LSA CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
Minutes of January 29, 2013
Present: Pallavi Abraham, LSASG; Paula Berwanger, Linguistics; Will Canning, LSASG; Andries
Coetzee, Linguistics; Phil Deloria, Dean's Office (Chair); Tim Dodd, Academic Advising; Kalli
Federhofer, German; Bill Gehring, Psychology; Phil Gorman, Academic Advising; Lori Gould, Dean's
Office; Kendall Johnson, LSASG; James Liu, Physics; Jennifer Myers, Residential College; Esrold
Nurse, Academic Advising; JoAnn Peraino, Dean's Office; Dhananjaya Premawardena, LSASG; Shelly
Schreier, Psychology; Susan Tepaske-King, Academic Advising; Evans Young, Dean's Office; Rebecca
Zurier, History of Art.
Guests: Paul Kirsch, Lynn Wooten, and Katrina Vegter from the Ross School of Business; Myron
Campbell, LSA Dean’s Office; David Smith, Academic Advising.
The meeting came to order at 3:10 pm.
MINUTES
Minutes for 1/22/13 were approved with one minor correction.
LSA COURSE APPROVAL REQUESTS
Modifications to COMM 347 and 446 were approved.
ROSS BUSINESS SCHOOL MINOR (proposal attached)
Paul Kirsch, Managing Director, BBA Program; Lynn Wooten, Associate Dean for
Undergraduate Programs; and Katrina Vegter, Academic Advising Director from the
Ross School of Business visited the Curriculum Committee to discuss the committee’s
concerns about their proposal to make the new Ross School of Business Minor in
Business available for LSA students. After a welcome and introductions from Phil
Deloria, Lynn Wooten spoke briefly about some of the considerations made by the Ross
School when developing the minor.
The new minor was created in response to wide interest from LSA, Public Policy, and
Business to develop a mechanism for all UM students to take Business classes. The
Business School reviewed programs in various peer institutions including Cornell, the
University of Virginia, and the University of Pennsylvania. They also noted that 25% of
the undergraduates taking Business School courses were not Ross students. Newly
designed foundational operations courses with curriculum and case studies have been
designed for the minor. Unique among business minors nationally, this program includes
an action-based learning course requirement. In addition to creating the new Business
Minor, the Ross School is developing tracks for non-Ross students to enhance their
academic goals.
1
Dean Wooten stressed that the new minor should not be considered a substitute for the
BBA. The minor includes a personal finance course, and core courses for the minor
cannot be counted toward a BBA. Ross Undergraduate Admissions will pay particular
attention to applications that explicitly and thoughtfully articulate why they are interested
in the minor as a companion to their major.
The Ross School plans to admit 100 students into the Minor in each of the first two years.
They will do a holistic review of applications with a goal of a balanced class from various
UM Schools and Colleges, and a range of academic levels. After two years, there will be
a rigorous evaluation of the program both qualitatively and quantitatively based on course
evaluations, GPAs, focus groups, and the diversity of the student body. They may also
employ CRLT, and will endeavor to survey students who have graduated with the minor.
The expectation is that the size of the minor will grow two to three times in subsequent
years.
In response to Curriculum Committee concerns about how Business School minors will
fit into the culture of the Ross Business School, Dean Wooten elaborated that they are
very mindful of creating a welcoming environment. Electives in the Business School
rarely fill up, but Dean Wooten will work to make sure there are enough sections
available for the demand. Facilities, clubs, corporate visits, career fairs, and career-prep
seminars will all be open to minors. The Business School expects non-Ross students to
seek advising and career counseling from their home schools. Because admissions
decisions will be made in July, applicants will be advised to build a non-Ross schedule of
classes so they have an alternate plan in place if they aren’t accepted to the minor. David
Smith noted that there is an LSA rule that students cannot add a minor after they
graduate. Paul Kirsch will make a note so that advisors are aware of this when talking to
seniors who may be interested in staying on an extra year to do the minor.
In response to a question of how the Business School will handle students who are not
admitted to the Minor but successfully take all of the required courses, Dean Wooten
shared that this has been discussed a lot. Restricted access to higher level courses in the
Minor will be considered as a tool to deal with the problem.
The committee asked about the lower Math requirement for the minor as compared to the
major. MATH 115 is required in the BBA program but the minor only requires MATH
105. Dean Wooten replied that the faculty feel that pre-calculus is acceptable for the
finance courses in the minor. They also feel that MATH 115 has been a roadblock for
reaching diversity goals in the major.
Satisfied with the proposal, the Curriculum Committee voted to recommend approval of
the Ross Business School Minor for LSA students.
RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT IN RESEARCH
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Associate Dean Myron Campbell visited the Curriculum Committee to talk about LSA’s
response to NIH and NSF requirements that any students employed under Federal grants
have eight hours of instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research and Scholarship.
This includes undergraduates, graduate students, and post-docs. Dean Campbell set up
two 1-credit mini-courses in the UC division, one for natural sciences and one for social
sciences. LSA departments are beginning to inquire about proposing their own courses to
cover this instruction, or for including this instruction in existing courses. The LSA
Curriculum Committee will be reviewing such proposals.
Currently when a student is paid on a Federal grant, a Service Indicator is added to their
student record to indicate that they need to undergo this training. Upon completion of the
instruction, the Service Indicator will be removed. Students participating on a Federal
grant for credit but not for pay are not required by law to get this training.
Some additional facts about the training include:
1. Credit for this instruction cannot be transferred from another institution. Students
must take the training at UM.
2. A graduate student who took the training as a UM undergraduate will be required
to repeat the training.
3. We are not required to provide the training to post-baccalaureate students.
4. UM is only responsible for training UM students. Federal grants shared with
subcontracts with other universities do not obligate us to train the students from
those universities that are being paid on that grant. Conversely, we are
responsible for our students getting that training if they are being paid from a
grant at another school.
EXPERIENTIAL CREDITS
The Curriculum Committee Subcommittee on Experiential Credit shared their
recommendations regarding the current limitations on Experiential courses.
The following limitations presently apply to Experiential and Directed
Reading/Independent Study credit:
1. A maximum of 15 credits of Experiential courses may be counted toward a degree;
a maximum of 8 credits may be earned from one project, and
only one Experiential project may be elected each term.
2. A combined total of 30 credits of Experiential and Directed Reading/Independent
Study courses may be counted in the 120 credits required for a degree.
Currently half our students take Experiential courses; most take 3-4 credits. While it is
rare for a student to hit the 15 credit limit, the subcommittee feels that these kinds of
3
experiences are becoming more and more important in the College. Removing some of
the restrictions can be a signal of that importance to students.
The subcommittee proposed that the 15 credit maximum on Experiential courses be
removed and the more flexible 30 credits maximum of Experiential and/or Directed
Reading/Independent Study be retained. They also proposed removing the 8 credits limit
for one project, since the rule is difficult to enforce.
The committee discussed whether it is useful to keep the 8 credit rule as a guideline even
though it is unenforceable. However it was noted that there are valid examples where
students continue to learn while serving different roles on one project. It was suggested to
leave the current wording but change it to a recommendation of 8 hours credit limit in
one term.
It was decided to continue this conversation at the next Curriculum Committee meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 pm.
NEXT MEETING: COURSE APPROVAL SUBCOMMITTEE
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5 AT 3:10 PM
4
To:
LSA Curriculum Committee
From: Lynn Wooten, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs
Paul Kirsch, Managing Director of the BBA Program Office
Date: November 7, 2012
Re:
Ross School of Business Minor in Business
Introduction
The Carnegie Foundation report on Rethinking Undergraduate Business Education1 asserts there
are a growing number of students in a diversity of fields who are not interested in pursuing
traditional business careers but would like to have business acumen to augment their core area of
study. An internal evaluation at the University of Michigan validates this assertion. At the Ross
School of Business, we have observed an increasing demand by non-business undergraduate
students for our courses. Currently 25% of Ross School undergraduate course seats are occupied
by non-Ross students. Many of these students are interested in Ross courses because their career
goals require some knowledge of business concepts. These students are enrolled in core course
sections specifically designated for non-Ross students and business electives generally.
Based on situational analysis, research, and demand the Ross School of Business is proposing a
Minor in Business. The Minor in Business would enable students to integrate business concepts,
skills and perspectives into their declared major. With a flexible core with elective options, this
minor allows these students to have the opportunity to specialize their business studies.
The Minor in Business
The Minor in Business is designed for students who would like to complement their
undergraduate major with business knowledge. The Minor in Business is neither a substitute for
the BBA degree nor a fallback for students who are not accepted into the BBA program.
The Minor in Business will employ a holistic admissions process that would entail the prescreening of applicants, a transcript review, and an application review. Prerequisites include
math and writing courses, and Microeconomics is a co-requisite course. Interested students must
have junior standing and complete the two prerequisite courses with a grade of B or better.
Students would then apply for admission to the Minor in Business. The application is written
and has no interview component.
1
Anne Colby, et al., Rethinking Undergraduate Business Education: Liberal Learning for the Profession (Stanford,
CA: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 2011).
5
The Minor in Business curriculum consists of 15 credit hours and has flexible core and elective
components; in addition, a student must complete Microeconomics by graduation. Eligible
courses taken prior to acceptance to the minor can be used to fulfill the 15-credit hour
requirement. An overall grade point average of 2.0 or above within the minor must be achieved;
and, all courses used to fulfill minor requirements must be elected both for credit and for a grade.
At least 15 credits with a minimum of five courses (elective course credit-loads vary) to be
chosen from core requirements and electives. Thus, the Minor in Business will provide an
introduction to business issues, topics and concepts to the non-business student. The combination
of this minor will add value to many technical and non-technical majors across campus.
We are excited about the Minor in Business and committed to providing interdisciplinary,
collaborative education for University of Michigan undergraduate students. Please let me know
if you need additional information about the Minor in Business as you engage in the processing
of reviewing the materials. . I am also willing to meet with faculty in your area to discuss the
proposal. To support your review process, we have included a list of Ross faculty for the Minor
in Business, a curriculum guide, and course syllabi for core courses.
ContactInformationforMinorinBusiness
LynnPerryWooten,PhD
AssociateDeanofUndergraduatePrograms
RossSchoolofBusiness
701TappanStreet
AnnArbor,Michigan48109‐1234
lpwooten@umich.edu
(734)763‐0486
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Undergraduate Business Education Committee Members
Damian Beil, Associate Professor of Technology and Operations
Karen Bird, Lecturer IV in Accounting
John Branch, Lecturer IV in Marketing
Katherine Burson, Associate Professor of Marketing
Jeff DeGraff, Clinical Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
Amy Dittmar, Associate Professor of Finance
Tammy Feldman, Lecturer II in Business Economics
Sophia Galifianakis, Lecturer II in Business Communications
Michael Gordon, Arthur F Thurnau Professor and Professor of Business Administration
Paul Kirsch, Managing Director, BBA Program
Nigel Melville, Associate Professor of Technology and Operations
Len Middleton, Lecturer in Strategy and Entrepreneurship
Dana Muir, Arthur F Thurnau Professor and Professor of Business Law
Anu Nagarajan, Lecturer IV in Corporate Strategy and International Business
Neil Nelson, Lecturer in Technology and Operations
Nejat Seyhun, Jerome B and Eilene M York Professor of Business Administration, Professor of
Finance
Gretchen Spreitzer, Keith E and Valerie J Alessi Professor of Business Administration and
Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
Jim Westphal, Robert G Rodkey Collegiate Professor of Business Administration and Professor
of Strategy
Lynn Perry Wooten, Clinical Associate Professor of Corporate Strategy and International
Business and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs
Owen Wu, Assistant Professor of Technology and Operations
Minor in Business Core Faculty
Karen Bird, Lecturer IV in Accounting
John Branch, Lecturer IV in Marketing
Katherine Burson, Associate Professor of Marketing
Amy Dittmar, Associate Professor of Finance
Anu Nagarajan, Lecturer IV in Corporate Strategy and International Business
Gretchen Spreitzer, Keith E and Valerie J Alessi Professor of Business Administration and
Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
Jim Westphal, Robert G Rodkey Collegiate Professor of Business Administration and Professor
of Strategy
Lynn Perry Wooten, Clinical Associate Professor of Corporate Strategy and International
Business and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs
Owen Wu, Assistant Professor of Technology and Operations
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Minor in Business Curriculum Guide
CORE REQUIREMENTS (4 courses, 12 credits):
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ACC 471 Accounting Principles
FIN 302 Making Financial Decisions OR OMS 302 Managing Business Operations
MKT 300 Marketing Management OR MO 302 Positively Leading People and Organizations
Strategy 302 or Action-Based Learning course from the following list (subject to change from
year to year):
o ES 395 Entrepreneurial Management
o ES 445 Base of the Pyramid – Business Innovation
o MKT 301 Strategic Marketing Planning
o MO 463 Leading Creativity and Innovation
o STRATEGY 392 Dynamic Capabilities Through Corporate Development
o STRATEGY 470 Strategic Management of Knowledge in Professional Service Firms
o TO 465 Business Systems Consulting
o TO 482 Projects in Operations, Purchasing and Supply Chain Management (7.5cr)
ELECTIVE OPTIONS (At least one course, 3 credits. Some elective options are 1.5credits):
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ACC 301 Managerial Accounting (3cr)
ACC 312 Intermediate Financial Accounting
(3cr)
ACC 315 Cost Accounting (3cr)
ACC 318 Financial Statement Analysis (3cr)
BA 201 Business Thought and Action (3cr)
BE 440 Risk Management & Insurance (3cr)
BE 311 Public Policies Toward Business
(3cr)
ES 250 Introduction to Entrepreneurship
(3cr)
FIN 308 Capital Markets and Investment
Strategy (1.5cr)
FIN 309 Fixed Income Securities and
Markets (1.5cr)
FIN 314 Corporate Investment Decisions
(3cr)
FIN 317 Corporate Financing Decisions (3cr)
FIN 322 Real Estate Finance and Investment
(3cr)
FIN 325 Entrepreneurial Finance (3cr)
FIN 329 Financing Research
Commercialization (3cr)
FIN 334 Applied Quant/Value Portfolio
Management (3cr)
FIN 340 Financial Trading (1.5cr, 7-week
format)
FIN 380 Options and Futures in Financial
Decisions (1.5cr)
LHC 305 Legal Environment (3cr)
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LHC 306 Law of Enterprise Organization
(3cr)
LHC 309 Business Ethics & Accountability
(1.5cr)
LHC 310 Negotiation & Dispute Resolution
(1.5cr)
MKT 303 Brand Management (1.5cr, 7-week
format)
MKT 308 Pricing (3cr)
MKT 311 Advertising Management (3cr)
MKT 313 Consumer Behavior (3cr)
MKT 318 Marketing Research and Analysis
(3cr)
MKT 325 New Product Management (3cr)
MO 314 Managing Change (3cr)
MO 315 Introduction to Managing Human
Capital (3cr)
MO 321 Leadership in Organizations (3cr)
STRATEGY 310 The World Economy (3cr)
STRATEGY 361 International Management
(3cr)
STRATEGY 390 Corporate Strategy (3cr)
STRATEGY 411 Corporation in Society
(3cr)
STRATEGY 417 Behavioral Processes of
Strategic Management (3cr)
TO 311 Decision Support with Excel (3cr)
TO 320 Supply Chain Management (3cr)
OTHER REQUIREMENTS:
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Prior to application to the minor:
o Pre-Calculus, Calculus I, Calculus II or Calculus III
o Freshman Writing Course or Engineering 100
Prior to graduation:
o Econ 101 Microeconomics
Support and Advising
Any undergraduate student may take business school courses without declaring the Minor in
Business. However, students in the BBA program and students with a declared Minor in
Business will have priority registration over other students. Eligible courses taken prior to
acceptance to the minor can be used to fulfill the 15-credit hour requirement.
Students interested in pursuing the Minor in Business should first discuss this option with their
home school advisor to determine if they qualify and if they can fit the Minor in Business
requirements into their home school program. Ross advisors are available by appointment to
review developed plans to complete the Minor in Business and to verify completion of the Minor
in Business. Ross advisors will also communicate with other Schools and Colleges to officially
record the Minor in Business on student records.
