A CONCENTRATION FOR ENTREPRENEURS

Established only two years ago, the Herman J. Russell, Sir International Center for Entrepreneurship will offer a concentration in entrepreneurship beginning this fall. Faculty developed the 12-hour concentration by pulling together existing courses, and planning already is under way to develop additional courses that combine entrepreneurship with finance and marketing.

Students choosing the concentration will complete four classes, including Entrepreneurship and Enterprise, a survey course on what entrepreneurs do, featuring opportunities to interview entrepreneurs and conduct a feasibility study for a new business. Students then select either Business Plan Development or Venture Creation in E-commerce, both of which offer instruction in developing sound business plans for new businesses. During a semester of field study, a student works on a project at an entrepreneurial business and is eligible for a $1,000 scholarship based on performance.

In addition to further developing the concentration, the center hosts an annual business plan compettion, sponsors a professional development RounclTable known as the Society of Entrepreneurs and hosts a doctoral workshop in international entrepreneurship. This year's workshop, co-sponsored with GeorgiaTech and the University of Minnesota in May, brought together more than 30 doctoral students and senior scholars from around the world in Atlanta to promote and explore research on the international aspects of entrepreneurship.

"The only thing keeping us from growing and doing more is time," said Ben Oviatt, who directs the center.

MAXIMUM INNOVATION

You like a sweater in the L.L. Bean catalog, so you order it. But when it arrives it doesn't fit, and you decide to return it. Once, you would have had to go through a cumbersome and inconvenient process to get the sweater back to the company and receive credit for the return.

UPS has changed all that with its Returns on the Web program, which simplifies and automates the return process for buyers and shippers. Now, you just log on to the Internet, print a shipping return label and find directions to the nearest UPS drop-off point. UPS alerts the shipper that an itern is being returned and the reason for the return. Instead of having to unpack the irtem once it arrives at the warehouse, employees can automatically put it back into stock or direct it appropriately, saving the company time and money.

This simplified return system was the Grand winner of the 2001 Marketing Awards for Excellence (MAX), sponsored annually by the Department of Marketing at the Robinson College of Business and the Atlanta Business Chronicle and honoring the best new products, services and marketing innovations in Georgia. "Returns are a big problern for e-commerce companies particularly and this program helps solve it in an extremely cost-effective way," said Regents' Professor of Marketing Kenneth Bernhardt, who coordinates the Marketing RoundTable that selected the top winners.

Delta Air Lines and The Simmons Company were also winners in this years competition. Delta won recognition for its MYOBTravel, an online travel solution for small to mid-sized businesses that allows small-business customers to check Delta's prices as well as competitors'. At one site, travelers can purchase tickets as well as make car and hotel reservations.The site also allows small-business owners to build profiles fortheir traveling employees, track travel expenses and monitor travel trends. MYOB users are eligible for frequent-flier miles on any airline. The MAX judges felt that Delta's product was a real innovation targeted at an underserved portion of the travel market, the smallbusiness segment.

The redesign of its flagship mattress, the Beautyrest, and its aggressive ad campaign won MAX winner status for Simmons. Product development for the Beautyrest 2000 included considerable consumer research, which revealed that mattress buyers were willing to pay more for a bed that improved the quality of their sleep.The new Beaurtyrest does just that by minimizing the rocking and rolling that results from a sleepers movement and leaving a partners sleep undisturbed. It also provides improved back support and comes in an Olympic Queen size that is some six inches wider than a standard Queen.The product boosted sales for Simmons by 30% and positioned the company at number two in the industry.

Other MAX finalists included Chick-fil-A for the development of Cool Wraps; i2Go for an interactive audio promotion platform; Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce for its marketing campaign, Industries of the Mind; Kimberly Clark for the Scott MegaCartridge Napkin System; and SofitCARD Systems for an electronic coupon system called the SmartSource Rewards Machine.

The Marketing RoundTable received highly diverse entries for this years competition, from napkin dispensers to mattresses to fast-food menu items to high-tech systems. "Based on the evidence of this year's entries, innovation can take place in any industry category in any size company," said Bernhardt. MAX winners received their awards in February at the annual awards breakfast held at the Ritz-Carfton in downtown Atlanta, with Charles "Garry" Betty CEO of Atlanta-based EarthLink, as the featured speaker The breakfast also honored 2001 Marketing RounclTable Minority Marketing Scholarship winners Erica K Wright and Chandra A. Glascoe-Atherley. Wright, a summer 2001 MBA candidate, is a summa cum laude graduate of the State University of NewYork - Albany. Glascoe-Atherley, a May 2002 MBA candidate, has a BA degree in classical civilizations from Emory University and has already landed a full-time position as a brand assistant at the Brand Consultancy.