Syllabus for Wharton MGMT 782 Course

Syllabus is available for download here: MGMT-782 Syllabus

Posted on Jan 07, 12

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.

Posted on Feb 03, 12

An 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.

Posted on Feb 01, 12

Steve Jobs reveals important ingredients in becoming successful

Posted on Feb 01, 12

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.

Posted on Feb 01, 12

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.

Click on “More” for an video message of the new CEO to employees.

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Posted on Jan 22, 12

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.

Posted on Jan 22, 12

The Daily Show on MBAs Taking an Ethics Oath

Here is a lighthearted take on a serious issue.

Posted on Jan 16, 12

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.

Posted on Jan 14, 12

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.

Posted on Jan 08, 12

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.

Posted on Jan 02, 12

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

Posted on Dec 17, 11

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

Posted on Dec 01, 11

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.

Posted on Nov 29, 11

American CEO tries to explain bankruptcy restructuring to public

CEO Video Announcement

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

Posted on Nov 29, 11