Results for STRAMGT

Get the strategy right, and the chance for success is great. Nowhere is this more evident than in today's world of major challenges. Strategy is at the heart of problem solving and achieving objectives, yet few people can define strategy, much less understand how to conceptualize, design, and execute effective strategies that yield the best outcomes.This course will meet once a week to focus on interesting and engaging case studies, each of which illustrates a key ingredient of strategy. Some are well-known historical events, while others are less obvious, but all have a strategic lesson to share. They are quite diverse, from the planning of a high-risk rescue in the Colorado Rockies, to a product crisis in a Fortune 50 company, to a little-known failed military mission of WWII, to a commercial airline disaster. The ability to think through challenging and varied scenarios is both instructive and mind-stretching. There will be some pre-reading on each case study and there may be a field trip for students to put their lessons into practice. The course is designed to be highly interactive; all to enable students to unravel the mystery and power of strategic thinking. Students will also have the opportunity to select and analyze a case reflecting interests of their own. This course can help students not only prepare for a career in a range of fields, but also as they meet the challenges of their current coursework. Problem-solving skills are central in every walk of life; this seminar can help students build a stronger foundation for sound decision-making.

This course examines fundamental issues of general management and leadership within an organization. You will learn about setting an organization's strategic direction, aligning structure to implement strategy, and leading individuals within the firm. You will master concepts, frameworks, and tools to assess an industry and a firm's competitive environment, and to craft alternatives. You will study the interplay among formal structure, informal networks, and culture in shaping organizational performance. By integrating leadership theory, the lessons of practical application, and your own experience, you will develop skills and capabilities essential to leading others. And you'll gain a better understanding of your own leadership preferences, strengths, and weaknesses.

In the Managerial Skills Labs we examine several common managerial challenges faced by executives. Together with Faculty, students explore these topics using four case examples, each asking students to evaluate a series of situations, develop alternatives for their resolution, and ultimately recommend and implement a course of action from the point of view of the company's owner/manager. We have selected small to midsized businesses as the context for these discussions in order to highlight the impact that key decisions and their implementation can have on the broader organization. Class preparation should include not only analysis and conclusions, but also specific recommendations on implementation. Students should come to class prepared to role play important conversations between management and other key individuals.

Generative Leadership: How to Create Innovative Ideas and Convey Them with ImpactnnnThere are three major sections to this course - Design Thinking, The Improvisational Mindset, and High Performance Communication.nnnDesign ThinkingnnnOutcome:nnParticipants learn to employ User Centered Design as promoted by the Stanford d.school. They become adept at Empathizing with the end user, practicing focused Need Finding, Defining the Problem, Ideating, Rapidly Prototyping and Adapting to Feedback.nnnExperiences:nnParticipants learn the Design Thinking process through a hands-on, collaborative design challenge, like redesigning the Briefcase for a specific user.nnnThe Improvisational MindsetnnnOutcome:nnThe participants increase their ability to respond flexibly to novel situations and to generate innovative solutions on a collaborative, creative team. The mindset is cultivated by practicing 5 key principles. Say "Yes, and". Treat Mistakes as Gifts. Inspire your Partner. Dare to be Obvious. Notice the World.nnnExperiences:nnThe key principles are taught through a series of immersive theater exercises derived from Johnstone, Spolin, and Ryan. Valuable readings include IMPROV WISDOM, by Patricia Ryan and journal articles on improv and brainstorming.nnnHigh Performance CommunicationnnnOutcome:nnThe final segment of the class is a chance to apply the principles of User Centered Design and the Improvisational Mindset to design and deliver messages that go beyond just transmitting information - they get results. Participants successfully use a version of the Design Thinking process to rapidly develop content that is tuned to the audience's needs, and that they can deliver in a way that is agile and responsive to real time feedbacknnnExperiencesnnGenerative Leadership culminates in a group presentation designed to influence key stakeholders. To be successful, participants will have to draw on all sections of the course. AS WE SPEAK is our text.

This course introduces the basic concepts of strategic management, focusing on their application in a semi-globalized world, where international borders are less significant than in the past but still very important. There are texts that will be required reading, but each class will also feature a case discussion.

This workshop provides students with a forum through which they can develop and receive feedback on a new venture idea. It covers: the process of finding new business ideas; how to research and vet a new idea; how to pivot an idea; how to build a business model around an idea; and how to ultimately pitch the idea to others. This workshop is most suited for students who do not have a new business idea or are in the very early stages of thinking about an idea. As part of the workshop, students will spend time helping classmates think through and improve their ideas. Students will have the option to present their ideas at the end of the quarter.

This course considers the challenges faced by start-ups in achieving liquidity. We take the perspectives of organizational behavior, marketing, and finance, and examine forks in the road faced by firms that have already launched products. Marketing topics include how to market firms for sale and calculating the addressable market. Organizational topics include hiring and firing, and the role of founders after sales. Finance topics include how the choice between sale and IPO affects value realized, and private equity exits.

