This week on the podcast, Matt sits down with Jason Ridge, Taryn Mead, and Matthew Myers with the Sam M. Walton College of Business. Jason is the Chair of the Department of Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Venture Innovation (SEVI), Taryn is an Assistant Professor of Product Design, Innovation, and Management, and Matthew is the program manager for Outdoor Industries. Matt and Jason begin by discussing why the SEVI Department was developed, the various degree options, and the Micro Certificates available through the department. The conversation continues with Taryn detailing the Masters of Science in Product Innovation and its launch along with the product innovation practicum. The conversation concluded with Matthew walking through the advantages of the Masters of Science in Product Innovation as it applies to working professionals. 

Entrepreneurial education, that doesn't just

mean you want to go and start your own business. It means

you're creative, you want to be innovative, you want to be

disruptive. So I'd say you know, those kinds of characteristics

are going to be ideal for our students.

Excellence, professionalism, innovation, and

collegiality. These are the values. The Sam M. Walton

College of Business explores in education, business, and the

lives of people we meet every day, I'm Matt Waller, Dean of

the Walton College, and welcome to the Be Epic Podcast. I have

with me today, Jason Ridge, who is Chair of the Department of

Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Venture Innovation. He's also a

Professor of Strategy here in the Sam M. Walton College of

Business. I have Taryn Mead, who is a an Assistant Professor of

Product Design, Innovation, and Management. And she has

extensive experience in the outdoor industry. And we'll talk

about that as well. And I also have Matthew Myers, who has been

with the university, especially in recruitment and graduate

recruitment and now he's the program manager for Outdoor

Recreation, Products, and Services. So thank you all for

joining me today.

Thank you.

Jason, I want to start with you. You know, we

started this new department, the Department of Strategy,

Entrepreneurship and Venture Innovation a couple of years

ago. And it's it's an outgrowth of the Department of Management.

And, you know, we did that because we wanted to emphasize

entrepreneurship and strategy. And sometimes it's good to

separate departments out so that you get that kind of a thing.

Many years ago, back in 2011. We did that with the department of

supply chain management, which used to be a part of the

department of marketing. And it really made a big difference. In

terms of the flexibility and strategic direction of the

department. Of course, that department now was ranked number

one in North America by Gartner. So sometimes having a little

autonomy to focus gives you a lot of options. And I know that

your department partners closely with our Office of

Entrepreneurship and Innovation on campus, but would you tell

tell us just a little bit about the department and what kind of

offerings you have?

Sure, yes. So the Strategy Entrepreneurship and

Venture Innovation Department, we refer to it as SEVI, S E V I

just because that's all a lot of words strung together in the

name, and we offer a an undergraduate degree in

Entrepreneurship and and or Innovation that has four

thematic tracks is what the way we focus on it. It's a very open

and flexible type of program because we want to provide

students with the most opportunity to focus on what

they're most interested in, whether it's a specific business

idea that they have, or a specific industry that we can

help those students really focus on the type of thing that

they're they're most interested in. So we have a lot built a lot

of flexibility into our undergraduate degree. Our four

thematic tracks are Corporate Innovation, which focuses on

product management to some degree, which also will will

speak to what Taryn and Matthew we're gonna speak about in a

little bit. The Social Innovation track as well, if

students are more interested in kind of maybe maybe not

nonprofit, but at least creating and starting an enterprise that

is focused on creating social good in the in creating some

type of social good rather than just economic development or

value. Then we also have a typical Entrepreneurship

approach or New Venture Development type of theme. This

is for students that just want to start a typical business. And

then the last is Small Enterprise Management for those

students that are interested in focusing on small business or

maybe even a family run business rather than trying to get into a

larger organization or corporate structure. And then, just really

quickly, I'd say that we also have recently been approved to

start offering three micro certificates, four technically

with the outdoor products. But again, that's a Taryn and

Matthew's domain. But we have an Entrepreneurship Micro

Certificate that's focused specifically on its three

courses, focused on students and or those that are not

necessarily students yet, but in people that have business ideas

and the goal of this certificate is for individuals that come in

with an idea. And we literally walked them through the process.

And by the end, hopefully they would be at a point where they

could start the business if they so desired. Then we also have a

Social Innovation Micro Certificate and an

Organizational Innovation Micro Certificate. Each of these are

focusing on either internal, from the organization

perspective, internal innovation or social, again, is businesses

creating some societal good.

Excellent. And I know the the minor that you all

created, is open to any student on campus. Is that right?

Yes, that's, that's a great point, I missed that the

we have a minor for Walton College students. First is one

option for those that are already in Walton. But we also

have a unique one that is specifically tailored to

reducing the amount of core programming in Walton College

for students that are in other colleges in the university. So

it allows for a lower cost of entry for the minor. In fact, we

took the 18 hours that used to be prerequisites, and it's

collapsed down into a three hour course, I believe it's only 18

hours total, to get the minor now rather than what what used

to be much more than that.

