BUA 649 Management Policy
Syllabus, Spring 2006
Instructor:
Pankaj Agrrawal, Ph.D.
Office Hours: Mon 2:30P-4:30P, Fri 2:30P-3:30P (and other times by appointment), in DPC 305
Office Phone: 207.581.1983, Cell: 610.570.6903
pankaj.agrrawal@maine.edu
 Required Casebook:
Management Policy: Compiled Casebook, by Pankaj Agrrawal, published by McGraw Hill/Primis
Custom publishing.
http://ebooks.primisonline.com/eBookstore/index.jsp
Click on the "custom eBooks" link to find the book, then download it and print it. This Casebook
is a compilation of chapters from four graduate textbooks and multiple cases from Darden and
HBS publishing - no single book covers the range of topics that we will be focusing on. A
compilation and an e-delivery should result is very substantial savings for you. The material is
also in an aggregated form and can be referenced easily. This material is strictly copyrighted by
McGraw Hill, Darden and HBS who are very aggressive in their IP preservation. Please adhere to
the honor code and download the book upon payment to the publisher.
 Course Deliverables:
These include a set of individual case reports, a semester-long team project, and an in-class
midterm, along with a few pop quizzes.
Prerequisites:
BUA 604, BUA 605, BUA 651 and one additional 600-level BUA course; must have
graduate standing. Any exception must be discussed with the instructor and approved by
the department.
Course Description:
Develops competence in the formulation of business policy at the decision-making level
through case study. BUA 649 introduces the models of prescriptive and descriptive
decision making under uncertainty and with incomplete information. Emphasis is not only
on what should be the decision but also what is the decision in a corporate environment,
and how to arrive at that point.
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Course Objective:
The course’s primary objectives are to enhance students’ abilities to:

Analyze complex business scenarios and situations.

Develop an awareness of the need to make decisions without a complete
information set.

Improvise appropriately and adapt constructively from previously learned
business concepts and theories.

Develop the ability to recognize the need for, and compile additional facts
to aid the decision making process.

Understand and manage the complex ethical and governance issues facing
organizations as they develop and implement competitive agendas.