This is an integrated lab course in Entrepreneurship designed to teach students the process of creating a new viable venture - from idea to launch. It is a dynamic and interactive course organized around projects undertaken by teams of 3 to 4 registered students from the Sloan and MBA programs, together with other graduate students within Stanford who bring expertise of particular relevance to the idea being pursued. This course is designed not only for students with immediate entrepreneurial aspirations, but also for any student considering starting an entrepreneurial venture at some point in his or her career. The course is a two quarter class, with admission to the class by team and idea. In the winter quarter, teams will research, craft, and morph their idea into a viable business concept. In the spring quarter they will further refine their concept and develop a strategy and plan to attract financial, human and other resources. At the end of the spring quarter, teams will present their plan to a panel of experts and potential investors to simulate the funding process. The new course builds on a predecessor course S356 "Evaluating Entrepreneurial Opportunities" and encapsulates new and important research and findings as they relate to the process of new venture creation. The teaching method is primarily learning by doing (LBD) through a structured process and supported by relevant lectures. Learning is further enhanced through meetings with the instructor, coaching by experienced mentors and review by peers. Field research as well as prototype product development are integral to the course. Since admittance to S321/S322 is by team and the quality of their idea, team formation takes place during the autumn quarter. Informal student mixers and seminars will be held to facilitate team formation and idea generation. Each team must consist of at least 2 enrolled Sloan students and preferably 1-2 enrolled graduate students from the MBA program or other Schools - Engineering, Medicine, Law, Science, Education - to bring diversity and depth to the team. The application-selection process is described on the S321/S322 website.

This is an integrated lab course in Entrepreneurship designed to teach students the process of creating a new viable venture from idea to launch. It is a dynamic and interactive course organized around projects undertaken by teams of 3 to 4 registered students from the Sloan and MBA programs, together with other graduate students within Stanford who bring expertise of particular relevance to the idea being pursued. This course is designed not only for students with immediate entrepreneurial aspirations, but also for any student considering starting an entrepreneurial venture at some point in his or her career. The course is a two quarter class, with admission to the class by team and idea. In the winter quarter, teams will research, craft, and morph their idea into a viable business concept. In the spring quarter they will further refine their concept and develop a strategy and plan to attract financial, human and other resources. At the end of the spring quarter, teams will present their plan to a panel of experts and potential investors to simulate the funding process. The course is taught by a serial entrepreneur and former CEO who also led and taught the predecessor course S356 "Evaluating Entrepreneurial Opportunities". The new course builds on this experience and encapsulates new and important research and findings as they relate to the process of new venture creation. The teaching method is primarily learning by doing (LBD) through a structured process and supported by relevant lectures. Learning is further enhanced through meetings with the instructor, coaching by experienced mentors and review by peers. Field research as well as prototype product development are integral to the course. Since admittance to S321/S322 is by team and the quality of their idea, team formation takes place during the autumn quarter. Informal student mixers and seminars will be held to facilitate team formation and idea generation. Each team must consist of at least 2 enrolled Sloan students and preferably 1-2 enrolled graduate students from the MBA program or other Schools to bring diversity and depth to the team. The application-selection process is described on the S321/S322 website.

This course addresses how the increasingly large number of firms that use or provide outsourcing and "offshoring" can create a sustainable competitive advantage. Students who complete the course will have a framework and a set of concepts that can be used to position a firm for strategic advantage in these supply networks. Positioning in and strategic analysis of product markets is covered in a variety of courses and books. A distinguishing feature of this course is that it addresses positioning and strategic analysis for firms operating as part of a network of providers, sellers and buyers... the factor markets. The course takes a general management perspective and provides examples through cases and discussions with visitors. The major theme of the course is that these firms must carefully consider how they position themselves in both the product and factor markets.

The focus of this class is on the challenges and key issues associated with the creation and management of a professional sales organization. Our emphasis is developing and managing the selling effort of business-to-business and business-to-consumer capital goods and services. There will be relatively little emphasis on sales technique (i.e., students should not expect a course on "How to be a Better Salesperson"). The course is organized to follow the development of the sales function from strategic inception through to execution and implementation: choosing a go-to-market model (e.g., direct sales, VARs, OEMs, hybrid models); building and structuring the sales organization (e.g., sales learning curve, organizational structure, allocating territories and quotas); and managing the sales force (e.g., hiring/firing, compensation, forecasting, culture). We will address these topics in the context of both early stage ventures and later stage enterprises.

This course is offered for students who at some time may want to undertake an entrepreneurial career by pursuing opportunities leading to partial or full ownership and control of a business. The course deals with case situations from the point of view of the entrepreneur/manager rather than the passive investor. Many cases involve visitors, since the premise is that opportunity and action have large idiosyncratic components. Students must assess opportunity and action in light of the perceived capabilities of the individuals and the nature of the environments they face. The course is integrative and will allow students to apply many facets of their business school education. Each section will have a specific focus, please select the instructor(s) with your interests: Leslie, Siegelman - High tech ventures; Ellis, Chambers, Childs - Diverse types of ventures; Ellis, Foster - Diverse types of ventures; Siegel, Brady - High tech emphasis, but diverse types of ventures; Siegelman, Hattendorf - Social ventures; Reiss, Chess - Very early stage ventures.

Many of America's most successful entrepreneurial companies have been substantially influenced by professionally managed venture capital. This relationship is examined from both the entrepreneur's and the venture capitalist's perspective. From the point of view of the entrepreneur, the course considers how significant business opportunities are identified, planned, and built into real companies; how resources are matched with opportunity; and how, within this framework, entrepreneurs seek capital and other assistance from venture capitalists or other sources. From the point of view of the venture capitalist, the course considers how potential entrepreneurial investments are evaluated, valued, structured, and enhanced; how different venture capital strategies are deployed; and how venture capitalists raise and manage their own funds. The course includes a term-long project where students work in teams (4-5 students per team) to write a business plan for a venture of the team's choosing.

