Number. Title (units) [semester]
| L&S5.
Introduction to Entrepreneurship (1) [Fall & Spring] |
| This class will explore the structure and framework of entrepreneurial endeavors - both inside and outside the business world. The course will answer questions such as: What is entrepreneurship? What is opportunity recognition and selection? How can you create and define competitive advantage? This course is designed for freshmen and sophomores who wish to know about entrepreneurship, its importance to our society, and its role in bringing new ideas to market. Students will understand the entrepreneurial business process and how they might become involved in those processes in their future careers - in whatever direction those careers might lead. |
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| 195A.
Entrepreneurship (2) [Spring] |
| Building on the student’s functional subject knowledge, this course explores the underlying successes and failures of entrepreneurship: starting new ventures, writing business plans, acquiring other businesses, and making existing enterprises profitable. As a capstone course for business majors, students will integrate their business studies to work on live projects, while learning the ins and outs of executing practical entrepreneurial activities. Both academic and practical considerations will be included. |
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| 195P.
Perspectives in Entrepreneurship (3) [Fall] |
| This course explores key issues facing entrepreneurs and their businesses. It covers a broad spectrum of topics across many business disciplines including accounting, finance, marketing, organizational behavior, production/quality, technology, etc. The course will give you a keen understanding of both the theoretical and real world tools used by entrepreneurial leaders in achieving success in today's global business environment. The class is conducted in seminar fashion where the instructor and guest speakers address issues facing entrepreneurs in today’s rapidly changing global economy in an interactive way with students. |
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| 195S.
Entrepreneurship to Address Global Poverty (3) [Spring] |
| This campuswide undergraduate course, developed originally with The Blum Center for Developing Economies, offers students insights into whether and how entrepreneurial ventures can make a difference in tackling one of the world’s most urgent and daunting challenges: persistent and pervasive poverty. It integrates guest lectures by distinguished faculty in other departments with expertise in issues such as water, housing, transportation and energy with case studies and conversations with a variety of social entrepreneurs around the world. It is taught by John Danner, Senior Fellow of The Lester Center. |
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| 231. Corporate Finance (3)
[Fall] |
The purpose of MBA 231 is to provide
the requisite analytical skills in the following areas:
project evaluation; financial structure; implementing
accounting-based information into an economic model; and
selected topics in risk management, corporate governance,
executive compensation and corporate takeovers. The first
module explores the question, "Which projects should
we undertake?" The second module considers the optimal
mixture of financing vehicles, which range from simple
instruments such as debt and equity, to more complex instruments,
such as convertible debt and equity warrants. The third
module analyzes how to convert accounting information
into an economic model consistent with maximizing the
firm's value; and the fourth module explores topics such
as whether and how corporations should reduce exposure
to risk, the "optimal" compensation and governance
schemes for executives, in light of potential managerial
"misbehavior" and the use of takeovers as a
means for allocating control of the corporation to those
management teams that can achieve the highest shareholder
return.
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| 262. Brand
Management & Strategy (3) [Spring] |
| The focus of
this course is on formulating and implementing complete
marketing programs for successful brand management. The
main objectives of this course are to 1) introduce students
to important considerations in the understanding, crafting,
measuring and management of brand strategies, and 2) provide
an in-depth understanding of the job of the "typical"
brand manager in marketing consumer and industrial goods/services.
The course will cover brand concepts such as brand identity,
image and equity, as well as issues in crafting (e.g.,
choosing brand elements), measuring (brand equity measurement)
and managing the brand (e.g., brand extensions, brand
repositioning). Finally, the course also provides the
students with some of the quantitative tools that are
helpful to brand managers in analyzing customers and competitors
and guiding them in their strategic and tactical decisions. |
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| 264. High Tech Marketing Management
(3) [Fall] |
| Prerequisites: MBA206.
This course is designed for students who wish to learn
how to develop and execute marketing strategies in technology-intensive
markets -- i.e., environments that are characterized by
shrinking product life cycles and rapid turnovers in the
"amount" of knowledge/information possessed
by key players (firms, customers, competitors). The course
will focus on issues that distinguish technology-intensive
markets from traditional ones.
The objectives of the course are to:
-Provide you with an understanding of the issues faced
by managers involved in technology marketing.
-Equip you with conceptual frameworks to help you make
better technology decisions.
-Help you develop experience in analyzing technology
problems and developing solutions to them.
Representative topics include:
-Technology Adoption Strategy
-Creating Product Concepts and Value Propositions Product
line, Versioning and Compatibility.
