Management
of Smaller Enterprises
- Detailed Syllabus
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Syllabus GBUS 8230
Management of Smaller Enterprises
This Course will focus primarily on the challenges of growing
a small business. This Course is a Strategy, Entrepreneurship,
Operations, Leadership, HR, Decision Analysis, Finance, and General
Management Course.
You will read two types of Cases: conundrum cases and story cases.
The latter cases require reflection, conceptualizing, and verbalizing
the teachings of each case.
This course approaches growth from organizational design, strategy,
execution processes, leadership, and people perspectives. It reflects
the research findings of the Darden Private Growth Company Research
Project that involved 54 high growth private companies. Growth
requires the right kind of leadership, culture, and processes.
Grading:
35% Class Participation; 25% Mid-term Paper; 40% Final Exam
The Course Textbook is:
Hess, Growing An Entrepreneurial Business: Concepts & Cases
(Stanford University Press, 2011)
Assignments
Class 1: March 28th
Topic:
When Is a Business Ready to Grow?
Readings:
Chapter 1 of Textbook
3 Fellers Bakery Case
Questions:
1. Why should Susan Fellers grow her business?
2. How does she make that decision?
3. What are her growth alternatives?
4. How does she decide which alternative(s) to pursue?
5. What should she do to prepare for growth?
Class 2: March 29th
Topic:
Respecting Growth
Readings:
Eyebobs Case
Questions:
1. It took Eyebobs years to reach $1M in revenue but once it did,
it quadrupled revenue the next year. How?
2. Why was Julie scared of growing too fast?
3. What are the limits of Eyebobs' growth?
4. What does "respecting growth" mean?
5. Why is a "Growth Risks Audit" important?
Class 3: March 30th
Topic:
The Reality of Growth
Readings:
Chapter 1 of Textbook
Why Everything You Think You Know About Growth is Probably Wrong
Questions:
1. What are the 4 myths of growth?
2. Why is growth change?
3. When is growth risky?
4. Why is growth experimental learning?
5. Why is employee engagement important for growth?
Class 4: April 4th
Topic:
The 4Ps of Growth: Planning, Prioritization, Processes, &
Pace
Readings:
Chapter 4 of Textbook
Global Medical Imaging Case
Questions:
1. Is Ryan Diedst a good CEO? Why?
2. How did the GMI business model evolve?
3. Is it a product company or a service company?
4. What are the key learnings from Ryan's experience?
5. What would you have done differently?
6. Did Ryan pace his growth?
Class 5: April 5th
Topic:
Installing Processes
Readings:
Enchanted Travels Case
Questions:
1. Is ET a service or product company?
2. What processes are critical for its success?
3. How did Parik prioritize his process implementation?
4. What makes its business model different? Sustainable?
5. Why is its business model hard to grow?
6. What processes are critical to a service company?
7. What processes are critical to a product company?
Class 6: April 11th
Topic:
Growth Is Much More Than a Strategy
Readings:
Chapter 3 of Textbook
Room & Board Case
Questions:
1. Describe the Room & Board System
2. Why does R&B eschew rules?
3. Why does R&B like non-ambitious store managers?
4. R&B would be a "raider's" delight. Why?
5. Can the R&B System survive its Founder? How?
Class 7: April 12th
Topic:
4 Ways To Grow a Business
2 X 2 X 2 X 4 Model of Strategic Growth Choices
Readings:
Chapter 8 of Textbook
Sammy Snacks Cases (A)-(D)
Questions:
1. Why did geographical expansion fail?
2. How should Sammy Snacks scale manufacturing?
3. What are Sammy's sales scaling alternatives? What are the pros
and cons of each?
4. What would be the most efficient scaling strategy for a product
business?
Class 8: April 18th
Topic: Growth Workshop: Mid-Term Paper
Questions:
In Class Paper
Class 9: April 19th
Topic:
It Takes a Team - Building an Effective Management Team
Readings:
Chapter 6
Secure Works Case
Questions:
1. What did Mike Cote do first to turnaround this business? Why?
2. Why do his managers not need a co-pilot?
3. How do you hire good managers?
4. Which is more important in hiring managers- cultural fit or
technical competence?
Class 10: April 25th
Topic:
Treating Business Cancer: Overcoming Commoditization
Readings:
C.R. Barger Cases
Questions:
1. First read Barger (A) and come up with 20 steps Eric can take
to reignite profitable growth in the business
2. Then, read Barger (B) and outline the 27 steps Eric did take.
Of those steps which ones created the most value?
Class 11: April 26th
Topic: Speaker
Class 12: May 2nd
Topic:
The Added Complexity of a Family Business
Readings:
Reading: Chapter 9 of Textbook
Edens & Avant Case
Questions:
1. Why is succession such a big issue for Joe Edens?
2. Who "cares" about his choice?
3. What process should he have used to make his decision?
4. Whom would you choose as successor CEO?
Class 13: May 3rd
Topic:
Speaker
Class 14: May 9th
Topic:
The Entrepreneur Must Grow, Too
Readings:
Reading: Chapter 5 of Textbook
Defender Direct Case
Questions:
1. Why does the entrepreneur have to grow, too?
2. How did Dave learn to delegate?
3. What does Dave mean when he says he had to "redefine his
role to the business"?
4. The average employee tenure at Defender is 3 years. How does
that fact influence your reading of this Case?
Class 15: May 10th
Topic:
The Silver Bullet - High Employee Engagement
Readings:
Reading: Chapter 7 of Textbook
Trilogy Health Services Case
Questions:
1. How did Randy Buford create a high performance environment
in a very difficult stressful healthcare service business?
2. Why not save a lot of time and costs and install a command
and control job environment?
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