This course is offered for students who, in the near term, aspire to the management and full or partial ownership of a new or newly-acquired business. The seminar, which is limited to 40 students, has a strong implementation focus, and deals in some depth with certain selected, generic entrepreneurial issues, viewed from the perspective of the owner/manager. Broad utilization is made of case materials, background readings, visiting experts, and role playing. Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on the application of analytical tools to administrative practice.

Startup Garage is an intensive hands-on, project-based course, in which graduate students will apply the concepts of design thinking, engineering, finance, business and organizational skills to design and test new business concepts that address real world needs . Our aspiration is to help teams identify an unmet customer need, design new products or services that meet that need, and develop business models to support the creation and launch of startup products or services. Even those teams that do not successfully launch a venture, or individuals who decide not to move forward, will learn critical, cutting-edge techniques about starting and launching a venture. nnnCollaborative, multi-disciplinary teams will identify and work with users, domain experts, and industry participants to identify and deeply understand customer needs, then proceed to design products or services and a business model to address those needs. .Each team will conceive, design, build, and field-test critical aspects of both the product or service and the business model. nnnThis course is offered by the Graduate School of Business. It integrates methods from human-centered design, lean startup, and business model planning. The course focuses on developing entrepreneurial skills (using short lectures and in-class exercises) and then applying these skills to specific problems faced by those users identified by the teams. Teams will ?get out of the building? and interact directly with users and advisors to develop a deep understanding of the challenges they face and to field test their proposed services, products, and business models.nn

Most everyone associated with technology start-ups would agree that the most important initial characteristic of a successful endeavor is a compelling vision. The journey from vision to escape velocity is highly dependent on management's ability to translate that vision into a product or service that closely and economically addresses a customer's significant point of pain. Without a tight product market fit, the start-up's offering will not be able to break through the market's gravitational forces which strongly favor existing solutions, resulting in likely failure. With tight product/market fit, it is far more likely the company will achieve repeatable and growing sales success.nnnConventional wisdom dictates that a start-up launching a new product should focus its energy understanding what the market wants (problem) and then translating that knowledge into an optimal set of product features (solution). This is the ideal strategy if one is attacking a market that already exists. However if the start-up pursues an entirely new market or re-segments an existing market, customers are unlikely to be able to articulate the benefits and features they will need. The approaches required to pursue new or re-segmented markets are radically different from those applied to existing markets. As a result it is not relentless execution and exploitation of a well understood market that will lead to success, but discovery of a new market or segment that is in need of the product as envisioned. If done well, this process of finding the optimal product/market fit has a disproportionate impact on success. Our intention is to create a course that explores the many issues associated with optimizing product/market fit. nnnTwo group papers comprise 50% of a student's grade with class participation representing the remainder. STRAMGT 353 is recommended prior to taking this course.

Teams that concluded at the end of the fall quarter that their preliminary product or service and business model suggest a path to viability, continue with the winter quarter course. In this course, the teams develop more elaborate versions of their product/service and business model , perform a series of experiments to test the key hypotheses about their product and business model, and prepare and present an investor pitch for a seed round of financing to a panel of seasoned investors and entrepreneurs.nn nnThe key premise for the course is that a robust venture creation process involves development and validation of a series of hypotheses about a new product or service, its value proposition, and how the business will acquire customers, make money, scale up to achieve profitability, and raise funds to achieve the key milestones to profitability. In Startup Garage: Testing and Launch, teams will learn how to precisely formulate these hypotheses and early stage milestones, and how to test them using one or more of the following low-cost approaches: a) online experiments with minimally viable products; b) interviews with partners, advisors, investors, and business experts; c) analogies from existing businesses that were successful in proving hypotheses that are analogous to what the newstartup wants to prove.nn nnThe course focuses on further developing entrepreneurial skills using the same pedagogical approach used in S356: short lectures, extensive in-class exercises focused on each team?s specific projects, and ?get out of the building? assignments. Teams will have the opportunity to:nnn- ?Get out of the building and interact with users, advisors, investors and partners to develop a deep understanding of the challenges they face, to field test their proposed services, products, and business models, and to gather data.nnn- Interpret the data and make important startup decisions in the context of their own project: pivot, persevere, or perishnnn- Develop creative go-to-market strategies and test their effectivenessnnn- Develop and deliver in front of real investors an investor pitch, elevator pitch and executive summarynnn- Negotiate term sheets with venture investorsnnn- Develop a hiring plan for their first year of operation and consider equity and other compensation plan

