SCORE, Los Angeles Partnership

IAU partners with the local Los Angeles SCORE office to offer hands-on entrepreneurial experience for class credit. SCORE, a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), mentors to America's small business. It is a non-profit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and helping small business start, grow and succeed nationwide. SCORE is headquartered in Washington; however, has many local offices nation-wide.

Dr. Guy Langvardt serves as Vice President for Client Services with SCORE, Los Angeles and as the mentoring faculty member for IAU students who participate in this SCORE course. In the U.S., there are 29.6 million small businesses in the United States (2008) and employ just over half of the country's private sector workforce. So, it makes sense to have students interested in entrepreneurship and small busines management to learn more about them. As mentoring faculty member, Dr. Langvardt ties in the student's classroom training and relates it to real "start-ups" or small businesses who seek guidance. The practical experience gives IAU graduate students the opportunity to practice what they've learned in real situations to truly grasp the concepts they've been taught. Topics covered range form marketing plans, start-up capital, and city laws and licenses.

Habib, an IAU MBA graduate worked on a marketing plan project for SCORE with some other IAU graduate students. He had this to say about SCORE, "The SCORE experience was really exciting as I call it "work in action". Whatever I had learned during my MBA study program, I got the chance to implement that knowledge and skill set in assessing SCORES's current situation. I was also able to advise suitable future directives. It provided me the chance to think "out of the box"; I enjoyed it. So, for me, I have found the SCORE internship an exciting experience and I would highly recommend this to every graduate student."

Currently, this course is offered only to MBA students with at least 15 units completed or DBA students.