Version 0.9 ( )

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COURSE:

Aalto: 23C23067, Business Sales and Purchasing

Management:

A Relationship Perspective, 3 ECTS

Hanken: 23067, Business Sales and Purchasing

Management, 4 ECTS

SYLLABUS

Version 0.9 (11.04.2016)

Instructor’s contact information Course information

Name: Paul Viio

E-mail: [email protected]

Office: Arkadiankatu 22, Hanken, Marketing department, room f2.11

Office Hours: see course information on Moodle Availability: by e-mail or appointment

Aalto People/Instructor’s Webpage:

https://people.aalto.fi/index.html?language=english #paul_viio

Hanken’s staff webpage:

http://www.hanken.fi/en/person/paul-viio

Status of the course:

Aalto: Bachelor’s degree, an elective course of specialization studies in Marketing

Hanken: Marketing Level:

Aalto: Specialization studies Hanken: Intermediate studies Academic Year, Period: Aalto: V (Spring 2016) Hanken: 4 (Spring 2016)

Location: Aalto School of Business & Hanken School of Economics, Töölö, Helsinki

Language of Instruction: English Course Website:

https://mycourses.aalto.fi/course/search.php?search= 23C23067

Official course page available on Hanken’s Moodle Teaching Assistants: TBA

1. OVERVIEW

Trade globally conducted between firms and organizations is mainly initiated and managed between sales and purchasing. This course focuses on sales and purchasing management in a business-to-business context. Special emphasis is put on initiating and developing business-to-business relationships, and value

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in sales and purchasing. 2. PREREQUISITES

Aalto: 23A00210 Introduction to Marketing / 23A00110 Markkinoinnin perusteet.

Hanken: An introductory course (equivalent to Marketing Strategy) in marketing is required. 3. LEARNING OUTCOMES

You understand the fundamentals of business-to-business sales and purchasing, and have the ability and skills to analyze, evaluate, develop, and co-create value through strategic sales and purchasing in business-to-business (B2B) relationships.

You will be able to:

• Describe the characteristics of the central concepts sales management, purchasing

management and value pricing in a business-to-business context

• Identify sales and purchasing challenges for companies operating in an environment of

relationships

• Apply and analyze the theoretical concepts sales management, purchasing management, value

sales, value pricing and value on practical cases/situations. In so doing, the student can find theoretical arguments and models that are related to the concept and apply these to the chosen practical case.

4. COURSE FORMAT

This course begins on Tuesday, April 12 and concludes on Friday, May 6. The schedule can be found below. The course consists of both residency and online lectures. Participating in the class lectures during the residency lectures is critical to getting the course started. Thus, it is essential that you attend all of the scheduled class lectures marked RESIDENCY in the below schedule.

Residency

During the residency lectures we will meet at the Hanken or Aalto campuses in Töölö, Helsinki. During these class lectures, we will have the course introduction and the introduction to assignments, case presentations, and course summary. Also, we will deepen our understanding of certain topics with the help of guest lecturers.

Please read all of the assigned articles and material assigned for the lecture before arriving to the lectures, and come prepared for an interactive in-class experience. While I may do some lecturing in order to familiarize everyone with some of the basic principles of the topic that we will focus on during the lecture, we will spend most of the time during the introduction lectures to discuss the assignments and what is expected from you during the course. As for the company guest or guest lecturer lectures, the company guest or guest lecturer is likely to do most of the talking. Prepare for these lectures too and pay attention.

You will write a final term paper in teams during this course in teams. The final term paper focuses on deepening your understanding of central topics covered during the course. As part of the residency lectures you will present your team’s final term paper, and we will discuss it in class.

Online

During the online lectures, topics are arranged in modules based on themes. Articles will serve in place of a single textbook to provide you with perspectives from leading scholars and practitioners on the

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topics we will cover. The articles are not meant to provide a comprehensive overview of the body of the literature in business sales and purchasing management. Rather, I have selected articles that I think are useful, thought provoking, carefully researched, and excellent launching pads for your learning and the discussions that we will have throughout the course and for the final term paper that you will write and the home exam (in case you are expected to write one).

For each main topic that we cover during the online lectures, I will post one or more video “lecture(s)” in order to highlight key issues that I feel you should learn. After each video there is a web-based quiz (or another assignment) that you will complete. The quizzes serve to evaluate your knowledge of the topics covered in the videos.

