MBA Entrepreneurship and Innovation Major

The Entrepreneurship and Innovation major provides MBA students with skills, analytical tools, perspectives, and experiences that prepare them for careers as autonomous entrepreneurs, family-business entrepreneurs, or entrepreneurs in corporate settings. Whether a student wants to start a business while in school, join an emerging business, or set the groundwork to launch a new firm later in his or her career, the program aims to provide preparation for all of these exciting options. Entrepreneurial skills and thinking are actively sought by more competitive and profitable growing businesses. The special strength of this program is that it combines theory with practice, providing students the opportunity to test the theories, models, and strategies learned in the classroom by creating real business plans, working on other field projects, and gaining access and insight from leaders in the entrepreneurial business community.

The Entrepreneurship and Innovation major and related co-curricular activities are supported in part by the Goergen Entrepreneurial Management Program at the Wharton School’s Venture Lab.


Requirements for the Major

The Entrepreneurship and Innovation major consists of 4.0 credit units beyond the required Wharton core. All credit units for the major must be taken for a letter grade.

  • Required fundamental course:
    • MGMT 8010 – Entrepreneurship (0.5 cu, Fall, Spring)*
      *No waivers or substitutions. Students are advised (but not required) to take this foundation course before the elective courses listed below.
  • An additional 3.5 cu from the electives below:
    • ACCT 7900 – Accounting for Entrepreneurs
    • FNCE 7500 – Venture Capital and the Finance of Innovation
    • FNCE 7510 – Finance of Buyouts and Acquisitions
    • HCMG 8670 – Health Care Entrepreneurship (0.5 cu)
    • LGST 8130 – Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship
    • LGST 8060/MGMT 6910/OIDD 6910 – Negotiations**
    • LGST 6920/MGMT 6920/OIDD 6920 – Advanced Negotiation**
    • MGMT 7120 – Managing Strategic Partnerships (not offered current academic year)
    • MGMT 7210 – Corporate Development: Mergers & Acquisitions (Fall; Spring)
    • MGMT 7290 – Intellectual Property Strategy for the Innovation-Driven Ent (0.5 cu, Fall Q2, Spring Q3)
    • MGMT 7310 – Technology Strategy (Fall)
    • MGMT 8020 – Change, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship (0.5 cu, Spring Q3)
    • MGMT 8040 – Venture Capital and Entrepreneurial Management (0.5 cu, Fall; Spring Q3 & Q4)
    • MGMT 8060 – Venture Implementation (not offered current academic year)
    • MGMT 8090 – Private Equity in Emerging Markets (0.5 cu, Spring Q3)
    • MGMT 8110  – Entrepreneurship through Acquisition (0.5 cu, Fall Q1, Spring Q3 & Q4)
    • MGMT 8120 – Social Entrepreneurship (Fall Q2, Spring Q4)
    • MGMT 8140 – Search Fund Entrepreneurship (Fall Q2, Spring Q4)
    • MGMT 8160 – Building Human Assets in Entrepreneurial Ventures (not offered current academic year)
    • MGMT 8320 – Business Model Innovation Strategy (not offered current academic year)
    • MGMT 8330 – Strategies and Practices of Family-Controlled Companies (Fall, Spring)
    • MKTG 7210 – New Product Management (0.5 cu)
    • MKTG 7270 – Marketing and Electronic Commerce (0.5 cu)
    • MKTG-7340 – Idea Generation and the Systematic Approach for Creativity (0.5 cu)
    • MKTG 7410 – Entrepreneurial Marketing (0.5 cu)
    • OIDD 5150 – Product Design***
    • OIDD 6140 – Innovation (0.5 cu)****
    • OIDD 6360 – Scaling Operations
    • OIDD 6520 – Design and Development of Web-Based Products and Services***
    • OIDD 6540 – Product Management***
    • OIDD 6620 – Enabling Technologies****
    • OIDD 6670 – AI, Business, and Society (0.5 cu)
    • OIDD 6990 – AI, Business, and Society (0.5 cu)
    • REAL 8910 – Real Estate Entrepreneurship (0.5 cu)

**Students may not count both MGMT 6910 and MGMT 6920 for credit towards the major.
***Students may not count all of the following courses for credit towards the major: OIDD 5150, OIDD 6520, OIDD 6540. To count more than one of these courses towards the major, students need pre-approval from the faculty advisor listed below.
****OIDD 6140 and OIDD 6620 cannot be double-counted toward both the OIDD flex-core and as an elective within the E&I major.


Students may petition to substitute up to 1 cu of other coursework toward the requirements of the major, such as Global Modular Courses, Global Virtual Courses, Independent Study Projects or Advanced Student Projects. Petitions are expected to demonstrate that the student is pursuing a coherent plan of entrepreneurship and innovation studies at Wharton, and should be directed to the faculty advisor: Sara Jane McCaffrey  (for current Wharton Students only, Prospective students should contact the Admissions Office).  To access an ISP/ASP registration form (as well as other MBA Program Office forms) please go here.