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Instructor: Dr.
Donald Neubaum
Office: 400E Bexell Hall
Phone 541-737-6036
Email don.neubaum@bus.oregonstate.edu
Office Hours: TT 12:00 –
1:30PM, or by appointment
COURSE POLICIES
Information about WIC and services and information available to students is
available at http://wic.oregonstate.edu/survivalguide. Please refer to that page before handing in any
assignments.
Course Assignments and Grading
Grades will be determined
as follows:
Individual Grades – 80%
Midterm Exam 22.5%
Final Exam 22.5%
Industry Analysis 20%
Cases – 2 @ 5% each 10%
Article Summary and Presentation 10%
Group Grades – 15%
Strategic Presentation 15%
Final grades will be
determined based on the following percentages:
A 93-100 A- 90-93
B+ 88-90 B 83-88
B- 80-83 C+ 78-80
C 73-78 C- 70-73
D+ 68-70 D 63-68
D- 60-63 F 60 or lower
Individual
Grades
Midterm and Final Exams
Midterm and final exams
will be a combination of multiple choice and short answer questions (probably
about 60% multiple choice, and 40% short answer). For the most part, questions will come from
the lecture notes. However, your text has a number of bolded terms in each chapter.
Those terms are certainly fair game for multiple choice questions. As the
quarter progresses, I will give you study guides to help you prepare for the
exams. In general, make-up exams are discouraged. Should you have a prior
conflict, please see me about arranging a mutually agreeable time to take a
make-up exam. Failure to make
arrangements to take the first exam in a timely fashion could result in the
final exam being worth 45% of your grade, substituting for your first exam
score.
Industry Analysis
Early in the quarter, each
student will be assigned one of several industries chosen by the instructor.
You are then required to conduct an individual
external and competitive analysis of this industry. This individual paper is
expected to be approximately 12-15 pages long and is worth 20% of your grade.
Students are referred to my COB-Storage website to find more explicit
instructions and expectations for this paper. Papers are due at the beginning
of class on February 12, 2009. Twenty
percent (20%) will be deducted for every 24 hour period the paper is handed in
late. Unlike the cases and strategic
issue summary, the industry analysis is only graded once and can not be revised
for a better grade. I am happy, however, to review drafts of your paper before
the due date.
I will calculate a team average for this Industry Analysis paper. Every
member of the team with the highest average in each section will get 5 points
add to their Industry Analysis paper.
Cases
As you will note from the class
schedule, we will cover two formal cases this quarter (Napster and Nike). I
might also assign an alternative writing assignment which might substitute for
one or both of these cases. You are
required to write two papers, each worth 5% of your grade, for a total of 10%.
These cases are due at the beginning of the class we are scheduled to discuss
them. For each of these cases, you will be assigned a series of questions you
will need to answer in your write up. Each of these write ups will be 3 pages. Papers
are due at the beginning of class – 20% deducted for every 24 hour period the
paper is handed in late.
As part of the WIC
requirement, you will offer peer reviews of other students’ write ups. On the day they are due, you will exchange
(not trade) papers with one member of your team. Each student will then read
another’s paper and give constructive feedback to their teammate. Students then
have the opportunity to revise their paper based on this feedback. You are not
expected to rewrite the paper, but you are expected to identify typos, mistakes
in grammar, and mistakes in fact/reasoning, as well as offer suggestions for
improving the prose and structure of their written case analysis. You have
until the date of the Final Exam to hand in these assignments for a grade. You
may revise the paper ONCE after receiving a grade to improve your score, based
on feedback from me.
Strategic Issues Summary
In an effort to avoid
subjecting you to the cruel and unfortunate fate of having to listen solely to
me the entire quarter, I am soliciting your skills to help relieve you and your
classmates of this punishment. In particular, you are required to identify an
article related to a specific aspect of strategy. Articles from the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Forbes,
Business Week and alike are best suited
for this assignment. You can also easily find articles related to business and
strategy at Yahoo, MSN, and Google as
well.
