Character & Business Strategy in American Corporations

Instructor Dan Marin Rucks Department of Management

Does CEO character determine company strategy or is the strategy determined by the fit between company resources and the environment? Is it both? In what proportions?

We will investigate the determintive role of character in the strategy of 20th Century U.S. corporations.
What does character account for? Are the strategies of 20th Century U.S. corporations characteristically American?

Unit One
Character and Strategy at Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Unit Two
Alfred Sloan and Katharine Graham: Two Ways to Win
Unit Three
Michael Eisner and Martha Stewart: Controversial CEOs
Unit Four
The Pizzolatos: Building a Family Business
(A Plant Visit)