Alumni Association

Strategy Implementation
Professor Phillip Leslie

This second-year seminar focuses on the challenges of strategy implementation that middle-managers confront on a daily basis in a series of Bay Area companies. Executives from the companies attend the class sessions. Each session has assigned reading related to those companies.

It is particularly useful to students interested in strategy consulting or line management positions where they participate in the strategy process, or any kind of implementation role. Strategy Implementation Reading Details

Issues in Leadership
MBA Fall Seminar
Dean Robert Joss
Our primary objective in this seminar is to achieve a deeper understanding of the nature and role of leadership in organizations. Our approach will be to examine a small sample of the literature, together with the amazing story of Ernest Shackleton and his Endeavor crew, and then to probe several key questions through lively class discussion. The discussion, informed by the readings and also by our collective experiences, will seek to develop some general principles and observations about leadership - particularly about how you might better develop yourself as a leader. Issues in Leadership Reading Details

The Frinky Science of the Human Mind
Second Year Seminar
Professor Baba Shiv
The primary goals of this seminar are: (1) to expose students to the startling and counter-intuitive insights being unraveled on the workings of the human brain and (2) then get to the "so what?" of these findings for shaping business strategy, personal development, etc. The Frinky Science of the Human Mind Reading Details

Crafting Effective Interpersonal Communication
September Session
Professor Frank Flynn
For those considering careers in management, it is important to be able to craft a message that others find compelling in order to sway their opinion or shore up their support. Crafting Effective Interpersonal Communication Reading Details

Entrepreneurship from the Perspective of Women
September Session
Professors Garth Saloner & Kathryn Shaw
There are now over a dozen courses taught on entrepreneurship at the GSB. These courses cover a wide range of topics of interest to the budding entrepreneur and venture capitalists. But what unique challenges do women face when approaching entrepreneurship? Entrepreneurship from the Perspective of Women Reading Details

Management Compensation
and Corporate Governance
Professor Andrzej (Andy) Skrzypacz
David Lockwood Chairman and CEO of Liberate Technologies
This seminar reading discusses both theoretical and practical issues in management compensation and corporate governance. Management Compensation and Corporate Governance Reading Details

Vital Engagements, Passionate Work:
Exploring the Foundations of Commitment
Second Year Seminar
Professor Roderick M. Kramer
This seminar examines what we know about the determinants of vital engagement and its relationship to finding creative and satisfying work. Creativity researchers have characterized the concept of vital engagement in terms of the full use of one's powers applied to personally relevant and deeply satisfying endeavors. Vital Engagements Reading Details

Modeling Health Care Systems
MBA Seminar
Professor Stefanos Zenios
This seminar focuses on the US health care system. The system is suffering, explosive growth in medical technologies combined with increasing life expectancy contribute to ever growing health care costs. The array of medical interventions that are now available for several complex and expensive conditions is staggering. The system is struggling to deliver care in the most effective and reliable way given all the available choices.

The key activity of the seminar was to explore the concept for an end-stage heart failure model. The objective was to complete the planning process for this concept during the seminar meetings. Because financing the development of such a model is critical, an integral part of this activity was the development of a supporting business case. Modeling Health Care Systems Reading Details

Trading Strategies and Fundamental Analysis
Second Year Seminar
Professor Mark Soliman
This seminar teaches about trading strategies that have been shown to systematically beat the stock market over an extended period of time. All the strategies use accounting information as a basis for fundamental analysis. Professor Mark Soliman won the 2004 Distinguished Teaching Award from the MBA students. Trading Strategies Reading Details

Student Paper Analyzes Effects of Digital Technology
Class Course: "Strategy Making in the Information
Processing Industry"
Robert Burgelman and Andrew Grove
A student paper at the Business School, written for a class taught by Robert Burgelman and Andrew Grove, analyzes Cisco Systems, Google, and Intel and how the three are using digitalization technology. A goal of the seminar is to explore a small group of topics that are expected to have a strong impact on the strategic evolution and future direction of industry sectors and major companies in the technology industry.

PDF FileStrategy Making in the Information Processing Industry PDF  (1.84 KB)

The Business World: Moral and Spiritual Inquiry
Through Literature
Professor Scotty McLennan
This course uses novels and plays as a basis for examining the moral and spiritual aspects of business leadership and of the environment in which business is done. On the one hand literature is used as the basis for examining the character of business people, while on the other hand literature provides illumination of the cultural contexts of values and beliefs within which commercial activities take place in a global economy. The course is organized around the interplay of religious traditions and national identities. Classes are taught in a Socratic, discussion-based style, creating as much of a seminar atmosphere as possible. A two-text method is used, encouraging students to examine their own personal stories with as much care as the stories presented in the literature. The Business World Reading Details

Culture, HR, and the Evolution of Start-Up Firms
MBA Seminar
Professor James Baron
This seminar examined the effects of early organization-building activities by entrepreneurs on the success of the companies they build. It drew particularly on the Stanford Project on Emerging Companies---which tracked nearly 200 Silicon Valley start-ups during their early years---as well as other literature concerning entrepreneurship, culture, and organizational change. The seminar also discussed some of the challenges involved in trying to conduct large-scale research studies examining the performance of start-up companies over time. Culture, HR, and the Evolution Reading Details

Creativity In Problem-Solving and Negotiation
Second Year Seminar
Professor Jonathon Bendor
The creativity of the players can significantly affect both the processes and the outcomes of negotiation. This seminar examines how and why creative problem-solving and negotiating occurs and the important tension between generating new ideas and evaluating them. Creativity In Problem-Solving Reading Details

Understanding Consumers, Understanding Cultures
Second Year Seminar
Professor Jennifer Aaker
The focus of this seminar was on understanding current theoretical, conceptual and methodological approaches to various aspects of cultural psychology and anthropology, particularly in the context of consumer behavior. Understanding Consumers Reading Details

Strategic Product Line Management
Second Year Seminar
Professor Michaela Draganska
Product managers in industrial, technology, and consumer goods companies face the issue of developing an optimal product portfolio and effectively managing the product line over time. Strategic Product Line Management Reading Details

Finance, Behavioral Economics, and Sports Betting
Second Year Seminar
Professor Justin Wolfers
Second year seminars are pre-term programs that give a small group of students the opportunity to select a business topic and work closely with a faculty member to develop in-depth knowledge. The classes meet 4 hours per day for a week. The link above takes you to a web page being maintained for the seminar currently being taught this Fall by Assistant Professor Justin Wolfers. This includes an in-depth reading list, copies of articles, discussion questions and student work. We bet you'll enjoy this almost as much as taking the seminar! Finance, Behavioral Economics, and Sports Betting Reading Details

Initial Public Offerings (IPOs)
Second Year Seminar
Professor Darrell Duffie
This course was an intensive one-week seminar on initial public offerings (IPOs) concentrating on issues that are not heavily covered in textbooks. Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) Reading Details

Investment Management
Second Year Elective Course
Professor John G (Jack) McDonald
Professor McDonald has been teaching this course for 35 years. View his core reading recommendations. Investment Management Reading Details

Human Resource Management
Spring Sloan Course Reading
Professor Paul Oyer
Many managers and organizations now recognize that a critical source of competitive advantage often comes not from having the most ingenious product design, the best marketing strategy, or the most state-of-the-art production technology, but rather from having an effective system for obtaining, mobilizing, and managing the organization's human assets. The class reading list and assignments explore a few HR issues in detail, with an emphasis on the underlying economics that drive the behavior of firms and their employees. Human Resource Management Reading Details