1 GSBA-552: Decision-Making and Problem-Solving: An Integrated Perspective Term Three 2016 Coordinator & Primary Instructor: Project Faculty: Kyle Mayer Bob Kiddoo, Kyle Mayer, Steve Mednick, Zal Phiroz, Florenta Teodoridis, and Pai-Ling Yin Office: Hoffman 502 (KM) Office Hours: By Appointment, often available MW 12:30 – 1:30 Phone: (213) 821-1141 Email: [email protected](best way to reach me) COURSE DESCRIPTION This course is highly integrative, interactive, and challenging. GSBA 552 is an immersion and integrative experience with exposure to actual unstructured business situations, imperfect data, decision-makers and their organizations and a variety of analytical tools and critical thinking methods that span multiple disciplines. Marshall MBAs are provided with a unique experience and, ultimately, professional development and insights, into working collaboratively to address and solve inter-related and unstructured challenges faced by actual organizations. The objectives of this course are to help you better formulate, analyze, and communicate your ideas about unstructured business problems, some of which involve multiple functional areas of business (marketing, operations, finance, etc.). The kinds of competencies you will develop in this course include: Problem formulation: Looking at a business problem from different, especially non-obvious, perspectives; distinguishing symptoms from causes; reformulating problems to shed light on potential solutions. Elimination of faulty reasoning: Identifying and mitigating various cognitive biases that can emerge as a problem is being formulated and analyzed, such as the use of inappropriate analogies, confirmation bias, self-serving bias, conflation of correlation and causation, etc. Logical reasoning: Constructing arguments using logical reasoning, quantitative and qualitative evidence, etc. The operational environment is constantly changing, technology and data can be significant game changers, once stalwart barriers to entry are falling, differentiation and exclusivity are fleeting, exit costs are often prohibitive, the speed of change is accelerating, and social responsibility and accountability are increasingly important. Leading or consulting to an organization requires working with problems and data that are often unstructured, incomplete and note entirely accurate. Indeed, the nature of most business challenges and problems are initially unstructured, demanding definition, scoping and structure. As a result, uncertainty is more prevalent and more challenging. Good decisions are noted, but mistakes are often amplified and critically assessed by investors, regulators, the media and employees. The leaders of organizations, members of their boards of directors and consultants to management must make decisions under uncertainty and with imperfect and unstructured data based on multiple inputs, direct and indirect indicators, application of analytical methods and referential and experiential perspectives, and
23
Embed
GSBA-552: Decision-Making and Problem-Solving: … GSBA-552: Decision-Making and Problem-Solving: An Integrated Perspective Term Three 2016 Coordinator & Primary Instructor: Project
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
1
GSBA-552: Decision-Making and Problem-Solving: An Integrated Perspective
Term Three 2016
Coordinator &
Primary
Instructor:
Project
Faculty:
Kyle Mayer
Bob Kiddoo, Kyle Mayer, Steve Mednick, Zal Phiroz, Florenta
Teodoridis, and Pai-Ling Yin
Office: Hoffman 502 (KM)
Office Hours: By Appointment, often available MW 12:30 – 1:30
In addition to the traditional components of a marketing plan, the following questions are to be
answered:
1. Who are the potential customers within the target segment, and which specific market needs
apply?
2. What is the unique value proposition for the target segment? A description of how East West
Bank would be able to differentiate it’s product offering and meet these needs relative to other
competitors is required. Examples of differentiation factors could include compelling product
features, highly completive pricing, superior customer experience etc.)
3. What are the unique capabilities East West Bank needs to acquire/develop in order to meet the
needs identified in #2? What infrastructure/talent/organizational requirements are required to
build these capabilities?
4. How does your financial analysis (including an estimate of return on marketing investment)
impact your overall plan?
8
Daily Schedule – East West Bank (TuTh 8:00 - Phiroz)
Session Topics Case Additional
Readings
#1 October 18
12:30pm – 1:50pm
Project kick off. Discussion of project and Q&A
with East-West Bank.
