Hi Lia!
Yes, Wharton is surprisingly entrepreneurial and I say that because everyone tends to think of the school as traditional and finance-focused. Not true!
My experience so far has been quite positive. My opinion of entrepreneurship is more guided by the personalities involved than the courses offered. In this respect, Wharton is great -- the Wharton Entrepreneurial Program (WEP)(http://www.wep.wharton.upenn.edu/wep/) is headed by Profs. MacMillan and Amit, both outstanding personalities in the field of entrepreneurship. There is also a shadow cast of guys like Jimmy Thompson and Steve Wormald who do an outstanding job behind the scenes and who are always keen to listen to your ideas and think strategy with you. Check out the pasted comments from the WEP website at the bottom of this msg.
As I said, my opinion is that entrepreneurship is about people and ideas more so than classes and academia, and the cast at Wharton is truly unique but very much "under the radar" i.e. low profile, deliberately so! This doesn't mean that things like marketing research aren't important (they are, critically so!) but rather that they will only confirm your suspicions about something. After all, the entrepreneur sees opportunity where others do not, hence by definition is unlikely to listen to doctrine or reasoning! (Sorry, that's my pig-headed stubborness coming out)
The topic of innovation is more of an underlying theme in many classes, including entrepreneurial ones. You will find Lori Rosenkopf's MGMT802 course on "Innovation, Change, and Entrepreneurial Management" to your liking. This is an excerpt from the MGMT802 syllabus:
This core bracket course will expose you to a mix of approaches and techniques that promote innovative thinking and entrepreneurial behavior in organizations. The first half of the course examines how patterns of change in technologies and industries create both opportunities and threats for existing firms and entrepreneurs. Theoretical models and actual examples emphasize how technological and organizational systems are key components of an "entrepreneurial mindset". The second half of the course focuses on tactics and strategies that encourage innovation and entrepreneurship within (and between) organizations. Cases and articles highlight critical success factors for both new and established firms, and also how interorganizational activities shape markets and opportunities. Two guest speakers will visit to supplement our discussion and to promote interaction with practicing managers.
There are of course other offerings like MGMT801 "Entrepreneurship and Venture Initiation" that focus on getting a business off the ground but which are also intimately tied to innovation. Check out http://www.management.wharton.upenn.edu/CourseScreens/CourseSchedule.htm for more information, let me know if you have any problems with accessing the website.
Hope this all helps,
Alex K.
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From the WEP website
Dr. Ian C. MacMillan, the Fred R. Sullivan Professor; Professor of Management, was named Executive Director of the Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Center in 1987. Dr. Raphael Amit joined Wharton in 1999 as Academic Director, Goergen Entrepreneurial Management Programs. Professors MacMillan and Amit are internationally-recognized researchers and consultants in entrepreneurship and strategic management.
Other Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs activities include the Wharton Business Plan Competition, the Journal of Business Venturing, the Family-Controlled Corporation Program, the Venture Initiation Program (an “accelerator” facility) and a Small Business Development Center (SBDC). In addition to the Wharton SBDC, the operations of all 16 Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers are supervised through Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs.
Under Professors MacMillan and Amit’s leadership, Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs has developed and is expanding an extensive array of international programs and initiatives. As countries around the world turn toward a free-market economy, Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs recognizes both a responsibility and an opportunity to support the emergence of entrepreneurship globally.
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Hey, 2nd-year at Wharton here. Glad to hear the message is FINALLY sinking in that Wharton is a leadership school not simply a Finance school. Besides the required Leadership course, (an an Advanced course for second years) we offer a number of ways to develop your leadership skills at Wharton, including:
1. The Leadership Fellows: interested people can apply to be TA's for the leadership class and act as mentors for the first years. There are a million tasks the Fellows head up, but one of the most well-known is running the required leadership retreat in pre-term, where everyone heads to the Catskills to meet their learning team members and work on their teamwork and presentation skills.
2. The Leadership Development Club: organizes workshops, provides an alumni mentoring network, and helps coordinate the "Leadership Lecture Series", our series of well-known speakers that come to campus (last year we had Jack Welch, etc.).
3. WILL: The Wharton Initiative for Leadership Learning: an experimental program that kicked off this year. Hoping to expand next year. This program is faculty-guided, and helps entering students develop their leadership skills through a framework of self-reflection and peer-coaching. They also work on building their networks and seeing the process of leadership development as a lifetime, not simply a two-year, commitment.
4. The Leadership Ventures: the most famous of our leadership initiatives, this program is run by Professor Mike Useem, author of several well-known books on Leadership and head of the Center for Leadership and Change at Wharton. This is the program in which students engage in "experiential learning" at places like Gettysburg, Mt. Everest, and even Marine training at Quantico, in order to delve deeply into the practice of leadership. Really fun program . . . I did Gettysburg and had a blast.
Hope this helps! If you want to develop yourself as a leader, I really believe that there is no b-school with the range and depth of offerings on the subject. Then again . . . I'm a bit biased! :-)
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