MBA & Sloan Strategic Management Electives: Stanford GSB

MBA and Sloan Elective Courses: Strategic Management

STRAMGT 290. Strategy and Organization in the Global Economy

This course deals with the overall general management of the corporation. It is concerned with the determination of the strategic direction of the firm, organizational design issues related to the implementation of a strategy, as well as the management of strategy processes within the firm. The primary objective of the course is for the student to develop a perspective of the general manager's role and responsibilities. The course deals with developing the capability to understand a firm's strategic situation in depth, and to develop viable alternatives for dealing with the key issues facing it. The relationship between organization structure and strategy are examined, and tools are developed for examining the firm's industry and competitive environment, with particular attention paid to how globalization of industries affects the competitive dynamics of firms. Strategy at the business unit, divisional, and corporate level are studied. Not taught in 2009-10.

STRAMGT 334. Strategy in Financial Services

The 1929 stock market crash prompted lasting changes in financial market regulation and investor behavior. These changes destroyed, but also created, opportunities for firms to earn economic rents. At this high level, history seems likely to repeat itself, but the details are still emerging. This course will draw on recent research on behavioral finance, agency conflicts, and regulatory economics to examine how investor behavior creates opportunities for firms to earn rents, how regulation has historically limited or augmented these opportunities, and how the events of the last 5 years are likely to change things. Industries covered include investment management, insurance, brokerage, analysis, market making and new exchanges, banking, pricing services, and the media. Topics include investor behavior and its implications for firms, advice and conflicts of interest, competition among market centers, innovation and barriers to it, convergence and its implications for entry and M&A, and advocacy as strategy. Not taught in 2009-10.

STRAMGT 341. Achieving Social Impact

As the intensity and complexity of social and environmental problems has grown in recent years, social entrepreneurship, defined as innovative, social value creating activity that can occur within or across the nonprofit, government or business sectors, has become increasingly prominent. While virtually all enterprises, commercial and social, generate social value, fundamental to this definition is that the primary focus of social entrepreneurship is to achieve social impact above all else. How can organizations achieve greater social impact through social entrepreneurship? Oftentimes growth seems to be the answer. Without a doubt, many nonprofits have achieved significant impact by going to scale. Yet, the process of organizational growth also poses tremendous challenges. Even when organizations manage to overcome the many obstacles to growth, and achieve appreciable scale, this approach is seldom sufficient to achieve significant social impact on its own. ASI explores how to utilize social entrepreneurship to generate social impact as efficiently, effectively, and sustainably as possible through two primary means: 1) through organizational level growth and innovation and 2) through network approaches which require the mobilization of a vast array of actors and resources, but have the potential to generate rapid and sustained social impact. Not taught in 2009-10.

STRAMGT 350. Global Value Chain Strategies

This course addresses how the increasingly large number of firms that use or provide outsourcing and "offshoring" can create a sustainable competitive advantage. Students who complete the course will have a framework and a set of concepts that can be used to position a firm for strategic advantage in these supply networks. Positioning in and strategic analysis of product markets is covered in a variety of courses and books. A distinguishing feature of this course is that it addresses positioning and strategic analysis for firms operating as part of a network of providers, sellers and buyers... the factor markets. The course takes a general management perspective and provides examples through cases and discussions with visitors. The major theme of the course is that these firms must carefully consider how they position themselves in both the product and factor markets.

STRAMGT 351. Building and Managing Professional Sales Organizations

The focus of this class is on the challenges and key issues associated with the creation and management of a professional sales organization. Our emphasis is developing and managing the selling effort in the business-to-business capital goods sector. There will be relatively little emphasis on sales technique (i.e., students should not expect a course on "How to be a Better Salesperson"). The course is organized to follow the development of the sales function from the early stages of venture formation through growth to an enterprise-class company. We examine issues related to building and managing the sales effort at start up, hiring and training sales personnel, compensation and incentive plans, sales forecasting, addressing multiple product lines, multiple channels and multiple geographic regions, developing strategic alliances, merging sales forces, and managing large channel structures and sales structures in large enterprises.

STRAMGT 353. Entrepreneurship: Formation of New Ventures

This course addresses the issues faced in starting a new venture. It is offered for students who at some time may want to undertake an entrepreneurial career by pursuing opportunities leading to partial or full ownership and control of a business as well as those who want to understand the entrepreneurial process as a background for other careers. The course deals with case situations from the point of view of the entrepreneur/manager rather than the passive investor. It takes the perspective of a general manager who must understand and lead an entire enterprise. Many cases involve visitors, since the premise is that opportunity and action have large idiosyncratic components. Students must assess opportunity and action in light of the perceived capabilities of the individuals and the nature of the environments they face.

