COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA 210.1
This course is cross-listed with the FTMBA Program
COURSE TITLE: Strategy, Structure, and Incentives
UNITS OF CREDIT: 3.0
INSTRUCTOR: Jonathan Leonard
E-MAIL ADDRESS: leonard@haas.berkeley.edu
MEETING DAY/TIME: Mondays, 6:00PM-9:30PM
PREREQUISITE(S): Completion of EWMBA Core Curriculum
CLASS FORMAT: Case Discussion, Lectures
REQUIRED READINGS: Course Reader, Cases, Text
BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Class Participation, Examination, Team
Project.
ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
Business success depends upon strategy, structure, and incentives.
The focus here is on using insights from economics to develop structure,
tactics, and incentives to achieve the firm's goals. Competitive advantage is
achieved through the management of the firm's resources, as well as those of
upstream suppliers, network and alliance partners, and downstream distributors.
We develop a framework for analyzing organizational architecture, focusing on
the allocation of decision rights, the measurement of performance, and the
design of incentives. We focus on managing the vertical chain of upstream
suppliers and downstream distributors, including the fundamental make or buy
decisions that determine the limits of the firm. Our discussion links the
competitive landscape to the firm's external and internal strategic decisions.
We also examine techniques for dealing with informational asymmetries. A major
focus of this course is the design and operation of incentive and performance
management systems both within the firm and in external contracts.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Professor Jonathan Leonard also teaches the Haas Core Strategy
class. He is a labor economist and an expert on human resource management.
He has served as an advisor on labor issues to the Executive Office of the
President, the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Departments of Labor and Education, the
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission,
the OECD, Employment and Immigration Canada, the Kansai Economic Association,
the Swiss National Fund, Brazil’s Department of Justice, the European Union's
Employment Network, and to major U.S. unions and employers. He is a member of
the Economic Analysis and Policy group at Haas, and has taught numerous times
in the Haas Core. Professor Leonard has twice been honored to be
selected by Haas students as the winner of the Cheit Teaching Award,
first for his teaching in the MBA program, then again for his teaching in the Evening
MBA program.