(BUS 13) Syllabus

The Micro MBA: Entrepreneurial Business Management
Stanford Continuing Studies Program
Spring Quarter 1998
Instructor: Kenneth L. Hess

This course will focus on the issues involved in business decision-making for high-technology companies participating in rapidly changing markets.

The course will be a mix of lectures, discussions, and guest speakers. Studying proven procedures, techniques, and decision criteria, we will analyze how to "get the odds in your favor" rather than relying on chance or wishful thinking to achieve your business objectives. Silicon Valley successes and failures will provide a rich source of examples. At the end of the course, students will possess a more enlightened understanding of business strategy which they can use to evaluate their own projects or prospective employers.

The first lecture will discuss strategy from the perspective of a general manager. Then for the second through the fourth lecture the focus will shift to the level of the product team to discuss marketing, the product development life cycle, and the product launch. The final lecture will once again be from the perspective of a general manager, describing the management and leadership required in every successful company.

.	Read Before Class	Class Agenda	Tools for Our Toolbox	Guest Speaker
May 7	Note on the Structural Analysis of Industries (9-376-054) Industry Structural Change (9-377-051) Web site notes for this lecture	Introduction & housekeeping Student questionnaire Lecture: Business strategy	Definition of strategy Consistency check list for a strategy Porter's five competitive forces Porter's structural change forces Core competence Price/features matrix	.
May 14	Intel Corporation (A): The DRAM Decision (bp256a) Web site notes for this lecture	Review Intel case Lecture: Product marketing before the product ships	Newness map Opportunity risk map Product life cycle Customer surveys Focus groups User testing and tracking Personal experience	.
May 21	Scott Cook and Intuit (9-396-282) Web site notes for this lecture	Review Intuit case Lecture: The product development life cycle	Project timeline Product requirements document Internal and external specifications Alternative development models	Jacqueline Maartense, Director of Online Sales, Intuit
May 28	Living on Internet Time (Netscape, Yahoo, Microsoft, NetDynamics) (9-697-052) Web site notes for this lecture	For those taking course for a grade, papers due BEFORE class begins. Review Living on Internet Time case Lecture: Product marketing in launching & supporting the product	Forecasting techniques Pricing Distribution Marketing communications Basic quantitative analysis	TBD
June 4	The Job of the General Manager (9-388-035) What is Strategy? (Reprint 96608) Bill Gates & the Management of Microsoft (9-392-019)	Lecture: Putting it all together Review Microsoft case Course evaluation	Overall consistency Management by objective	.

5/5/98