You are required to:
1) write a two-page, double spaced summary of the
article. In particular, explain the article and how it relates to strategy. You
will hand in this summary for grading. I
will offer you feedback on this assignment, which you will then use to revise
your paper if you desire. Revised papers are due the day of the final exam. You
may rewrite this paper ONCE for re-grading based on feedback from me. You can only earn back points you lost on
your paper. The presentation portion of
this assignment can not be re-graded.
2) create a SHORT PowerPoint presentation
(approximately 3-5 slides, about 3-5 minutes) summarizing the article for the
class. You will also hand in a copy of your slides for grading.
3) provide 2-3 questions at the end of your
powerpoint presentation intended to stimulate class discussion of the topic.
This assignment is worth
10% of your grade. I will pass around
sign-up sheets so that you can sign up for specific days. You will be graded
50% on your paper and 50% on your presentation. Ten percent of your grade will
be deducted if you are not ready to present on the day you signed up. If you
miss your assigned day, you are expected to present the next class session.
Points will continue to be deducted (10%) until you present and complete your
written summary.
Please bring an extra copy
of your powerpoint slides to class so that I may use them to grade your
presentation.
Group Assignments
Early in the quarter, you
will be divided into groups (or better yet, you will divide yourself into your
own groups) of four or five. In these groups, you will work together on
ungraded activities, as well as a strategic plan – presentation.
Strategic Plan –
Presentation
– As a team, you will conduct an analysis of a firm of your choosing. You,
however, must get prior approval of your choice from me. Your research will
culminate with a 20 minute presentation of your analysis, including
recommendations. Your analysis and plan will be presented to the class on
either March 10th or March 12th.
Specific presentation days will be assigned later in the term. Teams
must bring me a copy of their slides on the day of their presentation. This assignment is worth 15% of your grade.
Peer Evaluation
On the day of the final,
each team member will complete a Peer Evaluation form for each member in their
group. I will use these forms to calculate an individual Peer Evaluation score
for every member in your group. These forms will be used to adjust individual
grades on the strategic plan – presentation up or down by the amount warranted
by your peers’ evaluation of your contribution to the presentation as well as
the team specials contest. If your group
members report you did little to no work throughout the quarter, then your
grade will reflect this. Your group grades will be a reflection of the effort
you invested. If your group members report you went beyond the call of duty to
aid the group, then your grade might get boosted accordingly. Grades can be adjusted up and down by as much
as 50%, depending on the severity or strength of your peers’ feedback.
One Minute Papers
At the end of some classes,
I will ask you to write what I call a “one-minute paper.” This is an ungraded
assignment, but is considered part of your class participation and the WIC
requirement. In a one minute paper, you may write on a variety of topics,
including 1) something you learned in class, if anything; 2) giving an example
of a topic we spoke of in class; 3) asking a question or seeking clarification;
4) making a comment about class; or 5) anything else. I will read these after
each class and respond, if necessary, to your comments or thoughts.
I will also assess your
attendance, participation and one-minute papers throughout the quarter.
Students who regularly participate will receive more credit than those students
who are either not prepared or do not contribute during these exercises and
assignments. While your participation and attendance are not specifically
graded, final letter grades might be adjusted upwards, or downwards, (up or
down a full letter grade) based upon my assessment of your level of engagement
throughout the quarter. Students present
every class session for the entire quarter will earn 5 bonus points on their
final exam.
Academic Dishonesty
Cheating is a violation of student academic
behavior standards. This may include:
a) Unauthorized assistance
or communication to another through written, visual, or oral means.
b) Presentation of material
which has been obtained by someone else's effort and used as part of an exam,
assignment or project.
c) Unauthorized possession
of course related material.
d) Plagiarism, whereby
another's work is used without any indication of the source, thereby attempting
to convey the impression that such work is the student's own, including the
failure to credit ideas or material taken.
e) Students who assist
others in any of these activities can be considered equally responsible.
When a violation of student academic behavior
standards becomes known, the instructor shall take appropriate measures,
including the assignment of an F for the class grade to the recommendation of
further disciplinary action. This action
is permitted by Academic Regulations and Procedures as described in the
Schedule of Classes. I expect you to know and understand these policies and
procedures. If there is any doubt about their meaning and interpretation, ask
me for an explanation.
