Richard Chandler is an adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Irvine. He is teaching three graduate level MBA classes during the 2003-04 academic year, all in the MBA programs aimed at mid-career managers or executives.
Fall, 2003 - FE 213, New Ventures Management (Elective):
This course focuses on survival and growth of new ventures—relatively recently founded firms that are both young and small, but not by design and not for long. Founders of these new firms seek high growth and expect them to develop into complex enterprises. The course can be viewed as a "boot camp" for aspiring entrepreneurs. Building from contemporary research, it identifies key issues that contribute to new venture failure and articulates managerial actions to increase the likelihood of new venture survival and ultimate financial success. Methods include case discussions, guest speakers, industry research assignments, financial modeling, and a team consulting project in lieu of a final exam. This field research will allow the students to learn from local entrepreneurs about successful new venture management and how to survive the liabilities of newness. Each student will also be responsible for investing a $20 million virtual venture capital fund, selecting from among the nine cases that will be analyzed in class.
Winter, 2004 - EP 210, Business Strategy (Core Course):
Business strategy is the study of the functions and responsibilities of senior management, the crucial problems that affect success in the total enterprise, and the decisions that determine the direction of the organization and shape its future. The approach of the course is practical and problem-oriented. A major part of the course involves applying concepts, frameworks, analytical techniques, and managerial insights to the strategic issues which real-world companies face. The major objectives of this course are:
- To acquire proficiency with the principal concepts, frameworks, and analytical techniques of strategic management.
- To understand the reasons for good or bad performance by an enterprise, generate strategic alternatives, and select the most appropriate strategy.
- To integrate the knowledge gained in previous courses with the frameworks of strategic management.
- To develop capabilities to view business problems from a general management perspective.
Spring, 2004 - FE 294, Business Dynamics (Elective):
Businesses and their managers face continuous challenges to their survival. As managers know all too well, these diverse challenges often owe their source to forces beyond the manager's control. Central to success is management's ability to respond to these challenges in a time-efficient, strategically sound manner. Business Dynamics addresses these challenges by building upon the core strategy course and tackling an extended range of strategic responses to dynamic, highly competitive environments. The course has two specific foci aimed at improving your strategy making abilities:
- To understand the challenges both internal and external to business survival. Some of the topics we will address are increasing foreign competition, paradigm shifts in technology, dramatic regulatory changes, and competitive product leapfrogs.
- To develop appropriate strategic responses to these challenges after objectively evaluating their risks. We will consider such responses as international alliances, technology networks, business joint ventures, foreign direct investment and strategic acquisitions.
Learning will take place through business cases, analytical exercises, group assignments, class discussions and guest lectures.
