Syllabus for Wharton MGMT 782 Course

Syllabus is available for download here: MGMT-782 Syllabus

Steve Ballmer being questions about the impact of iPhone announcement in 2007

What it takes to do a corporate turnaround

John John Baldoni writes on CBS.com.

Enter Sergio Marchionne. With Fiat was on the brink of solvency in 2004, Marchionne was named CEO and completely revamped the enterprise. He would later do the same at Chrysler. As Clark writes: “Marchionne’s unusual ability is that he can see what actually needs to be done, and then cajoles and goads his flat management structure of dozens of direct reports in weekend meetings to achieve the goal.” “Marchionne doesn’t let go,” A UBS analyst adds. “That’s what his strength is. He is good at strategy and at execution.” Under Marchionne, both Fiat and Chrysler have turned the corner (at least for now).

The balance between vision and execution is akin to right- and left-brain thinking. A visionary thinks about what can happen. He or she has a highly specific vision of the future—and not simply as a set of desired outcomes, but rather in terms of what must occur to produce those outcomes. By contrast, executing the vision requires putting the right people in place and providing them with the necessary resources to succeed. It also means holding people’s feet to the fire. Marchionne is known for firing people who aren’t up to the task. It’s never pleasant, but it is imperative.

Read Full Article on CBSnews.com

Evidence that markets are becoming more dynamic courtesy of Frank Rothaermel

How Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook) helps women to network

When Facebook goes public Sheryl Sanberg will be a very wealth women. She wants to serve as a role model for other women in business and is actively trying to help them. Here is how she facilitates networking.

If Silicon Valley men bond in venture capital conference rooms or on weekend bike trips, Ms. Sandberg has been building an alternate networking group of Silicon Valley women. For about seven years, since she was a Google executive, she has held catered monthly dinner parties at her home for a group of several dozen women. Guest speakers have included the feminist and author Gloria Steinem; Steve Ballmer, the C.E.O. of Microsoft; and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, according to three people who have attended the dinners but spoke on condition that they not be identified out of respect for Ms. Sandberg’s privacy. Ms. Sandberg recently invited Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri to attend as a speaker. “I expected to see a lot of women in St. John suits and expensive purses and was pleasantly surprised when it was anything but that,” Senator McCaskill said. “Women had been included that were in the infancy of their careers, her kids were running around, it was very low key. It was clear that she’s the kind of role model that young women are looking for, especially in the tech sector.”

Source: NY Times

There is also an excellent long profile of Sandberg in the New Yorker (2011). A Woman’s Place-Can Sheryl Sandberg upend Silicon Valley’s male-dominated culture?

Steve Job trying to build NeXT

This film, following Steve Jobs in the early days of next, show him both as a visionary and motivator but from minutes 15 to 20 as poor manager who did not ensure that deadlines were met by sticking to agreements about product features.

Overview of the Management System of Southwest and the Leadership Style of Herb Kellerher (44 min)

It is useful to compares this to Jack Welsh and Steve Jobs in his later years (1997-2011) when he was much more focused on creating products that would sell in large numbers.

Steve Jobs reveals important ingredients in becoming successful

Steve Wozniak summaries Steve Jobs shortly after Jobs dies

You don’t speak ill about someone when they just died. But having read the Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs, Wozniak summarizes summarizes Jobs well.

Blackberry has difficulty adjusting its strategy quickly to a changed environment

The leaders of Blackberry did not realized that the iPhone was a real threat until their marketshare had been decimated. The smartphone market is moving so fast that leaders quickly quickly becomes losers because the cannot change quickly enough.  The NY Times reports today:

At the time the first iPhone appeared in 2008, RIM had successfully moved the BlackBerry into the broad consumer market from its base of government and corporate customers. But the company was totally unprepared for the popularity of a phone that lacked a physical keyboard and ran thousands of applications — in effect a versatile Web-connected handheld computer.

RIM’s co-chief executives were initially dismissive of the challenge from Apple, and Mr. Balsillie boasted that the iPhone would enhance RIM’s fortunes by increasing awareness of smartphones.

But the iPhone introduced two broad changes to the smartphone market that had severe consequences for RIM and other phone makers, including Nokia.

The iPhone and its apps shifted the emphasis from hardware to software. Then, the iPhone’s popularity led corporate information technology departments, which once allowed only BlackBerrys to connect to their e-mail networks, to support employees’ iPhones. The arrival of Android-based phones from a variety of manufacturers only compounded RIM’s woes.

Read full story here.

Related: The New Yorker on BlackBerry’s troubles.
Click on “More” for an video message of the new CEO to employees.

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Can American Society Demand that Apple create more factory jobs in the U.S.?

Now that Apple has become at least temporarily the most valuable company in the U.S and the American workers are hurting it is not surprising that the press is focusing on Apple outsourcing all it manufacturing overseas. This article brings into focus the question that we will discuss in session 4 of the class, namely what is or should be the fundamental objective of a particular firm. Who should decided this? It is possible to have many different fundamental objectives. If “yes”, how and who decides what trade-offs are to be be made.

Apple, America, and a Squeezed Middle Class: How U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work in NY Times.

The Daily Show on MBAs Taking an Ethics Oath

Here is a lighthearted take on a serious issue.

New Transparency at Apple under the leadership of Cook?