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Sample Course Syllabi
10
ACCOUNTING 471
PRINCIPLES OF ACCOUNTING
WINTER 2011
Course Instructor:
Jeff Williams
R3484 Ross School of Business (763-5933)
E-mail: williamj@umich.edu
Office Hours:
Wednesdays, 3:00-5:00
and by appointment
Course Description:
This course is designed to enable students majoring in nonbusiness fields to obtain an
understanding of business transactions and the fundamentals of the accounting systems used
to record and report financial data of business entities. Emphasis will be placed on basic
accounting concepts and principles and their application to the process of preparing financial
statements from a user-oriented perspective (as opposed to a preparer-oriented perspective).
Frequent use of actual corporate annual reports and articles from the financial press will
occur in lecture and homework applications.
Required Materials:
Financial Accounting: A Business Perspective, 9th Edition; by Hermanson and
Edwards; Freeload Press (2005); ISBN 1-930789-73-4. Note: An electronic version of
this book is available for download at www.textbookmedia.com. You can also order a
softbound copy at the same website.
Accounting 471 Syllabus –Winter 2011
11
Grades:
Your course grade will be based on the following:
15 Homeworks @ 2 points each
Comprehensive Problem
Financial Statements Case
3 Exams @ 80 points each
Total
30
15
15
240
300
points
points
points
points
points
Grades in the course will be based solely on total points from homework assignments and
exams, as shown above. Evaluations of effort or patterns of improvement will not be
considered in determining the course grade. I am aware that unusual circumstances
sometimes arise which could adversely or beneficially impact your performance on
examinations. However, attempts by me to adjust for these circumstances would be arbitrary
and unfair to others in the course.
Homework:
Your success in this course can be directly related to your effort expended on the assigned
material. Homework assignments consist of problem sets that will be posted on the CTools
website. Conscientious preparation of the homework assignments is the single best way to
learn the material. Homework is due at the beginning of the class on the dates assigned.
Please bring a copy of any work that is to be submitted so that you can take notes in class.
Homework will be graded as receiving either full credit (2 points) or no credit (0 points). No
partial credit is available. You may miss five homework assignments without loss of
points. Therefore, no late homework will be accepted.
Comprehensive Problem:
The comprehensive problem is an integrated problem that will give you a chance to apply
the knowledge that you have acquired in the course regarding the accounting cycle.
Additional details will be posted on the CTools website.
Financial Statements Case:
The financial statements case provides you with the opportunity to work with an actual
annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The case is divided into
three parts, each of which is worth 5 points. Additional details will be posted on the CTools
website.
Accounting 471 Syllabus – Winter 2011
12
Exams:
Three exams will be given during the term to encourage you to remain current with the
material. The exams are closed-book, closed-notes. Each exam will consist of 20 multiplechoice questions worth 4 points each. There is no final examination.
Class Conduct:
Our classroom is an “electronics free zone”. That is, no laptops, cell phones, or texting
devices are allowed. Also, no recordings may be made of any classes without prior written
permission. Please do not bring personal reading materials or reading materials for other
classes. Also, please do not bring food into the classroom. Finally, if you know that you
must leave class early, please let me know before class begins.
Academic Integrity:
Personal integrity and professionalism are fundamental values of business and the Ross
School community. We value both cooperation and competition as means to stimulating
high performance and raising standards. However, we seek cooperation and competition
that are constructive, and which are professional, not personal, in nature. To help ensure that
these values are upheld and to maintain equitability in the evaluation of your work, this
course will be conducted in strict conformity with the Academic Honor Code.
The code and its related procedures can be found at the following website:
http://www.bus.umich.edu/Academics/Resources/communityvalues.htm
You must read the Academic Honor Code. Claimed ignorance of the code and the related
information on the site will be viewed as irrelevant should a violation take place. Academic
dishonesty will not be tolerated at the Ross School of Business.
The following specific policies apply to Accounting 471:
(1) The use of exam questions or problem solutions from prior terms that are not made
available as a part of the current term’s course materials is strictly prohibited.
(2) You may form a study group to discuss the homework problem sets, but you may not
form a study group to divide the homework problems and then copy the solutions of
others. Comparing and discussing answers and approaches is OK; trading answers and
copying solutions is not OK. If in doubt, remember that all work submitted for credit
must be your own, so err on the side of caution rather than convenience. It is much
more honorable and far better to miss an assignment and take your lumps than it is to
violate the established values of the community in which you work.
(3) Your solutions to the Comprehensive Problem and to the Financial Statements Case
are to be the result of your own efforts. You are not to form a study group or discuss
these assignments with others.
Accounting 471 Syllabus – Winter 2011
13
Services for Students with Disabilities:
If you require accommodation for a disability, please let me know at your earliest
convenience. Some aspects of the course, the assignments, and the way I teach can be
modified to facilitate your participation and progress. As soon as you make me aware of
your needs, we can work with the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities to help us
determine appropriate accommodations. I will treat all information you provide as private
and confidential.
Course Outline:
The attached outline shows the tentative topics for each class and the schedule of exams.
Accounting 471 Syllabus – Winter 2011
14
Week Date
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Day Class Assigned
Materials
Topic
Introduction: What is Accounting?
Introduction to the Financial Statements and the
Impact of Business Transactions
Tools for Recordkeeping
and Analysis
The Accounting Cycle and Accrual Accounting
Problem Set
1/11/11
1/13/11
Tue
Thu
1
2
Ch. 1
1/18/11
Tue
3
Ch. 2
1/20/11
Thu
4
Chs. 2 & 3
1/25/11
Tue
5
Ch. 3
1/27/11
Thu
6
Chs. 3 & 4
2/1/11
Tue
7
Chs. 4 & 9
2/3/11
Thu
8
Ch. 9
Accrual Accounting and
Adjustments
Completing the Accounting Cycle and the
Classified Balance Sheet
Introduction to Accounts Receivable and
Recording Sales
Accounting for Uncollectible Accounts
2/8/11
Tue
9
Chs. 9 & 6
Measuring and Reporting Inventory
2/10/11
Thu
10
2/15/11
Tue
11
Chs. 6 & 7
More on Inventory Cost Flow Methods
Problem Set #7
2/17/11
Thu
12
Chs. 7 & 10
Problem Set #8
2/22/11
Tue
13
Ch. 10
Inventories, Concluded
Introduction to Long-Term Assets
More on Accounting for PPE
2/24/11
Thu
14
Chs. 10 & 11
Choice of Depreciation Methods
Problem Set #10
Problem Set #1
Problem Set #2
Problem Set #3
Problem Set #4
Problem Set #5
Comprehensive Problem
Problem Set #6
FSC, Part 1 of 3
Exam #1, Chapters 1-4
Accounting 471 Syllabus – Winter 2011
15
Problem Set #9
Week Date
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Day Class Assigned
Materials
3/1/11
3/3/11
3/8/11
Tue
Thu
Tue
15
Chs. 11 & 9
3/10/11
Thu
16
Ch. 9
3/15/11
Tue
17
3/17/11
Thu
18
Ch.15
3/22/11
Tue
19
Ch.15
3/24/11
Thu
20
Ch.15 & 12
3/29/11
Tue
21
Ch. 12
3/31/11
Thu
22
Chs. 12 & 13
4/5/11
Tue
23
Chs.13 & 16
4/7/11
Thu
24
4/12/11
Tue
25
4/14/11
Thu
4/19/11
Tue
Topic
Problem Set
Winter Break
Winter Break
Accounting for Intangible Assets
Accounting for Current Liabilities
Time Value of Money
Problem Set #11
Problem Set #12
FSC, Part 2 of 3
Exam #2 on Assets
Introduction to Long-Term Liabilities and Bonds
Payable
More on Accounting for Bonds Payable
Problem Set #13
Long-Term Liabilities, concluded
Introduction to Shareholders’ Equity
Accounting for Stock Transactions
Problem Set #15
Problem Set #17
Ch. 16
Shareholders’ Equity, Concluded
The Complex Income Statement
Earnings per Share
Introduction to the Statement of Cash Flows
More on the Statement of Cash Flows
Ch. 16
Statement of Cash Flows, Concluded
Problem Set #20
26
Catch-up and Q&A
FSC, Part 3 of 3
27
Exam #3 on Liabilities, Shareholders’ Equity,
the Income Statement, and the SCF
Accounting 471 Syllabus – Winter 2011
16
Problem Set #14
Problem Set #16
Problem Set #18
Problem Set #19
MAKING FINANCIAL DECISIONS
FINANCE 302
Fall 2012
Prof. Amy Dittmar
Class Time: MW 12:00-1:00
Class Location: Blau Auditorium R1100
Friday Session Times (location): 9:00-10:00 (E1550); 10:00-11:00 (E1550 & E0550); 11:00-12:00
(R2310, E1550 & E0550). All students should go to the Friday session in which they are enrolled
Prof E-mail: adittmar@bus.umich.edu
TAs E-mail
Nicole Sweet – sweetnic@umich.edu
Sam Bass – bassy@umich.edu
Alex Lemmen – lemmen@umich.edu
Prof Phone: 764-3108
Office Hours:
You may go to office hours of any of the TAs.
Nicole Sweet (R1218) – Tuesday 5:30-6:30
Sam Bass (R0228) – Thursday 1:00-2:00 (Nov. 15th will meet in R0218)
Alex Lemmen (R1216) – Monday 4:10-5:10
Prof. Amy Dittmar (R4436) – Wednesday 3:00-4:00
Course Objective
Financial analysis provides a structure to estimate and compare the costs and benefits of decisions made in
both our personal lives and within an organization, such as a firm. Students taking this course will develop a
foundational understanding of rational-decision making using financial analysis and the ability to apply that
framework to make personal investing decisions, allocate capital within an organization or firm, and to
determine the value of a firm or any asset that produces cash flow. Students will also learn how to assess risk
and understand the relationship between risk and return when investing as well as gain a general
understanding of financial markets. This course will utilize extensive examples, problem solving, and more
involved applications both in class and in smaller discussion sections.
Course Materials
Textbook (with homework access link):
Fundamentals of Corporate Finance, Ross, Westerfield, and Jordan, Alternate 10th Edition. We have a special
deal with the bookstores for a combination of the textbook plus an access code for the online homework
system (Connect) at a reduced price. I have asked the bookstores to carry both the hardback version (ISBN
0077630718/ 9780077630713) of the book as well as a loose-leaf version (ISBN
0077924851/ 9780077924850), note the bookstore may not buy back loose leaf versions at the end of the
semester. You may purchase either one of these but please make sure that you get the bundle (with the
access to Connect) Also, if you wish to purchase the book by itself from another vendor, this if fine; but, you
will still need to separately purchase the online access code for the class.
Other materials:
The TI-BA II Plus Financial Calculator is optional but recommended for this course. Some of its functions
will be helpful for certain calculations and we will be reviewing some of these functions in class. You may
also use other financial calculators but any instruction will be with the TI-BA II Plus. There is also an app on
17
many phones for this calculator. You are free to use this app but a smartphone will not be allowed in the
exam. You may choose to use your own calculator, such as a graphing calculator or another, but you will still
be responsible for the actual calculations.
Any supplemental materials will be posted on CTools. All class notes will be posted on CTools a couple days
before the class time where they are presented.
Course Communication
All notes presented in Powerpoint will be available on C-tools. I will typically post these at least the Friday
prior to the class. I will also use C-tools for announcements, http://ctools.umich.edu.
Your Friday recitation instructor will be a great resource. During the Friday sections, you will spend most of
the time on additional examples that build on the exercises in class. This is also an excellent time to ask
questions and receive additional insights in a smaller working environment.
Grade determination
Your course grade will be weighted as follows:
Homework: 15%
Midterms: 30% (15% each)
Final: 45%
Participation Quizzes: 10%
The grading policy at Ross mandates no more than 40% receive an A- or above, no more than 80% receive a B
or above, and at least 20% receive a B- or below for this class. The class will be curved consistent with these
requirements.
Homework
There are eight homework assignments over the semester. These homeworks will be submitted via McGrawHill’s online homework manager (Connect). Instructions on how to access this homework manager are on
Ctools and explained in your first Friday session. The Course webpage is: http://connect.mcgrawhill.com/class/a_dittmar_fall_2012_1
Three important notes about homework.
1. Late homework is not accepted: the webpage for each assignment will be closed prior to the class-time
(12:00 p.m, not Michigan time) on its due day and you will receive zero on the homework if you do not have a
homework submitted via Connect. If you are in the middle of completing the homework, the system will
automatically submit what you have completed.
2. The flip side of this is that your lowest homework grade will be dropped. Thus one of the homework
assignments is “free” and you can skip it if you choose. However, I don’t encourage this since the homework
assignments are good preparation for the exams. To encourage everyone to use the homeworks as a learning
tool, you will be allowed to do each problem on the homework as many times as you would like and the
computer will tell you if you are correct. You will not lose points for multiple attempts.
3. Homework must be submitted individually, but we encourage you to form study groups and discuss the
problems with your fellow classmates.
Quizzes
Quizzes will be brief quizzes administered in class. The purpose of the quizzes is to help both you and the
instructors to identify if you understand the concepts and problems in class. You will receive full credit for
completing the quiz but can only take the quiz if you are present, thus it will serve as your participation grade.
These quizzes will not be given every class and will not be announced prior to the class. I understand that
there are reasons such as illness and religious holidays that require students to miss class. I will drop your
lowest quiz grade including any zeros for missing.
2
18
Exams
A few notes about exam scheduling:
1. Midterms: There will be two in class midterms. Each will cover the material as noted on the schedule.
Midterm II will not have questions from the first part of class however, because the material builds on itself,
you will still need to know these concepts. There will be no makeup midterm. If you miss either midterm
because of a well-documented emergency (e.g., serious illness with a doctor’s note, family emergency), the
weight on that midterm will be shifted to the final. Otherwise, missing the midterm is equivalent to getting a
grade of zero for it. Note the midterm is in class and it is important that everyone arrives to the exam on time.
2. Final: The final exam schedule is set by the University. In accordance with RSB policy, you can request to
take the final in a “Conflict Exam Time” if (1) you have four examinations in one day, or (2) you have a conflict
with a religious holiday (see http://www.provost.umich.edu/calendar/religious_holidays.html). If you have a
well-documented emergency (e.g., serious illness, family emergency) such that you cannot make either
scheduled time, please raise this with us as soon as possible. The goals and topics in this class build on each
other and for this reason the final exam is cumulative.
3. Exam Times: Please note that in-class exams ARE on Michigan time but the final exam is at the time stated.
4. Exam Locations: Please note that the two Midterms are in-class and take place in R1100 (the same as the
lectures). The Final Exam will take place in alternative rooms to allow students more space to work.
You will be allowed to bring one 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of paper (two for the final) with notes and formulas (both
sides are ok) on it. The paper must be handwritten, not photocopied or from a computer print-out, and
handed in along with the exam. You will be allowed to bring a calculator but not a calculator on a phone or
wireless device to use for the exams. All exams must be completed individually.
Laptop and Mobile Phone Policy
Sorry, no cell phone usage or laptops in class; this includes texting. Please turn them off before class begins.
The Honor Code
Personal integrity and professionalism are fundamental values of the Ross Business School community. This
course will be conducted in strict conformity with the Academic Honor Code. The Code and related
procedures can be found at http://www.bus.umich.edu/Academics/Resources/communityvalues.htm . The
site also contains comprehensive information on how to be sure that you have not plagiarized the work of
others.
Claimed ignorance of the Code and related information appearing on the site will be viewed as irrelevant
should a violation take place. Non-Ross Business School students taking the course should also familiarize
themselves with the Code as they will be subject to the Ross Code while in this course.
Students with Disabilities
If you need an accommodation for a disability, please let me know at your earliest convenience. Some aspects
of the course, the assignments, and the in-class activities may be modified to facilitate your participation and
progress. As soon as you make me aware of your needs, we can work with the Office of Services for Students
with Disabilities to help us determine appropriate accommodations. I will treat information you provide as
private and confidential.