Guest speaker: Gary Wang, Sr. Vice
President, Strategy & Corporate Development
at East West Bank
None None
#2 October 20
Discussion on Company background, Current
offerings and Overall Company Structure)
Discussion with Groups 1-3
Citibank:
Launching the
Credit Card in Asia
Pacific
1- Current EW Bank
Credit Card Offerings
2- Strategic
Positioning of EW
#3 October 25
Discussion on positioning and product offerings.
Discussion with Groups 4-6
Alpen Bank:
Launching the
Credit Card in
Romania
None
October 27 NO CLASS—MBA Career Trek
#4 November 1
Outline of project goals and objectives.
Evaluation of overall industry (obstacles,
opportunities and potential areas of focus).
HSBC Credit Card
Rewards Program
TBA
#5 November 3
(No class meeting—individual meetings between
faculty and groups at times to be determined)
#6 November 8
Mid-Term Feedback (15 minute teleconference
with each group – 4pm – 5:30pm November
9th.
#7 November 10
(No class meeting—individual meetings between
faculty and groups at times to be determined)
TBA
#8 November 15
(No class meeting—individual meetings between
faculty and groups at times to be determined)
TBA
#9 November 17
(No class meeting—individual meetings between
faculty and groups at times to be determined)
#10 November 22 (No class meeting—individual meetings between
faculty and groups at times TBD)
November 24 NO CLASS—HAPPY THANKSGIVING
#11 November 29 Practice Presentations – Preparation for Final
Presentation
TBA
#12 December 1
Practice Presentations – Preparation for Final
Presentation
TBA
#13 December 6
(No class meeting—individual meetings between
faculty and groups at times to be determined)
December 13
2:00pm – 6:00pm Final presentations to East West Bank
Weekly Conference Call with Gary Wang of East West Bank: Thursday 4:30-5:30pm
Readings:
Citibank: Launching the Credit Card in Asia Pacific (HBR Case #: 9- 595 026)
Alpen Bank: Launching the Credit Card in Romania (HBR Case #: 4559)
HSBC Credit Card Rewards Program (HBR Ivey Case # 908A17)
TBA Readings on East West Bank
9
GE Ventures - Marshall MBA Project 2016
Project Description GE is huge multinational digital industrial corporation. Founded in 1892, GE currently operates in a wide variety industries, including aviation, medical devices, power and water, oil and gas, and several others. Noted not only as a large diverse firm but also one that is highly innovative (two Nobel laureates have come from GE) and well run. GE Ventures is a corporate venture capital (CVC) group within GE. The charter of GE Ventures is to add value to GE by accessing the entrepreneurial ecosystem for learning, optionality and accessing new technology and business models. The group has a number of tools (venture investing, new bus. Creation, licensing, etc.) by which it seeks to achieve it’s mandate. Adding value can take multiple forms but is primarily focused on financial returns (easy to measure) and strategic value to the parent company (much harder to measure). Many companies that engage in corporate venture capital have a hard time quantifying the strategic value of such investments. These CVC investments require significant amounts of capital and internal resources, and many corporations struggle to determine how much resource should be allocated to CVC activities. Returns and payback on these resource allocation decisions can be subjective and engender a lot of debate without clear criteria or metrics to help guide decision-making. Your task is to help GE Ventures create a mechanism for measuring the value it creates for GE to aid in resource allocation decisions. Direct financial returns are already measured and accounted for in decision-making in assessing the performance of GE Ventures. Strategic returns, however, are much harder to quantify, and thus managers within GE hold any array of opinions about the strategic value provided by GE Ventures. Strategic value is a difficult and broad metric to define and agree upon, which is part of the challenge in clearly quantifying it. Examples of strategic value can include: investing in firms that create technology that enhance GE’s product or service offering; introducing new and innovative business models; or co-developing a product/technology that GE would not otherwise have been able to do on its own. In situations like these, and many others, there is value to GE that is recognized by the immediate beneficiary but is not being captured in simply looking at the financial returns for GE Capital. Your deliverable for this project is to develop and recommend tangible metrics to help GE quantify the strategic value of GE Ventures to the broader corporation as well as tools to consistently measure and report this value. Ideally, part of the project would be a spreadsheet or other model that identifies different sources of complementarity/strategic value from GE Ventures and facilitates quantifying it to aid in future resource allocation decisions. The model should include what data needs to be collected, who would provide it, how to value different types of value to the company, etc. GE is very open to how you might construct this model but it needs to provide clear ways to quantify different types of strategic value.
