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STRAMGT 309: Strategies of Effective Product Management

This is a course about exploring the methods and processes for product management, largely in technology companies, and a look at what can lead to the most effective ways to coordinate customer needs, ensure accurate product development, and how to develop and use the appropriate tools needed to successfully sell products and services to customers from the perspective of the Product Manager. The course covers ways to think about product management depending on the type of product being delivered (new product introduction vs. reinvigorating an existing product) and also the skills and tools used by product managers for effective product management.This course is an extended version of STRAMGT 509.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3

STRAMGT 329: The Grand Bazaar on Clouds: Strategy for Marketplaces

From Amazon and Apple Store to Airbnb and Uber, our day-to-day life is surrounded by marketplaces. In this class, we will analyze the economics and strategy of marketplaces. We will consider the forces that have led to the proliferation of these marketplaces, as well as the strategic choices that determine which ones succeed. We will also study the strategy of managing these marketplaces: how should matching work, how marketplace design can solve problems of congestion or market thinness, how to discover prices through auctions, and how to get feedback and design a well-functioning rating system. We will also talk about trust and safety as a key pillar of successful marketplaces. We will also learn how to design non-monetary markets that solve big social problems, such as kidney exchange, food banks, public housing, and school choice. Finally, we will discuss the regulatory challenges of these marketplaces, especially with regard to labor income and platform's monopoly power. Applications include online stores; ride-sharing and transportation; advertising and sponsored search; room-sharing and vacation rentals; creator/passion economy; B2B marketplaces; dating; and labor markets. The class will be in lecture format and will feature several guest speakers, from founders, to investors, to Nobel laureates of market design.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3

STRAMGT 345: Impact: Taking Social Innovation to Scale

How do you get the best new social innovations to reach the hundreds of millions of people who need it the most? And how do ensure that they are developed, deployed and scaled in a way that is relevant, appropriate and sustainable? Innovators tackling the world's most difficult problems often ignore, misunderstand, and under-invest in the critical business challenges involved in crossing 'the middle of the value chain.' This is innovation's valley of death: product and system adaption and evaluation; evidence generation and design validation; business and partnership planning; formal or informal regulatory approval and registration. How do you design, introduce, and optimize the intervention's uptake before it can be taken to scale by markets, governments or other systems? The class is taught be Steve Davis, Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Company, Senior Advisor at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and former CEO of PATH, IDRI, and Corbis. We take an interdisciplinary approach to look at the factors that pull innovation forward, push it from behind, and (often to the world's detriment) block its successful implementation and scaling. First grounding the discussion in research on innovation and social change, we then apply business principles, real world experiences and several important case studies in global health to examine the way good ideas get stuck, and how good ideas can turn into innovation that matters. We focus on root causes for failure, success factors, and business practices and tools to enable millions of lives to be impacted by social innovation. The seminar combines lectures, case studies, visiting practitioners and team projects focused on the business case for scaling specific social innovations. The goal is to help the next generation of social innovation leaders think more about some of the mistakes of the past, lessons for the future, and new ways of approaching old problems, all from a practitioner's point of view.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3

STRAMGT 351: Building and Managing Professional Sales Organizations

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, no/low touch, 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.
Terms: Spr | Units: 4

STRAMGT 353: Entrepreneurship: Formation of New Ventures

This course is offered for students who seek to understand the dynamics of new ventures from the point of view of the entrepreneur/manager rather than the passive investor. At some stage this understanding will enhance your decision making about whether to pursue a career in playing a key role in creating or building a new venture. It will also enhance your understanding if you will be negotiating with executives at new ventures. 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.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr | Units: 4

STRAMGT 355: Managing Growing Enterprises

This course is offered for students who aspire to lead growing businesses. The seminar, which is limited to 40-45 students, has a strong implementation focus, and deals in some depth with certain selected, entrepreneurial issues, viewed from the perspective of the owner/manager. Broad utilization is made of case materials, background readings, visiting experts, and role playing.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr | Units: 3

STRAMGT 502: Systems Leadership

Leaders of today live in an increasingly uncertain world, and the challenges brought upon by changes in technology, shifting societal norms, great power conflict, and the global pandemic are drastic. At some level, all leadership right now is crisis leadership - getting one's team and organization through unprecedented times. Sometimes the ability to lead through these changes is due to talent; other times, luck plays the more important role. COVID added another layer of disconnect to the world of disruption. Every person and company had to change; not always for the better. And, broadly, competency slipped (see https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/first-competent-jeff-immelt/ for more on this issue). Leaders need to 'recharge' themselves and their organizations. This course explores how leaders at the world's leading companies are driving frame-breaking transformational change inside of organizations that have grown up with a physical foundation, or who have a digital foundation and are moving into the physical domain as a new entrant. In addition, in the emerging post-pandemic world, the issues facing leaders across multiple industries require insights on how to drive technological, cultural and ecosystem changes under unprecedented duress. The macro trends that are currently dominating the business world include the need for leaders to understand the best attributes of companies that have both digital and physical roots, as well as how to balance these macro issues in times of great uncertainty. Leaders need to make choices on where to deploy resources, those parts of the technical stack where they will seek to own technology (and where they will partner), and how they can influence, organize and shape their ecosystems. The changes brought about by these dynamics require the development of new types of leaders. Historically, professional managers have sought calm waters to run their businesses. Consultants and analysts have looked to break up companies to 'unlock value.' But Systems Leaders seek to maximize and thrive in the chaos of the time
Terms: Spr | Units: 2