STRAMGT 354. Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital

Many of America's most successful entrepreneurial companies have been substantially influenced by professionally managed venture capital. This relationship is examined from both the entrepreneur's and the venture capitalist's perspective. From the point of view of the entrepreneur, the course considers how significant business opportunities are identified, planned, and built into real companies; how resources are matched with opportunity; and how, within this framework, entrepreneurs seek capital and other assistance from venture capitalists or other sources. From the point of view of the venture capitalist, the course considers how potential entrepreneurial investments are evaluated, valued, structured, and enhanced; how different venture capital strategies are deployed; and how venture capitalists raise and manage their own funds. The course includes a term-long project where students work in teams (3-4 students per team) to write a business plan for a venture of the team's choosing. The course is team taught by two faculty members with substantial venture capital experience and a third faculty member with substantial entrepreneurial experience.

STRAMGT 355. Managing Growing Enterprises

This course is offered for students who, in the near term, aspire to the management and full or partial ownership of a new or newly-acquired business. The seminar has a strong implementation focus, and deals in some depth with certain selected, generic entrepreneurial issues, viewed from the perspective of the owner/manager. Broad utilization is made of case materials, background readings, visiting experts, and role playing. Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on the application of analytical tools to management practice.

STRAMGT 356. Evaluating Entrepreneurial Opportunities

The primary objectives of the course are to sharpen students' skills in opportunity evaluation; help them understand the tasks, decisions, and knowledge that are required to turn an idea into a sound business opportunity; and provide a setting for integration and extension of knowledge of the functional areas through the development of a comprehensive plan for a new business. The course is organized around a project. The initial phase will be dominated by identifying a business opportunity. This will be followed by the evaluation and development of a detailed business plan for pursuing the opportunity, and a presentation to a panel of faculty, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs.

STRAMGT 359. Aligning Start-ups with Their Market

Entrepreneurs are challenged to gain market acceptance for their products or services. Often, the markets served by entrepreneurs are poorly understood, and their potential customers are not yet well understood. Neither are the technologies, products, and services of an entrepreneur clearly understood, nor have they typically survived a market test. This course looks at the problem of aligning start up organizations with their markets under these difficult and ambiguous conditions. The course concentrates especially on start ups featuring new or changing technologies.

STRAMGT 363. Competitive Strategy

The idea that firms should take competitive responses into account when designing strategies is obvious, but is often overlooked in practice. This course analyzes the strategies and tactics used by firms in competitive environments, using frameworks developed from recent research in game theory and industrial organization. As part of this analysis, the course examines the how the legal system affects competition, both as it limits the kinds of competitive responses that are lawful and in how the legal system is used as a competitive tool. The course is targeted toward students that will be either designing or evaluating strategies in both emerging and mature industries. Topics include: creating barriers to entry, softening price competition, entry and exit strategies, strategic commitment, price discrimination, and network effects. Not taught in 2009-10.

STRAMGT 365. Strategic Decision Making

This compressed course concerns the analysis of strategic decision-making, with an emphasis on the process of "big stakes" analysis in complex corporate settings. The first week is devoted primarily to the tools of this process and to coping with (strategic) unawareness (especially in competitive situations). The second week is devoted primarily to "learning by doing," as we apply the tools developed in the first week to real-life problems. The overall objective of the course is to develop the student's working knowledge of these techniques, so the student can fruitfully apply these techniques on his/her own. Not taught in 2009-10.

STRAMGT 366. Evaluating Entrepreneurial Opportunities

This course is the second quarter continuation of STRAMGT 356, please see the STRAMGT 356 course description.

STRAMGT 367. Social Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation

This course examines individuals and organizations that use entrepreneurial skills and approaches to develop innovative responses to social problems. Entrepreneurship has traditionally been seen as a way of creating wealth for the entrepreneur and for those who back her/his work. Social entrepreneurs employ “entrepreneurial skills,” such as finding opportunities, inventing new approaches, securing and focusing resources and managing risk, in the service of creating a social value. As the intensity and complexity of social and environmental problems has grown in recent years social entrepreneurship, defined as innovative, social value creating activity that can occur within or across the nonprofit, government or business sectors, has become increasingly prominent. While virtually all enterprises, commercial and social, generate social value, fundamental to this definition is that the primary focus of social entrepreneurship is to achieve social impact above all else. We will study some of the most promising and the best-proven innovations for improving people’s lives. We will also examine mature projects that are now tackling the issue of “scale”, moving from local innovations to solutions that create deep systemic changes for larger numbers of economically disadvantaged individuals and communities throughout the world. This year we will focus on what are the constraints and opportunities for creating a social enterprise at scale. The process of "scale" poses tremendous challenges. Even when organizations manage to overcome the many obstacles to growth, and achieve appreciable scale, this approach is seldom sufficient to achieve significant social impact on its own. This year our course will pay particular attention to network approaches which require the mobilization of a vast array of actors and resources, but have the potential to generate rapid and sustained social impact.