10
Daily Schedule – GE Ventures Project (TuTh 9:30 - Mayer)
Session Topics Case Additional Readings
#1 October 18
Project kick off. Discussion of project and Q&A with GE Ventures. Guest speaker: David Mayhew, Chief Investment Officer, GE Ventures
None None
#2 October 20
Introduction to corporate venture capital. Understanding motives and management of CVC investments.
None Making Sense of Venture Capital Technical Note on CVC
#3 October 25 + 4pm Conference Call
How to produce information from data: Netflix Guest speaker: Laurence Wong, Senior Statistician
October 27 NO CLASS—MBA Career Trek
#4 November 1 + 4pm Conference Call
Why firms start CVC units and how they are run. Challenges in running CVC units.
Corporate Venture Capital at Eli Lilly
#5 November 3
General Electric company overview. Discuss company, strategy, history, etc. How might it use CVC investments?
GE After GE Capital
November 7 3-5pm
Mid-term review with GE Ventures Conference call. 20 minutes per team.
#6 November 8
(No class meeting—individual meetings between faculty and groups at times to be determined)
#7 November 10
(No class meeting—individual meetings between faculty and groups at times to be determined)
#8 November 15 + 4pm Conference Call
(No class meeting—individual meetings between faculty and groups at times to be determined)
#9 November 17
(No class meeting—individual meetings between faculty and groups at times to be determined)
#10 November 22 + 4pm Conference Call
(No class meeting—individual meetings between faculty and groups at times to be determined)
November 24 NO CLASS—HAPPY THANKSGIVING
#11 November 29
Practice final presentations
#12 December 1
Practice final presentations
#13 December 6
(No class meeting—individual meetings between faculty and groups at times to be determined)
?
December 13 2:00 – 6:00
Final presentations to GE Ventures ?
Weekly Conference Call with David Mayhew of GE Ventures: Tuesday 4-5pm Readings: Making Sense of Venture Capital (HBSP # R0203G) Technical Note on Corporate Venture Capital (HBSP# KEL893) Corporate Venture Capital at Eli Lilly (HBSP# 9-806-092) General Electric after GE Capital (HBSP# MH0033) Additional articles may be posted to Blackboard.
11
Lockheed Martin - Marshall MBA Project 2016
Project Description
Lockheed Martin & Quantum Computer Opportunities
“We solve the great problems of our times. We create the innovative technologies that define eras.” (Lockheed-
Martin)
Lockheed Martin is in the business of engineering a better tomorrow. Their focus includes not only aerospace
and defense, but also energy sources, storage and management, biometrics, cybersecurity, data analytics, health
and life sciences and space exploration. As such, Lockheed is operating at the frontier of knowledge with a keen
interest in emerging technologies and scientific discovery.
One such technology is quantum computers. Lockheed-Martin was the first to acquire a quantum machine from
D-Wave Systems, the first company in the world to build and commercialize quantum computers. While still in
their early days, quantum computers are believed to have the potential to solve some of the most complex
technical problems of our modern society. D-Wave is working on scaling up their computers to work towards
solving optimization, classification and learning problems across various domains such as machine learning,
financial analysis, logistics and bioinformatics.
Lockheed Martin has been part of this journey since its early days. As the quantum technology advances, the
company is interested in understanding areas of opportunities for capitalizing on their quantum computing asset.
How can the company best utilize their quantum computer in areas of business that carry Lockheed’s mission
forward?
