COURSE NUMBER:
EWMBA290T-11
COURSE TITLE:
Strategy for the Information Technology Firm
UNITS OF CREDIT:
3 units
INSTRUCTOR:
Reza Moazzami
E-MAIL ADDRESS: rezam@haas.berkeley.edu
CLASS WEB PAGE
LOCATION: http://bspace.berkeley.edu
MEETING
DAY(S)/TIME: Saturdays, 1:00PM-4:00PM
PREREQUISITE(S):
EWMBA Core Curriculum
CLASS FORMAT:
Topics are covered through case studies and first-hand accounts from guest
speakers.
REQUIRED READINGS:
Course reader and additional readings from the Internet.
BASIS FOR FINAL
GRADE: Case study responses and class participation.
ABSTRACT OF
COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
This course is intended to be the 'capstone' strategy and
general management course for students interested in the global information
technology industry.
Target audience:
- Students pursuing careers in the global information
technology industry, including both those who are new to the industry as well
as those who have had prior experience in the industry.
- Students pursuing careers in services firms (e.g.
management consulting, investment banking, investment management) focusing on
the IT industry will also find this course highly useful.
Learning objectives:
- View the IT industry through the eyes of the general
manager/CEO of an IT firm (whether a start-up or an industry giant).
- Understand how to evaluate strategic options and their
consequences.
- Understand the perspectives of various industry players
and be able to anticipate how they are likely to behave under various
circumstances.
In particular, we want to analyze responses to the
following questions:
- What are the economics of IT production and
distribution and how does the use of open source development and cloud
computing change the economics?
- What role do network effects and standards have on
adoption of new products and services?
- How are IT products and services marketed and distributed?
- What are potential ways to price new products/services
and what are the tradeoffs/consequences?
- How do IT firms compete and what are
the sources of competitive advantage?
- How are business models for IT products and services
evolving?
- What are the key regulatory and public policy issues
facing the IT industry and how do they impact the individual
entrepreneur/innovator?
FAQ:
1) How does this course differ from other courses at
Haas?
- Some courses teach functional skills you will need in
the future: accounting, marketing, corporate finance, product management, etc.
- Some courses present tools and frameworks for analyzing
situations: economics, strategy, game theory, innovation, entrepreneurship,
etc.
This course applies concepts from many of your prior
courses as well as introducing some potentially novel/unfamiliar concepts to a
specific context: the IT industry, past, present, and future.
Our goal is to gain an in-depth understanding of one
specific industry to the point that when presented with a specific case, you
will be able to analyze the situation with nearly the same rigor and depth as
the general manager/CEO in the case. In fact, in some cases, you
will be analyzing the situation together WITH the real-life general manager/CEO
in the case.
2) I already have many years of experience in the IT
industry. Is this course useful for me?
Yes, you are one of the core constituencies for this
course. You will gain much broader and deeper insight into how the industry
functions, the perspectives of key players in the industry, how key players
interact with one another, and the strategic issues/dilemmas facing
management. You will also view your prior experience and the issues
you encountered with a new perspective.
3) I am starting my own Big Data/Social/Mobile/Gaming
company. Is this course useful for me?
Yes, you are another one of the core constituencies for
this course. You will gain insight into how to build those critical
first relationships with key players in the industry, how to anticipate how
various players will likely react to an innovative new IT product or service,
and how to build a large-scale sustainable business around this innovation.
4) I am not an engineer. Will I be able to
keep up?
In many cases, yes. Although we will cover
many technology sectors and emerging technologies in case studies, this course
is NOT intended to serve as a technology tutorial or a managing information
systems (MIS) course. This course focuses on general management and
strategy in the IT industry. It does not focus on IT
itself. We will delve into the technology only to the extent
necessary to understand the choices facing the general
manager. Supplementary technology tutorials will be provided as reference
in some cases.
BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCH:
Reza Moazzami has over twenty years of experience as an
engineer, entrepreneur/CEO, investor, and educator in the IT and communications
industries. Dr. Moazzami received B.S. with highest honors, M.S., and Ph.D.
degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley, and a
MBA from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. He holds eleven patents and has been a speaker at numerous
technology industry conferences and leading universities.