To support your learning, we may also use the Moodle discussion forum from time-to-time to make sure that questions you have about a particular topic that are not part of the official discussion are addressed. Additionally, your will submit your team’s final term paper (write-up and presentation) through Moodle. 5. ASSESSMENT, GRADING, EXAM FEEDBACK

Assessment (and weight of final grade in %):

Points, maximum Aalto (3 ECTS) Hanken (4 ECTS)

Individual: PMs 15 15% 15%

Online quiz (or equivalent) 25 35% 25%

Grading by team members 10 15% 10%

Home exam* 25 n.a. 25%

Team: Term paper (report 15 points, presentation 5 points, discussion/review 5 points)

25 35% 25%

*) Hanken students only.

The point system: The point system used for assessment is 0-100. For Aalto students the final points will be converted to grades following the Aalto grading scale (0-5).

Grading by team members: This will be done by your team members based on your contribution to the case work of your team. Your grade is the average of the grades that your team members give you. Important notes on grades: You will be evaluated based upon the quality of your work (output) rather than your effort (input). Hard work is required to do well in this course, but it does not merit a high grade in and of itself.

All assessments, points, and the final grades will be made available on the course page on Moodle. Upon successful completion of the course your final points and grade for the course will also be visible for you on WebOodi.

Attendance policy

Participating in the class sessions during the residency lectures is important to build a common platform for your learning. Thus, presence during the residency lectures is compulsory (except if marked

Voluntary). Your presence during the residency lectures will be monitored. In general, absence from residency lectures cannot be compensated. Should you, however, not be able to participate in a residency lecture, inform the course instructor of your absence beforehand. The course instructor will make the final decision regarding the handling of possible absences.

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Late submissions are not possible. The submission system is closed after the submission deadline. Submit your work before the deadline to avoid failing the course.

6. ASSIGNMENTS

Assignments in this course include: PMs (Pro Memoria) for each guest lecture, web-based quiz, grading of team members, home exam*, and final term paper work.

Company guest / guest lecturer Pro Memoria (PM)

We will have two guests visiting our course to complement the literature and our discussions and in order to give us insights to how B2B companies operate in Finland/internationally or to another theme. The guests present their company or theme and answer questions and comments we address. Prepare questions beforehand by familiarizing yourself with the company or theme. After the mandatory guest session you only have a few days to write a PM of 1 page (A4 format, line spacing 1, Times new roman 12 points, 1 inch margins). Participation during the guest lectures is mandatory, and your PM will be graded. Submission is done through Moodle in PDF format (not word.doc or any other format). Please write your family name, student number and the company/guest name in the file name, like this: yourfamilyname_studentnumber_ company_PM or yourfamilyname_studentnumber_ guestname_PM. How to write the company guest / guest lecturer PM:

1. Choose 3 issues/points that the guest focused on and summarize these. Refer to the literature in your discussion (i.e. use appropriate citations), and be analytical.

2. What were the most interesting insights the guest talked about and WHY is that interesting? Note: Refer to the literature and be analytical in your discussion in the PM.

Should you not be able to attend one of the two guest lectures, you can compensate for the one that you miss by writing a 3-page paper. The same deadline and uploading procedure as for the PM applies. In case you miss a company guest lecturer session, your paper shall describe the company’s business, its key target segments, what service (through its products and services) it offers to its key customer segments, and the potential value of these services for its customers. Refer to the literature (you do not have to restrict yourself to the course readings) and be analytical in your discussion in the paper. If you miss an academic guest lecturer session, your paper shall describe the traditional and latest avenues in business-to-business research in the topic that the guest lecture focuses on. Refer to the literature (you do not have to restrict yourself to the course readings) and be analytical in your discussion in the paper.

Online quiz

After each video lecture there is a web-based quiz (or equivalent/another assignment) for you to complete. The quiz can entail choosing between right and wrong answers, open-ended questions or multiple-choice answer(s) to a question or claim directly related to the topics covered in the videos or the key literature related to the video lectures. Note that you can not go back and forth between the

questions; answer each question before going to the next one.

Number of attempts: You can retake each online quiz once, i.e. you have two attempts per online quiz. You have to allow 24 hours between the attempts. The attempt with the highest score will be used for grading.

Deadline: The online quiz links open when the online lecture opens and the quizzes are open only until 29.4 at 16:00. Complete each quiz on that date at the latest. After that date and time the online quiz links will be closed.

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Grading of your team members

Each team member provides a grade for the contribution of each member (except himself/herself) in the team during the case work. Grading of team members is carried out confidentially (i.e. only the course instructor will know the grades provided by the team members individually).

Home exam

For Hanken students only the course has a home exam, which is based on literature and that includes questions from the lectures, term papers and articles.