-Specialized Strategic Pricing issues such as Usage-based
Pricing Strategies.
-Management of Inter-Generational Transitions.
-Issues in emerging technology industries such as bio-tech. |
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| 290B.1. Biotech Industry Perspectives
and Business Development (2) [Fall] |
| The focus of this course will be on business development in biotechnology, and in particular on the strategic and other issues inherent in partnering the research, development and commercialization of human healthcare products. Experience has shown that biotechnology companies almost inevitably enter into joint ventures, partnerships and other collaborations in order to develop one or more of their products or technologies. We will explore the strategic rationale for such partnerships, both from the perspective of smaller development stage biotechnology companies, and from the perspective of larger biotech or pharmaceutical companies. We will also explore in depth the complex management, financial and other issues which must be considered both when entering into such a partnership, and in managing such a relationship over the relatively long period associated with the development and commercialization of healthcare products. We will begin with a brief discussion of the biotechnology industry and the process by which products move from research through clinical development and the FDA approval process to commercialization. With this background, we will then explore biotech partnering in detail. Topics will include the role of patents and other intellectual property; determining the scope of a collaboration; the significance of manufacturing rights; co-promotion, co-marketing and other commercial arrangements; key financial terms (including upfront fees, milestone payments, royalties, profit sharing, transfer pricing, loans and equity investments); and management of a collaboration, including in particular how decisions are made when the partners cannot agree. Following our consideration of biotech partnering, we will move on to a discussion of mergers and acquisitions. Smaller biotech companies often articulate a business development plan which aims at becoming a successfully integrated pharmaceutical company through mergers and acquisitions. We will explore product acquisitions (the purchase of a single product line or group of related products being divested by another company) as well as corporate mergers and acquisitions (the purchase of an entire company). The focus will be on issues specific to biotech M&A, and in particular on the valuation, timing and other issues associated with consideration by the board of directors of a potential purchase (growth strategy) - or sale (exit strategy) - of a product or company. |
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| 290E. Marketing for High Tech
Entrepreneurs (3) [Fall] |
| This course provides the core marketing skills needed to manage entrepreneurial high technology ventures with an in-depth examination of marketing approaches most likely to succeed for entrepreneurial companies as a function of their markets and technologies. Emphasis is placed on the special requirements for creating and executing marketing programs in a setting of rapid technological change and limited resources. The course is particularly suited for those who anticipate founding or operating technology companies. |
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| 290I.
Managing Innovation and Change (3) [Spring] |
| Most innovations
fail. Yet companies that don’t innovate die. Managing
innovation thus constitutes one of the most difficult
and critical tasks facing a manager. Nor is this solely
the concern of high tech companies companies in traditionally
“low tech” businesses such as consumer packaged
goods (like Procter & Gamble) find that innovation
translates directly into growth in new businesses, and
better profits in existing businesses.
The course adopts a capabilities-based view of the
firm, drawing from economic, organizational, and engineering
perspectives. The goal of the course is to identify
the sources of innovative success and failure inside
corporations, and how companies can develop and sustain
a capability to innovate. Considerable attention will
be paid to the management of intellectual property. |
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| 290N. Managing the New Product
Development Process (3) [Fall] |
| The course is introductory, aimed at those who have not experienced a full product development cycle on a cross-disciplinary team. The focus is management of new product development processes, from product definition through ramp-up of product manufacturing. Students will be asked to design and develop a product of their choosing. They will learn processes for collecting customer and user needs data, prioritizing that data, developing a product specification, sketching and building product prototypes, and interacting with the customer during product development. |
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| 290T. Innovation, Creativity & The Entrepreneur (2) [Fall] |
This is a course for current/future entrepreneurs who want to explore the many different ways that creativity impacts entrepreneurial (start-up) and entrepreneurial (corporate) environments. The course will use lectures, speakers, case studies and readings from a cross-function of well-known “creative” companies in a wide range of industries including Google, Tesla Motors, Genentech, NetFlix, Apple Computer, IDEO, and others. The course will include a complete overview of previous research in the business of creativity, a model for viewing creativity in the organization, creative leadership and a look at creativity within several functional areas (sales, marketing, product development, HR, and finance). A unique feature of the course will be the personal discovery that individual students will embark upon to better understand their own unique and creative gifts and talents and future entrepreneurs and leaders. We will provide access and interpretation to a number of personal assessments as well as a number of techniques for the management of creativity within organizations – and each student will develop a “Personal Innovation Plan” by the end of the semester.