3
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Class Schedule
Class
#
Date
Topic
Chapters
1
5-Sep-12
Introduction: The Finance Framework
1
2
10-Sep-12
Time Value of Money
5
3
12-Sep-12
Discounted Cash Flows
6
4
17-Sep-12
More Discounted Cash Flows
6
5
19-Sep-12
Valuation: Introduction
6
24-Sep-12
Financial Instruments, Markets, and Bonds I
7
7
26-Sep-12
Bonds II
7
8
1-Sep-12
Valuing Stocks
8
9
3-Oct-12
Firm Investing Decisions: NPV vs IRR
9
10
8-Oct-12
Understanding and Forecasting Cash flow
11
10-Oct-12
NPV
15-Oct-12
Break – No Class
12
17-Oct-12
Midterm (Covers thru class notes 9 and
Homework 4)
13
22-Oct-12
Project Interactions
14
24-Oct-12
Information and Capital Markets: Efficiency
12
15
29-Oct-12
Risk and Return
13
16
31-Oct-12
Diversification
13
17
5-Nov-12
Expected Return and CAPM I
13
18
7-Nov-12
CAPM II
Assignments
Due
HW 1 Due
HW 2 Due
HW 3 Due
2
(3 optional)
10, 11
HW 4 Due
10,11
HW 5 Due
HW 6 Due
4
20
19
12-Nov-12
Expected Returns in the Real World
22
20
14-Nov-12
Cost of Financing: WACC
14
21
19-Nov-12
Midterm 2 (Covers Class 10-19 and
Homeworks 5-7)
22
21-Nov-12
WACC II
23
26-Nov-12
From Financial Statement to Free Cash Flow
24
28-Nov-12
Valuing a Firm
25
3-Dec-12
Mergers and Acquisitions
26
26
5-Dec-12
Issuing Equity
15
27
10-Dec-12
Final Exam Review
14-Dec-12
FINAL EXAM Final covers all material & is
at University schedule time 1:30 to 3:30
(not Michigan Time). Exam Rooms will
be announced
HW 7 Due
2
HW 8 Due
5
21
MANAGING B USINESS O PERATIONS OMS 302 ­ Fall 2012 Class Time: Mon & Wed, 2:30 – 4 pm Instructor: Prof. Owen Wu 734‐936‐2674 owenwu@umich.edu Office hours: Mon 4 – 6 pm & Tue 2 – 3 pm & by appointment, R4418 Course Description: Operations Management studies the business processes by which inputs of materials, labor, capital, and information are transformed into products and services which customers want and are willing to pay for. Effectively managing these processes will enhance firms’ competitive advantage in the marketplace. This course prepares students to think managerially and analytically about business processes, and provides students with the tools to analyze and continuously improve these processes. The course covers the following topics: 1.
Operations Strategy and Process Flow Analysis. We will see how different operational
capabilities support different business strategies to gain competitive advantage. We introduce
concepts of process flows and bottlenecks. We will play the “House Building Game” to get hands‐
on experience of managing business operations. Two case studies (Kristen’s Cookie and
National Cranberry) will frame our discussion.
2.
Managing Process Flows with Variability. Real‐world businesses face various uncertainties.
We visit representative industries (e.g., fashion industry) to learn effective ways to manage
variability. Two service‐industry cases, financial service (Manzana Insurance) and air transport
(Logan Airport), show the effects of variability and the application of queuing models.
3.
Managing Constraints and Projects. We introduce two scientific management tools: Linear
Programming is useful for business planning under various constraints; Critical Path Method is
useful for managing projects. Two cases (Mihocko and Midco Pharmaceuticals) illustrate the
applications of these tools to production planning and new product development.
4.
Lean Operations and Quality Management. We next turn our attention to managing quality.
Central concepts include “Lean Operations” (developed at Toyota) and “Six‐Sigma” (developed at
GE). We will see application of these concepts to healthcare environment: Cleveland Clinic and
UM Hospital.
5.
Managing Inventories and Supply Chains. Supply chains make up the central nervous system
of the global economy. We will study practical tools to manage inventories and play the “Beer
Game” to get hands‐on experience of the challenges in managing a supply chain. We will study
the consequence of misaligned incentives of multiple parties in supply chains, and discuss ways
to align incentives.
6.
Littlefield Simulation and Real­World Field Study. We will run a simulation exercise called
“Littlefield Technologies,” in which we will apply many concepts learned throughout the course
to a competitive business environment. From October through December, student project teams
1
22
will conduct real‐world field studies. Each team will analyze a real company or organization, identify opportunities for improving its operations, and provide recommendations. Presentations of the projects will provide everyone with examples of applying classroom knowledge to real‐world business operations. Required Materials: 1. Customized Text: Contains selected chapters from
Matching Supply with Demand by Cachon and Terwiesch, available at the bookstores.
2. Course Pack: Contains supplemental readings and cases to be used throughout the course,
available at the Kresge Library. See p. 7 of this syllabus for the table of course pack contents.
Grading: Required case reports Selective case reports Class participation Midterm exam Group project Final exam 15% 10% 10% 20% 20% 25% Assignment Preparation: You should form a case group (2 or 3 members) and complete 3 required group case studies (National Cranberry, Manzana, and Littlefield Simulation). Each group should consist of team members from the same section and stay together for all 3 submissions. There are other 5 selective cases studies (see the schedule on p. 6). You should try all 5 assignments and prepare for case discussions in class. The best 3 will be counted for 8% of the grade, and the other two will be counted for 2%. For each selective assignment, you could choose to work individually or work with a group of 2 or 3 members. You should let your teammates know at least one week before the due date whether you choose to submit individually or with a group. Each written case report should conform to the layout template posted on CTools. All assignments are due on CTools by 10 am on the day of their discussion in class. Late submissions will not be accepted. In case of problems with CTools servers, you can email the instructor a copy of your report by the specified deadline. Community Values and Academic Honor Code As members of the University of Michigan community, we commit ourselves to performing our work and fulfilling our responsibilities honestly and professionally. In particular, we will not tolerate cheating of any sort by any member of our community in any situation. This course will be conducted in strict conformity with the Ross Community Values. The Statement of Community Values, Academic Honor Code, and related resources can be found at the following website: http://www.bus.umich.edu/Academics/Resources/communityvalues.htm and will not be repeated here. Claimed ignorance of this information is irrelevant should a violation take place. No discussion of an assignment is permitted with anyone outside your team until after the deadline for the assignment submission has passed. If you have questions in analyzing the cases, you should come to see the instructor or tutors during their office hours. You should not seek for help on the assignments from any other channels (including other case groups, students, and websites). 2
23
Examples of violation in group case studies: – Rephrasing other groups’ work and including it in your submission.
– Modifying other groups’ supportive documents, including Excel worksheets, tables and exhibits
and including them in your submission.
– Sending (or receiving) a draft or final version of any portion of work to (from) other groups.
– Discussing solution approaches with anyone outside of your team.
Class Participation: The instructor will come to class fully prepared each day, and you are expected to do the same. “Prepared” for students means that you have carefully read the assigned materials, have seriously attempted to complete exercises or answer assigned questions, and are ready and willing to actively engage in the classroom learning experience. The implicit assumption is that we all have something to contribute to the collective learning experience each day, and we all want to benefit from it. Coming prepared will maximize the benefits for everyone. Class participation will be evaluated based on not only your attendance but also your comments and contributions to class discussions. Good participation enhances group learning: it could be a good question, a careful observation, a shared experience, or a response to others’ questions. You are also encouraged to submit relevant news clippings to the instructor for discussion in class. Term Project: Active learning is a critical component of education. You should form a project team (4 or 5 students) and conduct a field study of a company or organization of your choice. Each team will apply Operations Management concepts and tools, identify opportunities for improvement, and provide recommendations. See the detailed description on page 4. Exams: The midterm and final exams will consist of both quantitative and qualitative questions related to the readings, lectures, and discussions of the course. Exams will be closed book. Students are responsible for making sure they appear for the exams on time. Students who fail to write any of the exams, without prior permission from the instructor, will not be given any make‐up exams. Practice Problems: A list of suggested questions and problems will be posted on CTools periodically. Students are strongly advised to work on these questions and problems. This gives students an opportunity to practice their problem‐solving skills on small, well‐defined problems, and will be useful in tackling cases and exam questions. 3
24
Term Project Guidelines Objectives ƒ Apply the principles of Operations Management to business situations;
ƒ Develop business problem analysis skills (in both quantitative and qualitative analytics);
ƒ Enhance teamwork and presentation skills.
Overview ƒ Team members: 4 or 5 OMS 302 students
ƒ Project context: any business operation
Deliverables ƒ 1‐page Project Proposal is due in Class 13;
ƒ Midterm Project Report is due in Class 17;
ƒ Class presentations take place in Classes 23‐25;
ƒ Final Report is due in Class 26 (last class).
Project Proposal Think creatively about what type of company or organization you choose to analyze. You should identify a manufacturing or service process, analyze the process, and suggest operational improve‐
ments or recommendations on how they could continue to remain successful. You will synthesize your findings in a report and presentation. Consider what will make an engaging topic and presentation to your colleagues. Oftentimes the less obvious companies or organizations are more interesting than the more obvious ones, although execution plays a big role as well. There is no hard constraint on the length of your proposal. The more details you can provide, the better idea the instructor will have about what you are going to study. If your project seems to be too thin or too complex, the instructor will get back to you with comments. Please make sure that you will have access to people at that company who can give you details on the processes, the data on demand, etc. that you may need to do your project well. Midterm Project Report Midterm Project Report is to ensure that every team stays on track toward a satisfactory project. The instructor will schedule meetings with each team to discuss progress. Final Report The written report should be 1.5 line‐spaced and 11pt font or larger. The length of the body of the report is limited to 15 pages. Up to additional 10 pages of exhibits may be appended. Please use the following framework to organize your paper. ƒ
Executive Summary. State briefly the goal of the project, the problem, your recommendation,
and what value this project may bring to the company/organization. If your analysis is about
why a company/organization is so successful, you should describe the reasons for their success
and your recommendations on how they could continue to remain successful.
ƒ
Introduction and Background Information: This section should contain background
information (industry, company/organization, facility, etc.) that is related to your analyses and
recommendations. This section has been completed in your midterm report, but you are free to
add any additional details that you may have gathered since then.
4
25
ƒ
Current Process and Problem Definition: This section should contain your analysis of the
current process, your problem statement, and the primary goals of the project. You have
partially completed this part in the midterm report. What you need to add to your midterm
report is the detailed analysis of the current process.
ƒ
Analyses and Recommendations. This section should contain the various recommendations
you have made for improving the current process and detailed analysis for each of the
recommendations. The analysis can be either quantitative or qualitative. An integral part of the
analysis is to estimate chances for success and impact on performance if your recommen‐
dations are implemented. In case your project is about why a company/organization is
successful, this section should contain your analysis for the recommendations on how the
company can continue to remain successful. If you have a chance to discuss your recommen‐
dations with the company/organization, summarize the feedbacks here. (Obtaining feedbacks
are not required but will be a plus to your project.)
ƒ
Takeaways from the project. In this section, you may reflect on your action‐based learning
experiences through this project. Think about the connection between classroom knowledge
and the real‐world practices, and think about what you have learned from this project that was
not covered in the classroom.
Presentation Each project team will present the project to the class during the regular class meeting times near the end of the term. The goal is to share your project experience with the rest of the class to maximize learning for everyone. Presentation dates will be randomly determined. Everyone should be actively involved in the presentation. Grading Criteria ƒ Paper: A basic requirement is that your report is well organized, properly formatted and
presented. The main emphasis of the grading will be on clarity and depth of your analysis,
demonstration of a good understanding of OM concepts and tools and their application to the
operation studied and the applicability/feasibility of your recommendations.
ƒ Presentation: Clarity, content, delivery, visual aids, time management, discussion management.
The presentation should show your team work.
ƒ Self and Peer Evaluation: All team members need to actively participate in the term project.
In extreme cases, individual project grades may be adjusted up or down based on self and peer
evaluations.
Guidance ƒ Sample projects will be available on CTools.
ƒ Teams must meet with the instructor at least once to report progress and obtain advice.
ƒ Teams can also meet with the teaching assistants to get advice.
5
26
OMS 302: Fall 2012 Course Outline No. Date Submissions Topic Case Report Project Report
1 Sep 5 Overview of Business Operations Introduction to Process Analysis 2 Sep 10 House Building Game 3 Sep 12 Case: Kristen’s Cookie Co. 4 Sep 17 Taxonomy of Process Types, Inventory Build‐up, and Little’s Law 5 Sep 19 Variability and Buffers 6 Sep 24 Case: National Cranberry 7 Sep 26 Waiting Time Analysis 8 Oct 1 Case: Manzana Insurance 9 Oct 3 Linear Programming 10 Oct 8 Case: Delays at Logan Airport Selective 11 Oct 10 Case: Mihocko Selective Oct 17 Midterm Exam: 2:30 – 4:30 pm 12 Oct 22 Project Management 13 Oct 24 Inventory Management: EOQ 14 Oct 29 Case: Midco Pharmaceuticals Inventory Management: Newsvendor Model 15 Oct 31 Inventory Management: Safety Stock 16 Nov 5 Case: Jamie Chang Revenue Management 17 Nov 7 Lean Operations and Toyota Production System 18 Nov 12 Case: Cleveland Clinic Quality and Capability 19 Nov 14 Littlefield Simulation
20 Nov 19 Beer Game 21 Nov 21 Bullwhip Effect and Supply Chain Coordination 22 Nov 26 Global Supply Chain Management 23 24 25 Nov 28 Dec 3 Dec 5 Project Presentations I Project Presentations II Project Presentations III 26 Dec 10 Course Wrap‐up and Review Dec 18 Final Exam: 1:30 – 3:30 pm Selective Required Required Project Proposal Selective Selective Midterm Project Report
Required
Final Project Report 6
27
Course Pack Table of Contents Course Pack Materials When to Read When to Submit 1. Kristen’s Cookie Co.
After Class 1 Class 3 2. National Cranberry Cooperative
After Class 4 Class 6 3. Variability, Buffers and Inventory
Before Class 5 4. Making Supply Meet Demand in an Uncertain World
Before Class 5 5. Manzana Insurance – Fruitvale Branch
After Class 5 Class 8 6. Delays at Logan Airport
After Class 7 Class 10 7. Linear Programming: A Brief Overview
Before Class 9 8. Note on the Use of Solver in Excel
Before Class 9 9. Mihocko Inc.
After Class 9 Class 11 10. Midco Pharmaceuticals
After Class 12 Class 14 11. Jamie Chang
After Class 13 Class 16 12. Littlefield Technologies
After Class 15 Class 19 13. A Brief Note on the Toyota Production System
Before Class 17 14. Lean Process Improvements at Cleveland Clinic
Before Class 18
15. Pace‐Setting Zara Seeks More Speed
Before Class 21 7
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Positively Leading People and Organizations (8/23/12)
MO 302 – Fall 2012
Class Time:
Section 1: 10:00-11:30
Section 2: 11:30-1:00
Tuesdays and Thursdays
Email: spreitze@umich.edu
Class Location: E0530
Office Hours:
Mondays 1:00-2:00, or by
appointment
Instructor:
Professor Gretchen Spreitzer
TA:
Phone: (734) 936-2835
Section 1: Olivia Lee
Email: livgrace@umich.edu
Section 2: Laura Parkinson
Email:lasanche@umich.edu
Office: R4372
Course Description
This course will help you learn how to create, foster and manage organizations where
people thrive and perform at their best. It makes the case that individual and group
thriving is the key to organizational excellence. The leadership challenge is to design
contexts (jobs, organizational cultures, structures, processes) that enable individuals
and groups to thrive. The personal challenge is how to find and/or create a context in
which you thrive and lead at your best.
The course maintains this dual focus: (1) on your role as leader, designing and enabling
contexts where others can thrive; and (2) on your personal quest to find and create
contexts where you flourish and perform at your best. Much of the course draws from a
paradigm for managerial practice called Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS).
POS originated at the Ross School. The core premise of this paradigm is that
leadership and personal excellence are fundamentally tied to creating/enabling
organizational contexts that build human strengths as well as unlock the positive and
generative dynamics of vibrant human communities.
29
Course Background
Course pack
Given the simulations and other exercises which are licensed for you to complete, it is
required that you purchase the course pack. Otherwise, you will not have access to
critical materials that require a license fee. I have created a set of course materials
composed of high quality readings which you can purchase at the Kresge Business
Library. To keep the costs as reasonable as I can, I have identified some readings that
can be accessed on-line for free. I have selected the core readings to be accessible
and practical, but also academically sound. The role of the readings is to prepare you
for class and to provide a resource for your later life. You are expected to read all of the
required materials before coming to class. As you complete your reading, you should
continually ask yourself:
 Do I understand the theory and/or principles of this material?
 So what? What are the implications of this for leadership?
 How would I apply this to my own role as a leader?
Guest Speakers
Each guest speaker has been specifically selected to provide key insider insights on a
specific change issue. Who better to learn from than the expert? Please be open to the
perspective they bring, and come prepared to engage the speaker. Be professional (you
are an ambassador for the University of Michigan). We will have an opportunity in the
subsequent class to debrief and share key learnings.