STRAMGT 368. Strategic Management of Nonprofits

This course seeks to provide a survey of the strategic, governance, and management issues facing a wide range of nonprofit organizations and their executive and board leaders, in the era of venture philanthropy and social entrepreneurship. The students will also be introduced to core managerial issues uniquely defined by this sector such as development/fundraising, investment management, performance management and nonprofit finance. The course also provides an overview of the sector, including its history and economics. Cases involve a range of nonprofits, from smaller, social entrepreneurial to larger, more traditional organizations, including education, social service, environment, health care, religion, NGO's and performing arts.

STRAMGT 369. Social Entrepreneurship

This course is about the efforts of private citizens to create effective responses to social needs and innovative solutions to social problems. History is full of examples of this kind of activity, though its character continues to evolve. Social entrepreneurs are increasingly blurring the lines between the sectors, using for-profit and hybrid forms of organization to achieve social objectives. This creates new opportunities for applying business skills in the social sector. Despite its prominence and complexity, this combination of private initiative and public purpose is not well understood. The objectives of this course are: (1) to introduce students to the concepts, practices, and challenges of social entrepreneurship in the United States and around the world; (2) to equip students with frameworks and tools that will help them be more effective in their socially entrepreneurial pursuits, and (3) to engage students in a joint learning process as a better understanding of this emerging field is developed by all in this class. Not taught in 2009-10.

STRAMGT 370. Strategy and Action in the Information Processing Industry

This course studies the development of competitive strategies by firms in a highly interrelated industry by examining case studies, all set in the information processing industry of the 1990s and 2000s. At various times, analysis is at the firm level (development of corporate strategies), at the intra-firm level (how were strategies developed and implemented), at the industry-segment level (e.g., semiconductors or personal computing), and at the inter-industry segment level (e.g., interplay of semiconductors and personal computing). Not taught in 2009-10.

STRAMGT 371. Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation

This course focuses on the strategic management of technology-based innovation in the firm. The purpose is to provide students with concepts, frameworks, and experiences that are useful for taking part in the management of innovative processes in the firm. The course examines how such processes may change the strategic direction of the firm and how they can be managed effectively. Specific topics include assessing the innovative capabilities of the firm, managing the corporate R&D function, managing the interfaces between functional groups in the development process, managing the new business development function in the firm, understanding and managing technical entrepreneurs, building technology-based distinctive competencies and competitive advantages, technological leadership versus followership in competitive strategy, institutionalizing innovation, and attracting and keeping corporate entrepreneurs.

STRAMGT 373. Strategic Thinking in Action—In Business and Beyond

The seminar's aim is to improve participants' ability to develop strategically informed action plans that are imaginative, inspiring and workable in highly dynamic environments. The seminar's pedagogical methodology involves informed debate and constructive confrontation to evaluate and hone well-researched views by the participants and instructors, as well as the writing and presentation of position papers by small groups of seminar participants on the seminar's focal themes. In the course of the seminar discussions, we aim to deepen our understanding of strategic dynamics and transformational change at the inter-industry, industry, organization, and intra-organizational levels of analysis.

STRAMGT 377. Strategic Decision Making

No description available. Not taught in 2009-10.

STRAMGT 378. Strategic Management of Nonprofits

STRAMGT 380. Managing Global Businesses

This Bass Seminar focuses on some of the central strategic and organizational problems that arise in managing international businesses, including new market evaluation and entry, cultural conflicts, developing and managing international managers, and organizing to resolve global -local conflicts. Not taught in 2009-10.

STRAMGT 383. Doing Business in China: Challenges and Approaches

Challenges facing international businesses as they take part in China's economic boom. Chinese economic reform, and changes in sino-foreign commercial interaction. Guest lectures by business executives working in China. Not taught in 2009-10.

STRAMGT 385. International Business

This course addresses fundamental issues in developing international strategies and managing in the international environment. The course is in three parts, which are closely linked. The first is concerned with the special nature of the international environment and its impact on firm strategy and operations, with attention to the financial, cultural, political and economic complexities of foreign environments. This section includes sessions on foreign direct investment, culture, foreign exchange exposure management and other issues that arise in cross-border operations. The second part considers country-specific variables that influence the competitiveness of firms and the attractiveness of countries to foreign investors and traders. Students will study opportunities in several large emerging countries, and analyze the investment climate and alternative strategies for entering and growing in these markets. Students will consider the relative merits of exporting, licensing, direct investment and joint ventures, in the search for a balance between opportunity and risk. This section includes a realistic simulated negotiation of a joint venture in China. In the third section, students will look at the forces that stimulate firms to seek global operating economies, on the one hand, and responsiveness to local customers, on the other, and how these pressures interact with the firm's strengths to create a regional or global approach to international strategy. The importance of managing the generation and diffusion of knowledge across the corporate network is a critical concern in dealing with these pressures. The course concludes by examining leadership in the organizational transformation of international companies. Not taught in 2009-10.