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| 290T. Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Information Technology (2) [Spring] |
This course is an intensive and in-depth study of the rapidly evolving global information technology industry. Students will analyze the role of regulatory, technological, economic, and market forces in shaping information technology industry structure, business models, and competitive dynamics. Special emphasis is placed on identifying opportunities and understanding the challenges for start-ups and other new entrants. The impact of the changing industry landscape on established business models and industry practices for innovation, intellectual property creation and utilization, risk management, product/service development, supply chain management, and market/distribution channel development is also explored in detail.
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| 290T. Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Wireless Services (2) [Fall] |
No other technology in history has proliferated as quickly to as many people as the mobile phone. Yet despite this explosive growth, there are significant and unique challenges in creating a commercially successful wireless service – as many innovators and entrepreneurs (whether in start-ups or established companies) have discovered. In this course, students will examine both successful and unsuccessful case studies of new wireless services to understand the key ingredients to creating successful wireless businesses. Although fundamentally about strategy and general management, we will draw from a variety of disciplines including public policy, law, marketing, economics, finance, and engineering to identify key issues, analyze potential options and understand the consequences of the decisions made by management.
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| 290V. Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Telecommunications and Media (3) [Spring] |
Technology, competition, and user expectations are transforming the global telecommunications and media industries. New technologies are enabling novel means of delivering services, threatening traditional business models and shifting the balance of power in the industry. It is now easier and cheaper than ever for an entrepreneurial team (whether in a start-up or an established company) to develop and mass distribute innovative new products and services. Yet it is also more difficult than ever to build a large-scale sustainable business around these innovations. The strategic choices made regarding how an innovation is introduced into the market and the nature of the innovator’s role in relation to the rest of the ecosystem matter. Students will examine both successful and not so successful situations to understand the opportunities and challenges in creating viable businesses in the 21st century telecommunications and media industries.
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| 292N. Social Entrepreneurship (2) [Spring] |
This course explores how to utilize social entrepreneurship to generate social impact efficiently, effectively, and sustainably through two primary means: 1) organizational level growth and innovation and 2) catalyzing networks, requiring the mobilization of a vast array of actors and resources across organization and sector boundaries, and having the potential to generate rapid and sustained social impact. Case topics include social entrepreneurship in climate change/energy, microfinance, health, and international development. |
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| 292T. Social Investing: Recent Findings in Management and Finance (2) [Fall] |
Once considered a sideshow in the investment world, social investing has begun to attract significant attention from academics. Some of the issues raised by social investors bring fresh light to controversies in investment and management theory. Moreover, concerns over globalization and climate change have challenged the widely-held view that social and environmental concerns must be subordinated to financial ones in capital allocation decisions. This course will review eight strong recent studies of issues in social investing from different academic fields including management, finance, and economics. |
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| 294. Life
as an Entrepreneur (MBA Speaker Series) (1) [Fall] |
| Life as an Entrepreneur is a speaker series for first year, first semester MBAs and other students who are aspiring entrepreneurs or simply wish to know more about the entrepreneurial world. Speakers come from a wide variety of companies and stages of growth; and include experienced successful entrepreneurs as well as current student venture teams. Students hear from inventors, scientists, engineers, lawyers and venture capitalists; gain inspiration from recent graduates and their companies; and receive real market data that help them pursue their entrepreneurial ideas. The course is a collaboration among the Lester Center, the Haas Entrepreneurs Association (EA) and the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at the College of Engineering. Recent speakers included Shai Agassi, Founder and CEO of Better Place, and Bambi Francisco, Founder and CEO of vator.tv. |
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| 294. Microfinance
Speakers Series (1) [Fall] |
The
course explores why and how microfnance have grown to
provide financial services to poor and lowe-income people
on a sustainable basis. The course brings together advice
and best practices from successful practioners and institutions
around the world as well as new technology startups
targeting the industry. Students will find this course
an excellent introduction to microfnance as an important
development effort. The class will also provide an excellent
forum to learn about current challenges and debates
in the world of microfinance.
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| 294. Market-Based Approaches to Address Poverty (Speaker Series)
(1) [Fall] |
| This course will identify and examine approaches to impacting poverty throught the use of market-based mechanisms. Empowering people to make economic choice can yield large standard of living benefits, and markets not only empower people, but also allow them to make choices that are best for themselves. Several examples will be looked at from the non-profit, corporate and social entrepreneurship sectors with a strong emphasis on non-US markets. The class will begin with an overview of international development economics and theories and then look at specific market-based interventions and techniques designed to reduce poverty. It will also look at how program and product design influence success. The course will conclude with a look at trade and government policy and how markets can be made to work better for the majority. |
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| 295A.
