Here's the setup for the case presentations. Note when your team is presenting and its responsiblities.
Keep reading for more information about the presentations.
Note that the "topics" for each team's presentation are different from the analysis that was prepared for the case-briefs. That's because "live" decision-making is different from reviewing written submissions.
Part of your business education will come as traditional lectures, learning terms and concepts from studying a textbook and being tested on how well you learned the material. This approach works well for functions like finance and accounting.
This approach doesn't work so well for the "management" piece of your business education. The reason is there are no all-right or all-wrong solutions to management problems. They're rife with incomplete, and often incorrect information plus deadlines and competitive pressures. Management "skills" use all your functional training but rely on your ability to think strategically - your focus is on "What's the best thing to do" rather than how to do it.
Continue reading "Here's what makes a Business Education different - The Case Method" »
Writing well is one of those things that isn't easy, but you've got to do it. Fortunately, it's something that gets better with lots of practice.
Being able to communicate clearly is essential if you want to succeed in the business world. Your idea for a better mousetrap won’t get to first base if you can’t persuade somebody that the world will beat a path to your door if we build it. 
My version of introducing you to business requires putting a pen or pencil on paper (or fingers on a keyboard) and explaining things. It’s a little time-consuming and sometimes frustrating, but worth it in the long run.
To get you started, here are a few rules I've collected that could be helpful. Look them over and try some out. See if they help.
The University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business annually sponsors an International Business Case Competition. Thirty undergraduate student teams from around the world travel to Los Angeles to compete.
The teams are given "the case" on Friday morning and have about 24 hours to analyze it and make a 20-minute presentation the following day. And to make it even more interesting, the judges usually include the CEO of the company that's the subject of the case.
It's the largest and most prestigious competition of its type. Below are three video excerpts from the 2008 competition showing the winning the team from the University of Auckland in action. The case they had been given 24 hours earlier was a 44-page discussion of whether and how the Los Angeles Times could compete with digitized distribution channels.
Continue reading "High-powered Presentations for your Viewing Enjoyment" »
As you've read in the syllabus, we'll be analyzing three cases.
Week 6: We Googled You
Week 7: The Team That Wasn't
Week 8: Gen Y in the Workforce
The Cases are available in a Course-Pack to be purchased at Clean Copy, 1704 Southwest Broadway.
The Case materials are copyrighted and for only your personal use in connection with this course assignment.
The citations for each case are:
Keep reading for an overview of what we'll be doing. The course syllabus also explains the assignment.
The case assignments have two parts. And they're both team-work assignments.
The Written Case-Brief
The first part requires all teams prepare a written case-brief analyzing each case. It's not an individual assignment; it's to be another outstanding example of your team's "commitment to excellence."
Each team's written case-brief is to be submitted at the beginning of the applicable class session:
Here are the Case Presentation assignments:
Download Case Presentation Process (Spring 2012)
The Course Syllabus (Pages 6, 7 and 8) explains the requirements for the written case-brief. Pay particular attention to the length requirement (one, single-space page and no more) and the "template" for the analysis.
Continue reading "Here are the Cases and some Rules of the Road" »
Points earned for the various team assignments are awarded to each team member. If, for example, a team earns 48 out of 50 possible points for its Strategic Concept submission, then each member of that team is awarded 48 points.
This assumes, however, that every member of that team contributed in some substantial way to the assignment or submission. If someone didn't, there's a "Free Rider" problem.
To avoid any team member getting more points than they deserve (getting a ride for free), the "Team Contribution" scoring category is used to make any necessary adjustments.
If during the term and based on the Team Member Evaluations, it's found that any team member has not contributed to their team's work, that member's "Team Contribution" score will be adjusted accordingly. It's possible that this adjustment will cause a student's Team Contribution score to be negative.
It's important that we communicate with one another about how you're doing in the course. All too often, evaluations come at the end of a course when it's too late to make mid-course corrections.
How about doing things different and maybe better?
Here's a link to a Confidential Survey where you can give me some feedback on what's working or not working for you: Click to Give Feedback
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Let me know early and often how things are going. Thanks for your help.
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