Grading
Your grade will be based upon:
Grading Criteria
Individual class contribution
Midterm exam
Team project
Final exam
Grade
15%
30%
25%
30%
Research participation
Much of what you learn in MO 302 and what informs managers on “best practices”
stems from the findings of research relevant to organizations. In fact, the growing
movement toward evidence-based management (http://www.evidencebasedmanagement.com/) stresses the importance of making decisions based on
30
research. To expose you to the research process, you will participate in two
research studies. The first research study involves you recruiting a full-time
employed friend or family member to fill out an online survey about his/her
workplace, and to have one of his/her coworkers and his/her supervisor complete a
short online survey as well. It would be useful to start thinking now about who you
could ask. The second research study will take no more than one hour to complete.
You will be asked to read and respond to several workplace-related issues and the
study will take place in the Ross Behavioral Lab (located in E2438). More
information about both research studies will be provided early in the semester. In the
latter part of the semester, you will be provided with some more information about
what we learned from your participation in the studies. Thank you for doing your part
to help inform the field of management! Research participation counts for 2 points
(out of 15) of your class participation grade.
Individual Class Contribution
You are expected to come prepared to ask questions that add to your
understanding of the course material as well as to the knowledge base of your
fellow students.
 Be courteous. Come on time and do not leave early. Do not interrupt or engage
in private conversations while others are speaking. It is also disrespectful to read
the newspaper or surf the web/email/text during class.
 Have an opinion and respect others’ rights to hold opinions and beliefs that differ
from your own. There are many different possible lenses for interpreting the
material in this class.
 Allow everyone the chance to talk. If you have much to say, try to hold back a
bit. If you are hesitant to speak, look for opportunities to contribute.
 Class contribution will be evaluated throughout the entire course. Specifically,
each person will be evaluated on a daily basis for their contribution to the class
discussion. The criteria used to determine the participation grade will be
relevance, substance, lack of redundancy, and persuasiveness. I may also take
into consideration input from your peers at the end of the course. Students who
are not in class will receive no credit for their daily participation grade.
Team Project
Early in the semester, you will be assigned to a team. Your team will seek out and
study a positive organization (either a small firm or non-profit, or a department/subunit
31
of a larger organization) and conduct a project investigating what makes this
organization so positively deviant.
Your team will gather first-person data from people in a variety of positions in the
organization (from executives to regular employees) as well as other stakeholders
(e.g., existing or potential customers, suppliers, competitors, etc.). You will need to
visit the organization on-site. Additionally, you’ll need to obtain and study archival
materials (from published materials) that describe the organization to help make the
case for why the organization is positively deviant.
I would like for each team to choose a different organization, so let me know as soon
as you choose your organization – first come, first served.
Key team project deliverables:
1. Professional team report (10 points)
a. Description/overview of the company
b. Description of your data collection procedures including references for
any archival materials
c. Findings of what makes the organization positive
d. 5 double-spaced pages maximum with 1 inch margins and 12 point
font
2. 5 minute video highlighting what makes your organization positive. Be sure
your video engages the class and be prepared to answer questions following
the showing of your video (15 points). It is critical that you don’t wait until the
last minute to complete this. Video equipment will be made available to
teams but you are welcome to use your own. We will also have a coach to
help teams with technology issues.
Both components will be evaluated on their substance (including linkages to course
materials), professionalism, and creativity. The quality of your video will be assessed
by your classmates.
Other Class Policies
 Assignments are due on the date scheduled. As in the business world, work
has to be received on time to matter. If you are late on an assignment, your
grade on that assignment will be reduced by 25% for each day it is late.
 If you need an accommodation for a disability, please let me know at your
earliest convenience. Some aspects of the course, the assignments, and the inclass activities may be modified to facilitate your participation and progress. As
soon as you make me aware of your needs, we can work with the Office of
Services for Students with Disabilities to help us determine appropriate
accommodations. I will treat information you provide as private and confidential.
32
 Academic Honor Code: Personal integrity and professionalism are fundamental
values of the Ross Business School community. This course will be conducted in
strict conformity with the Academic Honor Code. The Code and related
procedures can be found at
http://www.bus.umich.edu/Academics/Resources/communityvalues.htm. The site
also contains comprehensive information on how to be sure that you have not
plagiarized the work of others. Claimed ignorance of the Code and related
information appearing on the site will be viewed as irrelevant should a violation
take place. Non-Ross Business School students taking the course should also
familiarize themselves with the Code as they will be subject to the Code while in
this course.
 Plagiarism: Any content in an assignment you submit that is based on the work
of others must be properly cited. This includes any information found on the
Web. The CVC website contains detailed information regarding proper citations:
http://www.bus.umich.edu/Academics/Resources/communityvalues.htm. Failure
to comply with these procedures will be treated as an honor code violation. In
addition, the use of any materials prepared by students who have previously
taken the course will constitute an honor code violation.
 Collaboration between Individuals: For any assignment that the syllabus
designates as being “individual,” you are not to share information or seek
assistance from anyone other than the instructor. “Anyone” refers not only to
classmates in the course, but also to any current or past student, as well as any
person not part of the Ross School community.
 I will follow the required grade distribution for BBA core courses: All BBA core
classes grades are to be distributed as: <40% A- or above; <80% B or above;
>20% B-or below.
My Commitment for the Course
 I am committed to making this course a valuable learning experience for you.
This class will be both difficult and rewarding. After the first month of the course,
we will spend part of a class session to evaluate our progress, and I will make
necessary changes to keep us on track. However, I welcome your feedback
regarding the class at any time in the semester.
 Please feel free at any time to ask questions and raise questions or concerns you
have, however large or small. It is easiest to reach me by email or during office
hours, but I am always happy to set up an appointment with you.
33
 Given that this is a discussion-based course, it is important that I learn your
names early in the course. For any of you who do not have a picture online,
please send me an electronic picture of yourself. I will also ask you to use name
cards in class so that other students will know your name as well.
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Biographical Sketch for Gretchen Spreitzer
Gretchen Spreitzer is a Professor of Management and Organizations at the Ross School of
Business at the University of Michigan (RSB) and a faculty affiliate of the Center For Effective
Organizations (CEO) at the University of Southern California. She joined the Michigan faculty in
2001 after spending nine years on the faculty at the University of Southern California Marshall
School of Business. She was also a Visiting Professor at the Australian School of Business in
Sydney in 2008.
Her research focuses on employee empowerment and leadership development, particularly
within a context of organizational change and decline. Her most recent research is examining
how organizations can enable thriving. This is part of a new movement in the field of
organizational behavior, known as Positive Organizational Scholarship
(www.bus.umich.edu/positive).
She has authored many articles on contemporary issues in leading journals such as the
Academy of Management Journal, the Academy of Management Review, Administrative
Science Quarterly, and the Journal of Applied Psychology. She is the co-author of four books:




Oxford Handbook of Positive Organizational Scholarship (2012) with Kim
Cameron,
The Leader’s Change Handbook: An Essential Guide to Setting Direction
and Taking Action (1999) with Jay Conger and Edward Lawler,
The Future of Leadership: Speaking to the Next Generation (2001) with
Warren Bennis and Thomas Cummings,
A Company of Leaders: Five Disciplines for Unleashing the Power in Your
Workforce (2001) with Robert Quinn.
Gretchen is co-director of the Ross Leadership Initiative and teaches electives on Leadership
and Organizational Change for MBAs and BBAs, and the Multidisciplinary Action Project (MAP)
Program. She is a core faculty member in the Leading the Positive Organization and Emerging
Leaders Executive Education Programs at Michigan.
She serves on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science,
Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and Organizational
Dynamics. She has been elected to leadership positions in several professional organizations
including the Academy of Management (where she is on their Board of Governors and was
division chair of the Organization Development and Change Division) and the Western
Academy of Management (where she served as President). Gretchen has been awarded the
Western Academy of Management’s Ascendant Scholar award for early career contributions.
Prior to her doctoral education, Gretchen worked with the management consulting group at
Price Waterhouse's Government Services Office and with Partners for Livable Places, a not-forprofit urban planning firm in Washington, D.C. She has a Bachelor of Science in Systems
Analysis from Miami University (in Ohio) and completed her doctoral work at the Michigan
Business School.
35
Class Dates and Content
Introduction
September 4: What is Positive Leadership?
Prework: By September 1, draw an image of what positive leadership means to you and
post to this website: https://umichbus.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_ahoi9VsfMCuqvE9.
Readings: Cameron, K. (2008) Positive Leadership, Berrett-Koehler, Chapters 1 and 7
Leading yourself
September 6: Identifying and Leveraging Strengths
Reading: Buckingham, M. & Clifton, D. (2001) The strengths-based revolution. In Now,
Discover your Strengths, Free Press.
Assessment: Character strengths: http://www.viame.org (bring your top 5 character
strengths to class)
September 11: Motivation: Self-Management and Mindful Engagement
Readings: Spreitzer, G. (2012) Creating Sustainable Performance. Harvard Business
Review.
Fritz, C., Lam, C. & Spreitzer, G. (2011) It’s the little things that matter. Academy
of Management Perspectives.
September 13: Motivation: Creating the engaged workforce
Guest speaker: Robin Wooddall-Klein, Senior Vice-President, Root Learning
Reading: Haudan, J. (2012) The Art of Engagement, McGraw-Hill. Ch. 1, 3.
Leading others
September 18:
Building Social Capital and Networks
Reading: Dutton, J. (2005) Energizing Your Workforce. Jossey-Bass. Ch. 1.
September 20:
Wielding Positive Power and Influence
Reading : Cialdini,R. (2001) Harnessing the Power of Persuasion, Harvard Business
Review.
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Principled Negotiation
September 25:
Reading: Fisher, R. & Ury, W. Getting to Yes, ch. 1, 3
Leading teams
Creating High Performing Teams
September 27:
Reading: Cameron and Whetten, Developing Teams and Teamwork Chapter 9
Exercise: Team formation
i.
ii.
October 2
Create a positive team building process and report back on how it
worked
Complete a team charter (not graded but turned in by Oct. 2 (noon) on
the appropriate ctools assignment space)
Positively Leading Teams: Everest Simulation (in your team)
Reading: Everest simulation preparation module
Each individual will need a laptop for this class. Please let me know if this
presents a problem for you.
October 4
Giving effective feedback
Guest speaker: Greg Barker on creating high impact videos
Exercise: Find a quiet place to meet and give 2+2 feedback to each other and
determine how to improve your team experience for the remainder of the term. What
issues can you catch early to be sure your team is on track? Write a one page team
memo and post to ctools explaining your key insights about your team dynamics and
strategy for effectiveness moving forward (due October 9 at the start of class).
October 9
Everest simulation continued
Midcourse evaluation
October 11:
Midterm exam (in class)
October 16:
Fall Break
October 18:
Dealing with Corrosiveness
Reading: Dutton, J. (2005) Energizing Your Workforce. Jossey-Bass. Ch. 5.
Case: The Case of the Temperamental Talent, Harvard Business Review
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Leading organizations
October 23: Vision: Zingermans (take a field trip to one of their locations before class – Deli,
Roadhouse, Bakehouse, Creamery)
Reading: Weinzweig, A. Building a great business, Ch. 5, 6
Case: Zingerman’s Community of Businesses
Guest speaker: Maggie Bayless, Managing Partner, Zingtrain
October 25:
Organization Design: Creating your own organization (WIS)
Reading: Bradach, J. 1996. Organizational alignment: The 7-S model. Harvard
Business School.
October 30:
Organization Culture
Case: Zappos.com 2009: Clothing, customer service and company culture.
Reading: Sorenson, J. 2009. Note on Organizational Culture. Stanford School of
Business.
Guest speaker: Greg Barker on “creating high impact videos”
Leading change
Nov. 1/Nov. 6 Leading Positive Change: Simulation in your team
Readings: Lakeview prereadings available on ctools.
November 8: Positive Deviance
Guest speaker: Rich Sheridan, CEO Menlo Innovations
Readings: http://www.inc.com/winning-workplaces/magazine/201106/youll-never-workalone.html
http://management.fortune.cnn.com/tag/menlo-innovations/
November 13: Developing Resilience
Reading: Coutu, How resilience works. Harvard Business Review.
Case: The B&O Railroad Museum: Getting back on track
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November 15:
The course in review
November 20:
Open class period to meet in your teams to prepare for your video
presentations which begin after Thanksgiving. I will be available in my office to meet
with teams as needed.
November 27:
Video presentations
November 29:
Video presentations
December 4:
Video presentations
December 6:
Video presentations
December 7
No class, but several things are due:
1. Team report and individual peer evaluations are due by noon posted
on in the appropriate assignment space on ctools.
2. Draw an image of what positive leadership means to you and post to
this website: https://umichbus.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_ahoi9VsfMCuqvE9.
We will look how your visions of positive leadership have developed
over the semester in our last class.
December 11:
Leaving a Leadership Legacy
Reading: Christianson, C. (2010) How will you measure your life? Harvard
Business Review.
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
Final Exam:
MO 302.001: Tuesday, December 18 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
MO 302.002: Wednesday, December 19 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
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1
STEPHEN M. ROSS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
MARKETING 300: MARKETING MANAGEMENT
FALL 2011
Professor:
E-mail:
Office:
Office Hours:
Dr. Scott Rick
srick@umich.edu
R5486
Thursdays 1pm – 3pm, or by appointment
Class Hours:
Section 2: MW 10am – 11:30am, R2230
Section 4: MW 1pm – 2:30pm, R2230
Section 5: MW 2:30pm – 4pm, R2230
Required Textbook: Marketing Management: The Big Picture by Christie Nordhielm
Second edition, published by John Wiley & Sons (ISBN: 0-471-75668-7)
COURSE OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES
The definition of marketing is often debated, but it is most frequently conceptualized as the art
and science of meeting needs profitably. To do so, the marketing manager must acquire and
retain customers by creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value. This
survey course will examine the challenges and opportunities marketing managers face when
trying to meet needs profitably.
From this course, you will gain an appreciation of the broad array of decisions facing marketing
managers, ranging from the high-level (e.g., should we focus on acquiring or retaining
customers?) to the more prosaic (e.g., which pricing tactic should we implement?). We will
utilize Nordhielm’s Big Picture model as a structured framework that will help us understand
how to make each of these decisions. (There will be some other required readings as well, to be
posted on Ctools.) By the end of the course, you will possess the analytical tools necessary to act
on a wide range of marketing opportunities.
COURSE COMPONENTS
Your semester grade is based on your class participation (10%), a midterm exam (25%), a final
exam (35%), and a mini-case group project (30%). There is also a research requirement that you
must complete to receive a grade for the course. These components are described below.
CLASS PARTICIPATION (10%)
Your class participation grade is based partly on your attendance and partly on your in-class
comments.
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2
Attendance will be taken each class. 100% attendance is expected. Missing a number of classes
will lower your Class Participation grade. Missing 10 or more classes, for any reason, will result
in automatic failure.
Comments will be evaluated on two dimensions: quality and quantity. Students who participate
frequently in class, but whose comments reveal a lack of preparation or thoughtfulness, will not
do as well as students whose comments are more thoughtful but less frequent.
Finally, note that this is a strictly paper-and-pencil class. You are not allowed to use laptop
computers, cell phones, or any other electronic equipment in class. If you have a documented
disability that requires the use of electronic equipment, speak with me at the beginning of the
semester.
EXAMS (60%)
We will have a midterm exam that constitutes 25% of your semester grade, and a final exam that
constitutes 35% of your semester grade. The final exam will be comprehensive, though mainly
focused on material covered after the midterm.
The exams are closed-book, and you may not use any other class-related materials during the
exam. You may use a calculator if it is non-programmable. We will use a scantron for the exams,
so be sure to bring a Number 2 pencil.
Note that the final exam is scheduled for Tuesday, December 20 from 10:30am to 12:30pm. The
location will be announced later. If you have a documented time conflict, you can take the exam
at the conflict exam time (Tuesday, December 20 from 8:00am to 10:00am). If applicable,
submit that documentation at least two weeks before the final exam, so that exam proctors can be
arranged.
Review documents will be posted on our CTools site before the midterm and before the final.
These will give you a general sense of what will be covered on the exams. However, note that
everything covered in class and in the readings is fair game for the exams, unless explicitly noted
otherwise.
MINI-CASE (30%)
A mini-case is a group analysis of a marketing problem currently or recently facing a firm, using
the Big Picture framework. I will randomly assign you to a group early in the semester. In class,
I will announce a deadline for selecting a topic (a company). Only one group per section may
select any particular company. The mini-case consists of a write-up and a presentation, each
worth 15% of your overall semester grade.