This course examines individuals and organizations that use entrepreneurial skills and approaches to develop innovative responses to social problems. Entrepreneurship has traditionally been seen as a way of creating wealth for the entrepreneur and for those who back her/his work. Social entrepreneurs employ "entrepreneurial skills," such as finding opportunities, inventing new approaches, securing and focusing resources and managing risk, in the service of creating a social value. As the intensity and complexity of social and environmental problems has grown in recent years social entrepreneurship, defined as innovative, social value creating activity that can occur within or across the nonprofit, government or business sectors, has become increasingly prominent. While virtually all enterprises, commercial and social, generate social value, fundamental to this definition is that the primary focus of social entrepreneurship is to achieve social impact above all else. We will study some of the most promising and the best-proven innovations for improving people's lives. We will also examine mature projects that are now tackling the issue of "scale", moving from local innovations to solutions that create deep systemic changes for larger numbers of economically disadvantaged individuals and communities throughout the world. This year we will focus on what are the constraints and opportunities for creating a social enterprise at scale. nn nnThe process of "scale" poses tremendous challenges. Even when organizations manage to overcome the many obstacles to growth, and achieve appreciable scale, this approach is seldom sufficient to achieve significant social impact on its own. This year our course will pay particular attention to network approaches which require the mobilization of a vast array of actors and resources, but have the potential to generate rapid and sustained social impact.

This course seeks to provide a survey of the strategic, governance, and management issues facing a wide range of nonprofit organizations and their executive and board leaders, in the era of venture philanthropy and social entrepreneurship. The students will also be introduced to core managerial issues uniquely defined by this sector such as development/fundraising, investment management, performance management and nonprofit finance. The course also provides an overview of the sector, including its history and economics. Cases involve a range of nonprofits, from smaller, social entrepreneurial to larger, more traditional organizations, including education, social service, environment, health care, religion, NGO's and performing arts. In exploring these issues, this course reinforces the frameworks and concepts of strategic management introduced in the core first year courses. In addition to case discussions, the course employs role plays, study group exercises and many outsider speakers.

This course focuses on the strategic management of technology-based innovation in the firm. The purpose is to provide students with concepts, frameworks, and experiences that are useful for taking part in the management of innovation processes in the firm. The course examines how they can be managed effectively. Specific topics include: assessing the innovative capabilities of the firm, managing the Corporate R & D function, managing the interfaces between functional groups in the development function in the firm, understanding and managing technical entrepreneurs, building technology-based distinctive competencies and competitive advantages, technological leadership versus followership in competitive strategy, institutionalizing innovation, attracting and keeping corporate entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurship can be an exhaustive experience. This course is structured to provide valuable skills and strategies aimed at enabling aspiring entrepreneurs to mitigate personal burnout while in pursuit of new ventures. In terms of this course, an entrepreneur is defined as a person who risks mobilizing resources to capitalize on a perceived opportunity of value-creation-change. A "social entrepreneur" creates social value, a "business entrepreneur" creates profit, and a 'hybrid entrepreneur' blends the two. This course will tailor student's class work to fit his or her entrepreneurial orientation. Students who opt to focus their coursework on social or environmental entrepreneurship may petition to have this course count toward the Certificate in Public Management and Social Innovation. nnnResearch is showing that a significant career hazard of entrepreneurship is emotional burnout- exhaustion from raising capital, growing new teams, competing with established players, and more contributes to the challenges of entrepreneurship. The goal of this course is to teach students how to identify and develop an increased capacity in emotional resilience as a means of mitigating burnout in oneself and in the diverse "community of actors" one is attempting to mobilize into concerted action aimed at value-creation-change. Research is also showing that one of the key causes of chronic stress is leader-identity development: when men and women of diverse-identities - different from the dominant-identity, engage in value-creation-change within a given community of practice and context, chronic adversity is a given. The effort of diverse-identities to lead value-creation-change introduces a chronic re-evaluation and re-definition of 'leader' within the given culture. From a global perspective this chronic adversity dynamic is especially true for women leaders. For men and women of diverse-identity, this dynamic is a consequence of power inequity. Both the diverse-identity and dominant-identity leader need to strategically anticipate and proactively address this dynamic in order to sustain his or her role as an agent of value-creation-change.nnnUsing the "critical-incident empathetic-inquiry" approach students will interview aspiring and practicing entrepreneurs on how they successfully recovered from, adapted to, and sustained perseverance in the face of situational and chronic adversity. These interviews will be recorded and analyzed from both a content and emotional decision-making perspective. Particular attention will be paid to how the practice of "empathetic-inquiry" in itself is a learnable micro-intervention with the potential of alleviating stress, supporting recovery, and sustaining effort. It is presented, taught, and practiced as a fundamental "emotional literacy" entrepreneur leadership skill.nnnFrom a diversity perspective, students will also be exploring how unsupported leader-identity development within a given cultural context and community of practice can be a major cause of stress and burnout. Via the "critical-incident empathetic inquiry" process students will focus on interviewing and learning from "exemplars" with whom they identify, with the aim of learning from "exemplar's" personal leader-identity journey.nnnThis course enables students to be practitioners of "empathetic inquiry" in entrepreneurial contexts in order to provide an added advantage to GSB students pursuing entrepreneurship after graduation and beyond.

