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.  Exchange students: please contact instructor before registering for the course.

CLASS FORMAT: Topics are covered through case studies and first-hand accounts from guest speakers.

REQUIRED READINGS: Reader and other sources

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Brief writeups, paper, 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.