Courses:

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15.902

This course is intended to be an extension of course 15.902, Strategic Management I, with the purpose of allowing the students to experience an in-depth application of the concepts and frameworks of strategic management. Throughout the course, Prof. Arnoldo Hax will discuss the appropriate methodologies, concepts, and tools pertinent to strategic analyses and will illustrate their use by discussing many applications in real-life settings, drawn from his own personal experiences.

The primary focus of the course will be on students working in teams to develop the strategic analysis of a business of their choice.

Hax, Arnoldo C., and Nicolas S. Majluf. The Strategy Concept and Process: A Pragmatic Approach. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Prentice Hall, 1996. ISBN: 0134588940.

Hax, Arnoldo C., and Dean L. Wilde. The Delta Project: Discovering New Sources of Profitability. New York, NY: Palgrave, 2001. ISBN: 0333962451.

Readings from these books will be reassigned to allow for further more in-depth reflection on each relevant topic.

The requirements are two-fold:

The students will select their own groups, between 4 and 6 members per group, to develop a full business strategy. The students will present a written report. At the end of the course, the report should address the following issues:

• Executive Summary
• Customer Segmentation and Customer Value Proposition
• The Bundle of Competencies
• Mission of the Business
• Strategic Agenda of the Business
• Customer Targeting
• Operational Effectiveness
• Innovation
• Aggregate and Granular Metrics
• Economic Evaluation of the Business Strategy
• Conclusions

The final deadline for the project report is Ses #14.

Your active participation in the discussion in class is considered very important in this course. On the first session of every week, the student groups are required to make a brief oral presentation on the progress of their work.