This seminar provides the opportunity for students to study the structure and dynamics of the U.S. health care industry, and some of the ways it intersects with the global health care industry. The U.S. health care industry represents over 15 percent of the nation's GDP and is rapidly changing as a result of government regulatory reform enacted in 2010. The seminar's aim is to develop participants' ability to create strategically informed action plans that are imaginative, inspiring and workable in this highly dynamic environment. The seminar's pedagogy involves informed debate to evaluate and hone well-researched views by the participants and instructors, as well as the writing and presentation of position papers by small groups of seminar participants on the key dynamics of the industry. In the course of the seminar discussions, we aim to deepen our understanding of strategic dynamics and transformational change at the societal, industry and organizational levels of analysis. After developing a complete picture of the structure of the health care industry and the strategic relationships among the key players - the strategic landscape -, the seminar will focus on how health care reform and other external forces will affect the strategic opportunities and challenges of four types of players in the strategic landscape: (1) Incumbents (e.g., pharmaceutical companies, hospital companies, insurance companies); (2) entrepreneurial startups (e.g., home monitoring, genetic testing companies, information services); (3) cross-boundary disruptors (e.g., health clinics, Wal-Mart, Cisco, Google); and (4) international health care providers (e.g. in Mexico, India, Thailand) Four student teams will be formed to focus on one of the four types of players. Each team will prepare a research paper focused on determining how their type of player can take advantage of the regulatory, technological, social, cultural and demographic changes, and who will be the likely winners and why. During the first round of discussions (sessions 2-5) all participants will take part in examining the different parts of the competitive landscape. During the second round (sessions 6-9), the different teams will present their research findings and perspectives about the strategic opportunities and threats which exist. As part of the second set of sessions, the instructors will bring in domain experts to further augment the discussion.

There are now over a dozen courses taught on entrepreneurship at the GSB. These courses cover a wide range of topics of interest to the budding entrepreneur and venture capitalists. But what unique challenges do women face when approaching entrepreneurship? This seminar will showcase successful women entrepreneurs and the challenges they encountered in funding, communication styles, lifestyle balance, and paths to success. We will do so with mini-cases, panel discussions, readings, and some social time with experienced entrepreneurs. Men are also welcome to enroll.

This seminar provides students with practical solutions to some of the challenges faced in family business transitions.nnnFamily businesses are by far the dominant form of commerce world-wide, albeit the majority are small "mom and pop shops." Some research shows that large businesses, whatever the form of ownership, have an average lifespan of around forty years, while small businesses (at least in Japan and Europe) average around twelve years. So, if businesses in general do not survive, then it is a wonder that any family business can survive from one generation to another, let alone two, three, four or more.nnnThere are three essential requirements to succeed in a family business transition. First, it may seem obvious that the business must succeed, but it is less obvious what advantages a family business has over its non-family-owned counterparts. Second, the ownership structure must effectively maintain family cohesion and support the business. Finally, family members need to organize in thoughtful ways to work effectively with one another.nnnThe beauty of a family business is that it can be more profitable than companies with non-family ownership. Two fundamentals, at least, provide this advantage - a strong value system and a long-term economic perspective. The operative word above, however, is "can"; it is by no means a foregone conclusion that a family business will be more successful. Families must thoughtfully develop their advantages, while at the same time avoiding the pitfalls inherent in any family business.nnnAccordingly, this course is offered for students whose families own a family business or who are interested in the special challenges faced by family businesses. International students are encouraged to register as different cultural perspectives to family business will enrich the experience for everyone. Particular focus will be given to the transitions from one generation to another and the lessons learned that can be applied during the entire life of the business.

Improvisational acting (i.e., improv) requires fast, flexible, and creative thinking; intense listening and effective self-presentation; and the ability to act without fear of failure. These skills are also vital for being a successful entrepreneur. In this class, you will learn techniques of improvisational acting that can transform your thinking about business and your approach to life.

The primary objective of this course is to introduce students to the fundamentals of how to sell and to what selling is truly about. The course is appropriate for anyone who wants to understand and show proficiency with the skills required by different selling situations (e.g., direct sales of products and services, selling oneself in an interview, raising money for a new venture, running a company as CEO, etc.). The course looks at the entire selling process of lead generation, prospecting, qualifying, discovery, understanding value, customizing presentations, objection handling, negotiation and closing. Students will work together in groups outside of class to complete team-based exercises designed to introduce them to and give them practice with selling fundamentals in each stage of the selling process; students will then come together in class with the instructors to share and process the learning from these exercises.

This course focuses on actionable measurement in government agencies, non-profit organizations, and schools. Actionable means that the measurement is used by managers and other stakeholders to make decisions, influence behavior, and hold agents accountable. The course explores the intersection of several ideas that seem to be in some tension with each other. (1) You can't manage what you can't measure, (2) Measurement is expensive and its results are often ignored, (3) Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts (apocryphally attributed to Einstein), (4) The more any quantitative social indicator is used for decision making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor. (Campbell's Law). Among other things, we will consider logic models, theories of change, strategic design, monitoring and evaluation, social impact measures, performance contracting, and techniques for improving the behavior and accountability of individuals and organizations. The classes will be taught mainly through case studies that place the students in the position of managers and stakeholders called upon to make decisions. We will examine the challenges of managing to outcomes in various contexts, including government agencies (e.g., police departments), nonprofit organizations, and schools. We will also look at innovative funding vehicles that depend on measuring outcomes, such conditional and unconditional cash transfers, pay for performance schemes, and social impact bonds.

