Strategic Planning During Technology Revolutions

The “traditional” approach to strategic planning doesn’t work for industries in the midst of revolutionary change brought about by disruptive technologies—and every industry is in the midst (or soon will be) of such a change.

This course will define a pragmatic approach to strategic planning for companies facing major transformations of their industries and those of their suppliers and customers.

We will begin with a review of the basic theories of strategic planning and its limitations. We will then focus on a few key industries and disruptive technologies that are remaking them, and ask how winning companies recognize the change and know what to do with it.

Topics include:

• Lessons of the Industrial Revolution: Rules for Revolutionaries
• The Information Revolution: The Next Phase
• The Three Stages of Industry Transformation: Efficiency to Exchange to Emergence
• The Information Supply Chain: Turning Data into Products and Services
• Information Assets: The Physics of Invisible Capital
• Perpetual Strategy: The Portfolio Approach to Planning
• Eight Execution Problems: From Obstacles to Catalysts

Readings will include a mix of theoretical and practical, with some Harvard cases and some non-traditional texts.