STRAMGT 508. Entrepreneurship from the Perspective of Women

There are now over a dozen courses taught on entrepreneurship at the GSB. These courses cover a wide range of topics of interest to the budding entrepreneur and venture capitalists. But what unique challenges do women face when approaching entrepreneurship? This seminar will showcase successful women entrepreneurs and the challenges they encountered in funding, communication styles, lifestyle balance, and paths to success. We will do so with mini-cases, panel discussions, readings, and some social time with experienced entrepreneurs. Men are also welcomed to enroll. This seminar has been developed in partnership with the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs.

STRAMGT 513. New Venture Workshop

The idea behind this workshop is to provide students with a forum for examining how to assess ideas for new ventures and the implications of various models for new venture formation. Each student must come to the workshop with an idea for a new venture. The idea should be at a relatively early stage - we are not looking for completed business plans (although new venture ideas that are a little further along are not precluded). The group will focus on each idea for about an hour. Students will get feedback on their own ideas and by participating actively in the discussion of their peers' ideas, will get some experience in evaluating new venture opportunities. The instructor will invite "friends of the GSB" from the local venture capital and entrepreneurship communities to participate.

STRAMGT 524. Strategy Implementation

This seminar focuses on the challenges of strategy implementation that middle-managers confront on a daily basis. To best understand these issues, we will visit five local companies (one per day) and meet with middle-managers. Key questions include: What is the role, if any, of middle-managers in helping to formulate strategy? How is the strategy communicated to employees? In what circumstances do middle-managers explicitly invoke the strategy, if at all? What role do middle-managers play in strategic change? Do you distinguish financial and strategic health in your business? If so, do you quantify strategic health? How important is culture to the company's success and how do you reinforce this? What challenges have you faced in managing growth and organizational change at your company? What are the challenges to managing innovation in your company? The seminar will be particularly useful to students interested in strategy consulting or line management positions where you will participate in the strategy process, or any kind of implementation role. Each day we will spend time in class before and after company visits to discuss background and share reactions. Targeted companies include: Apple, Facebook, Netflix, TiVo and Yahoo.

STRAMGT 534. Regulation and Strategy in Financial Services

STRAMGT 543. Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition

For aspiring entrepreneurs who don't have a burning idea or the desire to start a company from scratch, acquiring a small business can provide a direct route to running and growing a business. This class will explore entrepreneurship through acquisition, including the Search Fund model. Key topics to be addressed:

Raising the money to acquire a company and building an investor base
Structuring a search for a company to buy: analyzing industries, utilizing resources, creating deal flow and managing contacts
Evaluating acquisition opportunities and performing due diligence and financial analysis
Structuring and closing the deal
Transitioning leadership from the seller
Operating and building the business
Economics to the searcher/entrepreneur
Partnering or doing it alone

The course will be taught by two GSB alumni who have extensive experience buying small companies and successfully growing them.

STRAMGT 559. Aligning Start-ups with Their Market

Most everyone associated with technology start-ups would agree that the most important initial characteristic of a successful endeavor is a compelling vision. The journey from vision to escape velocity is highly dependent on management's ability to translate that vision into a product or service that closely and economically addresses a customer's significant point of pain. Without a tight product market fit, the start-up's offering will not be able to break through the market's gravitational forces which strongly favor existing solutions, resulting in likely failure. With tight product/market fit, it is far more likely the company will achieve repeatable and growing sales success. Conventional wisdom dictates that a start-up launching a new product should focus its energy understanding what the market wants (problem) and then translating that knowledge into an optimal set of product features (solution). This is the ideal strategy if one is attacking a market that already exists. However if the start-up pursues an entirely new market or re-segments an existing market, customers are unlikely to be able to articulate the benefits and features they will need. The approaches required to pursue new or re-segmented markets are radically different from those applied to existing markets. As a result it is not relentless execution and exploitation of a well understood market that will lead to success, but discovery of a new market or segment that is in need of the product as envisioned. If done well, this process of finding the optimal product/market fit has a disproportionate impact on success. Our intention is to create a course that explores the many issues associated with optimizing product/market fit. Not taught in 2009-10.

STRAMGT 565. Strategic Decision Making

This compressed course concerns the analysis of strategic decision-making, with an emphasis on the process of "big stakes" analysis in complex corporate settings. The first week is devoted primarily to the tools of this process and to coping with (strategic) unawareness (especially in competitive situations). The second week is devoted primarily to "learning by doing," as we apply the tools developed in the first week to real-life problems. The overall objective of the course is to develop the student?s working knowledge of these techniques, so the student can fruitfully apply these techniques on his/her own. Not taught in 2009-10.

STRAMGT 577. Strategic Decision Making