAZINE PUBLISHING

This capstone experience explores key components and recent trends in the magazine industry. The primary focus is creating a magazine prototype that includes conceptualizing ideas and editorial for new titles, as well as business plans for advertising, circulation, finance and production. The course follows a nuts and bolts, learn-by-doing approach to how these components work together and influence one another.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: C- or better in JOURN 4490 or JOURN 4832, or C- or higher in JOURN 4408 and JOURN 4410, JOURN 4416 or JOURN 4360
JOURN 4978: MEDIA MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP

Dramatic changes in technology and the media's role in converging technologies require new management and leadership techniques and paradigms. Students will write case examining these changes.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: C- or better in JOURN 4304 or JOURN 4490 or JOURN 4560 or JOURN 4824 or JOURN 4832 or JOURN 4952
JOURN 4984: MAGAZINE STAFF 

This course provides hands-on experience serving as an editor on a magazine staff. Students are department editors for Vox Magazine and learn how to take a story from an idea through story creation and production and to the printed page, as well as best practices for executing that idea across multiple platforms. Students learn about pitching, working with writers, designers and photographers, editing for content and style, successful story packaging and team collaboration.

Course Details:

  • 3 Credit Hours
  • Pre-requisites: C- or better in JOURN 4490 or JOURN 4832, or C- or higher in JOURN 4408 and JOURN 4410, JOURN 4416

Note: At least 6 of the required 15 credit hours must be taken from Management designated course numbers from the above approved course list.

CONTACT US

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Image: Truman Tiger
businessminor@missouri.edu

Undergraduate Business Advising Office

Non-business students can meet with an on-call advisor about the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Minor most weekdays from 10:00 a.m. -11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. in 111 Cornell Hall.