The home exam questions:

1. Discuss with the help of the course literature and using examples (from the course literature, gust lecture, term papers and other insights) how value in business relationships can be understood, created, and delivered. (10p)

2. Describe and discuss how value can be used to establish new business relationships. Use the terms, concepts and examples from the course literature, guest lectures and other insights. (10p) Instructions for the home exam: Structure your reponse in a way where you respond to each of the questions separately, yet in a way that your responsens jointly form a report, which has an introduction, the exam questions, method and the questions with your responses. Conclude the report with a discussion section, also discussing the possible implications for you (i.e. how you can/could use the insights and methods in case you were to work in the area of B2B sales & marketing or purchasing).

Points: In total 25p, i.e. 10p per question and 5p for the overall report (including structure, introduction, and discussion). The criteria for the grading of the home exam follow Hanken’s standard criteria (can be provided to you upon request).

Submission of the home exam: The deadline for submission of the home exam is 16.05 at 12:00 (noon) through Moodle.

Term paper

The purpose of the term paper is to deepen the knowledge and understanding of the course themes by applying the topics of the course to a case company (or organization operating in a business context) of your own choice. The aim is also to learn to assess and discuss other teams’ research work. The final term papers of each group should be studied to the final written exam in order to get information of good company examples that are needed/beneficial for the exam. The term papers are produced by each team in the following way:

• Choose a group and a team in that group in Weboodi, deadline: before 18.4. Each team has 5

persons.

• Your team should as soon as possible become familiar with each other, choose a theme, a

theoretical model(s) and a piece(s) of course literature that belongs to that same theme. The chosen model(s) and piece(s) of literature as well as plans for the interview can be discussed with the instructor 18.4 during the final term paper planning discussion.

• Your team chooses a company and contacts the company as soon as possible, at the latest

immediately after 18.4.

• Collect information of the company on the Internet and from other sources (like newspapers,

magazines, annual reports).

• Your team prepares an interview guide that is based on the chosen literature (theory, model or

framework).

• Your team interviews one person in the company; a person that is an expert on the topic/theme that

the team is to study and research. The interview should optimally be taped or video recorded and transcribed so that more in-depth and detailed information can be collected. This means that you cannot rely only on making notes during the interview.

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gathering more in-depth data.

• Your team analyses the interview material and other material that you have collected. Your interview

guide is formed based on the chosen model/piece of literature, and you describe the interview guide in the written report

• Your team writes a report of about 15 pages maximum in total (single sided, 12 point Times New

Roman font, 1,5-spaced), including the title page, a managerial summary page, table of contents, and a separate page for references, but excluding possible appendices. Make your report a professional one, and easy to read and understand.The report should follow the Hanken layout instructions (see http://www.hanken.fi/student/infokompanvisning)

• Deadline: Submit the term paper in time to Turnitin in Moodle by 03.05 at 16:00 (4 p.m.) See

instructions in Moodle.

• Read the written reports in your group and attend the presentations of them. Attend your own

presentation and discussion sessions plus the sessions for the other teams in your group (there are altogether up to six final term paper teams in each group.)

• NOTE that all individuals should prepare the group sessions by reading the final term papers by the

other teams in the group to be able to contribute to the discussion.

• You present and discuss the results during the final term paper reporting session. Prepare a

presentation of maximum 8 minutes for the session and use power points to support your presentation.

Detailed instructions for the term paper The term paper should have:

Title page with term paper’s title, name of the course, group number (A, B, C or D), team number and team members’ names, and the date, time and place of the presentation.

Managerial summary / Abstract page (maximum 150 words) that presents: Purpose, Methodology/Approach, Findings, Contribution, and Implications for practice.

Table of content and table of figures on the following page. The term paper includes the following chapters:

1. INTRODUCTION to the term paper and to the chosen topic. Introduction should also give the aim of the term paper and provide the structure of the paper.

2. THEORY with the theoretical discussion and arguments that you have chosen to position and frame your topic. Theoretical models can be included (but they should not take up too much space).

3. METHOD that provides information of how you have chosen the case company, informant(s) and how you conducted your interviews.

4. RESULTS that present your findings. Summarise in figures, tables, and describe your findings with illustrative citations.

5. DISCUSSION. Analyse and compare your findings with your chosen theory or model from the literature, what can you find, what similarities and what differences do you uncover? Discuss and summarise, with focus on the most interesting findings. Implications for the company and managerial implication more in general.

6. LIST OF REFERENCES in alphapethical order.

7. APPENDICES, for example the interview guide, information of the company. Presentations and discussions concerning the term paper

Planning discussion (voluntary): with the instructor (18.04), up to 5 min per team (check your goup’s time slot in the schedule below, and be on time). Each team is encouraged to prepare their plan for the term paper and present the plan to the instructor.

