This course helps you understand business strategies for firms that make technology products, those that feature digital components and network effects. Technology products face distinctive demand-side economic forces (e.g., how value is created) and supply-side forces (e.g., cost structures) which lead to distinctive outcomes and competitive strategies. You will learn from phenomenon and strategies such as: Why do firms in the IT industry give away their best products free? Why is it always ladies-night free (and not men’s) in nightclubs? Why is software typically so defective?

This course teaches the theory and processes of group and team behavior so that you can successfully manage groups and work effectively in a variety of group settings. The first goal of the course is to provide conceptual guidelines for analyzing and diagnosing group dynamics and determining one’s strategic options as a manager. The second goal is to understand how technological change affects team processes in organizations. Finally, this course will impart practical interpersonal skills for implementing effective strategies for group situations.

Matching supply with demand is a primary challenge for a firm: excess supply is too costly, inadequate supply irritates customers. Matching supply to demand is easiest when a firm has a flexible supply process, but flexibility is generally expensive. In this course we will learn(1) how to assess the appropriate level of supply flexibility for a given industry and (2) explore strategies for economically increasing a firm’s supply flexibility. Lastly we will study coordination and incentives across multiple firms in a supply chain.

This course is led by students under a faculty’s supervision. Participating students select a country to study, identify industry sectors to explore, and establish contacts with business executives in various companies to meet during the field trip. The field trip takes place between the winter and spring quarters for Day MBA and September for Working Professional MBA. The class meets every other week to facilitate the learning about international trade, country profiles, industry sectors, and business practices based on student-driven secondary research and presentations.