COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA 299E-11
Please note that this is a previous year's course information. Information for Sp'10 will be updated when available
COURSE TITLE: Competitive Strategy
UNITS OF CREDIT: 3 Units
INSTRUCTOR: Gregory La Blanc
E-MAIL ADDRESS: lablanc@haas.berkeley.edu
CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION (HTTP URL):
MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Wednesday, 6:00PM - 9:30 PM
PREREQUISITE(S): EWMBA Core Curriculum.
This course will emphasize the economic aspects of strategy. Students should therefore be comfortable with the tools of
microeconomics.
CLASS FORMAT: Classes will be a mixture of lectures and in-class analyses of cases. The lectures will focus on economic models and theories that are useful for understanding strategy issues. While economics will be the language of the class, generalizable results and intuitions will be emphasized instead of the mathematical and technical aspects of the models. Cases are an opportunity to use the analytical tools presented in lectures, and to see how they can be used to better understand and design profitable responses to specific situations. Case analysis in class will be carried out through class discussion and by student presentations prepared in advance.
REQUIRED READINGS: The course will use a packet of readings and case materials, as well as readings from several textbooks.
BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Grades will be based on written analyses of cases to be discussed in class, a semester-long strategy research project, and an in-class presentation.
ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
The purpose of Competitive Strategy is to enable students to design profitable strategies that are responsive to the characteristics
of the firm and the nature of competition in the industry or market.
In particular, the course will address the following major questions:
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Gregory LaBlanc has degrees in business, law, and economics from the University of California at Berkeley, George Mason University and the
University of Pennsylvania. Before coming to Berkeley, he taught at the University of Virginia, Duke University and the Wharton School, and
worked in strategy consulting and competitive intelligence. His research concerns the impact of behavior, information, and human capital on
organizational structure and corporate governance. In particular, he is interested in the role of informational opacity in self enforcing
contracts and as a substitute for legal barriers to entry.