Click here for a video that illustrates a Real Option to Defer. How to use the last photos on a role of film…Contributed by Russ Coff
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
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 Carpenter
The Tinkertoy exercise is simple but exposes students to a variety of issues linked to formulating and implementing strategy. This deeper application of the common ice breaker has been published by Coff & Hatfield (2003) in JSME (Click here for full text). There are a number of slight modifications that make the exercise very valuable for different topics in a strategy course. For example:
The exercise can demonstrate key features of the resource based perspective and first mover advantage by having the teams execute in waves and watch how much imitation occurs (often team stick to their planned strategy even if they watch another team fail using that plan).
Here the lions wait for their food to deliver itself. Did they know to wait under that tree? It is very funny but also explores why planning is necessary…
Click Here to download a video of lions “hunting”
Contributed by Russ Coff
I developed a number (39!) of mini-cases to demonstrate a range of strategy topics. I usually use the cases and their attached questions at the beginning of a lecture or part way through to break up the pace. I find that they provide a strong, shared basis for talking about particular subjects in strategy, and can be used to promote debate and discussion. These are found in the Test Bank accompanying the Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson Strategic Management textbook, Fifth Edition (2003).
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
“I have the students do an international JV negotiation exercise with the case “Thai Chempest” (available through Prentice Hall’s database of cases). One team plays the role of the U.S. company, one team is the local Thai company, and the rest of the class are individual Thai government agencies (their job is to hash out an incentive package to entice the foreign investment–not as easy as it sounds, as each gov’t agency has its own set of priorities). This exercise takes 2 hours and the students really get into it.”
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
At the 2003 SMS Conference, Mason Carpenter (me), Amy Hillman, W. Gerry Sanders, & Gerry Keim presented a program on challenges and opportunities of teaching extended session strategy classes. The hand-out with several of the pertinent suggestions are provided in the attached handout.
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
In business, why do the stupid always rise to the top? And what’s an “action item?” These and other mysteries are explored in this animated series that chronicles the corporate life of an engineer named Dilbert and his talking dog, Dogbert. Just like Dilbert, you could waste days previewing these hilarious digs on business (I open my M&A class with the opening minutes from The Merger video).
This course is an introduction to game theory and strategic thinking. Ideas such as dominance, backward induction, Nash equilibrium, evolutionary stability, commitment, credibility, asymmetric information, adverse selection, and signaling are discussed and applied to games played in class and to examples drawn from economics, politics, the movies, and elsewhere. Open Yale Courses provides free and open access to a selection of introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at Yale University. The aim of the project is to expand access to educational materials for all who wish to learn.
Click here to access the link:
http://oyc.yale.edu/economics/econ-159
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
Nice snippet on the notion of fail forward fast in the context of professional football – I use it to talk about the notion in the context of high velocity decision making.
Click the link below to access the video:
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-preseason/09000d5d80154651/Cameron-Fail-Forward-Fast
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
This is a short reading that Mason put together to explain the strategy diamond framework and the star model. While these are not his frameworks, the short reading is handy for those who want to use these frameworks in class.
Click here to download Mason’s Diamonds & Stars reading
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
I’ve started a portfolio of YouTube videos under TheStragegyProf channel on YouTube. I will still chronicle and link to the best ones here as well.
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
Dan Heath, co-author of Made to Stick, speaks with Fast Company about running a successful business by keeping things simple.
View the video at Openforum.com
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
Crisis of Credit, Parts I and II, can be used to illustrate how short term decisions have long term consequences and to capture how large scale environmental shifts impact business strategy.
Part I:
Part II:
The BBC nature show Planet Earth contains a battle between a polar bear and a herd of walruses which can be used to tease out a discussion about competition.
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
Flat world publishing offers a disruptive business model in academic and textbook publishing. The Ketchen and Short Strategy text is an example of how this is being executed in the strategy field. It is offered for free in the online version.
Flat World Knowledge is a great example of a blossoming Blue Ocean Strategy. The Atlas Black excerpt is based on one of their new graphic novels.
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
Carpenter Strategy Toolbox 