Write-Up: Your mini-case write-up is due by 8am on Monday, November 21. One member of
your group should email me a PDF version of your write-up by that time. Be sure to CC your
teammates when submitting the PDF. These write-ups will be posted on CTools, so that your
classmates can read them in advance and be prepared for discussion. The PDF must be 10 MB or
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3
less. If your PDF is over 10 MB, re-save the images as smaller files (e.g., using Paint or
Photoshop), paste in the new smaller images, and re-create the PDF.
Presentation: You will present your mini-case to the class and manage a class discussion of the
topic. Plan on 15 minutes for your presentation and 10 minutes for class discussion. Give me a
printed handout of your slides at the beginning of class the day of your presentation, and email
me your final slides no later than 6pm on the day of your presentation.
After your group completes its presentation, you will have an opportunity to evaluate your
teammates’ contribution to the project. For each teammate, you will be asked to report what
proportion of their assigned tasks they performed in a timely and competent manner. Most of the
students in this class will complete all of their assigned tasks in a timely and competent manner.
Evaluations will be individually completed online, outside of class. Your evaluations of your
teammates will remain completely confidential. See The Rule of Two Unknowns policy for more
information on confidentiality. Information about accessing the evaluation survey will be given
later in the semester.
Your teammates’ evaluations of you will be averaged to determine your “mini-case multiplier.”
This multiplier will range from 0 to 1, and will be multiplied by your group’s overall mini-case
grade (write-up and presentation averaged) to determine your individual mini-case grade. The
point of this evaluation exercise is to help detect free-riders who did not carry their weight during
the project. Most students receive a mini-case multiplier of 1, meaning that their individual minicase grade will not be reduced due to perceived free-riding. Minor disagreements between
teammates are typically interpreted in favor of the student being evaluated (e.g., if two
teammates said you did 100% of your work, but two said you did 95% of your work, your
multiplier will be 1). Other obvious response irregularities (e.g., students who report that none of
their teammates did more than 25% of their work) are also controlled for statistically. If you
evaluate a teammate’s contributions negatively, the survey will ask you to briefly elaborate upon
and justify your numerical response. Non-justified negative evaluations are discounted.
For example, imagine that Mario, LuAnn, and Kelly are in a group. The group received a 90%
on their write-up, and a 70% on their presentation. Their overall mini-case grade is therefore
80%. In the peer evaluation survey, LuAnn and Kelly each reported that Mario did 100% of his
work. Mario’s multiplier is therefore 1. Mario and Kelly each reported that LuAnn did 100% of
her work. LuAnn’s multiplier is therefore 1. Mario and LuAnn each reported that Kelly did 50%
of her work, and provided compelling justification for their evaluations. Kelly’s multiplier’s is
therefore 0.5. Therefore, in the grade book, Mario’s individual case grade will be 80, LuAnn’s
individual case grade will be 80, and Kelly’s individual case grade will be 40.
MINI-CASE GUIDELINES AND TIPS
The objective of the mini-case is to use the Big Picture framework to analyze the marketing
challenges and opportunities facing a firm. After researching the firm, you will prepare a writeup of the firm that will give the audience a sense of the firm’s current Big Picture. You will then
make a group presentation in which you will present and defend what you think the firm’s
current Big Picture is, what the firm’s key impediment is, and what the firm’s revised Big Picture
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4
should look like. Details on how the write-up and the presentation will be graded are included
below.
Topic Selection
It is generally advisable to select a smaller company that clearly could be performing better.
You’ll want to ensure that their impediment is nontrivial and not easily remedied (e.g., their
prices are too low). If the impediment is easily repaired, you will not have enough substance for
your presentation. If your team is having a hard time selecting a topic, speak with me.
Local companies can provide novel sources of data (e.g., conversations with the owner). But
beware local businesses that do little advertising (e.g., Mr Spots). It is often difficult to infer
these companies’ current Big Picture, much less illustrate it.
The Write-Up
The write-up should consist of 2-3 pages of text, single-spaced. In addition, you should include
exhibits of both a qualitative (e.g., advertising samples) and quantitative (e.g., recent sales
figures or survey results) nature. There is a limit of six figures. Redundant or otherwise
unnecessary figures will reduce your grade. There should also be a cover page that includes the
names of group members. Examples of good write-ups from previous years will be posted on
CTools. (Note that grading requirements for mini-cases – both the write-up and the presentation
– are refined somewhat from year-to-year, so the samples posted online may not fare as well
under the current guidelines.)
The point of the write-up is to provide readers with a general sense of the firm’s entire current
Big Picture. Accordingly, you should analyze the firm’s current Big Picture before writing your
mini-case.
Some additional tips:
Make sure that your write-up doesn’t take all the mystery out of your presentation. Your write-up
should get us thinking about what the impediment might be, and how to fix it. It should NOT
give us your view on these matters.
Each figure should present unique information (e.g., double-check to make sure you’re not
including both a bar graph and a pie chart that display the same data in different formats).
Your figures should only present relevant information. Do we really need to know all the
content formats that are supported by the Sony Reader? Does a screenshot of the company’s
Facebook or Twitter page convey important information, besides the fact that they have one?
Sometimes, less is more.
Consider whether you’re including any information that actually undermines your arguments. Be
mindful of potential counterarguments when deciding which data to include. If you cannot avoid
including data that will elicit counterarguments, have a response prepared.
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5
Think about how you can collect relevant data. Typically a survey will be most informative, but
ethnographic methods (e.g., videotaped observation of consumer behavior, interviews with
consumers) may also provide valuable information. If you conduct a survey, include some
evidence of your efforts as a figure (in addition to any charts, graphs, and tables that you make
based on your data). This evidence can be a copy of a completed survey, if you are conducting a
paper-and-pencil survey. Or, if you are conducting your survey online, include a screenshot of
your raw data reports.
The Presentation
On the day of your presentation, bring me a handout of your final slides, so that I can take notes.
Examples of good presentations from previous years will be posted on CTools.
Some additional tips:
If relevant data could be collected, collect it. For example, if the success of your revised Big
Picture depends on the proportion of Midwestern students who like vanilla milkshakes, run a
survey of UM students to get a plausible estimate of that proportion.
If you conduct a survey, design it carefully. For example, if you’re asking people how often they
visit a restaurant that gets hardly any business, be sure to include a “Never” option. Think about
it from the respondent’s perspective.
Your revised Big Picture must be internally consistent (e.g., if you’re proposing a Retention
marketing objective, you shouldn’t also propose trial pricing). If there is an internal
inconsistency, justify it.
The slides should be visually digestible. If you have a lot of text on a slide (ill-advised), display
the various components sequentially to facilitate comprehension.
Make sure your slides don’t prematurely give away answers you’re attempting to elicit from the
audience. For example, if you’re walking us through a 5-box positioning statement, and you
want the audience to guess the desired belief, make sure that information is not already displayed
when you ask the question. Animation can be helpful.
During your interactions with me and the audience, respond to the questions that are asked,
rather than the questions you would like to hear. Think on your feet.
Pre-arranged or “planted” questions from confederates in the audience are easy to detect and
reduce the opportunity for other students to ask more meaningful, hard-hitting questions.
If you can illustrate your revised Big Picture with a proposed commercial, feel free to film one
and include it in your talk.
Free-riding is transparent. It’s often clear which group members did the heavy lifting and which
started working the night before the presentation. Free-riding also tends to be positively
correlated with the amount of class time spent texting.
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Mini‐Case Write‐Up Grading Criteria Administrative (10%) Submitted on time Submitted in proper format (e.g., includes cover page; submitted as a PDF) Writing (65%) Write‐up is interesting and engaging Current Big Picture can be fully inferred from write‐up Claims are supported by data whenever possible
Exhibits (25%) Each exhibit presents unique information Each exhibit presents relevant information Exhibits are easy to read and interpret Informative qualitative exhibits (e.g., ads, commercial screenshots) are included Total: ____ / 100 45
7
Mini‐Case Presentation Grading Criteria Administrative (10%) A handout of the final slides is given to the professor at the beginning of class in proper format (print as “Handouts” instead of “Slides”) Final slides emailed to professor by 6 pm on day of presentation Content (60%) Current BP is clearly articulated Revised BP is internally consistent Deviations from internal consistency (in either current or revised BP) are acknowledged and explained Evidence/data presented supports and does not undermine revised BP Any inconsistencies between your recommendations and your collected data are explained
Impediment identified is substantive enough to warrant our attention (i.e., the current BP and revised BP differ in important ways) Proposed solution(s) are feasible. An estimate of the costs of the proposed solution(s) is provided. Assumptions are clearly justified by data whenever possible
Q&A (15%) Responses to counterarguments are thoughtful and reflect preparation Presenters listen and respond carefully to audience feedback Delivery (15%) Slides are visually digestible Presenters are enthusiastic and doing their best to stimulate/maintain audience interest (evidenced, e.g., by your ability to solicit good questions from the audience during Q&A) Total: ____ / 100
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IMPORTANT POLICIES
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
If you have a disability that requires accommodations, please let me know within the first two
weeks of the semester. This is the only way I can guarantee exam accommodations, if you need
them. I will treat any information you provide as private and confidential.
HONOR CODE
As is true of all RSB courses, the Academic Honor Code and Community Values Committee
policies and procedures apply to this course. For more information, go to:
http://www.bus.umich.edu/Academics/Resources/communityvalues.htm
Cheating of any degree will not be tolerated. In particular, note that the exams are closed-book.
You will not be allowed to have access to any class-related materials, or any programmable
calculators, during the exams. Failure to abide by these guidelines may result in failure or
expulsion.
RESEARCH REQUIREMENT
Much of what is taught in business schools is informed by academic research. Students at
research-active schools tend to learn cutting-edge insights sooner, and accordingly the net
present value of a business school degree is highly correlated with the research impact of the
business school (indexed by number of publications, citations, and peer-ratings; see Armstrong
1995, Journal of Marketing).
Many faculty members and Ph.D. students in our marketing department utilize experiments in
their research. To support this important work, we require you to participate in three different
marketing experiments this semester. The experiments will be conducted in the Ross Behavioral
Lab. Each experiment will last about 60 minutes.
The experiments will be posted online at http://RossStudentPool.bus.umich.edu. Experiments
will be posted periodically throughout the semester, so be sure to check the website often. I will
keep you posted whenever I learn about upcoming experiments.
If your schedule makes it impossible to complete three experiments, you will need to complete
an alternative assignment. This alternative assignment requires reading academic marketing
research articles and writing reports summarizing the articles and proposing new directions for
future research. You will read and report on one research article for each experiment you miss.
Reports will be judged on a pass/fail basis. If you fail any report, you will have to either re-write
it or take an Incomplete for the course. Students generally find the alternative assignment to be
much more time-consuming than completing three experiments. You should treat this option as
an emergency backup. Discuss this option with me before December 1 if it looks like you will
not be able to complete the three required experiments.
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9
THE RULE OF TWO UNKNOWNS
To protect the confidentiality of the mini-case peer evaluations, neither your mini-case multiplier
nor your class participation grade will be revealed to you.
ROSS POLICY ON SEMESTER GRADES
The Ross School of Business implements a strict grading policy for core courses to control grade
inflation. The policy imposes the following restrictions on the semester grade distribution:
1. Less than 40% of students can receive an A- or better.
2. Less than 80% of students can receive a B or better.
3. More than 20% of students must receive a B- or worse.
There will be many outstanding students in this class, and the grading is very competitive. Your
grade will not only depend on how well you perform, but also on how well you perform relative
to your peers. Small absolute numerical grade differences will likely distinguish between
different letter-grades. This means that some of you may receive semester grades lower than
those you are accustomed to receiving.
GUEST LECTURES
We will have two guest lectures. If a guest lecture conflicts with another class you are taking,
you may watch a video recording online later. To keep the number of classes at the universityprescribed level, two in-class lectures have been cancelled. The guest lectures are tentatively
scheduled for November 1 at 6:15pm (Russell Weiner and Patrick Doyle of Domino’s) and
November 16 at 5:15pm (Mike Dwyer of Axe/Unilever). Both will take place at Blau
Auditorium. There will be exam questions based on the guest lectures.
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COURSE CALENDAR
Monday
9/12 Wednesday Business Objective
9/7 Course Overview 9/14 Marketing Objective Read Module 2
9/19 Read Module 3 Source of Volume
9/21 Read Module 4
9/26 Reading to be posted on Ctools Segmentation
9/28 Read Module 5
10/3 Case: Better Than Bouillon Targeting & Positioning Read Modules 6 and 7 Case: Longacre
10/5 Reading to be posted on Ctools Product Read Module 8 10/10 New Product Development
Reading to be posted on Ctools 10/12 No Class 10/17 No Class (Fall Break)
10/19 Midterm (in class) 10/24 Product as Service
10/26 Promotion Read Module 9 Read Module 10 10/31 Case: Great Wolf Lodge
11/2 Reading to be posted on Ctools 11/7 Price Read Module 11 Place
11/9 Read Module 12 Marketing Research Read Module 13 11/14 Ethics
11/16 Managerial & Consumer Biases Reading to be posted on Ctools
Read Module 1 11/21 Buzz & Viral Marketing
11/23 No Class Reading to be posted on Ctools 11/28 Mini‐Case Groups 1, 2, 3
11/30 Mini‐Case Groups 4, 5, 6 12/5 12/7 Mini‐Case Groups 7, 8, 9
Mini‐Case Groups 10, 11, 12 12/12 Final Review
Final Exam: Tuesday, December 20, 10:30am‐12:30pm. Location TBA Mini‐Case Write‐Up due (via email) by 8am on Monday, November 21 Guest Speakers (tentative): Tuesday 11/1 at 6:15pm and Wednesday 11/16 at 5:15pm, both at Blau 49
<<Proposed for Fall 2013>>
STRATEGY 302 – CORPORATE STRATEGY
OVERVIEW
Why do some firms perform better than others? The many possible answers to this question
constitute the focus of corporate strategy. Strategy refers, in general, to the set of actions taken to
achieve a particular goal. Corporate strategy refers specifically to the set of actions top
management takes to achieve superior firm performance. The perspective adopted in this course
is that of top managers making decisions regarding: (a) what businesses their corporations should
focus on; and (b) how to run those businesses. We will explore different analytical models that
allow us to identify opportunities and threats companies face in complex and competitive
environments and propose sound solutions to these problems based upon a deep understanding of
firms’ strengths and weaknesses.
By adopting the perspective of the top manager, this course cuts across all functional areas
(production, marketing, finance, and accounting) and builds on your previous work at Ross. The
value of understanding corporate strategy extends beyond those in top management positions—it
is also essential for internal effectiveness and efficiency that functional specialists understand
corporate strategy and their role within it. In addition, a deep understanding of corporate strategy
is also important for external consultants, auditors, financial analysts, entrepreneurs, and bankers
trying to understand and value other firms and the competitive marketplace generally. To capture
the complex and pragmatic nature of business problems and formulate strategic solutions to
them, this course is taught through the case method. Active class discussion is paramount to
your experience in Strategy 390. We will supplement the case discussions with textbook
reading, lectures, and conceptual discussions. A key objective is for you to develop your own
personal synthesis and approach for identifying and solving the problems facing an organization.
By the end of the course, you will be able to analyze:
Industry structure to identify competitive opportunities and threats
Firm resources and capabilities to identify strengths and weaknesses
Cost leadership and product differentiation as business-level strategies
The advantages and disadvantages of diversification
The advantages and disadvantages of mergers, acquisitions, and strategic alliances
The advantages and disadvantages of global strategies
Ethical issues in strategic management
Network forms of corporate governance
COURSE MATERIALS
The course uses one textbook and one course pack. Additional readings may be made available
to you electronically or in print throughout the semester. The textbook is: Barney and Hesterly:
Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage: Concepts 3nd Edition, Pearson Prentice
Hall. The book will be available from Ulrich’s, Michigan Book and Supply, and the University
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Bookstore. If you choose to buy the book from an alternative vendor, please note that there are
two versions: (1) “concepts”, and (2) “concepts and cases”. We will only be using the “concepts”
book, which is a subset of the “concepts and cases” book. There will be a copy on reserve. The
course pack will be available in late August.
