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This Course sets the stage for learning about how business works. Beginning with an understanding of what an  organization is and its basic purposes, topics will include vertical and horizontal integration, diversification, the  managerial role, designing incentive plans, business strategy, the central importance of “value” in a business  context, and the concept of industry attractiveness.
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Faculty

Prof. Ian Larkin

Prof. Ian Larkin

Professor

Ian Larkin is an Assistant Professor in the Strategy group at the UCLA Anderson  School of Management. He researches the optimal use of formal rewards systems  by companies, given the complex and often unanticipated effects these systems have on employee motivation and decision making. His research quantifying the cost incurred by a major enterprise software vendor due to salespeople deliberately gaming their sales commission system, published in The Journal of Labor Economics, is one of the most prominently cited empirical studies of incentive system gaming. It  was the basis for a case study widely used in MBA classes on compensation and  human resource management. 

His recent research focuses on corporate awards and other programs companies use to formally recognize  employee performance, and demonstrates that these programs often have unintended costs, such as the  demotivation of some employee groups. A final stream of research investigates physician prescribing decisions  in light of different sales tactics used by pharmaceutical sales representatives. His research has been discussed  in a variety of media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes and National Public  Radio. 

Ian teaches the core Business Strategy course at Anderson. Before coming to Anderson, he was a member of the  faculty at Harvard Business School, where he taught an elective MBA course on human resource management, 

as well as several executive education courses. He received a Ph.D. from the Haas School of Business at UC  Berkeley, and a M.Sc. from the University of London, where he was a British Marshall Scholar. Ian worked as an

Course Learning Objectives:

  • By the end of this course, you will be able to:
    • Determine a company’s profit, using such key business concepts as input costs, transformation, total cost, price, willingness to pay, and value.
    • Make intelligent decisions about horizontal and vertical integration involving your business.
    • Use a comprehensive business strategy to intentionally create, capture, and deliver value to your company and your customers.
    • Explain the value of an organization in terms of how it manages resources and transforms inputs into more valuable outputs.
    • Evaluate a potential diversification opportunity that involves a key resource’s appropriability, control, durability, and inimitability.
    • Determine the best course of action for a company that is considering vertical/horizontal integration or geographic diversification.
    • Evaluate managerial applicants’ mindsets for the following qualities: communication skills, motivation, and ability to learn and adjust.
    • Determine appropriate coaching steps for employees who exhibit various levels of performance and potential.
    • Design an effective and appropriate disciplinary action plan that is timely, rule-based, and includes managerial action.
    • Compose a draft strategy statement for a start-up company, stating how it will create, capture, and deliver value.
    • Based on research, create a value map comparing the relative strengths of two competitors that shows six to eight characteristics.
    • Adjust Total Cost, Price, and Firm Profit for a specific customer, focusing on capturing maximum value.
    • Use Five Forces Analysis to determine the attractiveness of a given industry.
    • Build on an existing draft to refine a strategy statement so that it expresses in detail how the company is unique in its approach to creating, capturing, and delivering value.
    • Propose at least one way to improve the situation so as to deliver more value, given circumstances describing how a company is failing to deliver maximum value to its customers.

Syllabus

Introduction to Organizations – Structures 

Learning Objectives:

As a result of participating in this module, you will be able to:

  • Explain the value of an organization in terms of how it manages resources and transforms inputs into more valuable outputs.
  • Evaluate a potential diversification opportunity that involves a key resource’s appropriability, control, durability, and inimitability.
  • Determine the best course of action for a company that is considering vertical/horizontal integration or geographic diversification.

Module Components:

Video Lectures:

  • Understanding an Organization
  • Organizational Scope & Horizontal Diversification
  • Vertical and Horizontal Integration and Geographic Diversification

Readings:

  • Customer value creation towards revenue generation
  • Horizontal Integration
  • Vertical Integration

Case Study:

  • Drastic Publishing

Quiz:

  • Understanding an Organization
Introduction to Organizations – Motivations

 

Learning Objectives:

As a result of participating in this module, you will be able to:

  • Evaluate managerial applicants’ mindsets for the following qualities: communication skills, motivation, and ability to learn and adjust.
  • Determine appropriate coaching steps for employees who exhibit various levels of performance and potential.
  • Design an effective and appropriate disciplinary action plan that is timely, rule-based, and includes managerial action.

Module Components:

Video Lectures:

  • Manager’s Role in an Organization
  • Incentives Design, Part 1
  • Incentives Design, Part 2

Readings:

  • Mintzberg’s Management Roles
  • Manager’s Role in Motivating Employees
  • Misconduct & Discipline in Workplace

Case Study:

  • Drastic Publishing (Continued – Part 1)

Quiz:

  • Managing an Organizations
Understanding Strategy

Learning Objectives:

As a result of participating in this module, you will be able to:

  • Compose a draft strategy statement for a start-up company, stating how it will create, capture, and deliver value.
  • Based on research, create a value map comparing the relative strengths of two competitors that shows six to eight characteristics.
  • Adjust Total Cost, Price, and Firm Profit for a specific customer, focusing on capturing maximum value.

Module Components:

Video Lectures:

  • Understanding Strategy – Art and Science
  • Creating Value
  • Capturing Value

Readings:

  • Crafting Strategy That Measures Up
  • Porter’s Strategy Framework
  • Akbank Case Study
  • Value Proposition

Case Study:

  • Drastic Publishing (Continued – Part 2)

Quiz:

  • Understanding and Crafting Strategy
Learning Objectives:

As a result of participating in this module, you will be able to:

  • Use Five Forces Analysis to determine the attractiveness of a given industry.
  • Build on an existing draft to refine a strategy statement so that it expresses in detail how the company is unique in its approach to creating, capturing, and delivering value.
  • Propose at least one way to improve the situation so as to deliver more value, given circumstances describing how a company is failing to deliver maximum value to its customers.

Module Components:

Video Lectures:

  • Industry Attractiveness
  • Strategy Articulation

Readings:

  • Porter’s Five Forces – Strategy Framework
  • Delivering Value
  • Rethinking Strategy for an Age of Digital Disruption

Case Study:

  • Drastic Publishing (Continued – Part 3)

Quiz:

  • Developing Strategy

Support

Please email [email protected] for any support required with respect to the program, course or platform.