Professor Kevin Laverty
laverty (at) u.washington.edu
+1 425 352-5338
Office: UWB-2, Room 325; hours by appointment
Course page: http://faculty.washington.edu/laverty/BUS544
ERes
(library reserve readings)
Archive of emails to class
Syllabus and schedule: htm|pdf
Pdfs of the sections that have been updated: portfolio|schedule
Required reading
Text: Barney & Hesterly (2006) Strategic Management and
Competitive Advantage: Concepts details
below
ERes articles:
https://eres.bothell.washington.edu/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=930
Cases: available at UWB Bookstore
Supplemental notes TBA
Preparation for this course
This is the program's capstone course. We will build upon the seminal ideas of all the
other courses.
An exercise: eliminate these three terms from your vocabulary for the week immediately before the course begins:
core competenceAssignments/Preparation for the first week
first mover advantage
cut out the middleman(I will explain when we meet.)
Wednesday March 28
1. Individual written assignment: "What explains why some firms are more successful than others?" You should draw on your prior coursework in the program and cite what course(s) each of your ideas comes from. (If you can cite a specific book or article in addition to the course, that is great, but not necessary.) [Submit hard copy at beginning of class]2. Reading on ERes: Christensen, CM & Raynor, ME (2003) "Why hard-nosed executives should care about management theory." Harvard Business Review.
3. Reading on plagiarism: http://www.northwestern.edu/uacc/plagiar.html. Pay particular attention to these examples of plagiarism: B. The Mosaic, C. Paraphrase, and D. Insufficient acknowledgement.
4. Feedback on your prior coursework in the MBA program. Briefly answer the following questions. [Submit hard copy at beginning of class]
a. Are there any topics that you wish you had studied but have not?b. Are there any topics that you feel you have "studied too much"? (e.g., material repeated in multiple classes)
c. What has been the most rigorous and challenging material that you have you studied? What has been the least rigorous and challenging? How do you define "rigorous and challenging"?
Forming groups
Please self-select groups for a research project that will be described in
the syllabus. The ideal size for the groups will be
3-4. A group of 5 may be acceptable but I would have to
consider your rationale. (A group of 6
will not be acceptable.) I encourage you to work with people with whom
you
have not
worked before.
Individual written assignments: portfolio
This will consist of [a] weekly short (1 page) papers in which you reflect
upon the readings and discussion and how these fit into the overall
subject of the class and [b] a mid-term overview, and [c] a
concluding/final overview. Details will be provided in the syllabus.
The weekly papers wil be due on Mondays beginning the second week (April
2). [Submit hard
copy at beginning of class]
Course information
Text (will available at UWB Bookstore)
Jay Barney and William Hesterly (2006), Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage: Concepts (This is the paperback version)
ISBN: 0-13-154716-X
http://vig.prenhall.com/catalog/academic/product/0,1144,013154716X,00.htmlNote: There is also a version of this book with cases. We will not use the cases but the text is identical, so it is fine if you buy the following instead of the "concepts" version: Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage: Concepts and Cases ISBN: 0-13-154274-5
Cases from Harvard Business School Publishing (case packet will be available at UWB Bookstore)
ERes: https://eres.bothell.washington.edu/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=930
Archive of emails to students enrolled in BBUS 544, Spring 2007:
click
here