Family Business and Entrepreneurship

Overview

The best way to predict your future is to create it. That's the thinking behind Saint Joseph's University’s family business and entrepreneurship (FBE) major where students learn the skills to launch their own business or assume responsibilities in a family business.

It is estimated that family businesses generate about half of the gross domestic product and half of the total wages paid. About 90 percent of all U.S. businesses are family owned or controlled; family businesses and entrepreneurs play an integral role in building our nation and keeping it strong.

Through this major, students will learn how to assess risks associated with business management, make responsible decisions and recognize opportunities within and outside your own businesses.

The curriculum is structured to expose students to family business and entrepreneurship on three levels:

• The first level (firm) covers financial planning, managing organizational change and overcoming family conflict and related issues.
• The second level (industry) goes into the value of innovation, resource allocation and how to gain a competitive advantage.
• The final level (societal) will encourage you to view their business in the context of a greater world and gain an understanding of societal trends and challenges.

Family business and entrepreneurship students will leave the program with the tools to act strategically in managing a family firm, launch a new venture or move up the ranks in the corporate world.