Week 4 – International Strategy This week is the same as those before, with a reflection and discussion post on specific topics, which are essentially papers to be written. The readings included Ghemawats “Distance Still Matters” where we explored barriers due to geography. We explored Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and how those six items can help …
Zoo Trip with Class I had the pleasure of accompanying my son and his classmates to the Cincinnati Zoo. I acted as the chaperone. I had four boys with me and three other chaperones. It was a lot of fun watching them interact with the animals. It was a cold day so not many animals …
Week 3 – Corporate Level Strategies We continued our readings and diving into corporate strategy. Again we started off with a Porter reading, this one his “From Competitive Advantage to Corporate Strategy” article. Then we went into Prahalad’s “The Core Competence of the Corporation” and reviewed vertical integration and portfolio management as well as diversification …
Archery Night I tagged along with my wife and sons to their practice night that occurs in a local barn owned by a supporter of the school’s archery program. It was the first time I’ve had my bow out in awhile. I made some good shots and groupings but I started screwing around with the …
Week 2 – Business Level Strategy We continued reading influential classic business papers this week, with Porter’s famous “Generic Competitive Strategies.” We talked about differentiation, overall cost leadership, and focus in one of those categories. We then read “Blue Ocean Strategy” by Kim, which I’ve actually read before ever starting my MBA program because I …
Weekend with Ben Ben and I went to Dutchman’s to shoot rifles. I spent the entire weekend doing homework, in fact I’ve spent the last several weekends doing homework, so I wanted to get out with someone for a little bit. Since Ted and Leslie were indisposed with an archery tournament, Ben and I went …
Week 1 – Concept of Strategy, External Analysis and Internal Analysis This class is going to be centered around reading classic business strategy readings and then analyzing them. The first reading was from Porter and was his classic “What is Strategy” which I found interesting. The readings were well chosen I thought, with Collis’ “Can …
NKFF Equipment Maintenance I received a call from the fly fishing club asking if I could host the rod and reel maintenance for NKFF. I’ve not done anything with this class in many years. Some of the old timers didn’t recognize me at first, but then they did and it was like being with old …
Birthday Party Visit Ben had a birthday party to attend for a classmate. I was able to attend that with him. I did not know the parents but they were nice people. I believe my son was invited because the girl, their daughter who was celebrating their birthday, has a crush on him. Ben said …
Week 5 – Efficiently Communicating Your Branded Message to Target Customers We review advertising, market communications, integrated market communications (IMC), owned/paid/earned media, and social media. There is a lot of work this week it feels. There is a reading quiz, two module assignments, a reflection post, and two extra credit posts. I believe the professor …