GRADING
Student grades will be based on:
Project 30%, 15% industry level report/presentation (team) and 15% firm level report/
presentation (individual)
Final exam 30%
Attendance / Participation 20% *
Simulation report and presentation 10%
In-class case quizzes 10%
ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION
The course is designed to help you develop a personal synthesis and perspective, rather than
simply survey analytical models. It is not easy to compensate for an absence. If for some
unavoidable reason you must miss a class (e.g. medical emergency), please inform me as soon as
possible. Per Ross School policy, any conflict between a job interview and a class must be
resolved in favor of class attendance.
Class participation is mandatory. Participation involves two steps. First, you must develop a clear
position on the case and related questions. Second, you must take part in the class discussion in a
meaningful way. In doing so, you must be able to both present and defend your view on the issue
at hand. The ability to present ideas concisely and persuasively, and to respond effectively to the
ideas of others, is a key success factor in any managerial position. Participation enables you to
learn from your colleagues and to help them learn from you. Accordingly, I expect you to
participate effectively in the class—analyze, comment, question, discuss, and build on others'
contributions. Your grade for class participation will be based on the quality (not quantity) of
your contributions.
PROJECT
The term project is an industry analysis of an industry of your choice. This is a group project (no
more than 6 students per group). Different groups may not collaborate on the project. You will
collect information on an industry and the businesses in it, and then analyze the industry and its
firms (one firm per student). This project serves at least three educational objectives: (1) it helps
you to learn how to gather information on industries and firms, (2) it provides an opportunity to
practice your skills in industry analysis, and (3) it offers a chance to practice how to work in
teams, tapping on your detailed knowledge of different functional areas.
STRATEGY SIMULATION
We will supplement our discussion of technology strategy with a software simulation. Details
will be given in class and on CTools. You will work with your project teams on the simulation
exercise and complete two deliverables, a simulation report and presentation. The purpose of the
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report is to show how your team applied theoretical concepts and quantitative analysis in
devising strategies for playing the game. An important aspect of the simulation exercise is for
you to gain practice in strategic decision-making. As such, your simulation report will be graded
in large part on how well you justify your simulation decisions. The presentation will briefly
describes the team’s strategy in playing the simulation (it can, for example, be a short summary
of the simulation report).
CASE QUIZZES
Reading cases prior to class is essential if we are to have engaging, useful class discussions. To
serve as a forcing function to this end, there will be 5 or 6 in-class case quizzes. Included in this
syllabus are three “Study Questions” for each of the cases that we will read. The in-class quiz
will consist of me choosing ONE of these questions at the beginning of class and you spending
5-7 minutes writing an answer. No notes, no collaboration. You will not know which question
you will write on until just before you begin writing. You will also not know for which cases
there will be a quiz until the beginning of the class. Quizzes will be graded on a (1) “CheckMinus,” (2) “Check,” (3) “Check-Plus” scale. Check-Plus and Check-Minus scores are both
typically quite rare so please do not think that you’re missing something if you receive consistent
Checks on these quizzes. Consistent Checks is exactly what I’m looking for. No “make-up”
quizzes will be given for any reason, but I will base your final quiz grade on one less than the
total number of quizzes (i.e., there is a chance for additional points here). 5-7 minutes goes by
quickly. Short, well-articulated answers are preferred. Write in legible, full sentences – not bullet
points.
FINAL EXAM
The final exam is intended to test your understanding of the theoretical concepts from class
lectures and the textbook. It will also test your ability to analyze business scenarios using the
tools and methods we will explore throughout the semester and use to analyze cases. Date and
time for the final exam is available on the registrar's website.
OPTIONAL PROBLEM SETS
Problem sets are posted on cTools by topic but will not be handed in or graded. It's up to you
whether or not you want to do them. In the past students have felt that the problems sets are a
useful preparation for the final exam.
STUDENT LEARNING CONSIDERATIONS
If you think you need an accommodation for a disability, please let me know at the beginning of
the semester. Some aspects of the course, the assignments, the in-class activities, and the way I
teach may be modified to facilitate your participation and progress. As soon as you make me
aware of your needs, we can work with the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities to
help us determine appropriate accommodations. I will treat all information as fully confidential.
If there are any other learning considerations about which you are concerned, let me know at the
beginning of the semester and I will discuss this with you individually.
ACADEMIC HONOR CODE
Personal integrity and professionalism are fundamental values of the Ross School community.
To help ensure that these values are upheld and to maintain equitability in the evaluation of your
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work, this course will be conducted in strict conformity with the Academic Honor Code. The
code and related procedures can be found at the following website:
http://www.bus.umich.edu/Academics/Resources/communityvalues.htm. The site also contains
comprehensive information on how to ensure that you have not plagiarized the work of others.
Claimed ignorance of the code and related information appearing on the site will be viewed as
irrelevant should a violation take place.
COURSE OUTLINE
NOTE ON THE CHAPTER READINGS: There are several sections that are common to many
chapters and are optional for you to read. The sections that fall under this guideline are “Strategy
in Depth”, “Research Made Relevant”, “Global Perspectives”, and “Strategy in the Emerging
Enterprise.” As well, the “Organization” sections under the VRIO framework and the “… in an
International Context” sections in each chapter are optional. “Strategy in Depth” and “Research
Made Relevant” sections will be of interest to those who are considering academic careers. Some
of the concepts in the optional sections will be covered in dedicated class sessions (e.g.,
“Organization” reading sections will be covered in the class session titled “Organization.”).
INTRODUCTION
1. Topic: Identifying Strategic Issues
Reading: B & H, Chap. 1, “What is Strategy and the Strategic Management Process?”
Reading Focus
- Define strategy
- Define competitive advantage and explain its relationship to economic value creation
THE BASIS OF STRATEGIC DECISION
2. Topic: Industry Analysis
Reading: B & H, Chap. 2, “Evaluating a Firms External Environment”
Reading Focus
- Describe the dimensions of the general environment facing a firm
- Describe the “five forces model of industry attractiveness”
- Describe the four generic industry structures and opportunities for firms
Case: Cola Wars Continue: Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2006
Study Questions:
A) Why has the soft drink industry been so profitable historically?
B) How has the competition between Coke and Pepsi affected the industry’s profits?
C) Will Coke and Pepsi sustain their profits in the wake of flattening demand and the growing
popularity of non-CSDs?
3. Topic: Competitive Dynamics (Rivalry)
Reading: B & H, Chap. 2, “Evaluating a Firms External Environment”
Reading Focus
- Describe the competitive dynamics of the five forces model
- Describe the threat of rivalry, substitutes, and complements
- Describe the threats and opportunities in different industry structures
Case: The Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry in 1994 (A)
Study Questions:
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A) Why has RTE been a profitable business? What changes have led to the industry ‘crisis’?
B) Why have private labels been able to enter the industry successfully? How do the cost
structures of private label and branded cereal manufacturers differ?
C) What does General Mills hope to accomplish with its April 1994 reduction in trade
promotions and prices? What are the risks associated with these actions? How do expect General
Mills’ competitors to respond?
4. Topic: Resources and Capabilities
Reading: B & H, Chap. 3, “Evaluating a Firm’s Internal Capabilities”
Reading Focus
- Describe the Resource-Based-View (RBV) of the firm and its critical assumptions
- Describe four types of resources and capabilities (the VRIO framework)
- Apply the VRIO framework to identify the competitive implications of a firm’s resources and
capabilities
Case: McKinsey & Company: Managing Knowledge and Learning
Study Questions:
A) How has this obscure little firm of “accounting and engineering advisors” been able to grow
into a globally prestigious consulting firm fifty years later?
B) What have been the contributions of the various CEOs over the years?
C) What is your evaluation of Rajat Gupta’s “four-pronged” approach to knowledge
development and application within McKinsey?
BUSINESS-LEVEL STRATEGY
5. Topic: Business Level Strategy (Cost)
Reading: B & H, Chap. 4, “Cost Leadership”
Reading Focus
- Define cost leadership in business strategy
- Identify different sources of cost advantages
- Identify the bases of cost leadership that are rare and costly to imitate
Case: Wal-Mart Stores Inc
Study Questions:
A) Is Wal-Mart’s competitive strategy distinct? Why? Why not?
B) What are the sources of value creating activity in Wal-Mart’s competitive strategy?
A) Can K-Mart and Target duplicate Wal-Mart’s strategy?
6. Topic: Business-Level Strategy (Differentiation)
Reading: B & H, Chap. 5, “Product Differentiation”
Reading Focus
- Define product differentiation in business strategy
- Identify three different basis of product differentiation
- Describe how product differentiation can be used to neutralize environmental threats and
exploit environmental opportunities
- Describe the relationship between product differentiation and cost leadership strategies
Case: Gucci Group, N.V.
Study Questions:
A) Map the competitive positions of the different players in the luxury good business? Who are
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the best positioned players? Why?
B) Where was Gucci positioned in 1990? 1994? 2000? What were critical moves made by
Desole to reposition the company?
C) Evaluate DeSole’s strategic move to buy Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) and Sergio Rossi.
CORPORATE STRATEGY
7. Topic: Related & Unrelated Diversification
Reading: B & H, Chap.7, “Corporate Diversification”
Reading Focus
- Define corporate diversification and describe different types of corporate diversification
- Define the concept of economies of scope and identify how a diversified firm may try to
exploit different sources of economies of scope
- Describe how the rarity and imitability of corporate diversification relate to sustained
competitive advantage
Case: Newell Company: Corporate Strategy
Study Questions:
A) Does Newell have a successful corporate-level strategy? Does the company add value to the
businesses within its portfolio?
B) What are Newell’s distinctive resources?
C) What challenges faced the company in the late 1990s?
Case: Tyco International
Study Questions:
A) Does Tyco have a corporate level advantage? Does it do anything unusually well?
B) When over the life of a business does Tyco add value?
C) Should this be one company or six?
D) Is Tyco’s strategy sustainable?
8. Topic: "Live" Case
9. Topic: Vertical Integration
Reading: B & H, Chap. 6 & supplemental materials
Reading Focus
- Define value chain and vertical integration
- Describe three alternative explanations for vertical integration
- Describe how vertical integration can create value by enabling a firm to exploit its
valuable, rare, and costly-to-imitate resources and capabilities
10. and 11 Topic: Project Presentations
ADVANCED TOPICS IN STRATEGY
12. Topic: Integrating Business Strategy
Case: Teva Pharmaceutical
Study Questions:
A) How did Teva succeed in Israel? Why did such a company emerge in Israel? How did Teva
set itself apart from its competitors in Israel?
B) As the CEO of Teva, which markets would you concentrate on developing going forward?
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C) As an executive in "big pharma," what approach would you take to deal with Teva?
13. Topic: Simulation I –Strategic Innovation
Case: Strategic Innovation Simulation: Back Bay Battery
Study Questions:
A) How do technological differences in NiMH and Ultracapacitor technology impact Back Bay
Battery’s R&D investment decisions?
B) Analyze the impact of the advent of the Ultracapacitor technology on the Back Bay
Battery’s external business environment using the five forces model.
C) List three key factors you would consider essential in the R&D budget allocation decisions
as a divisional manager of the Back Bay Battery
14. Topic: Common Section
All sections of STRAT 390 will meet in Blau Auditorium in the evening on October 27th for this
special session. There will be no class during the regular time.
15. Topic: Mergers and Acquisitions
Reading: B & H, Chap.10, “Mergers and Acquisitions”
Reading Focus
- Describe the different types of merger and acquisitions
- Describe how different types of mergers and acquisitions may or may not create value
- Describe the major challenges that firms integrating acquisitions are likely to face
Case: Hewlett-Packard—Compaq: The Merger Decision
Study Questions:
A) What was HP’s strategic rationale for pursuing the merger with Compaq?
B) Why did Walter Hewlett oppose the deal?
C) As a shareholder, would you have voted for or against the proposed merger?
16. Topic: Strategic Alliances
Reading: B & H, Chap.9, “Strategic Alliances”
Reading Focus
- Define a strategic alliance and give three specific types of strategic alliances
- Describe how adverse selection, moral hazard, and hold-up can threaten the ability of
alliances to generate value
- Describe different tools and mechanisms to reduce the threat of cheating in strategic
alliances
Case: The Renault-Nissan Alliance
Study Questions:
A) Describe the structure of the Renault-Nissan alliance. Would the alliance have worked out as
well if it was only contractual and did not involve equity?
B) Why has this alliance beaten the odds and enjoyed such success? What do you see as the key
factor(s)?
C) Is this type of cooperation sustainable over the long-term? What issues would you be
concerned about for the alliance going forward?
17. Topic: Simulation II – Presentations and Debrief
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In this session, each group will be given a chance to present their investment decisions in a fiveminute elevator speech format. This would be followed by simulation debriefing and wrap up.
18. Topic: Global Strategy
Reading: B & H, Chap.11, “International Strategies”
Reading Focus:
- Describe five ways that international strategies can create economic value
- Discuss the trade-off between local responsiveness and international integration, and
transnational strategies as a way to manage this trade-off
- Discuss the political risks associated with international strategies and how they can be
measured
Case: Philips vs Matsushita: A New Century, A New Round
Study Questions:
A) How did Philips become the leading consumer electronics company in the world in the
postwar era? What were its distinctive competencies and incompetencies?
B) How did Matsushita succeed in displacing Philips as No. 1? What were its distinctive
competencies and incompetencies?
C) What do you think of the change each company has made to date—the objectives, the
implementation and the impact? Why is it so hard for both of them?
19. Topic: Organization
Reading: B & H, Chap.8, “Organizing to Implement Corporate Diversification”
Reading Focus:
- Describe different kinds of organizational structures, including multidivisional structure
and how it relates to corporate diversification strategy
- Describe how three management control process are used to help implement the
corporate diversification strategy
- Describe the role of management compensation policies in implementing a corporate
strategy
Case: Lehman Brothers
Study Questions:
A) Specifically, what actions of Jack Rivkin led to the spectacular rise of Lehman’s equity
research department?
B) What are the unique challenges of building a high-performing professional services team? To
what should the team leader pay particular attention?
20. Topic: Networks I, Informal Social Structure
Significant value may be harvested from the informal social structure that exists within an
organization. This class will introduce some of the basic elements of social network theory and
will examine the two engines of "social capital," brokerage and closure. Brokerage is a strategy
for creating value. It involves the recombination of unique sets of knowledge and is a key driver
of innovation. Closure is a strategy for delivering on a known value stream. Dense social ties
facilitate trust, drive alignment, and lower the cost of monitoring. Readings may be distributed
prior to class.
21. and 22. Topic: Project Presentations
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23. Topic: Networks II
In this session we will consider additional ways that network analysis can be used to facilitate
strategic decision making. Readings may be distributed prior to class.
24. Topic: Integrating Corporate Strategy
Case: Google Inc.
Study Questions:
A) What were the key factors behind Google’s early success?
B) Do you expect the search business to become more concentrated (i.e. dominated by fewer
firms)? Is search a winner-take-all-business?
C) In addition to enhancing its core search businesses, should Google also branch out into new
arenas? Which of the following would you recommend: 1) building a full-fledged portal like
Yahoo!; 2) targeting Microsoft’s desktop software hegemony; and/or 3) becoming an ecommerce
intermediary like eBay?
25. TBA Final Exam
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Descriptions for Action-Based Learning Courses
and Electives
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Strategy and Action-Based Learning Core Requirement
The Minor in Business requires STRATEGY 302 or an Action-based Learning course. All
courses listed below are 3 credits except for TO 482 which carries 7.5 credits.
STRATEGY 302 Corporate Strategy: Why do some firms perform better than others? The
many possible answers to this question constitute the focus of corporate strategy. Strategy refers,
in general, to the set of actions taken to achieve a particular goal. Corporate strategy refers
specifically to the set of actions top management takes to achieve superior firm performance.
The perspective adopted in this course is that of top managers making decisions regarding: (a)
what businesses their corporations should focus on; and (b) how to run those businesses. We will
explore different analytical models that allow us to identify opportunities and threats companies
face in complex and competitive environments and propose sound solutions to these problems
based upon a deep understanding of firms’ strengths and weaknesses.
ES 395 Entrepreneurial Management: This course is a pragmatic, "real-world" orientation to
the entrepreneurial process of conceiving and implementing an idea for a new venture. It is
intended for students who have strong aspirations to eventually develop their careers in the
context of entrepreneurial firms. Specific objectives of the course are for students to: gain
experience identifying and screening potential business ideas; understand the early stage
development of a business idea into a opportunity with the potential to generate profits or other
desirable returns; understand capital and other resource requirements, and how to gain access to
them; develop managerial confidence through the creation of a compelling business plan; and to
experience the intensive, give-and-take of a team effort directed toward a specific goal.