STRAMGT 503: Spontaneous Management

In this class, you will learn techniques for improving your spontaneity, creativity, presence, and collaboration skills, all of which contribute to your becoming a more effective and inspirational leader. This class combines research on social psychology and techniques from improvisational theater to help you develop your leadership skills. The interactive exercises are based on the techniques that improv actors use on stage when they make up scenes, songs, or even entire plays on the spot. Improv teaches you to do many things at once: be completely present, think on your feet, quickly get in sync with others, read the room, and be agile at using what the situation presents you. As a leader in business, you will benefit from this same skill set. Whether you are presenting to your board, brainstorming & designing with colleagues, or mentoring new talent - learning some building blocks of improv will give you valuable new tools for interacting effectively with others. The course will cover topics such as spontaneity, risk taking, authenticity, nonverbal behavior, storytelling, effective brainstorming, understanding and using status, and creative collaboration.
Terms: Aut, Spr | Units: 2

STRAMGT 507: From Invention to Innovation: The Process of Translation

The class intends to address specific challenges: 1) The challenges facing businesses are strongly rate-limited by the translation problems of new ideas, and inventions often do not make it into the market place or are disrupted at multiple levels in ways that are generally unpredictable; 2) The challenge of understanding how disruptive innovations take place in the context of the larger frame of translation. The concept of translation can be cast as the following equation, which will be discussed in the class: Innovation = (Inventiona+ C) × Translationb (Where a, b, and C are greater than zero) In light of these challenges, this class will address the following strategic questions and use it to propose a framework for innovation that will increase the probability of successful translation. The class will attempt to address the following questions and extract the principles for enabling translation. 1. What is Translation and why is it necessary? (Examples of Translation from the instructors and visiting lecturers) 2. What does it take for Translation that connects concepts to reality to succeed? 3. What factors prevent Translation from succeeding? 4. What general theoretical framework can we construct to encompass the various types of disruptive innovation?
Terms: Spr | Units: 2

STRAMGT 510: Conversations in Management

This case-based course is offered for students who want to refine their ability to manage challenging professional conversations. The class will focus on the preparation for and execution of role-played dialogue as well as on postmortem analysis. Most of the respondent roles will be external to one's company, and some will be front line or mid-level people with limited educational credentials. Broad utilization will be made of background readings and an occasional visiting expert.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr | Units: 2

STRAMGT 523: Corporate Governance: Principles and Practices

Corporate governance is essential for creating a framework that ensures responsible and ethical management, protects the interests of stakeholders, and contributes to the long-term success and sustainability of organizations. This course aims to provide students with an understanding of corporate governance systems within public, private (including venture-backed), and nonprofits organizations, with a specific focus on the roles and responsibilities of boards of directors. We will cover critical topics such as the structure of boards, the governance principles, the legal and fiduciary duties, and more. We will examine timely cases of governance successes, failures, and controversies to distill the components of high-performing boards and identify best practices that contribute to organizational success and sustainability. In addition to the meticulously curated course material, students will benefit from firsthand insights into the American boardrooms from the instructors and numerous guest speakers, all of whom are seasoned governance leaders serving on numerous boards. This immersive experience offers students a real-world perspective on the decision-making processes, oversight practices, and hands-on engagement through role plays and simulations of actual boardroom functions. Students will also prepare themselves to be desirable board candidates by constructing their own board bio and a simulated candidate interview practice. By the conclusion of the course, students are expected to possess the skills necessary to critically analyze, strategize, and contribute effectively within governance structures. Whether aspiring to be board members, CEOs constructing a board, or as senior leaders working with boards, students will emerge well-prepared to navigate the complexities of governance and contribute meaningfully to organizational success.
Terms: Spr | Units: 2