Both of the Strategic
Presentations and Industry Analysis require substantial research. You are
expected to use both the library and the Internet to find information about the
industries/companies you are researching. You must, however, properly cite your
source material. This includes a complete bibliography, as well as references
imbedded into the text of the paper.
Saying “I did not know” is not considered a viable
excuse because now you know. Being "sloppy" with paraphrasing or referencing
are not legitimate excuses. You can’t just copy and paste sections from the
work of others. You must use your own
words. In general, direct quotes from
other sources (which must be included in quotation marks), should not exceed
3-4 lines per quotation. If you
plagiarize, then I can only assume that it was your intent to be deceitful. Do
not wait until the last moment to write your papers. The temptation tends to be
greatest the closer the due date arrives. If nothing else, it is better to hand
in your paper a day or two late (and be penalized 20 or 40 points) than to fail
the course.
See http://oregonstate.edu/admin/stucon/achon.htm
for more information.
Standing-O
To earn a five-point bonus
on your first exam, I allow you the opportunity to do a standing-O. In a
standing-O, you come to the front of the class and announce a recent
accomplishment or achievement you have received. After you tell us of your
experience, everyone in the class will applaud your efforts. While you may do
as many Standing-Os you want in the quarter, you can only earn the 5 point
bonus once. Standing-Os can be done anytime during the quarter. Those done after
the mid-term can still be used to add 5 bonus points to the mid-term exam
grade.
Team Specials
Throughout the quarter, I
will be offering a series of activities, bonuses, tasks, or assignments worth a
variety of points. These may be academic (like a chapter quiz), or just
something goofy (name a piece of art contest). Each team is responsible for
keeping track of its own points. Each team will create their own team specials
folder to keep track of these assignments. Team special scoresheet are available
on my website. You can keep track of
your progress there. At the end of the semester, the teams with the most points
will be awarded the following awards:
Third
Place - Opt out of one short
answer question on the final
Everything is Relative
As you will learn in class,
everything in strategy is relative. Your performance in the class is evaluated
not only by some standard I set, but also by your performance relative to your
classmates. What does that mean for you? It means this class is competitive.
You are competing against your classmates when taking your exams, writing your
papers, and doing your presentations. In
other words, you might inadvertently LOWER your grade by help another classmate
boost theirs. Do you own work.
SCHEDULE FOR WINTER 2009
(EXAM AND ASSIGNMENT/PRESENTATION DATES ARE FIXED; THE LECTURE SCHEDULE
MIGHT HAVE TO BE REVISED BASED ON PROGRESS)
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Dates |
Content |
Assignment Deadlines |
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Week 1 |
Tue 1/6 |
Course Introduction Tale of Three Tales Chapter 1-2 |
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Thu 1/8 |
Robin Hood Chapter 1-2 |
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Week 2 |
Tue 1/13 |
Chapter 1-2 |
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Thu 1/15 |
Chapter 3 |
Paul Anthony, CEO
Rumblefish |
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Week 3 |
Tue 1/20 |
Chapter 3 |
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Thu 1/22 |
Chapter 3 |
Case 1 – NAPSTER |
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Week 4 |
Tue 1/27 |
Chapter 4 |
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Thu 1/29 |
Chapter 4 |
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Week 5 |
Tue 2/3 |
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Midterm |
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Thu 2/5 |
Chapter 5 |
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Week 6 |
Tue 2/10 |
Chapter 5 |
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Thu 2/12 |
Chapter 6 |
Industry Analysis Paper
Due |
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Week 7 |
Tue 2/17 |
Chapter 6 |
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Thu 2/19 |
Chapter 8 |
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Week 8 |
Tue 2/24 |
Language of Leadership |
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Thu 2/26 |
Chapter 8 |
Case 2 – NIKE |
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Week 9 |
Tue 3/3 |
Chapter 9 |
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Thu 3/5 |
Chapter 9 |
Steve Zika, CEO Hampton
Affiliates |
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Week 10 |
Tue 3/10 |
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Presentations |
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Thu 3/12 |
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Presentations |
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Finals |
Monday, March 16 – 7:30AM |
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Final Exam – room to be
announced: Deadline to hand-in papers. |