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Compass:
[ Mon Jan 05, 2009 20:26 ]
[ Refresh ]
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John Mueller
Personal Statement
Department: Business Strategy and Entrepreneurship
Degree: Ph.D.
January 15, 2006
Introduction
My career path has taken me to various parts of the world and has enabled me to start several successful businesses. The experience I have built in the corporate world has given me a solid understanding of business operations overall and firsthand knowledge of what it means to be an entrepreneur. With this knowledge, my ultimate goal is to be able to spend a majority of my time researching, teaching, and publishing in a higher education institution. Specifically, I would like to continue the research I started while working in the corporate world. It is research that involves industry-segmented stock markets and how these types of markets would play a role in financing small businesses.
For the past six years I have been conducting research through a company I founded: GolfSolutions.com. Even though I have been fortunate enough to spend time researching and building my topic of interest in the corporate world, I have not been able to focus 100% of my time on my research due to the reality of operating several companies. In order to take my research to another level, I have come to realize that I need to focus the majority of my energies on my research and not be distracted by my managerial responsibilities. For this reason, and for my long-term desire to become part of an educational and research community, I am turning to the university environment to accomplish my goal. The University of Colorado doctorate program and the entrepreneurship department offer the environment and resources necessary for me to succeed in my ambitions.
Background
My background consists of a balance of experiences and pursuits that is highlighted with a number of significant achievements and activities. My education comes from several top universities and my twelve years of work experience includes being an executive in a public company, a founder in two companies, and a director in a company I acquired.
I achieved my BBA and MBA degrees through studying at Southern Methodist University (SMU), the University of Illinois, and the University of Texas. During my time at these universities I excelled in the classroom as well as being an active member of the university communities. My extracurricular activities included being a teaching assistant, a project manager for the school's consulting group, a team member of a special research group with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and the university's technology transfer office, and a member of the golf team while taking courses in the honors computer science program.
For the past seven years, I have been involved in founding two technology-oriented companies, acquiring a storage software company, and providing consulting services to M&A, venture capital, and investment companies. Prior to those engagements I was an executive at a public company founded by the professional golfer Jack Nicklaus and worked as a consultant in companies in South Africa and Kuwait.
Desired Area of Focus
My doctorate research interest revolves around entrepreneurship and the role general-oriented and industry-segmented stock markets play in financing small businesses. One of the companies I have founded, GolfSolutions.com, afforded me the opportunity to work on the concept of industry-segmented stock markets using one-person companies (a professional golfer) and GolfSolutions.com's GolfInvestor stock markets as a test site. GolfInvestors provides a controlled environment in which the earnings and expenses of professional golfers are accurately reported in a timely fashion through the use of an integrated electronic market and accounting system.
I would like to use the GolfInvestors environment as a source for my doctorate research and as a teaching tool. This focus on one industry will enable me to research if the concept of industry-segmented stock markets is plausible and how they would affect the financing of small businesses. If an industry-segmented stock market is plausible in the golf industry, then I can take the idea to other industries such as veterinary, medicine, etc. and see how the concept would work in general.
If industry-segmented stock markets are plausible, then it opens up more questions that I would like to explore. Taking into consideration that industry-segmented stock markets are smaller and can handle smaller public and private offerings than what the current general-oriented stock markets can handle, this would include questions of interest such as:
- Will industry-segmented stock markets make it easier for small businesses to raise funds from investors?
- Does completely truthful and real-time information help or hurt in terms of raising funds for small businesses?
- Is 100% transparency a good thing for investors as compared to no transparency? Is there a potential middle ground? If so, what is that middle ground? Is 100% transparency a good thing for the company and its managers and employees? How does transparency affect small businesses if they had their shares traded on a stock market?
- With the increased exposure of fraud in the corporate world (i.e. Enron, MCI, etc.), the government continues to implement more and more regulations to control distributed information that is truthful, for example the Sarbanes-Oxley regulation. This regulation is targeted to large corporations that have a hard time implementing their internal controls. However, what about the fraud that takes place in small businesses? If fraud were found prevalent in small businesses, how would this affect how small businesses raise funds externally on a stock market?
The stock market and how small businesses use them interest me because of what I have seen in the public company Golden Bear Golf (Paragon Construction) and the private companies I have founded. General-oriented stock markets offer mainly established mid- to large-size businesses access to funds and liquidity of their shares. However, they are costly and thus are not used by small businesses. Industry-segmented stock markets could help small businesses, both public and private, by providing them easier access to liquidity while lowering the costs of raising funds for their operations. As well, these stock markets could release the stranglehold that venture capitalists and investment bankers put on fundraising for small businesses. Having seen fundraising from both the entrepreneur's and the funder's perspective, I am passionate about this topic.
At the educational institutions which I attended, I focused my studies on business, finance, economics, and technology, which all relate to my desired area of focus for my doctoral program.
Why the University of Colorado's Leeds School of Business?
I want to improve on my ability to research topics, write about the topics I research, and improve my ability to formulate my thoughts into a coherent conclusion that others can understand. My understanding of the University of Colorado Ph.D. program, with its rigorous learning environment, is that it will help me improve on these competencies while improving my knowledge of my subject matter.
The University of Colorado's Ph.D. program would be an excellent fit for me because of the focus on entrepreneurship in the Management department, the resources it provides on entrepreneurship (including its faculty and the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship), and the school's prestige among scholars. I believe there are several faculty members within the Leeds School of Business that could be inspiring mentors for my research topic; specifically, Dr. Elaine Mosakowski and Dr. Tom Dean. The reason for selecting Dr. Mosakowski is based upon her research in entrepreneurship innovation and corporate governance, and Dr. Dean based upon his work with the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship and his research. As well, I would like to interface with Dr. Chris Leach and Dr. Sanjai Bhagat in the Finance and Economics department to be able to get expert guidance in finance and stock markets so I can then relate it to small businesses specifically.
Conclusion
At a young age I have already accomplished many of my career goals, including working abroad (Arthur Andersen - Kuwait and Montsi & Associates - South Africa), becoming an executive of a company which I did not own (Paragon Construction / Golden Bear Golf), founding a company (GolfSolutions.com and SmartBond), buying a company (Colorado Software Architects), and being a good father and husband while working on my endeavors (ongoing). At this junction in my life my career goal is more of a theme then a specific set of individual goals. It is a theme of "constant learning and improving - not being stagnant or stale." The Ph.D. program, while working towards my dissertation and after achieving the degree, will enable me to be in an atmosphere that promotes constant learning and improving, as well as passing that energy and knowledge on to others with the same passion. Once I obtain my Ph.D., the knowledge garnered from my doctoral work will provide me the opportunity to teach at a top-notch university and continue to research and publish along my interest of industry-segmented stock markets and how they specifically affect small businesses. Hopefully my research will result in shedding more light on how small businesses obtain funds for their operations, and how investors interface with the management of companies they invest in.
Currently I own and operate three companies. If accepted into the Ph.D. program at the University of Colorado I plan on selling two of these companies (SmartBond and Colorado Software Architects) and keeping GolfSolutions.com for the purpose of continuing my research in the doctoral program using the company's GolfInvestors concept. I understand the Ph.D. program is grueling, however, running three companies and having to support an employee base takes a toll both in hours and stress as well. I am accustomed to a very high workload and level of responsibility.
If accepted to the Ph.D. program, I look forward to working with the faculty at the University of Colorado along with my fellow Ph.D. candidate colleagues. I want to enjoy the power of intellect that a university environment has to offer. Obtaining my Ph.D. and teaching at the college level has always been in my plans; the question was always when and not if.
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