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Final report: Each team should present their own work and comment another term paper plus be active in discussing the other term papers. The team gives a presentation of maximum 8 minutes and each member of the team shall be present. The presentation should not repeat the information from the term paper. You can use power points, video film, brochures and other illustrative material. Your presentation should include 1) agenda, i.e. how the presentation will proceed, 2) aim of your study, 3) the central concepts and models, 4) methods, i.e. how did you go about with your company and the interview, 5) the empirical results, 6) evaluation of the study, i.e. what did you learn and how the company can benefit from your findings: i.e. managerial implications. Put most emphasis on the last part – evaluation of the study and the managerial implications.

Discussion leader teams: Use the review form available on Moodle. (Submit as instructed on Moodle.) The discussant team has 3 minutes to provide their comments and feedback, after which it grants the audience 2 minutes for questions and comments. A good discussant can structure the comments in the following manner:

• Give first a general view of the study, its aim and its layout, provide pros and cons • Give comments on the presentation, pros and cons

• Instruct how the rest of the group are going to provide their comments • Go through the term paper section by section, provide both pros and cons

• Argument for your opinions, i.e. tell us WHY you think something is good and something is less good • Remark if something is missing in the report

A less good discussant:

• Does not provide a general view • Focuses on the language and layout

• Says only “good” or “bad” but does not give a reason why something is good or bad • Lacks analytical touch and reflection

• Is not constructive • Focuses only on details • Have very few points

• Does not give a chance for the instructor and the group to comment

Final term paper presentation timing: Of the total time of 15 minutes, up to 8 minutes are reserved for the presenting team, 3 for the discussants, 2 for the audience, 1 minute for the instructor’s comments, and 1 minute for switching between presenting teams.

Themes for the term papers

Theme 1: Analyse how a company uses value in order to sell its products/to establish customer relationships. Read literature (see for example Blocker et al., 2012; Haas et al., 2012; Terho et al., 2012; Töytäri et al., 2011; Viio and Grönroos, 2014; Viio and Nordin, 2017) and describe a chosen B2B company’s focus on value in selling and sales management or establishing customer relationships. Choose a model or several models that can be combined which you should describe in your theory and use in your interview. Apply them to the company. Be concrete and detailed. Choose an informant in a company who can provide information for this. Create a heading that illustrates your theme and also

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includes that name of the company.

Theme 2: Analyse how a company uses value in order to purchase its products/to establish supplier relationships. Read literature (see for example Cousins and Spekman, 2003; Kraljic, 1983; Lehtonen and Salonen, 2006; Lindgreen et al., 2013) and describe a chosen B2B company’s focus on value in buying and purchasing management or establishing supplier relationships. Choose a model or several models that can be combined which you should describe in your theory and use in your interview. Apply them to the company. Be concrete and detailed. Choose an informant in a company who can provide information for this. Create a heading that illustrates your theme and also includes that name of the company.

Theme 3: Analyse how a company uses value in pricing when selling or purchasing. Read literature (see for example Anderson and Wynstra, 2010; Grönroos and Helle, 2012; Hinterhuber, 2008; Hinterhuber and Liozu, 2010) and use the articles to analyse how value is used in pricing in B2B selling or purchasing. The team can use different models to solve the assignment. These models should be described in the theory part and used in the interview. Apply them to your chosen company. You can take either supplier or suppliers perspectives. Be concrete and detailed. Choose an informant in a company who can provide information for this. Create a heading that illustrates your theme and also includes that name of the company.

7. READINGS Articles:

Module: Value in sales:

Blocker, C. P., Cannon, J. P., Panagopoulos, N. G., & Sager, J. K. (2012). The Role of the Sales Force in Value Creation and Appropriation: New Directions for Research, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 32 (1), 15-27.

Haas, A., Snehota, I., & Corsaro, D. (2012). Creating value in business relationships: The role of sales, Industrial Marketing Management, 41 (1), 94-105.

Terho, H., Haas, A., Eggert, A., & Ulaga, W. (2012). 'It's almost like taking the sales out of selling' - Towards a conceptualization of value-based selling in business markets. Industrial Marketing Management, 41(1), 174-185.

Töytäri, P., Brashear, A. T., Parvinen, P., Ollila, I., & Rosendahl, N. (2011). Bridging the theory to application gap in value-based selling. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 26(7), 493-502.

Viio, P., & Grönroos, C. (2014). Value-based sales process adaptation in business relationships. Industrial Marketing Management, 43 (6), 1085-95.

