COURSE NUMBER: MBA217.2

COURSE TITLE: Competitive and Corporate Strategy

UNITS OF CREDIT: 2

INSTRUCTOR: Paul Tiffany, Ph.D.

E-MAIL ADDRESS: tiffany@haas.berkeley.edu

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Monday 7:30 -10:30 AM (ten class meetings)

Please note the unusual starting time of this class – 7:30 AM!

PREREQUISITE(S):  Your having survived the first year MBA core. This course is open to all second-year students.

CLASS FORMAT:

The course will be participatory, involving class discussion and case studies. The instructor will also offer lectures throughout the course on the various topics that are discussed (e.g., strategic planning process model, competitive analysis, generic strategies, etc.)

REQUIRED READINGS:

Readings for the course will consist of articles, book excerpts, lecture notes and cases provided in a course reader available through study.net. As well, a required paperback text on strategy will be used in the course.

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE:

Course grading requirements will be a combination of classroom participation, a case write-up, and a final exam. As well, an optional group project involving a strategic analysis of a real firm will be offered for one unit (thus though who desire a three-unit course can obtain this via the group project).

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:

Competitive Strategy is a course in management designed to introduce students to the processes involved in industry and market analysis, the development of a business strategy, competitive positioning, planning and the implementation of an integrated business program. These activities, however, all take place in the context of competition with other firms who are often after similar goals and objectives, including market share, profits and control over scarce resources. So the essential drama--in this course as well as the business world at large--is to be found in the playing out of competing strategies as companies aim to achieve their own goals and objectives, often at the expense of their rivals.

We will assume the perspective of a general, enterprise-level manager charged with overall responsibility for a company's performance. We will then apply the concepts introduced in the course and the processes outlined above to firms involved in a single business area as well as multiple lines of business, competing in both domestic markets and international venues, and to firms that engage in the production sector as well as the service sector of the economy.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:

Professor Tiffany is currently on the faculty of both The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. He has taught management courses at Wharton since 1983; he was given the Anvil Award as the best professor in the Wharton graduate school in 1985, and the Lindback Award as the outstanding professor at the University of Pennsylvania in 1990.  He was presented with the Cheit Outstanding Teaching Award from the Haas Executive MBA program for both 2003 and 2004; Dr. Tiffany has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses at Berkeley since 1994.  Dr. Tiffany earned his undergraduate degree from Loyola University of Los Angeles, an MBA from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.  In addition to teaching, he currently serves as an executive educator and/or consultant to numerous firms and agencies in both the public and private sector, in the U.S. and throughout the world. His book THE DECLINE OF AMERICANSTEEL was published by Oxford University Press in 1988,and a Japanese edition was offered the following year.  His book BUSINESS PLANS FOR DUMMIES was issued in a 2nd edition in January 2005, after the first edition went through fifteen printings in ten languages. Per Inc. magazine, this book is considered the standard reference for start-ups doing a business plan, especially in Silicon Valley.