BUSI 3800
Business Case Analysis
Fall 2012
Instructor:
Name:
Office:
Email:
Robert Riordan
1014 Dunton Tower
robert_riordan@carleton.ca
Phone:
613.520.2600.2505
Office Hours: By appointment
Details:
Section Day
A
F
Time
11:35
Tutorial
Tutorial
2:35
3:05
F
F
Location
CRN
CB2104
TBA
TBA
36683
~
~
Instructor
Riordan
Zach/Rhea
Zach/Rhea
Tutorials: 1 hour/week REQUIRED.
COURSE WEBSITE
This site is for lecture notes, assignment details, readings and support information. We do
not use WebCT or cuLearn. We are at the following URL: busi3800.blogspot.com. I will
invite each of you to join by sending you an email invite via your Carleton email account.
That being said, it’s easiest if you join using a Google Mail account (gmail). Just sayin’…
PREREQUISITES:
Enrolment is restricted to students in the Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of
International Business programs. Students must have third-year standing and must have
achieved a minimum CGPA in the 7.0 range at the time of acceptance into the course.
The School of Business enforces all prerequisites. It is the student's responsibility
to ensure that the prerequisite requirements are met. Failure to meet the
prerequisites may result in your deregistration from this course at any time during
the term.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course provides the student with the opportunity to develop the requisite skills for the
rigorous analysis of business cases as well as the tools and skills to present
recommendations, implimentation plans, proposed metrics, information visualisation and
risk profiles eminating from the case analysis. Group team-building, collaboration and
decision-making skills as well as individual critical thinking and presentation skills will be
introduced and developed. A general goal of this course is to enable the student to flourish
in the team environment of the business case competition. While this goal is important, the
knowledge and skills gained in this course can be leveraged to many other applications both
academic and professional. Specific mechanisms and pedagogical vehicles will be discussed
in class.
TEXTS/RESOURCES:
1) Made to Stick, Heath , Chip and Dan Heath, Random House ISBN: 978-1-4000-6428-1
2) Strategic Intent, Hamel, Gary, Harvard Business Press ISBN: 978-1422136546
3) The Essential Michael Porter: What Every Manager Needs to Know About Competition and
Strategy, Joan Magretta, ISBN: 978-1422160596
4) 100 Things every presenter needs to know about people, Weinschenk, Susan, O’Reilly, ISBN: 9780321821249
5) A Rulebook for Arguments (4th Ed.), Anthony Weston, Hackett Publishing, ISBN: 978-0872209541
6) Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries, Sims, Peter, Free Press, ISBN:
978-1439170427
7) You must have a TurningPoint clicker. I will attempt to borrow enough for the class…
8) You will be required to purchase case studies for analysis as well as for a licence to use Rixon.com
comic creator. Details in class. Likely charge is around $25.
EVALUATION:
Individual 55% / Group 45%
Component
A Case (schedule TBD)
B Case (schedule TBD)
Shadow Cases X 2 (schedule TBD)
Online Comic (schedule TBD)
Porter Test (week 3)
Individual Presentations (2) (random schedule)
Lightening Presentation (final week of class)
Logic test (week 5)
Book Review/Deck (due final week of class)
Final Exam (scheduled by Registrar)
Total
Weight %
15
10
15
5
10
5
5
10
10
15
100
* In addition to satisfactory in-term performance (see below), you must score a grade of
50% or better on the final examination in order to gain credit for BUSI 3800 in this
term.
In-class events, group and individual
You are expected to be in class and ready to go for both individual and group assignments.
If you cannot attend at a scheduled event you MUST:
1) Alert your team members as early as feasible to your absence
2) Alert instructor via email as early as feasible
3) Make arrangements with your team such that they are not compromised (if a team event). Teams
are expected to continue even in the absence of a team member. I want to be very clear on this. If
there’s only one person not sick, it’s a go! If everyone is sick, then, well, we’ll have to talk.
4) You must, if you miss a scheduled event, obtain a Carleton University approved medical certificate
(see below) and bring the original (which you must keep for your records) to show to your instructor, as
well as a copy for your instructor’s records at the earliest possible time.
For medical issues, you must use the medical certificate form found at:
http://www2.carleton.ca/registrar/ccms/wp-content/ccms-files/med_cert.pdf. You must
show the ORIGINAL medical certificate to your instructor, and provide a
photocopy for administrative records. For other rare circumstances, your instructor will
decide ad hoc what constitutes reasonable and appropriate documentation.
CREDIT for BUSI 3800
In order to receive credit for BUSI 3800, you must meet the requirements for satisfactory
in-term performance (as specified below) AND you must achieve a grade of 50% or greater
on the final exam, whether written during the scheduled examination period or as a
deferral.
The requirement for satisfactory in-term performance consists of the following criteria:
1) You must have been present for and have completed the two individual presentations
2) You must have paid for your Ivey cases and the Pixon license at the Dean’s office
3) You must have completed the Book Review assignment and have presented the
Lightening Presentation
4) You must have returned the book review book to your instructor
5) You must have participated in at least three of the four team case and shadow
assignments (participated means materially contributed to the analysis and solution AND
participated in the presentation), regardless of health issues. You can be sick, but only
once….
1) Your overall term work grade going into the final (i.e. the weighted sum of all individual
and group assignments as well as tests and any bonus marks earned (if applicable - none
are planned to be available), when considered together as your final pre-exam grade, must
be 50% or higher.
Failure with No Deferral (FND)
Unsatisfactory in-term performance in this course will lead to a grade of FND in this term if
you do not write the scheduled final exam.
Please check the University’s important dates & deadlines
(http://www.carleton.ca/cuuc/university/academicyear.html) for information on this term’s
start & end dates, holidays and drop deadlines.