This course will investigate the ways in which entrepreneurs have and could transform K-12 public schooling in the United States, a $650 billion dollar industry that has a direct and long-term effect on nation¿s economy, democracy and culture. We will explore how human capital solutions, new schools, and technology products can all dramatically improve student learning and solve pain points. We will study a variety of ways to evaluate the efficacy, scalability, and financial sustainability of entrepreneurial enterprises serving students, families, educators and administrators in public education. The course will feature for-profit, not-for-profit, as well as double-bottom-line organizations. This course is suitable for students aspiring to be entrepreneurs, leaders in entrepreneurial organizations, leaders in educational organizations, donors or investors. Gloria Lee is a serial education entrepreneur who co-founded Aspire Public Schools, Teaching Channel, and Yu Ming Charter School. She is currently Chief Operating Officer at NewSchools Venture Fund. This course was designed to be taken in tandem with STRAMGT 537: Leading Change in Public Education and the courses will be highly complementary in approach.

American public education is at a crossroads. Does our education system have what it takes to produce graduates who are prepared for college, career, and citizenship in our pluralistic, digital world? As in all large-scale enterprises undergoing rapid, transformative change, leadership matters greatly. This course focuses on what it takes - from a strategic and extremely practical perspective - to lead change in public education at the systems level. We will meet some of the most exciting educational leaders in public education today and dissect their leadership styles, strategies, innovations, and solutions. We will look for lessons from traditional U.S. districts, charter management organizations, and international perspectives to determine what it takes to be an effective, strategic leader in education reform. Students will debate the strategies and efficacy of how different leaders approached systems-level change and will form their own hypotheses of what is needed to help transform the American public education system for the next generation. The course will end with a look at education fellowship programs and other ways for Stanford graduates to take on meaningful leadership roles in K-12 education reform. nnDan Katzir worked for Bain & Company, Teach for America, and Sylvan Learning Systems before joining The Broad Foundation as its founding managing director. He is an experienced case study teacher and the co-editor of a book of 12 case studies on school district reform: "The Redesign of Urban School Systems" (Harvard University Press, 2013).nnThis course was designed to be taken in tandem with STRAMGT 535: Entrepreneurial Approaches to Education Reform and the courses will be highly complementary in approach.

Investing in the healthcare sector is fraught with idiosyncratic challenges. First, the sector is very diverse and it spans biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics, health care information technology, and health care services. Second, business models are evolving: business-to-business, business-to-physician, business-to-patient, business-to-business-to-patient, business-to-business-to-physician, etc. Third, the sector is exposed to strong non-market forces: regulatory and reimbursement which are important elements to one's investment thesis. These challenges are amplified when investments focus on either early stage private ventures, or small capitalization public companies. Yet the possible returns for early stage and small cap investors are significant: fledgling healthcare companies can grow to multi-billion business and can have a long and lasting impact on people's life and well being. Topics to examine in the seminar include:n* Investment criteria that investors use to screen investment opportunities in this sector. Specific issues in biotech, medical devices, and services will be addressed.n* How early stage ventures evolve as they mature and how the investment criteria change with the stage of the companyn* How the investors change with the stage of the company: venture capitalists, private equity, public markets.nWe will examine these topics through a combination of guest presentations, lectures, and practical applications to real investment opportunities.nnInstructors: Richard Lin, Stefanos ZeniosnnRichard Lin is a partner with Three Arch Partners, a healthcare focused venture capital firm and is also the general partner/portfolio manager of Three Arch Opportunity Fund, a hedge fund focused on small cap healthcare opportunities. He is looking forward to sharing his experience with the class. Stefanos Zenios is a professor at the GSB, an expert on health care systems and the on the innovation process. He has recently completed a study in which he has developed a data-driven methodology that can be used by investors to identify predictors of success in early stage ventures. He will share his research findings with the class.

For aspiring entrepreneurs who don't have a burning idea or desire to start a company from scratch, acquiring a small business can provide a direct route to running and growing a business. This class will explore entrepreneurial acquisition (EA), including the Search Fund model. Key topics to be addressed:nn- Raising the money to acquire a company and building an investor groupnn- Conducting a search for a company to buy: analyzing industries, finding resources, creating deal flow and managing relationshipsnn- Evaluating acquisition opportunities, including financial analysisnn- Performing due diligencenn- Legal considerationsnn- Structuring and closing the dealnn- Assuming leadership from the sellernn- Early stages of operating and building the businessnn- Economics to the entrepreneur and investorsnn- Partnering or doing it alone

We will visit and analyze four local small businesses. (I hope we will visit all four companies but, when it makes more sense logistically, we may meet the manager at the GSB). The companies will vary from very small companies with limited growth plans (for example, in the past we visited a yogurt shop and a small company that makes devices elderly people use to call for help) to start-up technology companies with dreams of rapid growth (in the past we visited a venture-backed greentech company and an internet wedding products business). We will talk with the owners about a wide range of strategic issues, including:nn- How are they organized?nn- What plans do they have for new lines of business? Why? How do these fit with the current business?nn- How do they set prices? nn- What incentive systems do they use to manage various types of employees? How do they find new employees? What do they look for when they hire?nn- What do they see as their potential sources of competitive advantage?nn- Where do they see their companies in 5 years? What will it take to get there?nnnBefore each meeting, we will spend a little time going over basic background information about the company and its industry. After each meeting, we will spend time analyzing the company and its challenges, focusing on what is and is not scalable, if and how the company can insure a profitable strategy going forward, and what strategic changes the company should consider now and as it grows.nnnStudents will be responsible for helping gather background information before the visits. They will be expected to participate in the visits and the discussions before and after the visits. Finally, if time allows, students will make a short presentation on the final day of the class about the strategy of a small business (either one they have worked for, one that they are familiar with, or even just one that they have read about.)nnnThis class is the result of a book project that the instructor is currently working on about small business strategy. He (along with two co-authors) has been visiting small businesses all over the United States (specializing in remote locations and, as luck would have it, extreme weather conditions.) See our blog at http://www.roadside-mba.com/ for more details. This class brings these small business road trips to Silicon Valley.nn

