Excelsior Business Strategy 495

[dshlvrsn]

I was not able to run through the chapter quizzes as quickly as others.

Unless things have changed the quizzes are VERY straight forward, especially if you've used the online textbook resources...

I really wanted to stand out in the discussion forum. I figured "hey, I know a lot about strategy already, and I like talking about it. I could have some fun with this." WRONG. The professor will tell you that the discussion questions are not homework assignments and he only wants to stimulate meaningful discussion. He is lying. They are homework questions; treat them as such, reply and build lightly some some other people's posts without straying too far off the path and you will be fine. Besides, many of the questions were quite uninteresting, IMO.

I can't think of a class that I took with a professor that I didn't have to adjust for... (Econ - all exam questions come from lecture notes and may contradict the text-No recording allowed) Here are the rules that I followed that seemed to serve well. I tried to initiate the answer to one question for each chapter. Either a case or chapter reading didn't matter. I referenced the text book. I also referenced outside research. I never started an answer with "I think" or "I feel." Participation is definately expected. I had the benefit of a small deadbeat section. You know the old saying - I don't have to run faster than the bear...

I had a lot of trouble trying to understand what was expected of me on the case analysis. A big part of that is because I was expecting (wishfully thinking) that I would be doing some original, persuasive and thought provoking writing and demonstrating my strategic acumen. WRONG AGAIN. This is also not a place to show off. The professor is looking for you to demonstrate that you read the book, you know how to do a SWOT analysis, you know what five force analysis is, basically a good understanding of what the book teaches. Start diverting from that, and you're in trouble. Example: I did my SWOT analysis just like I was supposed to, but decided that the formulaic conclusion reached by said analysis was not sufficient or especially relevant to the firm being analyzed, so I came up with my own suggestions that disagreed with the formulaic SWOT framework. Sherman did not like that, and I paid the price in my grade, which ended up being a 24/30. The moral of that story is to demonstrate that you know what the book told you, and nothing else. I will also reiterate what gcalvin said: "be brutally clear about what you're doing". I lost points on my company's strategic mission statement because I did not put it under an explicit heading or dress it up in neon flashing lights or anything. Prof. Sherman isn't a very good listener, so subtlety should be avoided at all costs. (Brief rant: I don't like Sherman. I think he is an opinionated hippie who is far more concerned with what he has to say than listening to anyone else, which is a really sh!tty character trait in a teacher. If you are argumentative about certain issues like me, resist the urge to debate things with him in the forum. Also, like I said before, don't get clever or creative in your writings, because he won't appreciate it one bit. You are warned.)

I had EXACTLY the problem to begin with. There is very little guidance and no example to follow. I think that he has finally come up with a rubric that seems to make it harder. Since my employer was paying for this course I ordered everything that came up in the bookstore for this class (don't bother the Management Questions or what ever it's call - it's just a bunch of questions to ask in interviews.) I scoured the internet. I'm shocked that as common as case analysis is there is not a lot out there to help. I think that it's a little unfair to say that the professor does not appreciate creativity. If there is one thing that is clear about the case study is that it is intended to demonstrate an understanding of the concepts in the course and that outside research has been done. The SWOT is definately a huge part of what is looked at. In spite of running it by a partner at a TOP consulting firm and getting a glowing review, the professor said that it was not detailed enough.

In the end what did was follow the format of a plastic summary card - $5 from EC. I also did the same thing I'd do for a position paper - chose the side I could best argue, not the one I felt was right.

Brief statement of history, Problem (my problem statement was two sentances), External Analysis (followed Porter's Five here), SWOT Analysis. From there it was like a decision tree. Since my case dealt with a company with one segment I stated, very clearly, that portfolio analysis would not be used. I pulled things like Grand Strategy Selection Matrix and Grand Strategy Cluster directly from the text. I also included in the paper and in the references proof that I looked other sources other than the text. This was the 'strategy' part of the case. From there I proposed two distinct positions or paths that the company could follow that were verbatim from the text. (pursue concentrated growth through market development or concentric diversification). As stated - NO SUBTLETY. Hit him between the eyes with what you are doing. State the recomendation. Don't forget the implementation and control. I chose the Balanced Scorecard because it's very universal and is easy to adapt to almost any strategy. Finish off with a summary and it's done. I stated before that it's very possible to do this course quicker than the allotted time. That said to complete the paper properly you need to demonstrate that you've studied what is in the text. I'd recommend starting a skeleton right away and then building on it as you go along.

If you can find it, I had a paperback version of the Wheelen text that had a great case study outline. I've misplaced mine.

This is a very doable course, especially if you don't try to make it harder than it really is.

Right on the money...

[MISin08]

I'm taking the class from Dr. Harter, and finding that (other than chiming in once in a while to bash anything he thinks resembles socialism) he's pretty much MIA in the discussion forums. Ironic, because he's just won an award to be presented at graduation, and his great discussion facilitation is specifically mentioned. Week 9 and no grades either, sure hope it's because he grades easy.

Phillip

[spantol]

I'm taking the class from Dr. Harter, and finding that (other than chiming in once in a while to bash anything he thinks resembles socialism) he's pretty much MIA in the discussion forums. Ironic, because he's just won an award to be presented at graduation, and his great discussion facilitation is specifically mentioned. Week 9 and no grades either, sure hope it's because he grades easy.

