ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT & EVOLUTION (Dr. Gianpaolo Abatecola) TEACHING MEMBER RESPONSIBLE FOR THE COURSE: Gianpaolo Abatecola, PhD., Research Fellow of Business Management Email: gianpaolo.abatecola@uniroma2.it Weekly Office Hours: Thursday (11.00 am 1.00 pm) PRE-REQUISITES FOR THE COURSE: None LEARNING OBJECTIVES The course aims at explaining how enterprises evolve under uncertainty in dynamic and complex environments. The course is divided into the following sections: Section I: Evolutionism: An Overview Section II: Models of Success and Growth of the Newborn Enterprise Section III: Business Management in Different Industry Contexts Section IV: Corporate Strategy Section V: Corporate Reputation Management At the end of the course, the students: 1. will have been provided with ideas on the main strategic challenges that boards and managers have to meet for the success and/or competitive advantage of their companies; 2. will have learned how strategy can be implemented through the enterprise life cycle. TEACHING METHODS Institutional lectures and of case studies. 1
REFERENCES a) Main Readings Cafferata R. (2010), Enterprise Management & Evolution, Teaching Notes, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Department of Business Studies. Grant R.M. (2010), Contemporary Strategy Analysis: Text and s, John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, United Kingdom, 7th edition. b) Papers Abatecola G. (2009), Bridging Adaptation Perspectives to Explore Corporate Crisis Determinants. Evidence from Fiat, International Journal of Business & Economics, Vol. 8, No. 1: 163-184. Abatecola G., Farina V., Gordini N. (2010), Corporate Governance in Troubled Waters! Reviewing Boards Contribution to Effective Turnarounds, paper presented at the Corporate Governance: An International Review Annual Conference, The Wharton School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, september 24 th -25 th. Abatecola G., Mandarelli G., Poggesi S. (2009), The Personality Factor: How Boards Make Decisions. A Cross-Disciplinary Systematic Literature Review, paper presented at the I Journal of Management and Governance Annual Conference, Venice, Italy, October, 9 th -10 th. Breslin D. (2008), A Review of the Evolutionary Approach to the Study of Entrepreneurship, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 9, No. 2: 1-25. Cafferata R., Abatecola G., Poggesi S. (2009), Revisiting Stinchcombe s Liability of Newness: A Systematic Literature Review, International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business, Vol. 3, No. 4: 374-392. Davies G., Chun R., da Silva R., Roper S. (2003), Corporate Reputation and Competitiveness, Routledge, London (Chapters 3, 5). Kroll M.J., Toombs L.A., Wright P. (2000). Napoleon s Tragic March Home from Moscow: Lessons in Hubris for Contemporary Executives, Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 14, No. 1: 117-128. Lohrke F.T., Bedeian A.G., & Palmer T.B. (2004), The Role of Top Management Teams in Formulating and Implementing Turnaround Strategies: A Review and Research Agenda, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 5-6, No. 2: 63-90. Mitroff I. (2002), Learning from Crises, The Futurist, September-October, 18-21. Sonnenfeld S. (1994), Media-Policy. What Media-Policy?, Harvard Business Review, July- August: 18-32. 2
As far as the textbook Contemporary Strategy Analysis is concerned, students will need to prepare the following sections: 1. Chapter 11: Industry Evolution and Strategic Change (pp. 269-294) 2. Chapter 12: Technology-based Industries and the Management of Innovation (pp. 295-327) 3. Chapter 13: Competitive Advantage in Mature Industries (pp. 328-344) 4. Chapter 14: Vertical Integration and the Scope of the Firm (pp. 347-368) 5. Chapter 15: Global Strategies and the Multinational Corporation (pp. 369-400) 6. Chapter 16: Diversification Strategy (pp. 401-421) During the course, 9 cases will be discussed: a) Ford and the World Automobile Industry in 2009 (regarding Mature Industries, Source: Grant, 2010) b) Bridging Adaptation Perspectives to Explore Corporate Crisis Determinants. Evidence from Fiat (regarding Corporate Crisis and Turnaround, Source: Abatecola, 2009) c) Raisio Group and the Benecol Launch (regarding Innovation, Source: Grant, 2010) d) American Apparel: Vertically-Integrated in Downtown LA (regarding Vertical Integration, Source: Grant, 2010) e) Richard Branson and the Virgin Group of Companies in 2007 (regarding Diversification Strategy, Source: Grant, 2010) f) Vodafone: Rethinking the International Strategy (regarding Global Strategies, Source: Grant, 2010) g) Naturewise Apparel (regarding Corporate Reputation Management, Source: Sonnenfeld, 1994) h) Learning from Crises: The Enron (regarding Crisis Management, Source: Mitroff, 2002) i) Napoleon s Tragic March Home from Moscow (regarding The Personality Factor, Source: Kroll et al., 2000) 3