STRAMGT 537: Leading Change in Public Education

Public education in America 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 increasingly digital and pluralistic world? Will income and ethnic achievement gaps continue to be pervasive and persistent in our nation's largest urban cities? Will family zip code determine educational destiny for the next generation of students? Which strategies and reforms are truly demonstrating results and which are merely passing fads? As in all large-scale enterprises undergoing rapid, transformative change, leadership matters greatly. Fortunately, over the last decade, the reform of American public education has been led by a number of innovative and results-oriented leaders at the state, district and charter levels. These leaders are bringing additional urgency, strategies, and ideas designed to prepare America's schools and students for the century ahead. Some ideas are proving to be critical levers for change, others are facing significant political challenges, and others have not delivered on expected results. Many of them hold lessons for how future educational leaders can contribute to transforming public education for the next generation of K-12 students. This course will focus on school system leadership for education reform. The course will provide an overview of the critical issues facing K-12 public education in America today, and what is going on across the U.S. during this transformative period of change. Once this context is set, students will study education leaders and systems change strategies from the last 10-15 years at the state, district and charter levels. We will focus on leaders across five domains: Leadership in crisis situations, strategic leadership, 'china-breaking' leadership, sustaining leadership, and next generation leadership. We will also look at leadership examples from outside K-12 education to broaden our thinking about what leadership styles and strategies could be successfully applied to education. Students will debate the strategies and efficacy of how different leaders approached systems-level change and will form their own working hypotheses of what is needed to help transform the American education system. Case studies in school system leadership will form the primary basis for classroom assignments and discussion. We will examine what went right and what went wrong in each case, focusing particularly on the decisions that school system leaders faced and the implications of their decisions. Most cases will be supplemented with research publications, technical notes, news clips, and/or videos to deepen students' understanding of the context or issues discussed in the cases. Dan Katzir worked for Bain & Company, Teach for America, Sylvan Learning Systems and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation before joining Alliance College-Ready Public Schools as its CEO in 2015. He is an experienced case study teacher and the editor of The Redesign of Urban School Systems: Case Studies in District Governance.
Terms: Spr | Units: 2

STRAMGT 543: Entrepreneurial Acquisition

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). As the course covers topics such as what makes a good industry, raising capital, how to source deals, dealing with investors, due diligence, and negotiation, the course is also applicable to those interested in private equity, venture capital, start-ups, and general management. The class relies heavily on the case method, and each class includes guests (often the case protagonists) who bring practical and current experience to the classroom. The two group projects are intended to be highly practical, simulating real-world situations.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr | Units: 2

STRAMGT 549: Search Fund Garage

Search Fund Garage is an intensive, hands-on, project-based course for students planning to pursue a search fund directly after or within a few years of graduation. Students will learn from the instructors, course peers, and class visitors, particularly top current search entrepreneurs, CEOs, and investors. This course is designed to assist students who are seriously pursuing a search fund. Those who have taken Entrepreneurial Acquisition (S543) or researched search funds extensively, including holding discussions with current searchers, investors, and CEO's, will benefit the most from this advanced, experiential course. By the end of the course, students will be prepared to or will already have raised search capital and launched their search, if they choose to do so. The course is not a good fit for students who do not know the basics of search funds (such as from taking S543) or are not likely to pursue a search fund upon or within a few years of graduation. Pursuing self-developed work plans that target the aspects of the search fund path most relevant to them at the time of the course, students will target industry segments and business models, evaluate investors, structure their search entity, set up their search process and outreach materials, perhaps begin to contact business owners, and develop wisdom about what makes a deal attractive or unattractive, among other experiences. Students will hear from class guests, including current searchers, standing CEO's of search-acquired companies, active investors, and former searchers (some of whom "failed" at buying a company) in order to inform their various decisions as they pursue a search fund. Each student will receive feedback on how they can be a more effective search fund entrepreneur. Teams of two are fine but not necessary. Most students join the class as individuals and all will be graded individually.This course is offered by the Graduate School of Business. It builds on the processes taught in Entrepreneurial Acquisition (S543) and detailed in the Stanford Primer on Search Funds (2020). The course provides a supportive yet challenging environment that will help students step outside of their comfort zone and accelerate learning. By the end of the course each will be better prepared to launch a search than many of the searchers who have come before.
Terms: Spr | Units: 2

STRAMGT 571: Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation in Enterprise Software Firms

Enterprise Software companies have experienced unprecedented growth since 2000. Enterprise software, one could argue, has been a key enabler of transformative change and constructive disruption across industries while helping companies become more efficient. Most industry analysts will agree that enterprise software has played an influential role in driving innovation while creating significant economic value. Managing the growth of enterprise software companies however is complex and requires a unique set of competencies across the interconnected functions in the organization. This case-driven course will explore how enterprise software companies have managed growth at various stages of their evolution from startup phase to multibillion-dollar global companies. The main purpose of this course is to provide students (independent of their background) with deep insight on what leaders in enterprise software need to know about technological innovation strategy to successfully run enterprise software companies.
Terms: Spr | Units: 2
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