Shouldn’t you know whether you really want the professional graduate school experience before you apply?
This section of the Strategy course is designed specifically for learners who (1) are interested in strategy, (2) are at a relatively early stage in their career, (3) are based in or near Tokyo, Japan, and (4) are planning to apply to a professional graduate school (e.g. MBA Program, Master in Management (MiM) Program, Law School, Medical School, etc.) within the next 12 – 24 months.
SUMMARY
Learn to use proven strategy frameworks and the six stages of the strategy process (Situation Analysis ⟶ Diagnosis ⟶ Action Plan ⟶ Strategic Option Generation ⟶ Strategic Choice (Recommendation) ⟶ Strategy Implementation) to think, decide, and act like a strategist and help set a winning long-term direction for your organization.
Section Organizer
Sean HACKETT
Owner, MDI.TOKYO
Key Information
Format:
- In-Person: 10 Sessions, and…
- Remote: 3 Sessions.
Duration:
- 13 Class Sessions
- Oct. – Feb.
- each Session is 3 hours
Key Dates:
- Apply by: Sept. 15
- Onboarding Begins: Sept. 17
- Start Date: Oct. 5
- End Date: Mar. 1
Price:
- 350,000 JPY + tax / per person
NOTE: There is a reading week after each class Session involving a case discussion. This deliberate pacing is intended to provide Learners with enough time to prepare for the next Session.
Venue and Meeting Dates
- Class Sessions are held on Saturday afternoons: 16:00-19:00.
- The Standard Meeting Venue is a rental classroom or rental meeting room in a hotel suitable for holding class Sessions and selected in cooperation with the Section Organizer.
Learning Teams, made up exclusively of learners preparing to apply to graduate school, leverage the Interpersonal Skills Development Framework & the Leader Character Framework as they learn.
Strategy is a deductive (i.e. from theory to practice), case-driven, active learning, capstone course centered on the fundamentals of strategy and strategic management. The core learning objective of this course is to acquire an understanding of the knowledge and skills required to become an effective strategist; that is, a professional who can use the stages of the strategy process to set a winning long-term direction for their organization.
Course Topics
- What is Strategy?
- Market Attractiveness (External Analysis)
- Competitive Advantage (Internal Analysis)
- Business Level Strategy
- Strategic Interactions – Competitive Rivalry and Dynamics
- Corporate Level Strategy
- Systematic Strategy Execution
- Disruptive Strategy
- Global Strategy
- Crafting Strategy
The perspective adopted for this course is that of the top manager who has overall responsibility for the performance of the firm or of a business unit within the firm. Such a manager needs to understand the basis for the current performance of the firm and to identify those changes (inside or outside the firm) that are most likely
• to affect future performance adversely (i.e. threats and risks), or that
• provide opportunities for the firm to improve its performance.
After finding and framing the Key Issue (a.k.a. defining the Problem in the best possible way), diagnosing its underlying root causes, and addressing the immediate challenges to the core business with an Action Plan, the manager must then use the firm’s resources to generate strategic options, choose one, and then implement the chosen Strategy (a.k.a. the Solution) to compete successfully in its dynamically evolving environment. The strategy crafted by the top manager and their team must define the scope of the firm’s activities, the logic through which the activities result in better performance, and what it is about the firm that allows it to carry out those activities better than its competitors.
Why should you (or anyone) want to study Strategy? Having a solid understanding of strategy is not only vital for top managers and entrepreneurs, but is also important for external consultants, auditors, financial analysts, and bankers in evaluating and valuing other firms. Some of the concepts of Strategy can also be applied to your personal life.
Key Benefits
01. World-Class reading materials from Harvard Business School Publishing
An online coursepack has been created featuring world-class reading materials and simulations. These materials are mapped to the course syllabus and strategically aligned with the course Learning Goal, Learning Objective, and intended Learning Outcomes. (Note: Coursepack must be purchased directly from Harvard Business School Publishing using a URL specific to your section of the course).
02. Structured Thinking Tools
Structured thinking tools (e.g. Case Analysis Memo-CAM template and After-Action Review-AAR template) used in this course allow you and your Learning Team to focus your efforts on achieving the course Learning Goal, Learning Objective, and intended Learning Outcomes without spending a lot of time thinking about how to organize your analyses of the cases and simulations that we use in the course.
03. System for Learning Success
The System for Learning Success (Prepare-Participate-Review & Reflect) designed into this course can help you improve your learning effectiveness, and it can help you become more effective in business meetings.
04. Learning Teams
This course runs on Learning Teams. Pioneered at Wharton, Learning Teams enable you to practice an Interpersonal Skills Development framework, a Team Design-Launch-Process Management Framework, and a Leader Character framework so that you and your teammates can function as an effective team while working on developing a ‘behavioral operating system’ that positions you to be better able to advance your career. (Note: Many previous learners have said that the best teaming experience they have ever had occurred in this course).
05. Deliberate Practice
The course is designed to provide multiple opportunities for deliberate practice of the six stages of the strategy process.