Notoriously secretive Apple published a list all its suppliers. Is this a sign that Tim Cook wants to break with Steve Jobs policy of keeping as much as possible secret and bring more openness and transparency to Apple? Or is the company simply responding to a new law in California and this disclosure would have happened under Jobs as well?

Read full story by Reuters.

Critics rave about new Windows phone software: Does a new design philosophy take hold at Microsoft?

I was quite puzzled why Nokia would throw out its own smartphone operating system and replace it with Windows since the latter seemed to be quite a dud compared to Apple’s iOS or Android. But today I learned just how good critics think the new Windows operating system is. The NY Times provides an interesting look at how Microsoft finally managed to get a technology out of its company hall that has critics raving.

The tale of how Microsoft created Windows Phone starts with the introduction of the iPhone, in 2007. To Joe Belfiore, now 43, an engineer who oversees software design for Windows Phone, that was the spark.“Apple created a sea change in the industry in terms of the kinds of things they did that were unique and highly appealing to consumers,” Mr. Belfiore said in an interview at Microsoft’s campus here. “We wanted to respond with something that would be competitive, but not the same.”

Read the full NY Times article.

Insider Talk about Reasons for Failure of HP Tablet running WebOS

An article in the NYTimes takes us behind the scenes of HP’s abrupt exit from the tablet market. Palm did not have the organizational capabilities to introduce a tablet into the market. The article suggests that the WebOS operating was fundamentally to flowed to compete successfully with the iPad even when the full organizational resources of HP were thrown behind it. Read article in the NYTimes.

Stanford is beaten in NYC project

Stanford had no experience with building a campus in NYC and bowed out the competition to build new campus in NYC because the strength of the Cornell, which had already a lot of experience building in the city. Read full story in NY Times

Understanding Introverts

I discovered a very useful article describing introverts. All managers, especially if they are extroverts can benefit from getting a deeper understanding of introverts.

Caring for Your Introvert: The habits and needs of a little-understood group.
Do you know someone who needs hours alone every day? Who loves quiet conversations about feelings or ideas, and can give a dynamite presentation to a big audience, but seems awkward in groups and maladroit at small talk? Who has to be dragged to parties and then needs the rest of the day to recuperate? Who growls or scowls or grunts or winces when accosted with pleasantries by people who are just trying to be nice? If so, do you tell this person he is “too serious,” or ask if he is okay? Regard him as aloof, arrogant, rude? Redouble your efforts to draw him out? If you answered yes to these questions, chances are that you have an introvert on your hands—and that you aren’t caring for him properly. Read more in the Atlantic.

An overview of Jack Welsh’s career (43 min)

Why do a few companies succeed for a long time and most don’t

The economist published two useful articles on corporate longevity. The first article examines why IBM, despite a few crisis, has been able to reinvent itself and celebrate it 100s anniversary in 2011. It contrasts the firm to DELL, Microsoft and others. IBM @ 100

The second uses the context of the failure of outside CEOs HP to questions whether outsiders know enough to run a complex high-tech company. The Trouble with Outside CEO Appointments.

American CEO tries to explain bankruptcy restructuring to public

CEO Video Announcement

Economist’s commentary behind the reasons of Chapter 11 filing.

Flat World Knowledge Provides Textbooks for Free

Do you need to learn a new subject but you want to do it on your own and not pay for it. Flat World Knowledge publishes free textbooks if you simply want to read them online and not print them. I found it useful to look up a textbook on project management. For a full category of free textbooks, go to flatworldknowledge.com.

A Conversation with Malcom Gladwell

Peter Capelli recently interviewed Malcolm Gladwell for Knowledge@Wharton. Gladwell talks about the relationship of what he does to academic research and makes this interesting observation.

The sad fact about being a writer is that in a good year, you have five good ideas. It is not like it is every day; it is more like every two months. But you do become alert to that theme. When you are writing a book, you are assembling little bits of evidence and then figuring out which ones are relevant and which ones are secondary.

Read full conversation here.

John Sculley insightful interview about the mistakes he made at Apple and about Steve Jobs

I have almost finished reading Walter Isaacson revealing new Steve Jobs biography. But a long interview with John Sculley in 2010 provides additional details that allow us to understand the history of Apple and personal computers much better. Sculley fired Steve Jobs and in this candid interview says that it would have been better if Jobs had been made CEO in 1985.  Read the full interview here.

Fundamental Objective for Founder of HTC is making unique products rather than margin

Chou [CEO of HTC] said he cares more about making unique products than making good profit margins. He listens and acts quickly. Often, when Beats co-founder and music producer Jimmy Iovine calls with an idea, Chou will have sent off an e-mail about it before the conversation is over, Iovine said. Chou said he tests the music himself. A $300 million controlling stake in Beats Electronics LLC, the headphones maker backed by rapper Dr. Dre, was part of a strategy to lure music enthusiasts with a marketing plan that included bringing singer Lady Gaga to an Oct. 6 audio party in London to release the HTC Sensation XL, its first handset featuring Beats audio technology and headphones.

Source: Bloomberg BusinessWeek

Reinventing Post Offices in a Digital World

The American Postal Service is facing bankruptcy with $9 billion dollar negative cash flow. One way to come up with a new business model is to see what happens in other parts of the world. It turns out that European postal services have already spent to past 20 years trying to reinvent themselves, as detailed in this article in the NY Times.