Re: Order of MBA courses

Lou Kates (louk@research.teleride.on.ca)
Sat, 19 Nov 94 12:25:29 EST

Charles Barclay writes:
> I recommend instead Andrew for you to do this during the Christmas
> break. Get Michael Porter's Competitive Advantage (1985), Competitive
> Strategy (1980), and read them cover to cover. Go to a local
> consultant and ask to assist them in conducting an industry analysis.
> Then read strategy articles from Harvard Busienss Review, and
> BusinessWeek cover to cover from here on out. You will then be so
> much better prepared than your classmates they will clamor to be on
> your team. And your professors will fear your titan-like command of
> the facts which are ordered in a phenomenal framework from Porter.

Porter's books are excellent but they are also pretty long so if
you only have the Xmas period to do it all, I suggest you read
only a portion of each of Porter's books and use the time you
have saved to read:

Craig Hickman, The Strategy Game, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1993.
[this will give you a bit of the flavour of taking a strategy
simulation workshop. The book assumes that you are the CEO of
MedTech and at the end of each chapter you are faced with a
binary decision that takes you to a different chapter depending
on which way you decided to go]

Kenichi Ohmae, The Mind of the Strategist, McGraw-Hill, New York,
1982. [Japanese view of strategy written by a McKinsey
consultant]

J.I. Moore, Writers on Strategy and Strategic Management,
Penguin, New York, 1992. [each chapter summarizes the thinking of
a different person giving you a good overview of the different
approaches to strategy. All the major thinkers are covered.
Chapters include Andrews, Ansoff, Chandler, Porter, Buzell &
Gale, Henderson, Tregoe & Zimmerman, Abell, Bower, Hamermesh,
Mintzberg, Rumelt, Salter & Weinhold, Williamson, Burglman &
Sayles, Digman, Galbraith & Kazanjian, Hofer & Schendel, Pierce &
Robinson, Thompson & Strickland, Quinn, Lindblom, Harrigan and
Slatter.]

Lou Kates, louk@teleride.on.ca