This course covers some of the stages of investment in early stage high-growth companies, especially the seed funding of a novel idea to initial venture capital rounds. We will concentrate on how investors and entrepreneurs make and should make important decisions at different stages and on typical mistakes. Some questions that we will discuss are: How do angels and VCs generate and process their deal flow and select companies? What are typical mistakes of entrepreneurs in raising capital and negotiating with financiers? How do VC funds operate and make decisions? How are VCs involved in business decisions such as recruiting talent and replacing CEOs? What are the important provisions of financial contracts between VCs and founders? How to value early-stage companies? The course is mostly case-based. The course is for those who want to become entrepreneurs and thus likely consumers of angel and VC financing and those who want to pursue a career in the financial services industry. No prior knowledge of the VC industry is needed.

In today's competitive marketplace, smart companies from Fortune 500 firms to early stage start-ups rely on innovation to keep them one step ahead of the game. The role of intellectual property (IP) as a strategic business asset has been punctuated by the recent multi-billion dollar deals involving patent portfolios, as well as the fierce patent wars raging in courts around the world. nnThis class will help you understand the value of IP, by thinking strategically about how to effectively leverage the trade secrets, patents, technologies, trademarks, structures and processes that are critical to many businesses. The class will focus on the state-of-the-art, best practices related to IP strategy, and how they are shaped by economic, strategic, legal, regulatory, and market factors. nnThrough a combination of case studies, class discussion and guest speakers, the class will cover a variety of issues shaping a successful IP strategy in today's global marketplace. Some of the topics we will cover include:n n- Building and managing an IP portfolio that is aligned with business objectives; n- The innovation cycle and technology transfer mechanisms; n- Extracting value from the IP portfolio through transactions (e.g., licensing, sale, enforcement); n- IP valuation in financial reporting; n- Tax planning related to IP (e.g., cross border transfer pricing, IP holding companies); n- Review of corporate IP litigation and the principals of IP damages; n- Patent reform and the role of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO); n- IP strategies for start-ups & entrepreneursnnRon Kasznik is Professor of Accounting (Stanford GSB). Ms. Efrat Kasznik is an IP valuation and strategy expert, with 20 years of consulting experience, focusing on helping companies bring their innovation to market. She is the founder and President of Foresight Valuation Group, an IP consulting firm providing valuation and strategy. Ms. Kasznik is a member of the leadership committee of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) High Tech Sector, and has been listed on the IAM Strategy 300 list of top IP strategists in 2013.

This course examines individuals and organizations that use entrepreneurial skills and approaches to develop innovative responses to social problems. Entrepreneurship has traditionally been seen as a way of creating wealth for the entrepreneur and for those who back her/his work. Social entrepreneurs employ "entrepreneurial skills," such as finding opportunities, inventing new approaches, securing and focusing resources and managing risk, in the service of creating a social value. As the intensity and complexity of social and environmental problems has grown in recent years social entrepreneurship, defined as innovative, social value creating activity that can occur within or across the nonprofit, government or business sectors, has become increasingly prominent. While virtually all enterprises, commercial and social, generate social value, fundamental to this definition is that the primary focus of social entrepreneurship is to achieve social impact above all else. We will study some of the most promising and the best-proven innovations for improving people's lives. We will also examine mature projects that are now tackling the issue of "scale", moving from local innovations to solutions that create deep systemic changes for larger numbers of economically disadvantaged individuals and communities throughout the world. This year we will focus on what are the constraints and opportunities for creating a social enterprise at scale. The process of "scale" poses tremendous challenges. Even when organizations manage to overcome the many obstacles to growth, and achieve appreciable scale, this approach is seldom sufficient to achieve significant social impact on its own. This year our course will pay particular attention to network approaches which require the mobilization of a vast array of actors and resources, but have the potential to generate rapid and sustained social impact.

This five-session 2-point Bass seminar will involve students (maximum 20) in analyzing the evolution of the global semiconductor industry and how it has been and will be affected by strategic actions of entrepreneurial startups, incumbent corporations, and governments in multiple geographies. The purpose of the seminar is to help students sharpen their skills at the intersection of business strategy and technology strategy in order to more effectively lead strategic change in and of large complex systems. While the instructors will provide relevant pre- readings, students will be expected to complement these materials with their own research of theoretical and empirical sources. Class discussions will focus on several topics: 1) the converging computing and wireless communications industries;(2) The future growth of key market segments of the semiconductor industry; (3) The prospects of different technologies and architectures going forward; and, (4) The future structure of the semiconductor industry. Students will be expected to help structure the discussion and move it forward toward conclusions. Students will organize into three teams each focused on one of the topics and prepare a five-to-ten page group report of their most important findings and conclusions that extend current knowledge.