06. Strategic Decision-Making Practice
The course is designed to provide multiple opportunities to exercise good, professional judgment in making strategic decisions;
07. LMS and Rubrics
Rubrics within the Learning Management System (LMS) deliver feedback from the instructor which helps you to understand where you and your team are performing well and where you need to improve.
08. Professional Presentation Skills
Every learning team has an opportunity to develop their professional presentation skills.
Course Learning Design
The figure above provides an illustration of a typical week of the Course Learning Design: Preparation-Participation-Review & Reflect.
Session Learning Design
The figure above provides an illustration of the typical Session Learning Design; that is, for the class Sessions featuring Case discussion in Strategy, we will use this Session Learning Design. Part B includes the Theory that helps you to “crack” the next assigned case study (or simulation). Time blocks are estimates; actual time blocks may vary.
What happens in PART A?
PRESENTATION. One of the Learning Teams presents their Cases Analysis Memo (CAM); adopting the role and perspective of the case protagonist, they are the Top Managers who seek to advance their careers by correctly leveraging strategy theories, frameworks, and concepts while conducting a situation analysis, identifying and framing the key issue and diagnosing the underlying root causes, mobilizing strategic options, selecting one option and recommending it in actionable ways. Their professional presentation follows the same structure that is used in the CAM; using the same structure makes it easier for members of the class who are non-native English speakers to participate actively.
Q&A. After the presentation, the presenting team facilitates the Q&A. The other (non-presenting) teams play the role of Board of Directors; they have also performed their own analysis of the case study and submitted their CAM. As members of the Board, they have the ultimate responsibility of using their JUDGMENT in selecting a strategy that will have the most positive impact on the focal firm’s performance. The Instructor jumps in periodically helping to ensure that the intended takeaways get covered. For some presenters being “in the dock” for 40 minutes is a new — and valuable — experience.
PERSONAL TAKEAWAYS. This five minute period is dedicated for each learner to focus on writing down and making meaning of what they just learned.
AFTER-ACTION REVIEW. After the Q&A and Personal Takeaways, each Learning Team collaborates to start their After-Action Review (AAR). Using the AAR template, each team reviews their CAM and tries to identify what they got right and, especially, what they got wrong: Looking at your Learning Team’s CAM and reflecting on the Presentation and the Q&A that you just experienced, it will become apparent very quickly that some of your analyses, logical reasoning, and recommendations are… COMPLETELY WRONG! Your challenge as a team is to first commit to preventing your egos and your cognitive biases from distorting your ability to conduct a post-mortem on your CAM. Next, examining your CAM, you need to use the AAR template to help you to identify what you got wrong in your CAM and then surface how and why you got it wrong.
One key point is that PCs and smartphones must be closed/stowed during the CAM-Q&A-Personal Reflection & Takeaways sequence. Why? In order to think and learn effectively, the human brain needs to be focused on paying Attention and using Memory to make connections between prior knowledge and what is being presented and discussed. The proper use of “Attention Systems” and “Memory Systems” requires slow, deliberate System 2 thinking and lots of cognitive energy. To say it another way, the ability to stay focused, pay attention, and listen mindfully is a leadership skill that you can cultivate in this course.
Faculty
Sean M. HACKETT, Ph.D.
Instructor“Building the future, now!”
I started teaching Strategy in 2005. I have taught nineteen sections of this course. From May 2023 until August 2024, 360 students across eleven sections took this course in person in Canada.
Additional Information
- 30 participants minimum; 36 participants maximum.
- The course is designed to be the equivalent of a 3-credit MBA-level course in Strategy. This implies that, when a Session involves case discussion, a minimum of 9 hours are required for the following: preparation (completing reading assignments and preparing Case Analysis Memos in collaboration with your Learning Team) and for reviewing & reflecting on what you have learned (writing After-Action Reviews in collaboration with your Learning Team).
- Participants who successfully complete the course will receive a Certificate of Completion. Your participation in the course is also graded in case you request a letter of recommendation in the future. If you successfully complete the course, you can request a maximum of three letters of recommendation in support of your applications to graduate schools for free. From the fourth letter of recommendation a service fee is required. This benefit expires after 5 years from the Start Date of the Course.
- The Mid-Term Exam is scheduled in Session 07. Please be on time! Also, please do not stress about the Mid-Term Exam. Instead, please embrace the System for Learning Success.
- There is a reading week after each class Session involving a case discussion. This deliberate pacing is intended to provide Learners with enough time to prepare for the next Session.
- The three sessions involving online simulations (Sessions 10, 11, and 12) are held remotely and each Learning Team is encouraged to meet in person at a location of their choosing with a good internet connection.
- All participants must purchase a Coursepack from Harvard Business School Publishing upon being admitted to the course.
- All participants must have a PC or tablet and an internet connection.
- Payment for the course is due upon receiving notification that you have been admitted to the course.
- No refunds of the course fee after the Start Date.