CASE DISCUSSIONS Students are expected to be fully engaged in the entire learning process. This means that students need to prepare the assigned readings of the cases prior to each class and come to class prepared to participate in group work and/or s to enhance the learning of the individual and the class. Students will find the relative assignment for each case on the website. Please read the questions carefully before the lesson. The objective is to involve all the class members in the. The cases are designed to integrate the concepts from the case into the context of the course. With case s, each student will develop: 1. The ability to set the parameters for the problem (key concepts from the case). 2. Ample knowledge regarding the subject of the case (understanding of material, good response to the observations of others). 3. The ability to connect the case to other course concepts. 4. The ability to involve others in the. In order to effectively discuss the cases, students need to be: prepared with facts and specific quotes from the case. prepared to comment, ask questions, or make observations about the case. During the, students need to: take a position on a question or a point. ask questions to clarify a point. help keep the moving and on track. help draw others into the. integrate theories and content from other cases. During the, students should not: come unprepared and show your lack of knowledge. monopolise the. make irrelevant comments. be insensitive to other s desire to speak or share opinions. OTHER LEARNING SOURCES Slides and other material will be available on the course website. 4
ATTENDANCE Because of the concentrated nature of the MScBA programme, attendance in class is very important. Students who miss more than 6 hours (including arriving late or leaving early) will be required to prepare ALL the chapters of the textbook Contemporary Strategy Analyis for the exam. NOTE: Attendance for the first class session is mandatory as important information regarding the course and the instructor s expectations are given. If you know in advance that you will be absent for one session, please contact your instructor to ensure that absence from a particular session is acceptable. EXAM Open-ended question written test and oral evaluation. Attending students can elaborate facultative group works about the course content. If these works are presented and discussed by the end of the Winter Exams section, their evaluation allows for the avoidance of the oral performance. 5
ANALYTICAL SYLLABUS Date Agenda / References Section I : EVOLUTINISM: An Overview Oct, 12 th Evolutionism: Charles Darwin s Legacy Cafferata (2010) Breslin (2008) Oct, 13th Natural Selection: The Liability of Newness Cafferata (2010) Cafferata et al. (2009) Thu, Oct, 14th Competition: Porter s Model Cafferata (2010) Porter (1979) Section II: MODELS OF SUCCESS AND GROWTH OF THE NEWBORN ENTERPRISE Oct, 19 th Models of Evolution (Part I) Cafferata (2010) Oct, 20 th Models of Evolution (Part II) Cafferata (2010) Oct, 26 th Industry Evolution and Strategic Change (Ch. 11) Section III: BUSINESS MANAGEMENT IN DIFFERENT INDUSTRY CONTEXTS Oct, 27 th Competitive Advantage in Mature Industries (Ch. 13) Thu, Oct, Ford and the World Automobile Industry 28 th 2009 Nov, 2 nd Corporate Crisis and Turnaround Nov, 3 rd Bridging Adaptation Perspectives to Explore Corporate Crisis Determinants: Evidence from Fiat Abatecola et al. (2010) Lorhke et al. (2004) Abatecola (2009) 6
Thu, Nov, 4 th Technology-Based Industries and the Management of Innovation (Ch. 12) Nov, 9 th Raisio Group and the Benecol Launch Section IV CORPORATE STRATEGY Nov, 10 th Vertical Integration and the Scope of the Firm (Ch. 14) Thu, Nov, 11 th American Apparel: Vertically-Integrated in Downtown LA Mon, Nov, 15 th Diversification Strategy (Ch. 16) Nov, 16 th Richard Branson and the Virgin Group of Companies in 2007 Nov, 17 th Global strategies and the Multinational Corporation (Ch. 15) Mon, Nov, 22 th Vodafone: Rethinking the International Strategy Section V CORPORATE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT Nov, 23 th The Reputation Paradigm Davies et al. (2003) (Ch. 3) th Naturewise Apparel Sonnenfeld (1994) Nov, 24 Mon, Nov, 29 th Learning from Crises: The Enron Mitroff (2002) Nov, 30 th Defending Reputation: Crisis Management Davies et al. (2003) (Ch. 5) Dec, 1 st Napoleon s Tragic March Home from Moscow Kroll et al. (2000) Dec, 1st The Personality Factor Abatecola et al. (2009) N.B: The final week of the course (Mon 13 th, Dec - 15 th, Dec) will be dedicated to the development of case studies as well as to the of business press digests. 7