ES 445 Base of the Pyramid - Business Innovation for Solving Society's Problems: In every
country there are people who are very poor by either absolute or relative standards. These
individuals at the economic "bottom of the pyramid" lack adequate income, health care,
educational opportunities, etc. This course focuses on how business can serve the poor by
remedying these conditions and make handsome profits while doing so.
MKT 301 Strategic Marketing Planning: This course focuses on marketing strategy, building
on the concepts and skills learned in Marketing 300. The course presents an opportunity for
students to learn, examine, and apply strategic marketing decision processes with the goals of
establishing, maintaining, or improving the firm's competitive advantage. Case studies, examples
from current business news, and group projects will be used to illustrate strategic principles.
MO 463 Creativity at Work - Theories and Practices: This course is designed to introduce the
student to the practices necessary to stimulate and manage creativity in a business. Students will
be given frameworks and methods for designing, developing, and implementing creativity in real
work situations. The aim of the course is to provide students with the perspective and skill base
necessary to manage creative projects, people and ventures. Each class will consist of two basic
components: 1) a theatrical framework, and 2) a methodology or tool. Each segment of the
course is designed to engage the student in a conceptual and experiential application of creativity
practices that will be applied to a real challenge.
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STRATEGY 392 Dynamic Capabilities Through Corporate Development: Dynamic
capabilities refer to firm specific capabilities that can be developed, deployed, and protected for
competitive advantage, through the managerial process. As firms compete in an increasingly
complex and uncertain environment, they are required to build and leverage dynamic capabilities
in constantly changing contexts in order to survive and grow. The course examines growth
options and the challenges they present as they relate to internal development of skills and
capabilities, and development of capabilities through alliances, mergers and acquisitions with a
view of gaining competitive advantage.
STRATEGY 470 Strategic Management of Knowledge in Professional Service Firms: The
goal of this course is to study the unique characteristics of Professional Service Firms, the
context in which they compete, and the challenges they face. Professional Service Firms include
accountants, actuaries, architects, consultants, executive recruiters, lawyers, travel and
advertising agencies, private equity and venture capital firms, public relations counselors,
teachers, engineering firms, medical organizations, investment banks, and real estate firms. This
course is designed to help students understand the competitive and organizational environments
of Professional Service Firms. We will examine how Professional Service Firms differ from
other businesses, the processes that drive them, and the skills required for success in them.
TO 465 Business Systems Consulting: This course provides an integrating experience for
seniors. Student teams are cast into the role of "consultants" to the executive management of the
Velocity Manufacturing Co. (an imaginary company). The facts of the consulting engagement
are presented to the students as a portfolio of case materials consisting of text, graphics,
videotape, lecture, spreadsheet models, computer simulations, digitized factory data, company
financial data and active participation of students in Velocity's production scheduling and
manufacturing operations. The students are tasked with developing and "selling" a compelling
business case of investment in new processes and systems to Velocity's management.
TO 482 Projects in Operations, Purchasing and Supply Chain Management (7.5 cr): This
course provides an opportunity for students to deepen their knowledge in operations,
procurement and supply chain management through action learning projects. Students will
address a major operations or supply chain problem in a company through a 14-week action
learning project. The course is taught in cooperation with AT Kearney, and students will also be
provided guest lectures (by AT Kearney and Fortune 500 company executives) on how to
approach consulting in operations and supply chain and on recent developments in these areas
from different industries.
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Elective Course Options
The Minor in Business requires students to take at least 3 credits of electives. The majority of
the courses in this list carry 3 credits, exceptions are noted. Elective options are offered from
each academic area within the Ross School of Business.
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Accounting
Business Administration
Business Economics
Entrepreneurial Studies
Finance
Law, History, Communication
Management and Organizations
Marketing
Strategy
Technology & Operations
Accounting
ACC 301 Managerial Accounting: Managerial Accounting focuses on how accounting is used
from the internal, manager perspective. Students will learn how accounting information is used
by management in decision-making situations, such as how to determine the cost and profit of a
particular product/service, how management determines which service/product lines to
discontinue, and when it is in the best interest of a company to outsource their work. Emphasis
will be placed on concepts and principles and the ability to apply those concepts and principles to
internal, management decisions.
ACC 312 Intermediate Financial Accounting: This is an intermediate financial accounting
course that focuses on asset, liability and owners' equity measurement and timing of recognition
issues, together with the associated income determination problems. The course is designed to
serve as the first post-introductory course for those who wish to obtain substantial training in
financial accounting. The course is also designed to serve the needs of financial statement users
who wish to obtain additional training beyond the introductory level.
ACC 315 Cost Accounting: An intermediate course about the managerial use of accounting data
to plan and control personnel and operations in the firm. The focus is on planning, decisionmaking, and control by organizations, and on the accounting systems that managers have to
assist them in their decisions about resource allocation and performance evaluation. In addition
to students in accounting, the course is designed for those who plan careers in management at all
levels and in all functions and who will need to motivate other employees and evaluate both
managers and business units in the organization.
ACC 318 Financial Statement Analysis: This course provides you with a systematic
framework for business analysis and equity valuation using financial statement, data and
demonstrates how to apply this framework to a variety of investment, lending, and reporting
decisions. The class introduces tools to analyze a firm's financial performance to date, forecast
the firm's future performance, and estimate the firm's intrinsic value implied by your forecasts.
The course is case-oriented and places heavy emphasis on illustrating the latest techniques and
information sources used by Wall Street professionals. The course also integrates recent
forecasting and valuation findings from academic research. The student should leave the course
with the ability to generate reasonably accurate (or at least logically consistent) forecasts of a
firm's future financial performance, including revenues, earnings and free cash flows. The class
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also presents all the major valuation models in a unified framework so the student should be
facile in moving between discounted cash flow models, residual income models and models
based on market multiples such as place-earnings ratio and the market to book ratio.
Business Administration
BA 201 Business Thought and Action: This course introduces students to business. In this
course we foster development of the key skill of learning via reflection on one's own experience.
The course will rely heavily on examination of individual organizations or industries from which
generalizations can be made. Specific situations will be selected to convey the excitement of
business situations, the role of business in society and the global scope of business. The primary
purpose of this class is to educate students about the broad range of problems and opportunities
that businesses face and the tools and skills that are necessary to face them. A secondary purpose
is to show the students the richness of business activity by 'peeling back the onion' via case
discussions of situations and companies they have experienced in their lives. Students will gain
familiarity with different kinds of information resources: from trade magazines to mass market
books to research journals.
Business Economics
BE 311 Public Policies Toward Business: This course aims to enhance students' understanding
of the role of government in a market economy and to develop students’ analytical and
presentation skills in discussing antitrust and regulatory issues. The emphasis of the course will
be on the economic rationales behind government intervention in markets, the various forms of
intervention, and their appropriateness in various contexts. Contexts explored will include
antitrust policies, environmental, health and safety regulations. An important part of the course
will be spent examining specific business cases with a focus on the type of intervention used in
each and the outcome of such interventions.
BE 440 Risk Management and Insurance: Exploration of insurance as a means of replacing
uncertainty with certainty; use of mathematical models to explain theory of interest, risk theory,
credibility theory and ruin theory; how mathematics underlies important individual and societal
decisions.
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Entrepreneurial Studies
ES 250 Introduction to Entrepreneurship: Introduction to Entrepreneurship is designed for all
freshman, sophomores and juniors, including non-business students, who wish to learn about
entrepreneurship, its role and importance in our society, and how to bring new ideas to
marketplace both in the startup and corporate setting. This is an introductory course intended to
provide students with a solid foundation on how entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship play a key
role in the 21st century global economy. In the course, we will assess, explore, and critique the
world of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is approached as a way of thinking and acting, as an
attitude and a behavior. Our emphasis is on entrepreneurship as a process that can be applied in
virtually any organizational setting. The principle focus will be on the creation of new ventures,
the ways that they come into being, and factors associated with their success. This is a course of
many ideas and questions, and you will be encouraged to develop and defend your own set of
conclusions regarding each of these issues. This course mixes theory with practice, and you will
be challenged to apply principles, concepts and frameworks to real world situations.
Finance
FIN 308 Capital Markets and Investment Strategy (1.5cr): Capital Markets and Investment
Strategies is a course that covers the fundamentals of making sound investment decisions using
modern finance theory. The course focuses primarily on equity securities. Our ultimate goal in
the class is constructing a portfolio of equities that delivers the best possible expected return
given the risk inherent in holding the portfolio. To that end, we will discuss ideas about how to
find investment opportunities, how to assess the rewards and risks of these opportunities, how
best to hold these assets in a portfolio, and how to gauge the difference in returns we should
expect to receive from this portfolio from those we actually earn.
FIN 309 Fixed Income Securities and Markets (1.5cr): This course provides a comprehensive
overview of the essentials of fixed income securities. In particular, the course introduces the
principal classes of fixed income securities; money market instruments, Treasury securities,
agency securities, corporate debentures, and mortgage-related instruments. In particular, we
focus on the institutions, pricing, risks, and hedging of these securities. The course begins with
Treasuries, securities affected primarily by interest rate risk. We discuss the mechanisms by
which Treasuries are sold, how they are priced, quantifying their interest rate risk, and pricing of
securities to manage risk. We examine the pricing of corporate bonds and derivatives that enable
investors to hedge credit risk. Finally, the course addresses securitizations in the form of
mortgage-backed securities and collateralized mortgage obligations.
FIN 314 Corporate Investment Decisions: This course focuses on analysis of corporate
investment decisions. Since the emphasis is on application of the concepts learnt in the core
courses, the course is case-oriented. The course begins with the valuation tools of financing
statement analysis, financial forecasting, and cash flow estimation and then shows how to
estimate of cost of capital. The major emphasis of the course is valuation in different contexts
such as resource allocation, mergers and acquisitions, and cross-border acquisitions. The course
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provides the student an opportunity to learn and practice spreadsheet skills. The course also
provides an overview of working capital management.
FIN 317 Corporate Financing Decisions: This course develops the conceptual foundation for
making corporate financing decisions. Capital structure theory is explained in detail with an indepth analysis of market imperfections such as taxes, cost of financial distress, agency and
informational issues. The next portion of the course covers different securities used to raise
external capital with an emphasis on the institutional aspects of acquiring capital (Initial public
offerings, seasoned equity offerings, public debt, convertible debt, private equity & venture
capital). The causes and effects of financial distress and the bankruptcy process are explained.
Payout policy and different payout strategies (dividends versus stock repurchase) are discussed.
The course ends with a brief discussion of risk management. Throughout the course, financial
theory will be integrated with the use of specific case studies.
FIN 322 Real Estate Finance and Investment: This course takes the perspective of the investor
in real estate deals who may an individual or financial manager of a real estate firm, and
develops concepts and techniques for valuing and financing residential and income-producing
property, i.e., for structuring real estate deals. We consider how the characteristics of the
property, the local market, the participants, and the institutional environment influence real estate
decisions. This course will provide you with:
 The fundamental skills for analyzing and structuring mortgages and real estate deals
 Intuition for identifying investment opportunities and avoiding the pitfalls in real estate
decisions
FIN 325 Entrepreneurial Finance: This course is open to all BBA students and presents the
fundamentals of venture capital and private equity finance. It is focused on financing startup and
early stage, technology-based firms, later stage investment and buyouts. The course covers
venture capital and private equity market structure and institutional arrangements and the
application of financial theory and methods in a venture capital and private equity setting. Four
men aspects of venture capital and private equity are covered: valuation, deal structuring,
governance, and harvesting. "Live" case studies are used in demonstrate the practical, hands-on
application of techniques following their development in class.
FIN 329 Financing Research Commercialization: This course is a practicum, offering an
opportunity to apply collective team work of a student/mentor alliance to building a launch pad
for a technology-based venture. This course is open to Ross School MBA and BBA students as
well as all UM graduate students. Student teams will work with mentors and principal
investigators (PI) from UM faculty in the Medical School, College of Engineering and other
divisions to build a business and marketing plan for a new technology or invention. Projects are
based upon disclosures made to UM Office of Technology Transfer, other universities and
industrial companies.
65
FIN 334 Applied Quant/Value Portfolio Management: This course provides a quant and
action-based learning approach to quant/value active portfolio management, using a practical
teaching approach with the resources located in the trading floor at the John R. and Georgene M.
Tozzi Electronic Business and Finance Center. The first part of the course will focus on
developing a systematic approach to choosing/analyzing stocks from a quant/value perspective.
The second half of the course will focus on 'leading in thought and action,' as participants will
critique and analyze stocks, risk, and holdings in existing mutual funds. The final project will
combine the lessons learned throughout the course. Students will critique 4 real portfolios from
the "lens" of a fund of funds, a senior quant analyst and portfolio manager.
FIN 340 Financial Trading (1.5cr, 7-week format): This course is about how people trade in
financial trading and how markets function. It uses both trading simulations and lectures to
illustrate concepts such as order types, market clearing, information-based trading, liquidity and
price manipulation. The course is designed for students that may take sales and trading jobs, but
it’s relevant for all students who may trade securities in the future.
FIN 380 Options and Futures in Financial Decision Making (1.5cr): This course addresses
futures, options, and other financial derivatives. Students will develop a framework for analyzing
and using these instruments in financial decision making. First, the characteristics of individual
derivative securities and their markets will be examined. Second, students will study the
fundamental economic principles for the pricing and hedging of these derivative securities.
Finally, the applications of derivatives securities in different areas of finance will be discussed.
These include hedging and risk management, portfolio insurance, index arbitrage, and corporate
finance. The teaching will be done through lecture, case presentations, and discussions of major
disasters in derivative applications and current market conditions in different derivative markets.
Law, History, Communication
LHC 305 Legal Environment of Business: It is essential for future business leaders and
entrepreneurs to have an understanding of the role of the law and legal risk in shaping business
decisions, achieving competitive advantage, and avoiding legal pitfalls. This course provides an
introduction to the Anglo-American legal system and the development of substantive and
procedural law with emphasis on the idea that business relationships are based upon contractual
agreements. The course covers numerous pertinent business laws and regulations that shape
business activities, including common law contracts, the Uniform Commercial Code (sales and
leases), tort law (including negligence and products liability), international business transactions,
environmental law, intellectual property law, jurisdiction, constitutional law, accountants legal
liability, criminal law, and the relationship between law and ethics. Legal cases are studied to
trace the development of the common law and to illustrate actual business problems that business
professionals will encounter throughout their careers.
66
LHC 306 Legal Aspects of Management and Finance: A study of the legal aspects of
organizing, financing, and operating a business enterprise, with emphasis on the law of agency,
partnerships, corporations, secured credit financing, and managing a workforce. The course
includes coverage of business ethics and corporate social responsibilities. It also examines
securities law (including securities fraud and insider trading) and the law of mergers and
acquisitions. Cases are used to illustrate the application of legal principles to actual business
problems.
LHC 309 Business Ethics and Accountability (1.5cr): In an increasingly complex and global
business environment, ethical decision making is a crucial skill for all business leaders. The
ability to make ethically sound judgments and persuade others of the importance of a sometimes
unpopular choice-and to do so under pressure-is an advantage during a career in any type of
organization. The Business Ethics and Accountability course provides students with the tools and
analytical skills to spot and avoid ethical risk and then to use their ethical reasoning and analysis
skills to succeed as leaders in their chosen field. The course will first cover the background and
justification for applying ethical frameworks to business action. Next, the course addresses
distinct topics such as the nature of the ethical corporation and the role of the corporation in
society, stakeholder analysis, and the legal and economic influences on decision making and
negotiation. Finally, the course examines the evolution of corporate social responsibility, ethical
choices while weathering a crisis, ethical leadership by individuals and organizations, and
international topics and multinational operations (such as cross-cultural ethics and corruption).
The course concludes with a discussion of current topics in business ethics, such as
environmental sustainability and the challenges of serving the Base of the Pyramid. This course
complements the frameworks and concepts presented in LHC 310.
LHC 310 Negotiation and Dispute Resolution (1.5cr): The ability to negotiate effectively is
essential to business success. This course emphasizes negotiation strategies and skills that enable
managers, functional specialists (for example, in finance, marketing and accounting),
consultants, entrepreneurs and others to create and claim value in a manner that enhances longterm business relationships. Among the specific topics in the course are cross-cultural
negotiations, legal and ethical frameworks for negotiation, and psychological tools that enhance
negotiation effectiveness. The course also includes negotiation strategies and tactics for dispute
resolution, including the use of third party processes (such as mediation and arbitration) in
resolving business disputes. This course builds on the frameworks and concepts presented in
LHC 309.