I'm so glad your department did that because, you

know, entrepreneurs come from all areas of the university that

come from engineering, agriculture, philosophy, any any

area. But to your point, the barrier to entry to our minors

was substantial, because of the amount of prerequisites as you

pointed out. And now, it's quite easy for students across campus

that maybe they don't have much of a business background to take

these classes. And hopefully, that will increase the

probability of success of these companies that are starting in

Northwest Arkansas as a result of students that are here. So

that was a great innovation you all had in your own department.

And it wasn't innovation, and it wasn't easy to to get through

the system. But you all persevered and made it happen.

So well done. Well, thank you. Yeah,

Taryn, I know you're very involved with the

It is a we are we're happy with the with the

program, we feel that it can be really successful.

Masters of Science in Product Innovation of this new program.

Would you speak to that a little bit?

Sure. So I came in last fall to really help launch

this program that is largely grant funded at the moment.

There was generally though a broad demand before the grant

came into the picture, there's been a broad demand for the

development of product managers and product innovation in

Northwest Arkansas, recognizing that we have this large retail

entity in our midst that is creating a lot of product or

driving the creation of a lot of product, both digital and

physical product. So the MSPI, the Masters of Science and

Product Innovation came about as a way to meet this demand for

local employers. You know, local employers are saying we really

need folks who understand product to to meet the needs of

our organization. And so we saw a real opportunity here, Sarah

Goforth. And in OEI, the Office of Entrepreneurship and

Innovation. She and Jon Johnson saw a real need to meet this

request from employers. So in order to meet this demand that

we're hearing from local employers, we're offering

coursework and user research really looks at, which really

looks at how to understand the relationship and engagement with

users. We have Business Foundation for Entrepreneurs,

which covers just a very wide array of basic business skills.

For folks that might not come from a business background.

We're also looking at product design and prototyping in the

coursework, as well as product management. And one part of the

program that I'm well two parts that I'm very excited about. One

is the interdisciplinary, interdisciplinary nature of the

electives that we're offering. So we have six credits of

electives, and we're creating pathways across the university

for participants in our program to be able to take courses from

other departments to meet that elective requirement. Another

thing that I'm very excited about is the product innovation

practicum which will enable students to engage with sponsor

organizations to help solve their business problems in a 250

our practicum project. So those are both components that I think

one can deliver a really highly customized high touch experience

with students to engage in their interests, and also really

create a lot of value for the companies in our region.

Wonderful. Matthew, I know one innovation in the

Masters of Science in Product Innovation is really making it

accessible for working professionals. Would you mind

talking a little about your role, as well as the importance

of having working professionals in this program?

Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, working

professionals for this program kind of came out of the demand

that we found for it. So talking about customer discovery, we

were getting calls from folks at Walmart and folks down in Fort

Smith and the supply chain industry and kind of all over

the place, but they are working professionals that were in the

industry, that either were had the awareness of product

management, or maybe they had their own product idea that they

were hoping to sort of on the side develop and potentially

start their own company with. And so that demand really drove

us to make some changes to the program, because previously, we

were thinking we would start with a full time program. And so

what we've done is make the program a specific pathway for

working professionals that will follow the format that our

Executive MBA has had, that our Information Systems Professional

Programs have, that our Masters of Supply Chain Program has,

where it's a one Saturday a month, they'll come to class and

have that face to face experience. And then the rest of

the coursework, they'll complete over the week, virtually. And so

it's a format that we've seen success with through these other

programs for several years now. And so we know it works with our

local business community. And so it's one that we wanted to

adopt, just to make the program available to these folks,

they're they're the ones that they're aware of what's going on

with product and how that's changed so much. In the

industry, Walmart is one of the biggest hirers of folks in the

product space. And so it's it's really just something that, you

know, is really, in demand. It's something that's new. And so

it's something that even a lot of our undergraduate students

may not be aware of yet. But but the working professionals are

aware of it. So what that'll look like for them is basically

a two year process, although take it part time, taking two

classes a semester. So very digestible. One of the parts

that we're excited about as well as we're going to utilize the

collaborative space that we have up in Bentonville. And so it's

very close to a lot of our working professionals, we are

also working with them in the development of a new prototyping

space that our students will have access to up there, if you

know where Airship Coffee is, it's kind of grab your coffee

and go behind that it's in the same warehouse building there.

And so they'll have opportunities to very much hands

on work in the prototyping phases of the program. And then

also being connected to a lot of the funding sources for our

students that are interested more in the entrepreneurial

space of this as well. So we're really excited to see what our

professional students come in the program and do. I think it's

something that our GORP program that Phil's doing, has seen a

lot of success with, almost all of his folks that have come

through that program have been working professionals that are

doing this on the side to develop a product. And so we

anticipate that as well. Both, again, from the entrepreneurial

side, as well as folks that are that are maybe in the Walmart

universe that wants to transition or to grow within the

product space there.

