Entrepreneurial Leadership: Past, Present, and Future

Course Number 1122

Professor Nancy F. Koehn
Winter, 30 Sessions
Exam
Excludes enrollment in The Coming of Managerial Capitalism (1122)

Career Focus

For MBAs who want to study the past and present to help guide their thinking about their lives, now and in the future.

Educational Objectives

To provide an understanding of the development of modern management and business; to examine other actors that have affected business activity, particularly government agencies and workers; and to analyze the evolution of changing attitudes toward American capitalism and their impact on the environment in which business leaders and other stakeholders operate.

Course Content and Objectives

This course offers students the opportunity to explore the historical development of the most important economic agents and institutions in the United States-its entrepreneurs, workers, corporations, financial markets, political officials, and relevant government bodies-as the country became increasingly industrial, urban, and technologically advanced. The course covers changes in the strategy and structure of organizations, especially the corporation, and shifts in the nature of competition among companies. The course also investigates the development of consumer culture in the United States and new social identities in the wake of widespread technological and economic change. The course traces the evolution of the United States' distinctly "conservative" labor movement, the changing role of government in the country's economy, and the shifting balance of power among business, workers, and other players on the stage of industrial capitalism. Throughout the course, students are encouraged to look at both the individual leader, including the choices he or she made, the path he or she traveled, the values and objectives he or she nurtured, and the larger context in which the entrepreneur acted. The course's perspective provides a broad understanding of the long-term impact of entrepreneurial innovation and market evolution on U.S. business, managers, workers, communities, and government. The history of entrepreneurship and modern business in the United States offers students a comparative point of reference for considering capitalism and its impact across time and national boundaries.

The course is divided into the following units:

Winter 2007

I. Entrepreneurial Leadership in Turbulent Times
II. The Second Industrial Revolution
III. The Impact of Industrialization
IV. Leaders and Market Makers