People interested in management once studied for a master’s degree in business administration to advance at a company owned by someone else. Those drawn to having their own businesses took entrepreneurship courses. Today, those two educational directions are intersecting.

Business owners earn MBAs to better run their companies. People working for companies earn entrepreneurial-oriented MBAs so they can shift from administration to innovation. In-house innovators known as interpreneurs or intrapreneurs may develop products and systems or improve existing ones.

Intrapreneurs “work in an existing company to make it more successful,” explains Michael Reilly, chair of the University of Phoenix College of Graduate Business and Management.

Area campuses have responded to this shift in various ways. Some offer MBA degrees with an entrepreneurial emphasis or a strategic management concentration. Campuses house centers focused on those new ventures.

Corporate interest in innovators started during the 1980s, says Reilly. While some companies maintained the “we’ve always done it this way” attitude, others adopted a “flexicratic” stance. Reilly says the flexicratic organization adapts, molds and changes to the meet needs of the marketplace.

Universities are examples of organizations that re-evaluate and strive to meet customer needs. Reilly notes that the University of Phoenix MBA program is re-examined every three years. The program, put in place in 2001, shifted the emphasis of the traditional MBA degree from training in a particular area. “We’re not training them to do specific work; we train them to use information and build a business case for decision-making,” Reilly says.

Some campuses provide specific instruction for innovators. Harvard University and Babson College have schools devoted to entrepreneurship, says Scott Kunkel, University of San Diego associate professor of management. USD’s graduate business school has a three-course venture management emphasis. Classes cover entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, financial management and new product development.

Kunkel will teach the entrepreneurship course this fall. A class textbook, “New Venture Creation” by Jeffry Timmons, describes a test used to pinpoint entrepreneurial skills. Test administrators placed money on the street. “Entrepreneurs were more likely to pick it up. I want to teach to students to develop the experience to see money on the ground,” says Kunkel, who owned several small businesses and served as a savings and loan vice president.

Students at SDSU can earn a general MBA or take courses for an MBA with a specialization like entrepreneurship.

“Some MBA students take a couple entrepreneurship courses as a sample,” says Alex de Noble, assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship. May marked de Noble’s 20th year on campus. About 10 years ago, he taught SDSU’s only entrepreneurial course. That course was split into two classes. The campus now offers eight courses, which include the corporate entrepreneurship course de Noble developed.

De Noble is in the third year of teaching the entrepreneurship and new venture formation course in SDSU’s executive MBA program. The degree is targeted at people with management experience. About half the course focuses on “how to develop new business opportunities under a corporate umbrella. What are the challenges for someone with a great idea?” The other half deals with issues like management change and how to develop systems for areas such as compensation, rewards and screening new ideas.

Alliant International University’s business program has an entrepreneurial emphasis at the undergraduate level, says Ali Abu-Rahma, assistant dean of the College of Business. That concentration reflects the global student enrollment, many of whom will return home to run family businesses. At the graduate level, Abu-Rahma says, strategic management is popular. Instruction for intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs targets areas such as product development and launching new technology. “As companies face rapidly changing environments, products become obsolete,” says Abu-Rahma. “There is a high level of change.”

Alliant offers an MBA with a strategic management concentration and a doctorate in strategic management. Alliant and UCSD issue a joint graduate certificate in strategic management. “It’s quite popular. People get a certificate and then get an MBA and a doctorate,” says Abu-Rahma of the program.

Entrepreneurial concepts are woven through courses in the University of Redlands’ business school program, says Keith Roberts, MBA program director. In addition, MBA students may apply those concepts to their project for the capstone course, the final class in the graduate business program. Students may work on a new business idea or develop a business plan or a financial plan.

Campuses Establish Centers

Some campuses have established centers related to new ventures. Offerings at SDSU’s Entrepreneurial Management Center include an internship and a lecture series.

National University set up an Entrepreneurial Center 10 months ago, says Brian Simpson, assistant professor and lead professor of economics. Centers offered by campuses within the National system schedule weekend forums on topics such as marketing, financing and accounting.

A forum on “Small Business Development” Aug. 8 and 9 at National’s Spectrum Academy Center will explore technology and the Internet for small businesses and prioritizing business decisions. The cost is $60. (For information call Ken Goldberg at (800) 628-8648, Ext. 8478.)

In addition to learning business skills, Simpson says students appreciate the ability to network at the forums, which are geared to people not yet committed to earning a degree. “Maybe they’ll ultimately decide to get a degree,” says Simpson. “The center is in its infancy still. We hope to create courses in degree programs.”

University of California Irvine’s Graduate School of Management has scheduled entrepreneurship courses since 1993, says spokeswoman Linda McCrerey. Last January, UCI launched its Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Another option for graduate study is Chapman University’s master of arts degree in organizational leadership. The program addresses issues such as dealing with major workplace changes.

San Diego’s Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University doesn’t offer entrepreneurship courses. However, classes are held at other Keller locations, says Thomas Horstmann, San Diego school director. The general MBA is the most popular of Keller’s seven graduate degrees. “It opens doors,” says Horstmann.

The traditional degree also helps business owners. “A quality MBA program can provide a student with strong business skills that can provide the background for success in any number of businesses,” says Keith Butler, California State University San Marcos MBA program operations manager. “I earned my MBA at Cal State San Marcos in 1997 while I was the co-owner of a wholesale bakery, and I found much of what I learned was applicable to the operation of the business.”

The traditional MBA is usually the most popular business degree during a bleak economy. “Nationally, there tends to be less interest in entrepreneurship in the top 20 schools,” says Robert Sullivan, founding dean of UCSD’s new Graduate Management School. Students “want to get their first job since the market is so bad.”

That trend is not reflected in San Diego County industries like science and technology. UCSD offers coursework in those areas, and Sullivan says there is a strong undergraduate interest in new entrepreneurship. That interest led students in 2001 to start VentureForth, “a pre-professional resource” organization.

That entrepreneurial focus on campus and in the county will be reflected in the MBA program when classes start in fall 2004, with programs that will revolve around going from an idea to the marketplace, says Sullivan, former business school dean at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

As intrapreneurism continues on campuses, the University of Phoenix is considering offering an MBA certification. Reilly notes that certification is used in professions such as human resource manager.

Certification at the graduate business level would be based on standardized testing given after a person has completed an MBA program.

“It’ll still be an MBA,” says Reilly. “Will this have meaning in the future? I’m not sure. We’re building a business case for decision making.”