12
Daily Schedule – Lockheed Martin Project (TuTh 9:30 - Teodoridis)
Session Topics Case Additional
Readings #1 October 18
Project kick off. Discussion of project and Q&A with Lockheed Martin.
CF Industries & ROC Group Project- Marshall MBA Project 2016
Project Description Recruiting and retaining outstanding engineers is critical to the long term success of CF Industries (“CF”). The company, a $5B agricultural chemical manufacturer, requires employees with a sound understanding of chemistry, math and physics, exceptional mechanical aptitude, strong problem solving skills and attention to and respect for operating procedures. It usually takes at least five years for a plant operator to achieve full certification and seven to ten years for an engineer to be qualified for a supervisory or lead technical position. The typical manufacturing facility employs approximately 200 people including 150 operators and maintenance technicians, 5 to 10 engineers, and 5 to 10 management positions requiring engineering expertise. Additionally, since the company is a chemical manufacturer, many middle and senior level management positions, including plant managers, are staffed with employees who are engineers and who have manufacturing experience. Mobility (moving between plants) is critical for the company to share knowledge and to be able to develop engineers for key management positions. CF’s manufacturing facilities are located near sources of natural gas and access to modes of transportation that can move liquid and dry forms of nitrogen fertilizer to both the agricultural areas of North America and export to other countries, primarily South America and Europe. Most of the plants are located near other chemical facilities or near areas of natural gas production, or both. All but one North American plants are located in towns with populations under 85,000. The local areas have limited engineering expertise and often have limited cultural, housing and aspects of “quality of life” that many outside candidates prefer. In 2006, 50% of CF’s workforce was 50 years or older. In the past 10 years, the company has grown significantly, extensively expanded two facilities and most of those employees have retired. The net result is 50% of the workforce has 5 or fewer years of experience with CF. During this period, the company significantly upgraded its talent base, attracting and developing “best in class” employees at all levels of the company. CF is in a commodity industry. As with all commodities, there is a cycle where demand outpaces supply and companies are profitable and invest in expanding capacity. Those boom years almost always result in overbuilding and overcapacity which then pushes the industry into years where supply outpaces demand, prices (and profits) fall, and companies go out of business which reduces capacity. Once supply catches up with demand, the commodity cycle starts again. Over half of CF’s employees joined the company during the commodity cycle when demand outpaced supply and CF was delivering record profits, record returns to shareholders, and record bonuses and amounts of development opportunities to employees. The nitrogen fertilizer industry reached oversupply during 2015 and is now far less profitable than a year ago and it is anticipated to be in an oversupply situation for the next six to eight years. During the last downturn in the industry, companies closed plants, laid off workers, and stopped hiring. This created a talent gap throughout the industry whereby chemical companies had a disproportionate amount of employees of retirement age. CF has worked hard to remedy the talent gap caused in the last downturn and doesn’t want to create a similar situation again. CF should not need to lay off workers or close plants during this downturn; instead, the company wants to take this opportunity to continue to build its talent base so it is even better positioned when the industry turns around.
19
CF has spent a lot of time and effort building its current, capable workforce. What can the company do to continue to attract new employees and to retain that workforce during the next several years? For this project, you are a consultant working for ROC Group. CF has hired ROC Group to research the issue, develop a model (or models) to help senior managers think about the issue, and develop proposals for solutions that CF can implement in the near and medium term. ROC Group is a communications company that specializes in helping client companies create strategies and communications that engage employees and increase their productivity and commitment to their companies. Questions to be answered:
1. What should the company do to retain its employees during a prolonged period of industry-
wide low profitability?
2. What risks does CF incur if it experiences high turnover? Can you quantify those risks?
3. Does CF need to do something differently to retain millennials? What does CF need to do to
standout in its industry as an employer of choice for millennials?
4. Many of the engineers joined CF when the company was spending billions of dollars
annually on capital projects. How does the company provide excitement and development
during this phase of the commodity cycle?