Entrepreneurship & Innovation (3) [Fall & Spring] |
This course is about how to create an entrepreneurial business. It focuses on businesses that are not small by design, but rather on those that, with vision, hard work and luck can be built into substantial enterprises. Classes address the entrepreneurial process, the key elements of business plans that develop venture ideas appropriate for sophisticated angel investors and venture capitalists. The main requirement for the course is the development of a business plan on a venture of the student’s choosing. Student teams work together to develop an idea for a new venture, research its potential, perform analysis to identify what resources are needed and when, and then write and present a formal business plan. Over the years, this course and its alumni have spawned many successful businesses in a wide variety of markets , including the teams that created MyPoints and Google Earth, among others.
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| 295B. Venture Capital and Private
Equity (3) [Fall] |
Venture capital is core to our Silicon Valley high-tech economy and our country’s strong growth over the past two decades. UC Berkeley is located in the “Mother Lode” of this very special and unique investment category. This course is an advanced offering for those who intend to seek, or manage, venture capital funding. It is appropriate for students who aspire to become CEOs of entrepreneurial ventures or general partners of venture capital firms.
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| 295C. Opportunity Recognition:
Technology and Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley (3)
[Spring] |
| This course is intended to provide the core skills needed for identifying opportunities that can lead to successful, entrepreneurial high technology ventures, regardless of the individual’s “home” skill set, whether technical or managerial. It examines in depth the approaches most likely to succeed for entrepreneurial companies as a function of markets and technologies. Emphasis is placed on the special requirements for creating and executing strategy in a setting of rapid technological change and limited resources. This course is particularly suited for those who anticipate founding or operating technology companies. |
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| 295D/T. New Venture Finance (MBA:2, EWMBA:3)
[Spring] |
This is a course for current/future entrepreneurs on how to finance and fund a start-up or high-growth business. The course centers on a model that includes strategic planning, financial analysis, business model creation, cash management, funding alternatives, investor pitching, alternative financing, and exit strategies. We examine the various options that a company has for financing at all stages of its life-cycle – from seed stage to later stage – using a blend of lectures, cases, readings and speakers (venture capitalists, CEO/founders, industry experts and service providers) to address the full range of financing options including angel, venture capital, debt financing, corporate/strategic investment and public markets. A unique feature of the EWMBA version of this class is the “real-time” company – throughout the course a CEO from a company that is currently grappling with the new venture finance process will join us for class. Members of the class will have the opportunity to apply what they learn in the class to this company throughout the semester, including assisting the company in setting its internal financial plan, external fund-raising process and culminating with a live pitch to investors on Sand Hill Road. This is real-time, hands-on learning, which past students in this class have found rewarding, intellectually stimulating and fun.
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| 295E.
Case Studies in Entrepreneurship (2) [Fall] |
The objective of this course is to maximize the learning from summer internships. Everyone will come to the class having had a unique experience in an entrepreneurial workplace. They will have the opportunity to step back from the fury and frenzy of the entrepreneurial environment and, in an academic setting, understand what was really learned. By the end of the semester each student will better understand what it takes to run an entrepreneurial enterprise. |
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| 295F. Customer Development
in High Tech Enterprise (2) [Spring] |
This course is about how to successfully organize sales, marketing and business development in a start-up. It is built around the premise that start-ups that survive the first few tough years do not follow the traditional product-centric launch model. In particular, start-ups that succeed and thrive invent and live by a process of customer learning and discovery called “Customer Development.” Students will develop a written sales, marketing and business development (Customer Development) plan. Students will work together, in teams of four, to develop a Customer Discovery, Validation and Creation model for a start-up.
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| 295G. Investing
in Entrepreneurial Opportunities: Building an Investment Screen, Methodology, and Process (2) [Fall] |
This course provides students with the tools and skills most critical to being able to successfully develop the foundation of equity investment success – the ability to develop an investment screen, methodology and process. This class will use case studies, other exercises, and the energy, enthusiasm and intellectual capacity of its students to create a great learning environment.