This five-session 2-point Bass seminar will involve students (maximum 18) in analyzing the emerging global electric automotive industry by focusing on: (1) The electric automotive industry in the U.S. and Europe, (2) the electric automotive industry in Japan and Korea, and (3) the electric automotive industry in China. We will each time examine the strategies of the key automotive companies as well as that of the government and other key players such as infrastructure providers. The purpose of the seminar is to help students sharpen their skills in identifying facilitating and impeding forces of strategic change, and in assessing and estimating the direction and rate of strategic change. While the instructors will provide relevant pre- readings related to these topics, students will be expected to complement these materials with their own research of theoretical and empirical sources. They will also be expected to help structure the discussion and move it forward toward conclusions. Students will organize into three teams each focused on one of the regions and prepare a five-to-ten page group report of their most important findings and conclusions that extend current knowledge.

This course is designed to provide students with a solid grasp of the socio-economic, business and political situation in China (with its challenges for China, the rest of the world and the planet). It will identify the multicausality conducive to the achievements and the performance of China (a "Chinese Renaissance") while assessing some of the important issues faced by China today. The dysfunctions brought by success will be discussed with their implications for foreign partners operating in China. Learning will be drawn from recent examples of corporate behavior in China and from Chinese strategies outside China. From the course and with a prospective perspective - we will explore alternative strategic approaches and responsible management practices likely to make less difficult the maintenance of a sustainable, mutually rewarding interdependence between China and the rest of the world. The course will rely upon different pedagogical methods and use a number of recent cases and research results. This course will be taught by Henri-Claude de BETTIGNIES, The Aviva Chair of Leadership and Responsibility, Emeritus Professor of Asian Business at INSEAD. He is also Distinguished Professor of Globally Responsible Leadership, Emeritus, at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), in Shanghai, where he has spent the last 5 years. Previously, he was for 16 years (1988-2004) Visiting Professor at the GSB, Stanford University.

In recent years, we've seen an explosion of innovative business models blazing new trails in emerging markets. Many of these models are achieving commercial success while transforming the lives of the poor. Using ten cases and drawing on the investor's lens, this course will examine best practices for seeding and scaling these new enterprises. It will also explore what is required to spark, nurture and scale entire sectors targeting fast-growing, often low-income markets. What does it mean to work in markets with limited infrastructure? What common mistakes are made- whether in business design, in supply chains, or in dealing with government - and how can we avoid them? Which are the right business models to serve markets that have traditionally been ignored by corporations, and where government has failed to deliver? Who might be threatened by the success of these new businesses? The seminar is a good match for Stanford students interested in working or investing in emerging markets. It will be taught by Matt Bannick, who leads Omidyar Network (a $550m impact investing fund) and is the former President of eBay International and of PayPal.

The early stages of a new venture pose special challenges and issues for founders. For some entrepreneurs, the questions are basic: Should I seek to start a new business? And, How can I find an idea worth pursuing? Later, the question is: How do I evaluate whether my (our) idea is worth pursuing? To answer these questions, it is useful for founders to have an integrated framework for evaluating new business opportunities. In this class we develop such a framework and show how it can usefully compare and contrast new product or service businesses. We also consider the very first steps startups must take. These include how startups can begin to accumulate resources, as well as early legal, organizational, personnel and financial issues that must be handled. The course is largely case-based. It is supplemented with lectures and guests. The target audience is students who are thinking about forming a new venture early in their career. This class is appropriate for first or second year MBAs who have not yet taken S356, as well as other Stanford graduate students.

This workshop provides students with a forum through which they can develop and receive feedback on a new venture idea. Class time will be devoted to understanding how to improve the viability of a new venture idea and how to present that idea clearly to others. At the course conclusion, students will present their idea to others in the class and outside guests. The workshop can handle up to 15 ideas or teams; you may develop your own idea and pitch, or partner with other students. You must have your team formed before registering for the course. Note: students should be pitching ideas that are at an EARLY stage, ones that have not been pitched previously or are existing businesses.

This course will cover advanced game theoretical tools by studying applications to competitive and cooperative interactions. Game theory provides an analytical method for modeling decision makers, their actions, preferences, information, dynamics and decision making process. Complex strategic environments usually do not yield themselves to a simple game structure, hence this course will be based on cases suggested by the students. Students will suggest a case (in the form of an industry, a specific interaction, a topic, etc.) the class will then jointly analyze the selected cases.

An important channel for economic development, and the progress of poverty alleviation, is to drive productivity improvements and growth among firms in developing countries. Yet scaling firms in environments characterized by extreme poverty, weak institutions and high levels of inequality poses severe challenges. This seminar will explore the issues facing firms in such environments, including the strategic challenges the firms face as well as the challenges involved in improving managerial practices. Many of the issues and potential solutions to these problems are poorly understood, and the goal of the seminar will be to deepen everyone's understanding of the challenges, as well as brainstorm about potential solutions. This will be an interactive seminar, based on readings and/or guest speakers, with students expected to engage in active discussion of the materials.

This course is offered for students requiring specialized training in an area not covered by existing courses. To register, a student must obtain permission from the faculty member who is willing to supervise the reading.

This course is elected as soon as a student is ready to begin research for the dissertation, usually shortly after admission to candidacy. To register, a student must obtain permission from the faculty member who is willing to supervise the research.