Develop the ability to function cooperatively and effectively in a group
situation.
The course places particular emphasis on students’ ability to think critically and to
communicate both verbally and in writing. The course also requires students to apply
concepts described in class to organizations with which students are familiar, thus
challenging them to apply course frameworks to real-world phenomena.
Class Procedures:
The course employs cases, exercises, lectures and discussion. The course will be
conducted on a participative basis consisting of case discussion, student presentations, and
in-class exercises. Students will be responsible for understanding the contents of materials
assigned for reading and discussed in class. The case discussions will expand upon the
assigned readings, focusing among other things, on relevant research findings and
applications. Students will be required to actively participate in class discussion. Industry
experts may at times share their experience in class – I will inform you of the timings
depending on their availability.
Class Participation:
Students are expected to come to class having read the assigned material and being
prepared to discuss it. A regular habit is made of calling on people to discuss, define, or
defend various points in the reading. Class discussion is not only encouraged, it is
required.
Assessment of participation is based primarily on your active involvement in discussion of
cases and , and reflects the extent of your contributions to the classroom environment and
to the learning of all participants. Positive participation may include contributions such as:
providing germane illustrations; motivating the use of a particular tool or technique;
helpful recapitulation or summarizing; making observations that link or integrate concepts
or discussion; responding effectively to questions; asking perceptive questions; illustrating
specific points by appealing to your own experiences; as well as presenting or supporting
alternative, or unpopular, positions. Being “wrong” will not count against you, but it will
also not help out.
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You are expected to treat your colleagues with respect: to disagree with an idea without
discrediting the speaker; to help others to articulate their points of view; and to use airtime
judiciously.
Attendance:
Attendance in class is strongly encouraged, you cannot be absent on the day you have a
presentation. I do not require any reasons from you for class absences, and accept that your
reasons are sound and valid – you are in a graduate university setting and should recognize
that a 3 hour-class absence will create discontinuity in your exposure to class material, as
well as additional support load on me. Please make first attempts with fellow
classmates to find out about missed classwork. Absences are never an excuse to miss
an assignment or to hand it in after the due date. A 100% attendance will be recognized
with a 6% final grade bonus, and one absence only with a 4% bonus.
A few pop quizzes will be administered randomly at the very beginning or at the very
end of some of the classes – they last about 5-7 minutes and refer to the material covered in
the previous class, there are no make up pop quizzes.
Case Report (Individual):
Each student will be responsible for preparing to discuss a case in class and write a short
report (2-3 pages), due in class when the case is to be discussed.
Term Project and Presentations:
The course concludes with two sessions devoted to team final project presentations and a
final session that reinforces key concepts covered in the class.
As a substitute for the final examination, each student/manager will submit their
experience/thoughts when subject to an exogenous change in policy or the change brought
about as a result of their own initiative to alter an existing management policy. Discuss the
background of the policy change, its overt objectives, what warranted it, the
heuristics/biases applied/evident during its formation/execution, the errors resulting from
these cognitive biases (at the conception and execution stage), what went wrong, what went
right, the final outcome and how it could/should have been done differently. These projects
are due in the final two weeks and will be presented by each team. This will be in open
discussion format. [here are some suggestions to trigger thought - moving office locations,
changing ice-cream wrappers, altering company travel policy, shifting manufacturing
locations, changing dividend policy, buying patents for non-established technologies,
applying real options for effective capital budgeting, re-evaluating an existing assetallocation policy for a pension plan, looking deeper into your existing management culture
to uncover hidden cognitive biases and errors].
Peer Evaluation (Individual):
Each student/manager will submit a Peer Evaluation at the completion of the final project.
You will also assign a letter grade to each team member and justify your reason for this
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grade (1/2 page font size 12, max) . The peer evaluation is to be submitted along with your
final project. Please ensure confidentiality of these reports, and keep a copy for your
records.
Grade Determination:
Each student will be graded on the basis of his/her (1) combined performance on
the examinations, (2) project assignment, (3) presentation, (4) general classroom
participation, (5) case reports, and (6) any other assignments that may be given during the
semester.
Midterm Exam (March1?)
20%
Pop quizzes
10%
Case Reports
20%
Class Participation
20%
Final Project
30%
TOTAL
100%
Compiled Casebook Material Sequence
Management Choices: Using Real Options
Capital Projects: Case starting Pg 713 – KRT (Kester, Ruback and Tufano,12th edition,
ISBN: 0-07-294551-6) HBS # 295-074
Case 18 – JD (Jim DeMellow, 2nd edition, ISBN: 0-07-298322-1)
My notes(Black Scholes)
Management Policy for Very Large Public Funds
Harvard Management Company (2001) HBS case # 9-201-129
California PERS (B) HBS case # 9-201-091
Behavioral Management Policy: Biases, Heuristics and Framing
Hersh Shefrin: Behavioral Corporate Finance: Decisions That Create Value (ISBN
0072848650)
Chapter 1: Behavioral Foundations
Chapter 2. Valuation
Chapter 4. Perceptions about Risk and Return
Chapter 5. Inefficient Markets and Corporate Decisions
Chapter 9. Group Process
Chapter 8. Agency Conflicts and Corporate Governance
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Glossary
Corporate Governance
Deception in Business: A Legal Perspective HBS #: 9-306-019
My notes (flow charts)
Valuation & Risk
Case 11,12 and 17 of JD
Management Estimation of Cost of Capital
CAPM, pg 435, KRT, HBS#276-183
Levered Betas (Hamada Equation), pg 473, KRT, HBS#288-036
Corporate Financial Policy
Case 29, pg 376, RB (Robert Bruner, 4th edition, ISBN: 0-07-233862-8), Darden ID: F1054
Case 28, pg 371, RB, Darden ID: F-0811
Mergers & Acquisitions
Case 45, pg 658, RB, Darden ID: F-1362
Case 33 – JD
IPO’s: Management Decision to take a Company Public
EBay Case 26, pg 333, RB, Darden ID: F-1357
Netscape IPO, pg 601, KRT, HBS # 296-088
Misc Topics (HBS cases)
Creative Destruction of Industrial Age and Information Age Management Principles
HBS Number: 9-301-153
National Culture and Management HBS Number: 9-394-177
What Is an Organization’s Culture? HBS Number: 9-399-104
Emmet Stephenson: Profile of an Entrepreneur HBS Number: 9-898-049
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Who Is a Professional? HBS Number: 9-904-047
Sally Jameson, Compensation Option Valuation, pg 297, KRT, HBS Number: 9-293-053
Simple Regression Mathematics HBS Number: 9-605-061
Academic Honesty
Each student is expected to abide by the policies listed in the University of Maine Online Student Handbook
(http://www.umaine.edu/handbook/default.htm). Disciplinary action described in the handbook will be used with students who
violate University Policy. Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated and are cause for mandatory dropping of the course.
Plagiarism is presenting another's words or ideas as one's own. Quotation marks are to be used if someone else's exact words are
used.
Students with Disabilities
Accommodations will be made for students who, because of a disability, require special arrangements. The student must contact
one of the instructors and the Coordinator of Services for Students With Disabilities, Ann Smith (581-2319). Documentation of the
disability may be required by the University. The student is responsible for making his/her needs known.
Please Note: “This course outline is tentative and may be changed if necessary.
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