The Entrepreneurship Research Institute (ERI) aims at providing a collaborative and interdisciplinary environment for conducting research related to Entrepreneurship and business administration, including small business administration, along the lines of business organization and governance, decision making, financial management, uncertainty, risk-taking and enterprise risk management, business strategy and game theory, economics of information, team-building, innovation and information diffusion, human resource management and incentive provision, environmental policy and sustainability, organizational behavior, business ethics and business communication. We aim at fostering research which will lead to publications in major scientific journals, as well as grants supporting the research. We will emphasize quantitative methods (including modeling, optimization, numerical data analysis, simulation techniques and statistical estimation) in our research, which is rapidly becoming a uniform theme across campus (see related proposals, such as the Statistical and Quantitative Research initiative of the Center for Statistical and Quantitative Research (CeQR)). Quantitative Methods can be a cross-campus initiative that will bring distinction to UCM.

We envision creating a research center that will operate as an organized research unit (ORU) and will be open to all faculty and students across disciplines with an interest in research related to all aspects of entrepreneurship and the management of organizations, as well as staff that deals with businesses in their University capacity. Further, we envision working with a variety of business organizations and recognized business leaders nationally and in the state so that UC Merced becomes an entrepreneurship hub and a business incubator. Whereas several units on campus are engaged with entrepreneurship issues, there is no uniform representation of these activities. The institute we propose will provide an umbrella to coordinate all these activities, facilitate cooperation and enable seeking additional funding. We aim at working with all three schools on campus, as well as with SNRI and HSRI to this end. Given the University’s mission, we will also provide an environment were diversity in all its forms is embraced.

We propose to work closely with the Career Services Center, Development and Alumni Relations, Corporate Relations, the Margo F. Souza Leadership Center, the Small Business Development Center at our Fresno facility, the Engaged Transformation of Poverty (ETP) in the San Joaquin Valley initiative, the “Global California: The World at Home” initiative, and the Foster Family Center along the following lines: (i) investigate the needs of the state businesses; (ii) support small businesses in the area; (iii) organize business days on campus with Career Services and Development for various businesses that include a panel discussion of the employment needs of the company and of what UC Merced has to offer (similar to the Gallo day Career Services recently organized), with student involvement and recent recruit involvement; (iv) organize classroom visits and interactive sessions for business community members; (v) facilitate student involvement with business projects; (vi) facilitate faculty and student internships with local companies; (vii) investigate fund-raising possibilities with Development among local businesses and entrepreneurs; and last but not least (viii) engage the local community to embrace business development opportunities. We also propose to work closely with students and support their efforts (for example, a new student publication in the works entitled Management Review).

As part of the functions of the institute, we propose to create two distinguished speaker series, in cooperation with Career Services and Development, and with financial support from the local business community: (i) a Leadership Series designed for high-profile business or community leaders; (ii) an Entrepreneurship Series designed for entrepreneurs and business managers. We will also be supporting the Entrepreneurial Seminar and Pitchfest that was co-founded by Jogn Haner and the international conference on “Tournaments, Contests and Relative Performance Evaluation” that Fanis Tsoulouhas has been co-organizing (note that the last conference was held at the Fresno center in 2013 -see contesttheory.org- while the next one is to be held at UC Berkeley in 2015).

Aspirational Programs
National programs that most closely align with what we propose are the Management and Entrepreneurship program at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University-Bloomington, the Entrepreneurship & Management Minor at Johns Hopkins University, the Entrepreneurial Management program at the Carlson School of Management of the University of Minnesota, the Entrepreneurship track at the Mendoza College of Business of the University of Notre Dame, and the Entrepreneurial Management Program at the University of Iowa. What will distinguish us from these programs is the strict adherence to quantitative methods and analysis.

Requested Resources
Regarding the funding we need in order to support the establishment of the center, we currently request one faculty line in the field of Entrepreneurship or Financial Management or Asset Pricing and Investments, one faculty line in the field of Marketing, and administrative support for community outreach, student projects, and designing a web site for the institute.

Impact Metrics and FTE Estimates
The Gallo Management program has about 370 undergraduate students currently. With a projection of 9,000 undergraduates, Management should have about 800 students who can benefit from the Institute’s initiatives and hiring. Related fields in Economics, Applied Math, Engineering, Sociology, Political Science and Psychology can also benefit. We will explore all possible links to undergraduate and especially graduate education.  For undergraduate studies, a minor, concentration or track in Entrepreneurship can be created.  For graduate studies, we will investigate the possibility of a new degree program, or at least offer courses related to Entrepreneurship that will be open to graduate students from any discipline. Of particular interest to us is a Master’s program in Financial Math, in cooperation with the Applied Math program of SNS.