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| 295H. Managing the Legal and Regulatory Environment of
Business (2) [Spring] |
This is a business-oriented course about the of legal and regulatory issues and problems most commonly confronting business managers. Intended to broaden business students’ knowledge of the American legal system and the legal process, so they can understand and respond to laws and regulations affecting the business community, analyze and deal with legal issues affecting their own company, and work effectively and efficiently with legal counsel. Major topics are: choice of business entity; corporate governance issues; understanding the litigation process, arbitration and alternative methods of dispute resolution; intellectual property and financial and legal issues confronting public companies today.
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| 295I.
Entrepreneurship Workshop for Start-ups (2)
[Fall & Spring] |
Students actively developing a business plan take this course to understand how new businesses form and gain focus on their opportunities. This class typically follows the main Entrepreneurship class and allows dedicated teams to pursue their goals. Structured as a clinic, the course typically has up to 15 ventures under development. Students have the opportunity to consult to other venture teams and receive advice from other members of the class. Over the years, up to half of the ventures developed in this class have launched.
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| 295J. Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology
(2) [Spring] |
| This class is an introduction to the complexities and unique problems
of entrepreneurship in the life sciences. Students will be exposed to the topics most critical to successfully
founding, financing, and operating a life science company and will be expected to perform many of the tasks that
founders would normally undertake. An overview of the industry based on trends over the past 20 years and on
opportunity recognition and how "good" opportunities have changed over time is followed by a focus on functional
and operational issues of small life science companies. The final part of the course will be the preparation and
presentation of the final projects. |
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| 295T. Business Model Innovation & Entrepreneurial Strategy (2) [Fall] |
| The course examines innovation in business models as a critical aspect of successfully starting new enterprises. The course reviews the business models of over 50 companies, new entrants and incumbents, and explores the successful strategies of entrant firms and the reactions of incumbents. Students learn how new enterprises use innovative business models to obtain success and avoid the challenges put forth by incumbents. The class uses case studies, short lectures, discussions and guest speakers to reinforce frameworks and showcase actual business examples. Students apply the models developed by the course to their own ventures and fields of interest. |
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Boalt 250.8 Lawyers and Entrepreneurship:
Business Plans (2) [Fall],
Investment Process and Methodology (2) [Spring] |
| Meant to be companion courses, these can be taken independently or in any sequence. Lawyers can become great entrepreneurs. Even a cursory look across the entrepreneurial landscape reveals lawyers leading many great companies, from start-ups to established enterprises, as well as dynamic investment firms with all manner of strategies. Still, too many business attorneys do not grasp what it truly means to add value, and too few law students set about to purposefully use their legal education to help them become great entrepreneurs. Learning, as lawyers do, how to locate, define and champion clarity out of confusing and conflicting fact patterns is wonderful training for any entrepreneur. In addition, lawyers and entrepreneurs both benefit greatly from learning how to balance the demands of being a great, subjective, advocate while at the same time being disciplined by objective facts. This course will focus on business plans as a way to provide students with a deep understanding of the building blocks of any entrepreneurial endeavor. This class will depend upon rigorous and dynamic student classroom participation and will utilize readings, case-studies and guest speakers to help students learn to develop, critique, and utilize business plans and investment screens. In addition, the guest speakers – all current or former lawyers, some practicing law and some active as investors or operating managers – will share their views of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship and the ways in which their legal backgrounds contributed to their own professional successes. Note: The Law School offers additional legally focused courses relating to the entrepreneurial process that may be of interest, e.g., IPO Law: Advising the Emerging Growth Company (Boalt 255 - Spring/2 units). |
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| Boalt 255. Venture
Capital and IPO Law: Advising the Emerging Growth Company (2) [Spring] |
| This practice oriented business law
seminar is designed to provide students with an understanding
of the business and transactional context in which various
legal issues arise in advising the venture capital backed
emerging growth company through various stages of development.
The seminar will cover selected business, corporate and
securities law issues in areas such as entity organization,
venture capital financings, initial public offerings,
and governance and disclosure reform impacting companies
accessing the public capital markets. This seminar is
structured to acquaint students with the type of corporate
and securities law issues faced in a typical Silicon Valley-style
corporate practice. |
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| Boalt 256.12. New Business Counseling Practicum (3) [Fall/Spring] |
| This course, open to both law and business students, covers a broad range of knowledge in law and business related to the development of new businesses, through classroom learning, field trips, participating in simulations, and providing hands-on assistance with real business start-ups. Class time will be primarily devoted to preparing students for consulting with real entrepreneur clients during the term, specifically entrepreneurs who are beginning new business ventures (for-profit or non-profit). Students will work in interdisciplinary teams and under instructor supervision, to research and formulate options that will address their entrepreneur clients’ needs. |
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