Do We Need Managers? Valve doesn’t…

Valve Corporation is a game developer that has 400 employees, no bosses, and is very successful. How can you have a structure that flat? The company, a spawn from Microsoft, seems to be doing just fine thank you. The information at the following seven web links (including a podcast and the employee handbook) contain all of the raw material required for a live case:

I think you could probably just give these seven web links to students, say “discuss,” and get out of the way.

Contributed by Rich Makadok

Quiznos Business Model: Exploit?

This video describes the business model (musically) by which franchise owners were encouraged to open stores that they knew would be unprofitable. The business model was more about selling franchises than selling sub sandwiches. Very profitable for Quiznos but not so much for their partners. Here is a CBS news story on the resulting class action lawsuit.

Contributed by Aya Chacar

A Cost Advantage From High Wages?

Many students assume that low wages are a necessary component of a low cost strategy. However, the many of our best examples of cost advantages pay their employers higher wages. In groceries, Aldi comes to mind – they chased Wal-Mart out of Germany because Wal-Mart couldn’t match their prices. Wayne Cascio writes about Costco’s advantage over Sam’s Club. Samsung is another very nice case of this as their low cost advantage is linked to higher productivity obtained from high wage workers. This insulates them for a time from the threat of Chinese competition which relies initially on low wage workers. The only way for them to catch up was to invest in human capital (see the Samsung Electronics case).

Contributed by Aya Chacar

Steve Jobs Version 2 Released

Of course Steve Jobs’ passing raises the question of whether Apple’s capabilities are housed more in organizational routines or were lost when Jobs died. This ONN spoof describes Apple’s release of a new and improved Steve Jobs (now in a white turtleneck with curly hair).

Contributed by Russ Coff

Crimson Tide: Launch the Missiles!

This scene depicts a confrontation over whether or not to launch nuclear missiles. The scene illustrates a series of cognitive biases and blind spots in decision-making.


Contributed by Paul Friga

Alliance: Save the Antelope!

This is a very short/funny clip depicting a man who outruns a Cheetah to save an antelope. There are lots of possible uses. Perhaps the man is the antelope’s strong alliance partner. It could demonstrate unusual (dynamic/global/human capital) capabilities. Please comment if you see other uses…

Contributed by Russ Coff

Outsourcing Human Capital

Increasingly suppliers of staffing services make specific investments in their clients. What, then, is the role of firm-specificity in determining firm boundaries? This video pushes us to ask these questions with a humorous twist.

Contributed by Russ Coff

Cup Stacking Record: Speed vs. flexibility

This video shows the world record in cup stacking. The task requires speed in a repetetive task. It might be thought of as a capability however, it is clear that it is not about flexibility or adaptability. This helps to illustrate the distinction of a dynamic capability — this is not strategy under uncertainty.

A bit of trivia is that Emily is the CEO’s daughter for SpeedStacks, the company that makes specialized cups for stacking and the primary backer of the “World Sport Stacking Association.” She might actually be a resource for her father’s company…

Contributed by Russ Coff

15 Lateral Passes to Score: A dynamic capability?

This video shows a play one could never plan. Might it be possible to train a team to improvise when the opportunity presented?

Contributed by Mason CarpenterMason Carpenter

Article and Short Videos on Excellent Teachers

Great article (click here) and series of short videos on developing teaching capabilities.  Even though this is set in the context of elementary schools, I can see the relevance for my undergrads, MBAs and executive.

Contributed by Mason CarpenterMason Carpenter

Envisioning the Future: Write your own BHAG

 “I teach the topic of Strategic Vision at the beginning of the semester in Strategic Management for undergraduates, and was drawing on Collins & Porras’ HBR article dealing with this topic (Sept/Oct 1996). They discuss envisioning the future as one aspect of developing a strategic vision for a company. Envisioning the future includes having a long term goal they call a “BHAG” (big, hairy, audacious goal) and writing a vivid narrative description of how things will look when the BHAG is achieved. My senior undergraduate in-class exercise was for them to write their own BHAG for their career 5 years from now, along with a vivid description of what a day in their professional life would be like (as they might describe it to a former classmate in five years). For some of them, this is the first time they thought in concrete terms this far into their professional futures. I got very positive feedback from the class on this exercise and some of them did a remarkably good job with it. I read two of them aloud to the class (anonymously). I sometimes find it difficult to craft meaningful exercises early in the semester before we have gotten into the “meat” of the concepts of Strategic Management, and was glad to get a good response from my students on this one.”

“Where have you been” ice breaker

In classes that have a distinct international bent, I use a simple case-based exercise to kick off the first class.  The Ivey Case 9B11M107, “Where have you been: An exercise to assess your exposure to the rest of the world’s people,” is a fun way to show participants both how diverse the world is, along with how little exposure they’ve actually had to the rest of the world’s people than they previously thought.

Team Assignment Ice Breaker

“Perhaps this qualifies. To assign teams, I use a 5-minute drill that (1) helps the students mix and get to know a few others, and (2) results in heterogeneity on at least one dimension. I have the class line up in a row. The first in line is the person whose home (i.e., parents home, not campus housing) is closest to campus. The last in line is the student whose home is most distant. In mingling to decide where they stand in line, they get to meet lots of people as they work out the logistics. Then, we number off (according to how many groups are necessary) 1-X. I suppose other sorting criteria could be used by schools where most of the students come from the same geographic area. But at a school like ours, they span the globe and it works quite well.”

Preparing Future Faculty Program

Click here to open the link. This is an NSF sponsored teaching initiative. However the resources are not specific to business or strategy.

Contributed by Mason CarpenterMason Carpenter

 

Value Appropriation with a Midas Touch

This story on “A Current Affair” depicts the tremendous negative impact of Midas’ corporate troubles on the lives of its franchisees. It explores value appropriation between a franchisee/franchiser. This illustrates how extreme value appropriation efforts can lead to value destruction. Once the company was in trouble, the CEO was forced out and the stakeholders vied for whatever value they could gain from the pieces.Here is an article on the sale of the Australian operations.

Contributed by Aya Chacar

VW environmental initiative

A collection of clever and funny video vignettes compiled by VW to show innovative ways of getting people involved in bettering the environment. FunTheory

Dr. Erwin Danneels-NBR Innovation Commentary

Commentary by Dr. Erwin Danneels from WPI on June 19, 2008. The focus of this commentary is on the effects of open communication on innovation at firms.

Contributed by Mason CarpenterMason Carpenter

LinkedIn Profile Extreme Makeover by Guy Kawasaki

LinkedIn Profile Extreme Makeover by Guy Kawasaki

Contributed by Mason CarpenterMason Carpenter

The Unofficial LinkedIn User’s Guide for Executives and Professionals

The Unofficial LinkedIn User’s Guide for Executives and Professionals

Contributed by Mason CarpenterMason Carpenter

Networking Like Obama

Access the Powerpoint here: Networking Like Obama

Contributed by Mason CarpenterMason Carpenter