The 2013 Baylor-USASBE Student Case Writing Competition is now accepting submissions. This is an innovative international event that supports and encourages undergraduate and graduate students from across the globe who wish to engage in case research and case writing. Submitted cases must be original and must not have been previously published nor submitted for review to a conference, book, or journal. Submitted cases are suitable if they advance the field of entrepreneurship and contribute to our understanding of entrepreneurial phenomena.

Congratulations to the 2012 Baylor-USASBE Student Case Writing Competition award winners and finalists:

First place: Queens University of Charlotte
Student presenters: Amanda L. Cash, Christian C. Melvin and Miranda L. Reynolds
Case title: "The Penguin"

Second place: Manhattan College
Student presenters: Joanna Kaminski, Samantha Marchese, and Cara Vullo
Case title: "Equal Exchange: Trading Fairly and Making a Profit"

Third place: Memorial University, St. John's, Newfoundland
Student presenter: Deborah A. Walker
Case title: "Beaufort Solutions, Inc."

The finalists who also presented at the meeting before the three judges were:

* Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, The Netherlands
Student case writer: Andre Finamore Amaral
Case title: "Start Up RedPack Beach Lockers to Unlock Potentials: Writing Business Plans and Planning Businesses"

* Samford University
Student case writer: Kley Sippel
Case title: "From Poverty to Prosperity"

* Samford University
Student case writers: Angela Fister and Meg Lozner
Case title: "Pepper Place District and the Culinary Initiatives"

Baylor professor of management Marlene Reed believes that "the value in student case research is that it forces the student to utilize the theories they have studied in class to develop cases illustrating those theories. The development of an instructor's manual (which students must develop and submit with the case) is an excellent way of fully involving students in the academic process."

The next competition will be held in January 2013 at the USASBE Conference in San Francisco, California. The deadline for submissions is September 7, 2012.

For more information, see www.baylor.edu/EntCWC.
Email questions to EntCWC@baylor.edu.

Offered for the first time in fall 2011, Baylor's Accelerated Ventures course affords students who show strong entrepreneurial drive the opportunity to create real companies and generate real sales, all within a single semester.

Four teams of three students are each given a $4,000 no-strings attached grant to start a profitable company. This course not only allows students to conceptualize a business plan for a new company, but also raise funds and launch products and services to truly understand the entire startup process. Team members own their companies entirely and have the freedom to keep, sell, close, or merge their companies with another venture at the end of the semester.

The foundational principles required for starting up a new business are taught to students in this course by Baylor faculty member Dr. Les Palich, Baylor alumnus David Grubbs, and a board of veteran serial entrepreneurs. Casey Barillas, one of last semester's Accelerated Ventures class members, states that "students were given a stellar team of advisors, from app development gurus to online marketing geniuses."

Twelve students are selected after rounds of vigorous interviews to participate in the Accelerated Ventures course. Before class even begins, the students are given access to the course curriculum and begin actively participating in conference calls to begin the brainstorming phase. Once the semester starts, teams have 45 days to set up and launch their business in the hopes of becoming profitable by the end of the semester.

The course is broken up into three different phases and is designed to teach students the essential skills to successfully plan, analyze, set up, develop, test, market and protect their company. In the first phase, students finalize their business concept, business model, and launch their product or service to the public. In the second phase, the teams optimize and test their marketing and advertising campaigns. They also refine their product or service, business model, internal operations, and customer service procedures to prove their business assumptions and prepare to scale. Finally, in the third phase, students take their proven business model and incrementally scale their business to generate profit, surpass their break-even point and further grow their business.

Through the Accelerated Ventures course, students grow in ways that they don't initially anticipate. According to Barillas, "Accelerated Ventures was a huge learning experience for me. Just as expected, nothing went perfectly or according to plan. My biggest takeaways were substantive as well as emotional. I learned a lot about the step-by-step process of starting a business. I realized that hundreds of great applications exist online to help entrepreneurs. I experienced firsthand that starting a business is very difficult but that a great way to do it is to start with something you know well. If you are passionate about what you do and are good at it, those two things together can create magic. Thanks to Baylor and the Accelerated Ventures course, at 21, I own my own business."

Progress of each team's business can be viewed on the website in the form of webisodes. Each webisode follows the individual teams as they take their businesses from start to finish.

For more information about the class please email David Grubbs or Dr. Les Palich at Les_Palich@baylor.edu.

Baylor Entrepreneurship has long been a pioneer in the world of entrepreneurship education. Our success is largely due to the resources provided through our many alumni and educational partnerships. We are so grateful for these relationships and invite you to contact us if you are interested in joining us on our collaborative journeys.

Contact us at Entrepreneurship@baylor.edu.