Harvard Business School - Day 55 - Course Summary

Saturday, 31 Oct 2009
Last night was my final night at McArthur Hall and HBS. About two thirds of the participants left on Friday to all points of the globe. Saying goodbye was actually quite brutal, emotionally tough. We grew to like each other and then were cleavered apart. Last night I went out with a few of my Indian colleagues for a meal (Indian of course) and a last supper. The Indian's are fantastic people, they always seem to be happy, they are smart, hard working and everyone seems to be a born philosopher.

I thought for the record I would plagiarise some of my Australian friend Mark Young's overview of AMP177 and the AMP program in general.

Week 1
Two days devoted to the evolution of the Nike Company over time, using an integrated series of cases. Serves as an introduction to the case method and the faculty. Highlighted a number of themes and ideas covered in detail during the remainder of the program.

Living Group Acceleration Exercise
An interactive exercise providing a series of challenges aimed at developing the living groups as teams capable of enhancing one another’s learning.

Introductory module in Accounting and Finance
Skills required to analyse and solve business problems, An intensive review of basic accounting and finance techniques.

Weeks 2–6
The next four weeks included seven courses, running simultaneously. These courses covered the different subject areas in depth, although many of the issues covered overlap. The subjects (and their associated Professors) are:

Business, Government and the International Economy (Richard (Dick) H.K. Vietor)
This course examines regional trajectories of growth, development, and governmental strategies that are leading the world economy toward globalization. In the process, it teaches the essentials of competitive analysis—national income accounting, balance of payments, fiscal and monetary policy, and real exchange rates. Participant develop an analytical framework for analysing national economic management and international competitiveness in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the United
States.

Financial Management (William (Bill) E. Fruhan, Jr.)
This course does not assume a background in finance beyond that developed in the Week 1 module, but progresses rapidly toward the frontier issues of the global financial marketplace. The objective is to build a framework for understanding the financial dimensions of a company’s competitive strategy, and to use this framework to manage more effectively in the difficult environment of the current global financial
crisis.

Leading Innovation and Organizational Effectiveness (Michael L. Tushman)
Focusing broadly on organisational effectiveness, this course is broken out into three modules. This course is closely tied to AMP’s Personal Development Module and its culminating Re-entry and Leadership Modules (weeks 7–8).
Module 1: focuses on organisational alignment and change, including the identification of key success factors, necessary conditions for change, and different strategies for effecting change.
Module 2: focuses on the role of leadership in corporate transformation.
Module 3: deals with individual effectiveness.

Marketing (Sunil Gupta)
How do you create value for customers in this highly competitive environment? How do you manage two key assets of a firm—its customers and brands? How do you launch new products to maximize their odds of success in the marketplace? How do you create effective marketing strategies in the new digital world? This course discusses these and related questions from a top management perspective across a wide range of industries.

Leadership and Corporate Accountability (Lynn S. Paine)
This course focuses on the responsibilities of companies, their leaders, and their boards. Its aim is to deepen understanding of the economic, legal, and ethical dimensions of these responsibilities and to provide practical guidance on how leaders drive responsible performance. Through a series of difficult dilemmas set in different
regions of the world, a framework is built for accountable decision making and explore the elements of good governance. Participants have opportunities to consider the role of business in society and to reflect on their own philosophies of business leadership.

Negotiations (Max H. Bazerman)
The course provides executive negotiation skill building and allows Participants to evaluate their own negotiation behaviour. Participants will plan, negotiate, receive feedback, and discuss negotiation strategy. Additionally, the course seeks to improve analytical abilities in understanding the behaviour of individuals and organisations in competitive situations.

Strategy (David B. Yoffie)
What are the competitive forces at work in industries today and how can firms create and sustain competitive advantages through strategy? This course explores how to analyse industries, how firms can create superior competitive positions, and how to anticipate competitor moves. In addition, the course explores the complexity of strategies in times of crisis, in highly diversified settings, as well as strategic
problems associated with the Internet and Web 2.0.

Leading High Performance Operations (Amy C. Edmondson)
This course examines the challenges faced by the General Manager when leading operations to achieve extraordinary performance. Operations are the core activities though which an organization’s work gets done, and can be understood along a continuum from high to low volume, and from repetitive to unique tasks. A
distinctive feature of the course is the variety of teaching material—including multimedia and paper cases, featuring executives in private and public sector organizations, in settings ranging from the U.S. Government to patient care delivery to space exploration. A core theme is the central role of learning in achieving high
performance, and the three modules explore the varying forms learning takes in differing operational contexts.

Weeks 7–8
The last two weeks focus, other than completing the above subjects was more on personal renewal and the process of effective reentry into your company.

Special Topics in Executive Leadership
As the program moves toward closure, the emphasis shifts to integration and action planning for re-entry to business and family life. During these final two weeks and on specifically identified days throughout the program, AMP addresses special topics that are of importance to executives at the top level of the organization including: restructuring, leadership values, and corporate responsibility, and challenges facing
particular parts of the world.
Week 8 also provided an opportunity to finalize a personal case linking the content and ideas developed at AMP to issues back at your organization.
The program concluded with a Graduation on Friday October 30th.
170 participants / 43 Countries / Many and diverse enterprises.
Networking opportunities
– Many dinners
– Many informal gatherings and group sporting “challenges”
– Social and Professional networks established
– Potential to leverage these networks in the future

Some other interesting things about the program.
Approx 160 case studies (you have to read in your sleep), covering numerous organisations and 30 countries Case study methodology reinforced by;
– Independent reading / research
– Living group discussion
– Class work on case studies with some overview lectures
Opportunity to listen to external speakers / other faculty ;
– Robert Kaplan (Senior DirectorGoldman Sachs – not Balanced Scorecard)
– Niall Ferguson (“the Ascent of Money”)
– Clay Christensen
– Paul Volker (Chair of the Economic Recovery Board former Chair of the Fed)
– Robert Mueller – Director of the FBI
– Michael Porter (18 books – foundation for strategy and competitiveness)