The University of Colorado College of Business will send seven entrepreneurship doctoral students to the 22nd Babson College/Kauffman Foundation Entrepreneurship Research Conference in Sweden in June. It is unprecedented for any university to have seven doctoral student papers accepted in one year to this premier entrepreneurship research conference.
CU-Boulder's doctoral entrepreneurship program is ranked first in the nation according to the International Council of Small Business, and the caliber of the students is a significant factor contributing to this ranking, according to Dale Meyer, faculty director of the program and a professor of strategy and organization management in the College of Business.
The refereed papers are collaborations between the doctoral students and entrepreneurship scholars who are active in research. Paper topics by the CU contingent include the social structure of entrepreneurship research, the valuation of new Web and non-Web ventures and how an innovative culture can lead to a sustained competitive advantage for an entrepreneurial firm.
All the papers were evaluated by three reviewers based on the importance of the topic for entrepreneurship research and practice, the clarity of the empirical method and the freshness of the topic. Â鶹ÒùÔº received guidance from Meyer during the research and writing process.
"Dale Meyer instills an entrepreneurial spirit to all who come in contact with him," said Irene McCarthy, conference coordinator at Babson College. "We think he does an outstanding job in this regard."
The purpose of the conference is to share current research in the field of entrepreneurship. Five cash awards of $2,500 each will be awarded to the best papers in the categories of behavior of entrepreneurs, early-stage ventures, venture capital, corporate entrepreneuring and Internet-related entrepreneurship.
CU-Boulder is a co-sponsor of the 2001 conference and will host the event in 2002. CU's MBA entrepreneurship program is ranked 16th in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The Kauffman Foundation, which grants nearly $30 million per year for entrepreneurship education and research, also is a sponsor of the conference. The Deming Center for Entrepreneurship has raised additional funding from the Kauffman Foundation over the past several years, including four $15,000 grants to doctoral students for dissertation research.