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Management and Organizations
MO 314 Managing Change: Planning, managing, evaluating, and surviving organizational
change are challenges that you will confront as an employee, manager, consultant or analyst. In
this course, we will explore the forces that have been driving organizations to change, examine
the impediments to change, and survey a range of approaches for making organizational change
more effective. We will ask why organizational change is often so difficult, how organizations
institute and institutionalize change, and what organizations might look like in the future. Case
studies, articles from the popular press, videos, and research papers provide our course material.
The practical implications of this understanding will be underscored by a 6-week action project,
in-class case discussions, and participative exercises. In research projects, students will test and
extend their understanding of change by analyzing an organization's experience with the change
process.
MO 315 Introduction to Managing Human Capital: This course introduces the critical role
that the Human Resource (HR) or human capital function plays in gaining the commitment,
competence and capability of an organization's workforce. The course has three major sections.
The first several weeks examine the HR value proposition - What is it that makes the HR role a
strategic necessity for an enterprise as well as a tactical requirement for success? The second part
of the course examines the architecture of HR systems which include: workforce planning;
recruitment; selection; education, training and development; performance management; reward
and recognition; and succession planning. The third and final part of the course will focus on
exploring current and critical challenges in managing human capital.
MO 321 Leadership in Organizations: This course is designed to increase students' conceptual
understanding of leadership in organizations. The course is highly experiential. It is designed to
help students discover insights about themselves as leaders, fostering the development of a selfawareness regarding strengths and opportunities for personal growth. In addition the course
provides a context for enhancing the skills and competencies that enable a student to become an
effective leader in today's highly dynamic, diverse and adaptive organization.
Marketing
MKT 303 Brand Management (1.5cr, 7-week format): This BBA elective covers the essentials
of product management (via limited use of a game simulation that requires student teams to
make product management decisions) as well as frameworks and skills on how to build the
"brand equity" needed to create strong brands. Student exercises and a team project will cover
selected aspects of raising brand awareness, creating relevant and distinctive brand identity,
building a high quality reputation, and shaping desired brand imagery, for a new brand. This
class will use lecture/discussions, cases, guest speakers, a simulation, exercises, and a team
project.
MKT 308 Pricing: The 4 Ps of the marketing mix are - (1) the product, (2) its promotion, (3) its
distribution, and (4) its pricing. The first three elements are a company's attempt to create value
68
while the last is an attempt to capture some of that value. If effective product development,
promotion and distribution sow the seeds of business success, effective pricing is the harvest.
The contemporary business world is full of examples of companies that create great value for
their customers yet fail to capture that value in their earnings. A common reason is their failure
to integrate their value-creating activities with their pricing decisions.
The objectives of this course are: (1) To familiarize you with the concepts, theory and latest
thinking bearing on the key issues in pricing, taking the perspective of the marketing manager.
This will be done primarily through lectures, class discussions and assigned readings. (2) To
provide you with an opportunity, through case analyses and problem solving, to apply concepts
and theory to the solution of pricing problems in marketing settings. (3) A major component of
the course is a group project where students choose a company/product and develop its pricing
strategy. This is a very effective way to tie all the concepts of the class together and get a
practical perspective on things.
MKT 311 Advertising Management: This course covers the management of a firm's
advertising effort (with some coverage of related topics like direct marketing, public relations,
and sales promotions). It covers the institutions, theoretical principles, and managerial decisions
relevant to advertising management, and is designed for managers in marketing positions and in
advertising agency account management. The course uses lecturers, cases, computer models, and
outside speakers.
MKT 313 Consumer Behavior: Formulation of appropriate and effective marketing strategies
must begin with a clean and accurate understanding of consumers. This includes an
understanding of consumer needs and wants, the process by which they are satisfied, and the
environment in which the behavior occurs. The objectives of the course are as follows: (1) to
introduce the student to concepts developed in psychology, economics, and sociology and their
relationship to consumer behavior, (2) to involve the student directly in the study and analysis of
consumer behavior, and (3) to develop in students the ability to translate what can be learned into
marketing action implications.
MKT 318 Marketing Research Design and Analysis: This course focuses on managing the
marketing research process, which provides information as an input to marketing decisionmaking. This requires an understanding of the components of the marketing research process,
how to utilize it effectively to obtain relevant information, and how to integrate such information
into the marketing decision-making process. We will discuss both the "production" and
"consumption" of information for marketing decisions.
MKT 325 New Product and Innovation Management: This course is designed focus on the
new product development process which is key to the success of any organization. The course
will expose students to (a) creative techniques for idea generation, (b) fine-tuning these ideas to
develop products and services that meet specific consumer needs, and (c) testing the feasibility
of these ideas. The course uses lectures, cases, and outside speakers. Moreover, the course
includes a project wherein student teams need to use the creativity techniques covered in this
class to come up with new product ideas and perform a concept test to evaluate their feasibility.
69
The course will be useful to students interested in product/brand management, management
consulting, and entrepreneurship.
Strategy
STRATEGY 310 The World Economy: When a firm conducts business internationally, it
encounters problems and challenges not found in its domestic market. These arise from two
different aspects of the international business environment. One aspect involves the crossing of
national boundaries, which involves financial, legal, and political differences. The second aspect
of the international environment arises from the unique cultural, economic, and political situation
within each foreign market where the firm conducts business. This course introduces the student
to the various dimensions of the world economy and to the characteristics of foreign countries
that are important for economic activity.
STRATEGY 361 International Management: The special business problems arising from the
diversity of multinational economic, political, social, and cultural environments are approached
from the management point of view.
Topics include: foreign investment strategy, government relations, and international operations
strategy.
STRATEGY 390 Corporate Strategy: This is an integrated course focusing on the nature of
the general management function: management of the entire business rather than any particular
functional area (accounting, finance, marketing, production, etc.).
The course is taught by the case method, from the perspective of a general manager, and is
intended to provide a structure for integrating analytic concepts and techniques and an
opportunity to "experience" a wide variety of strategic and organizational problems in businesses
of all sizes. Heavy emphasis will be place upon using the skills and tools of preceding courses to
develop in-depth situational appraisals, formulate specific recommendations, and then to
communicate to others these analyses and recommendations.
STRATEGY 411 The Corporation in Society: We live in extraordinary times. Corporations
are among the wealthiest and most powerful institutions on the world's stage today. At the same
time, corporations are more vulnerable than ever before. Globalization unleashed a set of
competitive forces that place firms at risk, no matter their size. Managers face enormous
pressure. Their firms' wealth and power act as a kind of magnet. Civil society routinely asks
corporations to invest directly in our social life. Regardless of their productive capabilities, firms
field requests to invest in such areas as education and health care. Managers must decide what, if
anything, to do. And, at the same time, these same managers need to marshal their resources to
produce and deliver high quality and profitable goods and services in a very competitive global
marketplace. Leading a business that is at once socially responsive and economically competitive
is a daunting challenge. This course will examine the role of the corporation in society and in so
doing, begin to develop the leadership capability we need to meet these challenges.
70
STRATEGY 417 Behavioral Processes of Strategic Management: This course examines
strategic decision making processes and effective processes of strategy execution and change.
The instructor draws from his writings and consulting experience to illustrate how management
biases and politics can affect strategic decision making, and how successful strategic change
hinges on the effective use of power and influence by managers. Specific questions addressed in
the course include the following: 1) What are the common biases and pitfalls that arise in
strategic decision-making? For example, why would a top management team persist with a
strategy even though most members of the team have serious concerns about it? Why would a
manager hire a consulting firm to solve a problem that doesn’t actually exist? How do
management biases affect competitive interaction between firms, and how can these biases be
avoided? 2) How do politics compromise the quality of strategic decisions? 3) How can
managers harness principles of power and influence to execute strategic decisions effectively?
For example, how do managers use social influence tactics like ingratiation to build support for
their strategies among fellow managers and external parties like journalists, analysts, and
institutional investors? Beyond conventional case discussions, the class includes debates, video
cases, and other in-class exercises.
Technology & Operations
TO 311 Decision Support with Excel: Spreadsheets are among the most widely used decision
support tools in business today, and have advanced to the point of providing powerful, generalpurpose functionally. The first half of the course introduces decision support modeling using
spreadsheets, including: what-if analysis; financial, statistical, and time/date functions; graphical
presentation of data; organizing and extracting information from spreadsheet databases; and
cross-tabulation of data. The second half of the course includes importing information into
spreadsheets from external sources; goal seeking; one and two way data tables; the use of a
solver to find optimal solutions to problems; designing macros to develop semi-automated and
fully automated spreadsheet applications; and probabilistic modeling to support risk analysis in
the context of spreadsheets. Lecture/demonstrations illustrate the features of spreadsheet
software. Lab work involves carrying out hands-on tutorials in a supervised setting, then
reinforcing and extending conceptual and operational aspects of the material by doing follow-on
cases. Windows-based spread-sheeting software (such as Excel for Windows) is typically studies
in the course.
TO 320 Supply Chain Management: (pending)
71
The course will be useful to students interested in product/brand management, management
consulting, and entrepreneurship.
Strategy
STRATEGY 310 The World Economy: When a firm conducts business internationally, it
encounters problems and challenges not found in its domestic market. These arise from two
different aspects of the international business environment. One aspect involves the crossing of
national boundaries, which involves financial, legal, and political differences. The second aspect
of the international environment arises from the unique cultural, economic, and political situation
within each foreign market where the firm conducts business. This course introduces the student
to the various dimensions of the world economy and to the characteristics of foreign countries
that are important for economic activity.
STRATEGY 361 International Management: The special business problems arising from the
diversity of multinational economic, political, social, and cultural environments are approached
from the management point of view.
Topics include: foreign investment strategy, government relations, and international operations
strategy.
STRATEGY 390 Corporate Strategy: This is an integrated course focusing on the nature of
the general management function: management of the entire business rather than any particular
functional area (accounting, finance, marketing, production, etc.).
The course is taught by the case method, from the perspective of a general manager, and is
intended to provide a structure for integrating analytic concepts and techniques and an
opportunity to "experience" a wide variety of strategic and organizational problems in businesses
of all sizes. Heavy emphasis will be place upon using the skills and tools of preceding courses to
develop in-depth situational appraisals, formulate specific recommendations, and then to
communicate to others these analyses and recommendations.
STRATEGY 411 The Corporation in Society: We live in extraordinary times. Corporations
are among the wealthiest and most powerful institutions on the world's stage today. At the same
time, corporations are more vulnerable than ever before. Globalization unleashed a set of
competitive forces that place firms at risk, no matter their size. Managers face enormous
pressure. Their firms' wealth and power act as a kind of magnet. Civil society routinely asks
corporations to invest directly in our social life. Regardless of their productive capabilities, firms
field requests to invest in such areas as education and health care. Managers must decide what, if
anything, to do. And, at the same time, these same managers need to marshal their resources to
produce and deliver high quality and profitable goods and services in a very competitive global
marketplace. Leading a business that is at once socially responsive and economically competitive
is a daunting challenge. This course will examine the role of the corporation in society and in so
doing, begin to develop the leadership capability we need to meet these challenges.
72
STRATEGY 417 Behavioral Processes of Strategic Management: This course examines
strategic decision making processes and effective processes of strategy execution and change.
The instructor draws from his writings and consulting experience to illustrate how management
biases and politics can affect strategic decision making, and how successful strategic change
hinges on the effective use of power and influence by managers. Specific questions addressed in
the course include the following: 1) What are the common biases and pitfalls that arise in
strategic decision-making? For example, why would a top management team persist with a
strategy even though most members of the team have serious concerns about it? Why would a
manager hire a consulting firm to solve a problem that doesn’t actually exist? How do
management biases affect competitive interaction between firms, and how can these biases be
avoided? 2) How do politics compromise the quality of strategic decisions? 3) How can
managers harness principles of power and influence to execute strategic decisions effectively?
For example, how do managers use social influence tactics like ingratiation to build support for
their strategies among fellow managers and external parties like journalists, analysts, and
institutional investors? Beyond conventional case discussions, the class includes debates, video
cases, and other in-class exercises.
Technology & Operations
TO 311 Decision Support with Excel: Spreadsheets are among the most widely used decision
support tools in business today, and have advanced to the point of providing powerful, generalpurpose functionally. The first half of the course introduces decision support modeling using
spreadsheets, including: what-if analysis; financial, statistical, and time/date functions; graphical
presentation of data; organizing and extracting information from spreadsheet databases; and
cross-tabulation of data. The second half of the course includes importing information into
spreadsheets from external sources; goal seeking; one and two way data tables; the use of a
solver to find optimal solutions to problems; designing macros to develop semi-automated and
fully automated spreadsheet applications; and probabilistic modeling to support risk analysis in
the context of spreadsheets. Lecture/demonstrations illustrate the features of spreadsheet
software. Lab work involves carrying out hands-on tutorials in a supervised setting, then
reinforcing and extending conceptual and operational aspects of the material by doing follow-on
cases. Windows-based spread-sheeting software (such as Excel for Windows) is typically studies
in the course.
TO 320 Supply Chain Management: (pending)
73
Paul Kirsch <pskirsch@umich.edu>
Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 4:39 PM
To: JoAnn Peraino <jperaino@umich.edu>
Cc: Lynn Wooten <lpwooten@umich.edu>
Hi JoAnn,
My answers are noted below in green. Thank you so much for shepherding this through your
process. Let me know if I can provide additional information.
Paul
Paul Kirsch
Managing Director | BBA Program Office | Stephen M. Ross School of Business
University of Michigan | 734.763.7267 | www.bus.umich.edu/bba
On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 11:51 AM, JoAnn Peraino <jperaino@umich.edu> wrote:
Dear Professors Wooten and Kirsch,
The LSA Course Approval Subcommittee reviewed your proposal for the new Minor in Business
yesterday afternoon and raised a couple of questions that they asked me to share with you.
1. What are the admissions criteria for the Minor in Business? Can you provide us with more detail
on the transcript and application review process?
We will be looking to assemble a diverse set of UM students in the Minor. Our transcript
review will focus the completion of the pre-reqs and grades (overall and in quant
courses). We will not be enforcing a minimum GPA but will be looking for the strongest pool
of students (we do this for the BBA also and the average GPA for this year's incoming BBAs
was 3.64). In the essay, we will be looking for the student's understanding and ability to
convey the value of business education in combination with her major course of study. The
Minor is not a "BBA lite" nor a substitution for the BBA degree.
2. The Curriculum chart lists ECON 101 with a B or better as a "Co-Requisite" for the minor. Do we
understand correctly that a student could complete the requirements for the minor taking ECON 101
in their final term, get a grade lower than a B, and be unable then to complete the minor? Also we
see a lot of students who take ECON 101 in their first term and may not be prepared to do well
enough to get a B, we are concerned that this requirement may exclude a number of otherwise
worthy candidates.
Since writing the document, we have decided to drop the "B or better" on the pre-req and coreq. However, the students must pass these courses (graded, not P/F).
3. Since admission to the minor includes an application and transcript review, it is necessary to also
74
put a minimum grade requirement on the prerequisites?
See above, we will be dropping the "B or better".
4. Under "Support and Advising" it is noted that "Students interested in pursuing the Minor in
Business should first discuss this option with their home school advisor to determine if they qualify
and if they can fit the Minor in Business requirements into their home school program." LSA
Advisors aren't able to determine if a student is qualified for the Minor in Business - that determination
belongs solely to the School of Business advisors. We would be much more comfortable if you
removed the words "if they qualify and" from this statement.
We will also re-word this portion of the document. The new phrasing of the last paragraph on
page 5 will read: Students interested in pursuing the Minor in Business should first ensure an
understanding of the application requirements for the Minor in Business. The Ross advisors
are available by appointment to review and develop plans to complete the Minor in Business
and to verify completion of the Minor in Business. The Ross Academic Advising Director will
communicate with LSA to officially coordinate the notation of the Minor in Business on
student records.
5. We are concerned about the accessibility of courses to students not in the BBA or the Minor in
Business. Please share your thoughts on this.
Currently 25% of the seats at Ross are taken up by nonRoss students. These seats are
occupied by over 1000 unique individuals. The 100 MiB students will overlap with these
students. The net reduction of available seats may be noticeable but in no way prohibitive to
nonRoss and nonMiB students. Furthermore, most of our nonRoss sections of core courses
and electives currently have at least a little excess capacity. We are also adding sections and
seats for nonRoss courses (significant in some areas like Finance and Marketing) beginning
next fall.
75