41 - 50 of 75 results for: STRAMGT

This course examines how companies innovate after the success of their first product, and why non-founder led companies are often less successful at this than founder led companies. We focus on how non-founder CEOs can drive more innovation while managing risk and potential failure. Our emphasis will be primarily on lessons that can be applied to technology companies, although many are relevant to other industries. Our goal is to help develop successful non-founder CEOs.

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 case-based course is offered for students who want to refine their ability to manage challenging professional conversations. The class, which is limited to 32 students, 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 plus visiting case protagonists and experts. There will be nine class sessions, each of one hour and forty-five minutes.

Today, the assets of many businesses are largely intangible, such as brands, data, software and trade secrets. More and more we live in an economy based on intangibles and much of business involves creating, exploiting and managing those intangible assets. Intellectual property rights (patents, trade secrets, copyright, trademarks design rights and so on) and data rights are a set of legal rights and assets that establish ownership of and protect tangible and intangible assets from copying and other acts for example copying of software or counterfeiting of designer handbags. Equally, intellectual property in the hands of third parties may pose a risk to a business developing a new product or brand. Most businesses start with an idea. It is critical to understand when and under what circumstances ideas, creative works and technology can be protected from third party use by intellectual property, and what limits apply to that protection. It is equally critical to recognize what must be done to secure ownership. In this course you will learn about IP rights-what they are, what they do, their limitations and how they are useful from a strategic perspective-well beyond the typical idea of a patent being nothing more than an invitation to a messy and expensive lawsuit. We will also discuss the all-too-common mistakes that can frustrate these objectives. To put these issues into a business setting, we will be joined by experienced business executives and investors in markets ranging from biosciences to software to sound engineering. This course is designed for business students, not law students. It is the objective of this course to help business students to think critically about when and how to invest in intellectual property protection, to recognize its limits, and to avoid the common mistakes that can frustrate such investments and undermine the value of the company. Although we will have to introduce you to legal concepts, the focus of the course is on putting these concepts into a business setting and explaining how IP may be used strategically-enabling you to be part of the conversation with legal and intellectual property experts and to consider how IP can support management of the assets and strategy of a business or other enterprise. No prior knowledge or experience with intellectual property is needed. The format of this course is under review for best adaption to the possibility of distance learning but will include reading before each class, live or recorded presentations by the guest speakers, and Q&A and discussion. Guest speakers will share their experiences in the areas of IP investment, management, deployment, strategy and risk.

This seminar provides students with practical solutions to some of the challenges faced in family business transitions.Family 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.There 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.The 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 that are inherent in any family business.Accordingly, 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.

The premise of this course is the success of a startup (and even a large company launching a new product) is most dependent on finding a market that is desperate for its product. Focusing on product/market fit conflicts with the conventional view that a startup¿s limited resources should be applied to perfecting the execution of day to day activities. Interestingly almost every successful product driven technology company followed a similar path to find its product/market fit, but it was usually by accident. In this course we attempt to define the consistent process each successful company pursued, which in most cases is highly counterintuitive, and how to apply it to different situations. Our class highlights the potential conflict between pursuing a conventional approach and optimizing product/market fit. In order to really bring out this conflict, we employ a seminar format with only 25 students so every issue can be evaluated in detail. Our lessons are limited to information technology-based companies, but we have been told they may be more broadly applicable. That being said, this course has been designed for someone who is truly interested in technology-based entrepreneurship. Students who choose to take this course must be committed to read all the assigned articles and books to have the proper foundation to address the frequent counterintuitive learnings. In some cases that might require an entire (although relatively short) book be read for an individual class. A written assignment addressing at least one of the learnings from each reading will be required to be submitted at least four hours prior to each class. Failure to submit even one of the written assignments will result in a U. In addition to the daily written assignments, there will be a large individual project required at the end of the course. In other words, this course requires far more commitment than a typical GSB course, especially for one that offers only two credits. However I promise this course will be invaluable should you choose an operating or investment career in the technology business.

The primary objective of this course is to introduce students to the fundamentals of how to sell. The course is appropriate for anyone who wants to understand and show proficiency with the skills required in different selling situations, both traditional (i.e., direct sales of products and services) and non-traditional (e.g., selling oneself in an interview, raising money for a new venture, convincing a job candidate to join your company, etc.). The course looks at the entire selling process of prospecting, qualification, discovery, understanding value, customizing presentations, objection handling, and closing.This is not a typical GSB case-study-based course. Students who have taken previous versions of this class describe it as a practical, hands-on, skills-based class. Students will work by themselves outside of class to prepare for group exercises and role-plays that will take place in class. These exercises are designed to give students practice with selling fundamentals in each stage of the selling process, and to give them the opportunity to observe and provide feedback to others. Our goal is to provide students the time in class to focus on doing stuff (e.g., practice using curiosity) rather than just thinking about and talking about stuff. After taking this course, you should understand what is involved in all of the following steps of the selling process: - Preparing a value-based prospecting script. - Using an advanced questioning methodology and note-taking strategy for discovering a customer's most important business priorities and motivations. - Developing a curiosity-based approach to handling objections in all stages of the selling process. - Creating and delivering effective customized presentations. -Understanding the most effective ways to create engagement and interaction when selling. - Developing a strategy and building the confidence to ask the hard questions when closing a deal. - Using a value-based mutual plan to control the sales cycle and move a deal forward. - Identifying the most valuable categories for qualifying an opportunity. - Accelerating the process of relationship building.- Understanding a customer¿s entire decision making process (DMP). - Discovering limiting beliefs and seeing how they impact your ability to accomplish your objectives. - Applying these fundamentals of effective selling to your personal selling situations with confidence.

Advances in advertising technology, such as online publishing, digital and mobile advertising platforms, as well as new ways of consuming video content are driving a rapid evolution of the advertising market. We analyze this evolution from the perspective of three main constituents: 1) Marketers who rely on advertising to launch and sustain product sales, 2) Publishers and media owners for whom advertising often represents the largest source of monetization, and 3) Advertising agencies who design, plan and buy media for advertising campaigns. We will review challenges and opportunities from each of the three perspectives, including challenges in measurement for advertisers as well as forces that make it hard for small and medium sized publishers to monetize solely through advertising. Guest speakers provide a perspective on current trends and technologies.

This course equips you to create, build and lead equitable organizations. We will learn the power of iD&I - that is, how we can be change agents by involving key stakeholders, casting the right vision, and constructing the right interactions to unlock the true potential of diversity in teams and organizations. We will discuss the power of inclusion as itrelates to the employee and customer experience. We will study effective strategies for designing diverse and inclusive companies, and will address the barriers and myths related to meritocracy. We'll look at approaches to organizational design that limit unconscious bias and produce more objective decisions across the employee experience - from engaging and hiring candidates to retaining employees and helping them thrive. We'll dive into how to create inclusive cultures and a sense of belonging. Finally, we will learn tools and techniques to empower change for ourselves and others. Experts in diversity and inclusion, and executives at companies that have successfully incorporated inclusion programs, will join us for the class discussions.