If, if someone's interested in this program, what

would be the best way for them to find out more about the

program?

So our website, pretty easy to remember,

MSPI.uark.edu. All the courses are listed there. So you can get

a really good idea of what you'll be studying. We also have

a breakdown of the course layout and the schedule of when those

face to face classes are. And then there's also a form on

there if you want to get more personal and have a conversation

with me put your information there, I'd be happy to reach out

and chat. One of the things that's you know, exciting about

a new program is that they're always small, because not as

many people know about them. And so we anticipate, you know,

anywhere from 10 to 15 folks in this original cohort, so it's

going to be very intimate, personal. We're going to know

all of our students very well you're going to know us you're

going to know your faculty. We're going to have lots of

opportunities for job placement for you know, individual

mentoring and counseling throughout the program. And so

it's gonna be it's gonna be a pretty cozy program in that

regard. So yeah, I'd say definitely don't hesitate to

reach out and chat with us if if you're at all interested.

Great. Great. Jason, getting back to the major

in entrepreneurship, for example, or even the minor. What

if a student is entrepreneurial? You know, they seem to be drawn

to entrepreneurial activity and ideas. But what if a student is

in that category, but they want to start their career with a

bigger company? Is studying entrepreneurship beneficial for

them?

Absolutely. In fact, we talk to students

frequently that, that have interest in or a creative

mindset or creative decision making, that they're interested

in that but, you know, aren't ready to take the leap into a

into their own business. And I think that that's one of the

misconceptions about entrepreneurship, particularly

from an educational perspective is that while while

entrepreneurship can be starting your own business, that's one of

the reasons why we have alternative tracks as well is

for students that want to learn design thinking or different

creative problem solving and approaches to decision making,

that really create those innovative thought processes

within organizations, large corporations are always looking

for, and would like students that have a different

perspective, rather than, than the simple typical disciplinary

perspective, and that that's what this does program provides.

So it allows for a lot of opportunity in that space beyond

just starting your own business. In fact, if you look at the

data, most entrepreneurs on average entrepreneurs usually

are in their 30s, or close to, and that's because they've begun

in the corporate world, they've learned a skill they've learned

a trade and then they from that they've had time to, you know,

save some funds and be able to invest in their new business.

And so that's we're focused on those types of students as well

of allowing them through a corporate innovation, thematic

track, or core, or the social innovation, or even the small

enterprise perspective is, can help those students fit into

that corporate world. And then if they want to, in the future

branch out into creating their own business.

Matthew, for the Masters of Science in product

innovation, would you characterize the ideal student?

I'd say it's pretty broad. So you know, Jason

talked about earlier, you know, how entrepreneur education, that

doesn't just mean you want to go and start your own business, it

means you're creative, you want to be innovative, you want to be

disruptive. So I'd say, you know, those kinds of

characteristics are going to be ideal for our students, they

could come from any major. The technical skills, obviously are

helpful if you're trying to develop products. So if you're

computer science or engineering, but you could be, you know, an

English major that has an idea or you want to get into the

space, you're very likely a business student we'll have a

lot of those. So it's not specific to any any major, I

would say, some experience is certainly ideal for us, you

know, if you're coming, especially into the part time

program, we're looking at, you know, upper 20s 30s 40s are kind

of the range there. But we also have students coming directly

out of undergraduate, that are interested in the program, and

for certain students, they can be successful as well. I would

also say that, you know, product can be a lot of different

things. It could be, you know, internal digital products at a

large corporation. It could be a company that's creating product,

it could be against starting your own business. And so it's

pretty broad. But but it should be somebody who's interested in

creating something new and enjoys working on

interdisciplinary teams. And, again, is ready to to create and

disrupt and be innovative.

Taryn, would you mind speaking a little bit, you

know, we've been talking a little bit about this idea of

outdoor recreation. And what does that have to do with all of

this and and what are we trying to accomplish with that?

In terms of the outdoor industry, Arkansas is

now joining the ranks of a national movement of states that

are creating offices of outdoor recreation, and really focusing

on the economic impact that outdoor recreation and tourism

has on their economy. So join states like Colorado and Oregon

in the creation of these offices to really sort of create

strategies around development of both services and products in

the outdoor industry. So the program that we're creating

product innovation has a large focus on outdoor industry as a

as a product category that we really want to help develop

here. And Matthew touched on the prototyping lab that we're

building up in Bentonville, and part of the focus of that space

will be on the cycling industry. We're going to focus on

prototyping in metals in that space and how we can work with

an entrepreneur and engineering residents there to support the

cycling industry through the projects that we work on in our

program. So it's an exciting time to look across the various

opportunities in this region and really lean in to the assets

that you have here in terms of natural resources.

On behalf of the Sam M. Walton College of

Business, I want to thank everyone for spending time with

us for another engaging conversation. You can subscribe

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