Language of Business
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Course Descriptions

Entrepreneurial Finance

Entrepreneurial Finance / Building and Managing Entrepreneurial Ventures

Regardless of which career path you choose, a comprehensive understanding of how to build, manage, capitalize and run entrepreneurial ventures is vital.  Applying concepts like finance and strategy are essential ingredients in the “recipe” for business success, too.  No longer can the assumptions underlying financial projections be treated as “black boxes.”  In many cases, the answer is less important than the analytical process used to calculate it.  This course is designed for students who may at some point be interested in pursuing managerial careers in the entrepreneurial sector, and covers the development of financial and business skills to identify, evaluate, start and manage new ventures.  This is primarily a case study based course and each year I develop new content (i.e., cases and readings) exclusively for use in the class.

Course Evaluation Comment: This class was one of the best I took. Thank you! Moreover, debates during the class allow the course to be very dynamic and students felt involved. I really enjoyed the fact that CEO of the firms we were studying through the case studies could come to the class to speak to us.

International Entrepreneurship

International Entrepreneurship

The process of launching a venture, or working for an early-stage company is exciting and also overwhelming.  Operating that same business on an international level brings with it an added level of complexity, exhilaration and, at times, frustration.  Over the course of the semester, we’ll examine more than fifteen countries on five continents, and analyze operations at each stage of the entrepreneurial process.  Some will end up becoming (or already are) public corporations, larger rivals will acquire others, and some will cease operations entirely.  We’ll discuss market entry, forming alliances, negotiations, managing growth and cross-border financing.  Support from local governments, and the cultural, ethical, legal, and human resource issues facing the entrepreneur will also be touched upon. This is primarily a case study based course and each year I develop new content (i.e. cases and readings) exclusively for use in the class.

Course Evaluation Comment: Professor Stoller clearly loves teaching. His energy forces the class to be involved and on their feet. I really enjoy the way we start each class with the discussion questions and it also seemed like Greg had a personal connection or knowledge about all the cases. This course had the most relevant business content of any course I have taken.

Cross Cultural Business

Cross Cultural Business: Organization Theories and Behaviors

The focus of the course will be on identifying opportunities and then building the companies that can compete within them. Case studies will highlight approaches to take in building new ventures that have been started by entrepreneurs using venture capital and other forms of financing and also in building the new ventures that are funded and launched by established firms.  Class discussions will also focus on the challenges facing executives as they live-and-work in another country, operate abroad and / or host international visitors.

Course Evaluation Comment: I really appreciate your lectures and your experience. This course was really interesting and I’m very thankful for your session on living abroad. I often think Americans don’t want to study any other languages because they think that English is sufficient everywhere in the world.

Field-based Coursework

Field-based Coursework: Video, pictures, presentation overviews