5. In the past few decades, US employees have been less willing to move for career
opportunities. What can CF do to ensure enough engineers move between plants in order to
fill leadership positions from within?
6. How can you, as a ROC Group consultant, bring value to CF industries? What tools and/or
models can you provide CF management to help them understand and/or make decisions
about these issues? How is your role as a consultant different than one as a CF employee
and how can you leverage that role to bring value to your client?
Company Descriptions and Contacts CF Industries Overview CF Industries [NYSE:CF], a global leader in nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing and distribution, owns and operates world-scale nitrogen complexes and serves agricultural and industrial customers through its best-in-class distribution system. CF Industries was founded in 1946 as a fertilizer brokerage operation by a group of regional agricultural cooperatives. In the 1960s, the company expanded its product distribution capabilities and diversified into fertilizer manufacturing. Major investment programs during the 1970s and the 1990s built CF Industries into one of the fertilizer industry's largest companies. CF Industries was listed 543rd on the Fortune 1000 Companies list for 2015 and 463rd in 2014. The company is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois. Wendy S. Jablow Senior Vice President, Human Resources Wendy Jablow serves as the company's senior vice president, human resources. She joined CF Industries in August 2007. Prior to that, she held the position of vice president, human resources and administration for Ideal Industries, Inc. During much of her time at Ideal, she
20
held a concurrent position as vice president and general manager of the company's DataComm Division. Earlier in her career, Wendy worked in a variety of human resource positions with FMC Corporation. Wendy holds a B.S. degree in Economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business. She is a Certified Public Accountant. Chris Swenson Vice President, Human Resources and Compensation Chris Swenson serves as the company’s vice president, human resources and compensation. He joined CF Industries in June 2012. Prior to that, he served as Director, Human Resources for Elkay Manufacturing Company a manufacturer of kitchen and bath service and storage solutions including sinks, water coolers and cabinets. Earlier in his career, Chris served as Vice President and Chief People Officer of Gibson Guitar Corporation and as Vice President, Human Resources for Powermate Corporation a manufacturer of portable and standby electrical generators and air compressors. Chris holds a B.S. degree in Kinesiology from Indiana University and is currently enrolled in the Advanced Management Program at the University of Chicago - Booth School of Business. ROC Group Overview ROC Group is an award-winning organizational consulting firm that helps employees and leadership understand, accept and act on change. By tapping the science and art of communication, ROC Group helps clients break through barriers, explain things and make change happen. Whether the topic is broad enterprise transformation or detailed program implementation, ROC Group has engaged workforces since 1998 through a combined expertise in human resources, individual behavior change and marketing. ROC Group consultants work in a wide range of industries, tackling today’s workforce challenges: compensation literacy, performance and talent management, health decisions and wellness engagement, retirement readiness, diversity and inclusion, Lean Six Sigma adoption, and systems enablement such as SAP and Workday implementation. Named “2015 Agency of the Year” in the mid-size category by the International Association of Business Communicators, ROC Group wins awards for clients year after year by blending creativity and innovation with business focus. Over 35 professionals in seven locations bring big-consulting experience to clients’ challenges, with small-firm attention and flexibility.
21
Jan Burnham CEO, Co-Founder Jan Burnham is a communications and engagement strategist who has pioneered using creative marketing, persuasion and behavior design strategies to engage participants, leadership and other stakeholders. She is founder and CEO of ROC Group, a communications consultancy named 2015 Mid-sized Agency of the Year by the International Association of Business Communicators. Jan's work has won numerous awards, and she is a frequent speaker on effective communication strategies for reaching people across industries and age groups. Jan also serves on the Board of Directors of Ballantine Communications, Inc. Before founding ROC Group, Jan was a partner at both Towers Perrin (now Willis Towers Watson) and PricewaterhouseCoopers. She holds a BA degree in English from Carleton College. Jason Mednick Senior Consultant Irvine, CA Jason Mednick is a communications and change management consultant at ROC Group. He has more than a decade’s experience developing and executing internal and external strategic communications, including global projects such as business strategy initiatives, mergers and acquisitions, culture, engagement and change management, recruitment, incentive and rewards programs, and benefits. In addition to ROC Group, Jason has consulting experience at Mercer and has worked internally for companies in the life sciences, higher education and grocery retail industries. He holds MBA and MA degrees, both from USC, and a Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University.
