B5303-001: Strategy, Structure and Incentives
MW - A Term, 10:45AM to 12:15PM
Terms Offered: Spring, Summer
Instructor: ann bartel
This course uses the tools and frameworks of microeconomics to analyze firms’ internal strategies and their optimal organizational choices. Maintaining a competitive advantage depends on how well firms execute their strategy in the product market, which in turn hinges on their internal organization. With this framework in mind, the course analyzes the design of individual and team-based incentives (e.g. bonuses, stock options) and considers the challenges and opportunities in using various types of incentive plans to motivate and reward employees and executives. The design of incentive plans is closely tied to performance measurement and we therefore consider various approaches to performance evaluation. The course also shows how decisions to centralize or decentralize decision making as well as decisions related to the boundaries of the firm (such as deciding whether to acquire a supplier or outsource production) require consideration of the role played by explicit and implicit incentives.
