Business Policy & Strategy Class Website, Welcome to the Black Swan!

Resources:                Syllabus, Jerry Harvey's Definition of Cheating

Class Meeting Times:  Mon/Wed, 5:30 - 6:50 PM, 41-410

Office Hours:             Before/after class, and by appointment (day, evenings, and weekends)

 

Course Readings:

Required:

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, ISBN: 1400063515, Nassim Nicholas Taleb (any edition)

 

Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100, ISBN: 0385530803, Michio Kaku

 

The Prince, Nicolo Machiavelli (free on Google Books), downloadable PDF

 

Strategic Management and Business Policy, 13^th edition, Prentice Hall. ISBN: 013215322X, Thomas Wheelen and David Hunger

Optional:

The Strategy Paradox, ISBN: 0385516223, Michael E. Raynor

How Life Imitates Chess, ISBN: 1596913878, Garry Kasparov

The Art of War, ISBN: 0195014766, Sun Tzu (author), Samuel Griffith (translator)

The Leaders We Need, ISBN: 1422101665, Michael Maccoby

Requisite Organization, ISBN: 1886436045, Elliott Jaques

Eichmann in Jerusalem, ISBN: 0140187650, Hannah Arendt

Accountability Leadership, ISBN: 1564145514, Gerald A. Kraines

The Age of Fallibility, ISBN: 1586483595, George Soros

Social Power and the CEO, ISBN: 1567205518, Elliott Jaques

On the Psychology of Military Incompetence, ISBN: 0708814824, Norman Dixon

The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business, ISBN: 0674940520, Alfred D. Chandler Jr.

 

 

Date[1], Session	Project Due		Additional Theme	Readings[2]
Week 1:
Mon, Jan 16, –		Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Observance (University Closed)
Wed, Jan 18, #1			Introduction
Week 2:
Mon, Jan 23, #2		Assignment 0	Language, The Language of Organizations, Reflexivity, Primary and Secondary Sources	Why Our Best Officers Are Leaving
Wed, Jan 25, #3			Cheating, Ethical and Moral Principles, Anaclitic Depression Blues, Loneliness, Conversation, Executive Boardroom & Collaboration	Taleb – Prologue Machiavelli – 1, 2   Constructing Collaboration Harvey – Cheating Harvey – Feedback NASA Researchers
Week 3:
Mon, Jan 30, #4		Paper 1	Business Policy & Strategy – Black Swans Introduction, Capstone Team Construction, Brainstorming   Black Swans: Societal, Technological, and Organizational Changes	Taleb – Prologue, 1 Kaku – Introduction Machiavelli – 3 Wheelen – 1
Wed, Feb 1, #5			Black Swans:  Societal, Technological, and Organizational Changes (continued)	Taleb –  2 Machiavelli – 4
Week 4:
Mon, Feb 6, #6			Black Swans:  Societal, Technological, and Organizational Changes (continued)	Taleb – 3 Kaku – 1 Machiavelli – 5 Wheelen – 2
Wed, Feb 8, #7		Movie: [3] Pirates of Silicon Valley (case study)	Case Discussion on Strategic Planning and Organizational Policy	Taleb – 4 Machiavelli – 6
Week 5:
Mon, Feb 13, #8			Strategic Planning, End Game Vision, Business Analysis, SWOT Analysis, Alternative Futures Analysis	Taleb – 5 Kaku – 2 Machiavelli – 7 Wheelen – 3
Wed, Feb 15, #9			Case Analysis/Strategy 1: Microsoft-Nokia, Apple, Google, Facebook, Skype, Verizon, AT&T	Taleb – 6 Machiavelli – 8
Week 6:
Mon, Feb 20, –		President’s Day Holiday (University Closed)
Wed, Feb 22, #10			Systems Analysis, Binds of the Organization, Defects, Accountability, case study of defects	Taleb – 7 Kaku – 3 Machiavelli – 9 Wheelen – 4
Week 7:
Mon, Feb 27, #11			Structure of the Organization	Taleb – 8 Machiavelli – 10, 11
Wed, Feb 29, #12				Taleb – 9, 10 Kaku – 4 Machiavelli – 12, 13, 14, 15 Wheelen – 5
Week 8:
Mon, Mar 5, #13			Case Analysis/Strategy 2	Taleb – 11 Kaku – 5 Machiavelli – 16 Wheelen – 7
Wed, Mar 7, #14				Taleb – 12 Machiavelli – 17   EJ Levels with You
Week 9:
Mon, Mar 12, #15			Team Project Review	Taleb – 13 Kaku – 6 Machiavelli – 18 Wheelen – 8   Long View of Leadership
Wed, Mar 14, #16			Business Policy Team Project Review	Taleb – 14 Machiavelli – 19
Week 10:
Mon, Mar 19, #17		Movie: Food Inc. and Tyson Foods (case study)	Case Study, Ethical and Social Responsibility	Taleb – 15 Kaku – 7 Machiavelli – 20 Wheelen – 9
Wed, Mar 21, #18			Case Analysis/Strategy 2 & 3	Taleb – 16 Machiavelli – 21
Week 11:
Mon, Mar 26, –		Spring Break – Have Fun!! J
Wed, Mar 28, –
Week 12:
Mon, Apr 2, #19		Paper 2	Team Project and Course Review   Discussion/Case of a Black Swan Presented	Taleb – 17, 18 Kaku – 8, 9 Machiavelli – 22, 23, 24 Wheelen – 10, 11   4-star General, 5-star Grace
Wed, Apr 4, #20			Midterm Exam, and     “Black Swan” Party	Taleb – 19, Epilogue Machiavelli – 25, 26 Wheelen – 12
Week 13:
Mon, Apr 9, #21			Team Project Work
Wed, Apr 11, #22			Guest Speaker:   Conversation with Professor Darryl Poole Founder & Chief Strategist The Cambridge Institute for Applied Research, Inc. (CIfAR)	CIfAR Project Papers
Week 14:
Mon, Apr 16,  –		Emancipation Day Observed (University Closed)
Wed, Apr 18, #23			Presentations – paper 3 capstone project
Week 15:
Mon, Apr 23, #24		Paper 3 (final version)	Presentations – paper 3 capstone project
Week 16:
Mon, Apr 30, #25			Final Exam (comprehensive)

 

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[1] Dates and topics on the syllabus may change slightly to accommodate the class’ needs.

[2] All assigned reading is due before class; for a complete required reading list, please visit the class’ website at www.SergeyIvanov.org (all articles are posted as PDF files on the class web site – italicized above).

[3] All movies used in class are mini-movies on a specific topic to encourage and enhance the class conversation.