BAD 84267 Fall 2006 Franquesa

 

Instructor:         Dr. Jaume Franquesa

Office:                BSA  A-407

Office hours:     By appointment

Telephone:        67-21161

E-mail:               jfranque@kent.edu

 

The goal of this seminar is twofold:

a)  To serve as an advanced course on corporate strategy and strategy implementation.  For strategy majors, this seminar will provide advanced-level coverage of traditional strategy implementation topics not covered in other seminars.

 

b)  To serve as a survey seminar for non-strategy majors interested in corporate governance and organization issues.

 

To complement the content of other doctoral offerings on strategy formulation, this seminar focuses on strategy process and implementation issues. In particular, it explores the foundations as well as current research on corporate governance, broadly defined.  This includes (i) the set of mechanisms available to align the interest of top managers to those of shareowners, as well as (ii) the mechanisms available to motivate and control middle managers so that their decisions and behaviors are aligned with intended corporate strategy and goals.

 

The course, as the area itself, is multidisciplinary in nature.  It begins with a review of classical and modern agency theory in economics, as well as its offshoots in organization theory and in finance (Agency theory continues to be the dominant theoretical paradigm informing most corporate governance research).  After an introduction to the corporate governance literature, the course delves into board governance and CEO compensation in particular, as well as the relationship between the two.  These topics will be explored in greater depth, to provide an opportunity for participants to generate original research ideas.  Next the course turns to an introduction to the corporate strategy literature, followed by an in-depth exploration of corporate strategy implementation, organization and management of the product- or geography-diversified firm, and middle-managers’ compensation and control.

 

Grades will be assigned for each of the following components and weighted as indicated:

 

Reading Summaries and presentations           20%

Class participation                                           20%

Idea Pages                                                       10%

Session Leader                                                  5%

Research Paper                                                25%

Final Exam                                                      20%

 

Reading summaries and presentations.  For each session, students will be assigned one or more readings to summarize and present.  Summaries will be one to three pages in length (single spaced), typed, and will use the following format:

(a)    Title: Complete citation of article or book.

(b)   Summarized by: Student’s name.

(c)    Research Purpose:  Summarize the fundamental objective(s) or research question(s) pursued by this research and describe how it fits in, and/or contributes to, a broader stream of research.

(d)   Theoretical Argument:  Discuss the theoretical framework(s) used, and summarize the basic assumptions, main propositions, etc.

(e)    Methodology:  Summarize the research methods used (if any).

(f)    Findings and Conclusions:  Summarize empirical results (if any), and conclusions and implications derived from them.  What do we learn from this research?

 

Bring enough copies of your summary for other seminar participants as well as the professor.  These summaries will constitute a valuable study aid as you prepare for your final exam –and for your comprehensive examination after that.

 

Presentations are expected to be professional and effective (i.e., will clearly convey the content in the least time possible).  They will vary in length in accordance with the length and complexity of the assigned manuscript.  However, in order to allow enough time for discussion, no presentation should exceed a time limit of ½ hour.

 

The presenter is also expected to lead the discussion of his/her assigned research piece(s) at the end of the session, when we will integrate the different papers and try to develop a mental map of the literature.  To get ready for this, the student should prepare questions that will lead the group to (i) integrate and compare this piece with other papers assigned for the session, and (ii) seek out opportunities for future research.

 

Of course, you are held responsible for the entire set of materials assigned and discussed each session, irrespective of whether a material has also been assigned for your summary and presentation.

 

Class participation.  Students are required to read, critically evaluate, and be prepared to discuss the full set of assigned readings for each session.  The class participation grade is based on your regular contributions to our in-class discussions.

 

Idea pages.  Research creativity is a fundamental skill of the successful researcher. As you read the literature you should always think about research gaps and opportunities to add value to it.  The purpose of the “idea page” is to provide you with an instrument for exploring such opportunities.

 

Students should turn in three idea pages over the semester.  Idea pages are outlines of a potential empirical research question that would make a contribution to the literature discussed in class.  They should not exceed one page of single-spaced typed text, and briefly discuss the what, why, and how of your research idea.  They are due in the box outside my office door by 1:00 p.m. of the discussion day.

 

Session leader.  Each student will serve as session leader for one class meeting.  The role of the session leader is to design a seminar session on a follow-up topic of his/her interest.  After our discussion of a given literature the session leader will chose to zero in on a particular theme within it, propose and agree on a reading list with the professor, and select and announce reading assignments for the group’s next session.

 

During our discussion of the student-designated topic, the session leader is expected to be particularly knowledgeable about it and to lead the session.

 

Research Proposal Paper.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a major research proposal, similar to a dissertation proposal.  The manuscript will include justification of the research question, theoretical background and literature review, a careful and rigorous development of hypotheses, and a discussion of the research design that will be used to test your model.  The paper should not exceed 30 double-spaced pages, including tables, figures, and references; and is due the last day of classes.

 

Final exam. 

The purpose of the exam is to have the student synthesize and integrate material covered during the semester.  Exam questions will be similar to those that might be used in comprehensive exams.