This section contains the written assignments to be handed in at each class session, along with questions that students reviewed prior to class to prepare for the case-based discussions.
Assignments: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
| LEC # | TOPICS | CASES | WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS | DISCUSSION QUESTIONS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction; Course Overview; Issues in Real Estate, Design, and Construction Industries | None | None |
On a typical project, how are firms organized today to deliver value? Who takes on what responsibilities, risks, and rewards?
What are the overall competitive forces in the industry? How do these forces effect margins, economies of scale, or growth? |
| 2 |
Industry Value System
How Information Gives You Competitive Advantage |
George B. H. Macomber Company, 1990 |
No written assignment.
Read the case and the readings. |
Consider the composition of the value system in this industry.
Be prepared to discuss how the basic strategy tools in the readings impact a firm like Macomber. How might information provide competitive advantage to this firm in the short run? In the long run? |
| 3 | Design Technology: Integrated Design and Construction | The Beck Group: DESTINI | None |
Where does The Beck Group fit in the Real Estate, Design, and Construction value system?
Where does DESTINI fit? What do the Five Forces look like for The Beck Group before DESTINI? What do the Five Forces look like for DESTINI alone? What market segments do you feel would be most receptive to the DESTINI concept? Which ones the least? What are the various ways in which the value created by DESTINI can be realized by the disparate members of the value system? How can Beck best capture these benefits for its own purposes? What are the issues in scaling up this solution? How would you roll out DESTINI? Why? |
| 4 | Supply Chain Management and Optimization | World Co., Ltd. |
Problem Set #1: 3 pages MAXIMUM, due on paper at the start of class.
Using the Strategic Management tools of the 1.46 and the first class, diagram the Industry Value System for World and high end apparel. Consider where information flows and what role World plays in managing that flow. Can you diagram this, either on the value system or on a new diagram? Select three or four key handoffs in the value system and consider the contractual - business - information - trust relationship between them. Write your interpretation of what is the “glue” that holds this system together? How does this compare or contrast with the Real Estate, Design, and Construction industries? |
How does the system help World make money?
How does the system help others in the World supply chain make money? What efficiencies does the system promote, or what risks does it reduce? What kinds of business relationships are necessary for this to work? What are the similarities and differences in the retail clothing supply chain and the construction supply chain? Does your answer change if you consider the retail supply chain before there was significant information technology? Are there generalized lessons between Wal-Mart, World, and the Macomber paper? If you consider how the construction supply chain might look ten years from now? |
| 5 |
Business Planning: Going to Market
Writing a Business Plan |
Collaborative Structures | None |
How big is the market opportunity for Collaborative Structures? How does the offering look when viewed through the lens of the article? What issues do you think the firm will face in growing and competing, following the completion of the financing? If you were an Owner or Contractor, would you be interested in the services of a firm like Collaborative Structures? If you were the partner of a venture capital firm, would you invest in the company (at the time of the case)? Why or why not? |
| 6 | Aligning Incentives - Part One | Blockbuster Video (Turning the Supply Chain Into a Revenue Chain) | None |
What is the economic arrangement among firms prior to the revenue sharing idea? What is the total cash received from customers and how is it allocated?
What is the economic arrangement after the revenue sharing idea? Who gets the most benefit? Why? How do you think the discussion went as Blockbuster discussed the issues with its partners? How might these concepts apply to other companies discussed, like World Co or Wal-Mart? How might they apply in construction? |
| 7 | Aligning Incentives - Part Two | Regency Plaza |
Problem Set #2: Three Pages.
Assignment: Using the concept of creating value from Blockbuster, using the idea of aligning incentives, and considering the game theory approaches outlined in The Right Game, prepare your “condo customization pricing game” that would take the multi-play aspects of this real world problem and put incentives or criteria on all of the parties that would provide each of them with short term economic incentives to optimize the whole system in some way. |
Draw the Value System for this project. How far upstream is it useful to think about?
What are the motivations for each of the parties? Are they all economic? What is the nature of the tug over scarce resources? How did the parties get stalemated as they are with the Miller condo? Is there a common set of interests or not? Is there a methodology for a repeated “game” over the 100 condos where the parties can work to maximize the benefit for all? So that the team can set up a system that performs better? If you chose to allocate resources following the example from Blockbuster, how might the numbers work? How would you define the “pie?” Are there creative ways to share gains? What would be the nature of the gains? |
| 8 |
Alliances and Franchising
Knowledge Management |
Colliers and the Technology Solution | None | |
| 9 |
Procurement and Exchanges
Emerging E-Business Models Exploiting the Virtual Value Chain Consideration for Companies and Careers |
Freemarkets.com | None |
What are the aspects of Freemarkets that add value?
What business are they really in? If they were to expand to the construction industry, where would this be welcomed and where would it be a threat? How would you map the roles of Freemarkets and others in the physical value chain and in the virtual value chain (following the Rayport and Sviokla mode)? What implications does this have for the value that you can add in the companies where you are interested in working? |