Required calculator in BUSI course examinations
If you are purchasing a calculator, we recommend any one of the following options: Texas Instruments
BA II Plus (including Pro Model), Hewlett Packard HP 12C (including Platinum model), Staples Financial
Calculator, Sharp EL-738C & Hewlett Packard HP 10bII. A calculator is recommended for certain in-class
activities and for the final exam in BUSI 3800.
Group work
The Sprott School of Business encourages group assignments in the school for several reasons. They
provide you with opportunities to develop and enhance interpersonal, communication, leadership,
follower-ship and other group skills. Group assignments are also good for learning integrative skills for
putting together a complex task. Your professor may assign one or more group
tasks/assignments/projects in this course. Before embarking on a specific problem as a group, it is your
responsibility to ensure that the problem is meant to be a group assignment and not an individual one.
Medical certificate
Please note that in all occasions that call for a medical certificate you must use or furnish the
information demanded in the standard university form. http://www2.carleton.ca/registrar/forms/
Persons with disabilities
Students with disabilities requiring academic accommodations in this course must register with the Paul
Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities (PMC) for a formal evaluation of disability-related needs.
Documented disabilities could include but are not limited to mobility/physical impairments, specific
Learning Disabilities (LD), psychiatric/psychological disabilities, sensory disabilities, Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and chronic medical conditions. Registered PMC students are required to
contact the PMC, 613-520-6608, every term to ensure that I receive your Letter of Accommodation, no
later than two weeks before the first assignment is due or the first in-class test/midterm requiring
accommodations. If you only require accommodations for your formally scheduled exam(s) in this
course, please submit your request for accommodations to PMC by the deadlines published on the PMC
website.
Religious observance
Students requesting academic accommodation on the basis of religious observance should make a
formal, written request to their instructors for alternate dates and/or means of satisfying academic
requirements. Such requests should be made during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible
after the need for accommodation is known to exist, but no later than two weeks before the compulsory
academic event. Accommodation is to be worked out directly and on an individual basis between the
student and the instructor(s) involved. Instructors will make accommodations in a way that avoids
academic disadvantage to the student. Students or instructors who have questions or want to confirm
accommodation eligibility of a religious event or practice may refer to the Equity Services website for a
list of holy days and Carleton's Academic Accommodation policies, or may contact an Equity Services
Advisor in the Equity Services Department for assistance.
Pregnancy
Pregnant students requiring academic accommodations are encouraged to contact an Equity Advisor in
Equity Services to complete a letter of accommodation. The student must then make an appointment to
discuss her needs with the instructor at least two weeks prior to the first academic event in which it is
anticipated the accommodation will be required.
Plagiarism
The University Senate defines plagiarism in the regulations on instructional offenses as: "to use and pass
off as one's own idea or product work of another without expressly giving credit to another."
Borrowing someone else's answers, unauthorized possession of tests or answers to tests, or possession
of material designed in answering exam questions, are also subject to university policy regarding
instructional offences. For more information on Carleton University's Academic Integrity Policy, consult:
http://www1.carleton.ca/studentaffairs/academic-integrity/
Important Dates & Deadlines - Fall Term 2012
September 1, 2012 - Last day for receipt of applications from potential fall (November) graduates.
September 3, 2012 - Statutory holiday, University closed.
September 4, 2012 - Fall term begins.
September 4-5, 2012 - Academic Orientation. All students are expected to be on campus. Class and
laboratory preparations departmental introductions for students and other academic preparation
activities will be held.
September 5, 2012 - Orientation for Teaching Assistants.
September 6, 2012 - Fall and fall/winter classes begin.
September 19, 2012 - Last day for registration. Last day to change courses or sections for fall/winter and
fall term courses.
September 30, 2012 - Last day to withdraw from fall term and fall/winter courses with a full fee
adjustment. Last day for receipt of applications for review of final grades in summer term courses.
September 28-29, 2012 - Summer deferred final examinations to be written.
October 5, 2012 - University Day at Carleton. Undergraduate classes suspended. December examination
schedule (fall term final and fall/winter mid-terms) available online.
October 8, 2012 - Statutory holiday, University closed.
October 15, 2012 - Last day for receipt of applications for admission to a degree program for the 2013
winter term from applicants whose documents originate from outside Canada or the United States.
November 9, 2012 - Last day to submit, to the Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities, Formal
Examination Accommodation Forms for December examinations.
November 15, 2012 - Last day for receipt of applications for admission to a degree program for the
winter term.
November 19, 2012 - Last day for tests or examinations in courses below the 4000-level before the final
examination period (see Examination Regulations in the Academic Regulations of the University section
of this Calendar).
December 1, 2012 - Last day for receipt of applications from potential winter (February) graduates.
December 3 (Monday), 2012 - Fall term ends. Last day of fall-term classes. Last day for academic
withdrawal from fall term courses. Last day for handing in term work and the last day that can be
specified by a course instructor as a due date for term work for fall term courses. Last day for receipt of
applications for degree program transfers for winter term. Last day for receipt of applications for
admission to a degree program for the 2013 winter term.
December 4-5, 2012 - No classes take place.
December 5, 2012 - Last day for receipt of applications for degree program transfers for winter term.
December 6-19, 2012 - Final examinations in fall term courses and mid-term examinations in fall/winter
courses may be held. Examinations are normally held in the day and evening during the Monday to
Saturday period .In exceptional circumstances, it may be necessary to schedule an examination on a
Sunday.
December 16, 2012 - Fall Co-op Work Term Reports due.
December 20, 2012 - All take home examinations are due.
December 24, 2012 to January 1, 2013 - University closed.