Project introduction by ROC Group and CF Industries with Q&A. Class discussion of expectations and deliverables. Guests: Jan Burnham, President and Co-Founder, ROC Group, Jason Mednick, Senior Consultant, ROC Group, and Wendy Jablow, Senior Vice President, Human Resources.
#2 October 20
Wendy Jablow, CF Industries. In this Skype session, our guest speaker will more fully discuss their business environment and the problem statement.
#3 October 25
Guest speakers – Jan Burnham and Jason Mednick, ROC Group. In this session Jan and Jason will discuss consulting, including client engagement, framing a client problem, formulating a recommendation and crafting the final presentation.
October 27 NO CLASS—MBA Career Trek
#4 November 1
We will discuss recruitment and retention in more detail drawing on many (but not all) of the readings posted to Blackboard. This will complement CF Industries and ROC Group’s perspective by discussing the overall issue of human capital and how to best utilize it during a time when the needs of the workforce are changing. Please come prepared to discuss the following readings. The class discussion will be led by two-person volunteer student groups who will present an overview of one selected reading. Presentations should be no longer than 10 minutes and must be supported by PowerPoint slides. Participation points apply. A sign-up sheet will be available in class.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, “Job Openings and Labor Turnover,” September 7, 2016. [Two-person volunteer group.] CF Industries 2015 Annual Report/CF Industries Investor Presentation, Summer/Fall 2016. [Two-person volunteer group.] Center for American Progress, “There are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees,” Heather Boushey and Sarah Jane Glynn, November 16, 2012. [Two-person volunteer group.] The 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey, “Winning over the next generation of leaders.” [Two-person volunteer group.] Insource, “Employee Turnover’s Impact on Your Budget,” April 14, 2016. [Two-person volunteer group.] “Employee turnover and its effect on sustainable manufacturing operations,” Robert Sarmiento, Nick Rich and Gilbert Aryee, Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre, Cardiff University. [Two-person volunteer group.]
#5 November 3
Full class discussion on the problem statement, your team’s thoughts/progress, primary and secondary research expectations.
#6 November 8
(No class meeting—individual meetings between faculty and groups at times to be determined)
#7 November 10
Skype session with CF Industries plant manager. To be confirmed.
#8 November 15
Mid-term check-in via Skype with either ROC Group or CF Industries. Each team will have 20 minutes with ROC Group and CF Industries. To be confirmed.
#9 November 17
Mid-term check-in via Skype with either ROC Group or CF Industries. Each team will have 20 minutes with ROC Group and CF Industries. To be confirmed.
#10 November 22
(No class meeting—individual meetings between faculty and groups at times to be determined)
23
November 24 NO CLASS—HAPPY THANKSGIVING
#11 November 29
Practice final presentations (3 teams)
#12 December 1
Practice final presentations (3 teams)
#13 December 6
(No class meeting—individual meetings between faculty and groups at times to be determined)
December 14 10 am – 2 pm
Final presentations to CF Industries/ROC Group
Readings: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, “Job Openings and Labor Turnover,” September 7, 2016. CF Industries 2015 Annual Report/CF Industries Investor Presentation, Summer/Fall 2016. Center for American Progress, “There are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees,” Heather Boushey and Sarah Jane Glynn, November 16, 2012. The 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey, “Winning over the next generation of leaders.” Insource, “Employee Turnover’s Impact on Your Budget,” April 14, 2016. “Employee turnover and its effect on sustainable manufacturing operations,” Robert Sarmiento, Nick Rich and Gilbert Aryee, Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre, Cardiff University. Additional articles and sample slide deck used by consulting firms have been posted to Blackboard.