Phillip

When I took his class, he didn't grade any of the discussion sections until the very end. When questioned on it, he said he preferred to assign a grade to overall participation, rather than week-by-week.

If you've made even a token effort at participation, you're likely to get full marks.

[MISin08]

When I took his class, he didn't grade any of the discussion sections until the very end. When questioned on it, he said he preferred to assign a grade to overall participation, rather than week-by-week.

If you've made even a token effort at participation, you're likely to get full marks.

Good to know, thanks. There are some weeks when I've done a very good job and a few weeks (like this one :eek where I'm sliding in at the last minute with the minimum, due to other assignments.

Phillip

[dshlvrsn]

Since it is distance learning I think that they expect some fluctuations. I just made a point of send the prof an e-mail when I was 'going dark'. Kept me off the naughty list when the forum traffic got REALLY slow.

[MISin08]

I had Dr Harter who was not at all like the accounts I read above of Dr. Sherman.

The discussion forum is a big part of the class, but in my opinion, not a very good part of the class. Harter is pretty conservative and this sort of set the tone. He's a little too willing to let people make unsourced statements; I found myself unable even to reply to the "________ is socialist" chatter and other indications that students get their ideas from talk radio. There were a few students with real-world experience in addition to book learning, and I did learn from them.

Dr. Harter was slow to grade discussion postings and this made it hard to know if I was on track. In the end, comments above about easy grading of discussion postings seemed to hold. Most students wrote brief responses to all 4-5 questions in both the case and chapter forum topics each week; the sort of thing where they re-state the book "in your own words" but don't add much. People kept doing this even after he posted grades, so it must enough to get by. I tended to write a substantive response to one or two questions, bringing in outside sources, or applying analysis from the other business courses. [This is not hard to do if you can use Google Books and the library. I would usually focus on what I call the "minority topic" or expanding the topic -- for example, in the first chapter we talk about "what is strategic management?", so I used some stuff from Mintzberg, who is critical of strategic management. Or I would go to the original sources and find relevant topics not in the text.] He didn't give a lot of feedback on individual posts but he seems fair-minded and if your argument is sound and sticks to the business curriculum, that will reflect well in your grade, you just have to wait to find that out! The syllabus says to post by Thursday each week and respond to at least one other post by Sunday. Prof allowed people to catch up on discussions that were weeks old, and was quite open about it. We got to week 10 before he told the group to post more substantive responses than "I agree.."

Dates for some chapter quizzes didn’t line up with the course schedule, This was explained as a problem with Blackboard, the course software. This was a minor annoyance. It is, of course, easy to get all 100s, as discussed here.

Watch to make sure you stay on top of the reading, because IMHO you need better grasp of the chapters for the case analysis than you do for the weekly discussions, so it would be easy to get sloppy then find yourself having to re-read a lot to do your case.

The case analysis really is a pretty valuable exercise and I got a lot from it. Pro: he doesn't dictate how you should do it. Con: this means you have to figure it out on your own. On one level, "welcome to senior year", but on another, it would have been great to review some case analyses in class and go over their strong and weak points. It may be the discussions are intended to serve this purpose, but it's not run tightly enough to be effective. I found some guidance on other professors' websites and a fellow student shared some vital info with me as well. I worked quite hard on my case and got 30 of 30.

The capstone is required now. Several students in my section didn't realize it tested previously studied Business Core material, not the Business Strategy material. I scored 83, mostly because my other class was pretty challenging and I couldn't make time to prepare fully for the capstone. It covers accounting, finance, economics, management, marketing, quantitative methods/operations, legal environment. The level corresponds to CLEP. I could have pulled a 95 or better with study. I think we got points for it but the potential points were not counted, in other words, the capstone would only improve your grade.

Phillip

[EHSAN]

Hi everyone,

I have read through the BUS495 thread and it has been very informative. There are however a few questions that I have.

1) Is the 3 hour final exam mandatory?
If yes, do you have to pass it in order to get a passing grade for the course?
What % of the final grade is it worth?

2) Excelsior has a new policy stating that if a student fails a core requirement twice, they are automatically withdrawn from their enrolled degree program. Do we know what the pass/fail rate is for this class?

Quite honestly, since this new policy came out... I have been sick to my stomach cause the thought of being kicked out of a program is a very scary one. Yes, maybe it's the wrong thing to be focusing on... but it is a possibility. Can someone please give me some words of wisdom?

Thanks to all who posted.

[MISin08]

Hi, Eshan --

IMHO any reasonably competent adult can pass classes at Excelsior (I've taken 4), provided you:

1. Attend and do the work
   
2. Set yourself up for success by learning the prerequisite material beforehand
   

My post answers your question (1).

Phillip

[EHSAN]

Hi, Eshan --

IMHO any reasonably competent adult can pass classes at Excelsior (I've taken 4), provided you:

1. Attend and do the work
   
2. Set yourself up for success by learning the prerequisite material beforehand
   

My post answers your question (1).

Phillip

Thank you my friend. I will try my best and hope it goes smoothly.

[joikd]

Would anyone who has done the oral powerpoint presentation with the outline please me give some kind of guidance? I've got the outline part down (from Wheelen & Hunger), but how does the oral powerpoint presentation work? I assume that the slides are not the same as the outline or the final case analysis that is turned in--maybe just some kind of summary with charts with me briefly explaining?