MIT Open Course on Strategy 15-928 Proseminar

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Strategic Management and Consulting Proseminar: Theoretical Foundations


Themes of the course are:

Theme 1. Restoring Credibility and Winning Stakeholders Trust.
Theme 2. Focus on Short-Term Efficiency - Cost Containment and Implementation.
Theme 3. Largest Destruction of Shareholder Value - How Could It Happen?
Theme 4. Structuring the Organization for Unstable Markets.
Theme 5. Motivating Employees in a Turbulent Environment - Becoming an Employer of Choice.
Theme 6. Globalization - The Question of Fairness.


Theme 1. Restoring Credibility and Winning Stakeholders Trust
The seemingly endless disclosures of lapses in the integrity in Corporate America have shaken the confidence in businesses and their financial reports. The major task is to enforce the principles of transparency and accountability involving every member of the corporate reporting supply chain: company executives, boards of directors, independent auditors, information distributors, third party analysts, investors, standard setters, and market regulators.

Robert Eccles (Founder and President of Advisory Capital Partners, and former Professor at Harvard Business School)
Paul Tellier (President and CEO, Bombardier)
Theme 2. Focus on Short-Term Efficiency - Cost Containment and Implementation
The economic downturn that we have experienced in the last year and a half has generated a concentration of attention on the bottom line and an emphasis on developing a lean and cost-efficient infrastructure, and a strong belief that execution is everything. The challenge is to address these short-term pressures in a way that we do not compromise the future of the organization.

James McTaggart (Founder and CEO, Marakon Associates)
Jürgen Weber (Chairman of the Executive Board, Lufthansa)
Theme 3. Largest Destruction of Shareholder Value - How Could It Happen?
As of September 30, 2002, the S&P 500 has fallen roughly 45% and NASDAQ has fallen 78% from their March 2000 highs. Countless technology and telecommunications companies have fallen 90+% or have disappeared. Something to the order of $7 trillion of equity value has evaporated over this period. The big question is why did this happen and are there any lessons to be drawn to prevent a similar occurrence in the future.

Stewart Myers (Gordon y Billard Professor, MIT Sloan)
Hans-Jörg Rudloff (Chairman of the Executive Committee, Barclays Capital)
Theme 4. Structuring the Organization for Unstable Markets
The greatest concerns are to assure business continuity, stabilization of earnings in volatile markets, disaster recovery, and mechanisms to successfully face disruptive technologies. These conditions require an organization with a continuous capacity for adaptation. We will explore what are the critical elements of such a structure.

Philip Evans (Senior Vice President, Boston Consulting Group)
Rudi Lamprecht (Member of the Managing Board, Siemens AG)
Theme 5. Motivating Employees in a turbulent Environment - Becoming an Employer of Choice
In these difficult economic times, it has become even more critical to attract, satisfy, and retain the top talent.

Gary Cowger (President, GM North America)
Christopher Bartlett (Thomas D. Casserly, Jr. Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School)
Theme 6. Globalization - The Question of Fairness
Globalization has both strong supporters and detractors. There are those that advocate globalization as a powerful means to bring more prosperity and democracy into the world. The detractors argue that the rewards of globalization are spread unequally and inequitably both among citizens of a given country and across countries in the world community. How can we shape the direction of globalization in a just and equitable way?

Philip Khoury (Dean, School of Humanities, M.I.T.)
Dale Laurance (President, Occidental Petroleum)

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Sloan-School-of-Management/15-928Strategic-Management-and-Consulting-Proseminar--Theoretical-FoundationsSpring2003/StudyMaterials/index.htm

Study Materials of the course

Course Summary, Prepared by Students (PDF)
Book Summary by Professor Arnoldo Hax (PDF)





http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Sloan-School-of-Management/15-928Strategic-Management-and-Consulting-Proseminar--Theoretical-FoundationsSpring2003/LectureNotes/

Lecture Notes
The following strategic questions are based on discussions by guest lecturers:
Strategic Questions from Lecture 1: Guest Lecturer Rudi Lamprecht, Siemens AG (PDF)

Strategic Questions from Lecture 2: Guest Lecturer Philip Evans, BCG (PDF)

Strategic Questions from Lecture 3: Strategic Questions from Dr. Dale Laurance, Occidental Petroleum (PDF)

Strategic Questions from Lecture 4: Strategic Questions from Philip Khoury, Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (PDF)

Strategic Questions from Lecture 5: Strategic Questions from Stewart Myers, Gordon y Billard Professor of Finance (PDF)

Strategic Questions from Lecture 6: Strategic Questions from Hans-Joerg Rudloff, Chairman of the Executive Committee, Barclays Capital (PDF)

Strategic Questions from Lecture 7: Strategic Questions from Jurgen Weber, Chairman of Executive Board, Lufthansa (PDF)

Strategic Questions from Lecture 8: Strategic Questions from Jim McTaggart, Co-Chairman and Co-Founder, Marakon Associates (PDF)

Strategic Questions from Lecture 9: Strategic Questions from Gary Cowger, President of General Motors – North America (PDF)

Strategic Questions from Lecture 10: Strategic Questions from Professor Christopher Bartlett, Harvard Business School (PDF)

Strategic Questions from Lecture 11: Strategic Questions from Bob Eccles, Founder and president of Advisory Capital Partners, former HBS Professor (PDF)

Strategic Questions from Lecture 12: Strategic Questions from Michael Armstrong, Chairman of Comcast Corp. (PDF)