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Within the Marshall
business program, I decided not to take the traditional route of
choosing a "typical" business concentration such as finance,
marketing, or accounting. At the time, I was unsure as to what
business area I wanted to establish a career within and did not want to limit myself to a
particular function...
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Therefore,
I decided to take advantage of a special Marshall School offering that
was, at the time (and still fairly accurate now), only limitedly offered
around the country: an Entrepreneur Program that provides a broad
understanding of all of the general business functions and how they need
to interact with each other...
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[the
usc enterpreneur program's trademark symbol]
At
the time, the goals of this program, which has since been named the Lloyd
Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, were to provide students
with a broad understanding of the field of entrepreneurship and an
introduction to the critical tools necessary to the creation of a
successful new venture. The program was designed to stimulate the
real life activities of entrepreneurs in the start-up stage of a new
venture...
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In
the fall semester, our class focused on the development of a new
venture concept, conducted feasibility studies, and determined if there was
sufficient demand for our particular products and/or services. I was fortunate
enough to be part of the team that received the "Best Feasibility
Study of the Year" for this particular project...
Our
product was an Internet cafe located in the eclectic region of Venice
Beach, CA. The study was designed to test the feasibility of using the Internet, which was "cutting-edge" at the time,
as a tool in
creating a unique atmosphere of innovation and community as a driver for
healthy sales...
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During the
spring semester, students were required to develop a new business
concept and to undertake all of the required actions needed for a complete
business plan...
My
particular business plan was an international venture focused on the
distribution of much-needed pharmaceuticals to China. With China
emerging as an enormous accessible market combined with the country's
limitations in health care, there was, and still is, a strong need for
the increased distribution of high-quality modern medicines...
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The
program featured a team teaching approach using full-time entrepreneur
professors, entrepreneur program
alumni, and members of the advisory council. These entrepreneur
specialists brought a variety of entrepreneurial experiences and
academic expertise to the classroom. In addition, the
program hosted a group of successful entrepreneurs, throughout the year,
to share their experiences with the students...
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prestigious program is consistently termed as 'one of the best
entrepreneurship programs' in the country by various publications such
as Business Week, U.S.
News and World Report, and Success magazine...
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