Viio, P., & Nordin, F. (2017). Double-loop Sales Adaptation: A Critical Review and a Conceptual Framework. Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, Vol. x, Nr. x, pp-pp. Forthcoming. Module: Value in purchasing:

Cousins, P. D., & Spekman, R. (2003). Strategic supply and the management of inter- and intra-organisational relationships, Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 9 (1), 19-29. Kraljic, P. (1983). Purchasing Must Become Supply Management. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 61, Nr

5, 109-118.

Lehtonen, T., & Salonen, A. (2006), AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF PROCUREMENT TRENDS AND PARTNERSHIP MANAGEMENT IN FM SERVICES - A FINNISH SURVEY, International Journal of Strategic Property Management, 10 (2), 65-78.

Lindgreen, A., Vanhamme, J., van Raaij, E. M., & Johnston, W. J. (2013). Go Configure: The mix of purchasing practices to choose for your supply base, California Management Review, 55 (2),

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72-96.

Module: Value in pricing:

Anderson, J. C., & Wynstra, F. (2010). Purchasing Higher-Value, Higher-Price Offerings in Business Markets, Journal of Business to Business Marketing, 17 (1), 29-61.

Grönroos, C., & Helle, P. (2012). Return on relationships: conceptual understanding and measurement of mutual gains from relational business engagements, The Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 27 (5), 344-59.

Hinterhuber, A. (2008). Customer value-based pricing strategies: why companies resist, Journal of Business Strategy, 29 (4), 41-50.

Hinterhuber, A., & Liozu, S. (2010). Is It Time to Rethink Your Pricing Strategy?, MIT Sloan Management Review, 53 (4), 69-77.

The course instructor may add/remove articles from the above list if necessary. Possible other material distributed during the course.

8. PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE

Date Time Place

RESIDENCY / ONLINE

Topic Readings Assignment

Due Date Tue 12.4 10:15-11:45 @Aalto, Arkadia, room: R102/E-341 Valio RESIDENCY

Course introduction Course syllabus and get aquainted with the course literature. Enrollment through WebOodi Tue 12.4 17:45-19:15 @Aalto, Arkadia, room: R102/E-341 Valio RESIDENCY Introduction to assignments Term paper Q&A

Course syllabus. Enrollment to teams through WebOodi, DEADLINE: latest 18.4 Wed 13.4 Available 08:30 Moodle ONLINE

Value in sales Please read: Assigned module readings Online quiz (/ equivalent) Fri 15.4 08:30-10:00 @Hanken, Room 210 RESIDENCY

Company guest lecture: Mr. Mikael Castrén, Business development director, Irokeesi Oy Get aquainted with the company: Internet research Company guest PM, DEADLINE 19.4, 23:55 Fri 15.4 Available 08:30 Moodle ONLINE

Value in purchasing Please read: Assigned module readings Online quiz (/ equivalent) Mon 18.4 12:30-14:00 @Hanken, Room 210 // @Aalto, room:

Company guest lecture: Guest lecturer and company TBA

Get aquainted with the company: Internet Guest lecture PM, DEADLINE 21.4, 23:55

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Date Time Place

RESIDENCY / ONLINE

Topic Readings Assignment

Due Date R101/C-350 Jenny ja Antti Wihurin rahasto RESIDENCY research –or– topic-relevant readings Mon 18.4 14:15-16:30 @Hanken, Room TBA Voluntary

Final term paper planning discussion with instructor to help you, if needed. Time slots for groups: Group A: 14:15-14:45 Group B: 14:45-15:15 Group C: 15:15-15:45 Group D: 15:45-16:15 Please read: Course the syllabus, familiarize yourself with the literature for your final term paper theme Register to / choose a team Tue 19.4 Available 08:30 Moodle ONLINE

Value in pricing Please read: Assigned module readings Online quiz (/ equivalent) Fri 6.5 08:30-10:00 10:15-11:45 12:30-14:00 14:15-15:45 @Hanken, Room 210 RESIDENCY

Final term paper presentation and discussion:

Group A: 08:30-10:00 Group B: 10:15-11:45 Group C: 12:30-14:00 Group D: 14:15-15:45

(See detailed schedule, available after the teams have been formed.) Submission deadline for Final term paper: 3.5, 16:00 Submit your evaluation of your team members by 6.5 Fri 6.5 16:00-17:30 @Hanken, Room 210 Voluntary Residency lecture

Course summary and Q&As Note: The Hanken building closes at 16:00! Be in time! Course readings and material Please provide your course feeback after the course, thank you. Mon 16.5 DL 12:00 Moodle submission

Home exam (Hanken students) Course readings and material

9. COURSE WORKLOAD

Aalto Hanken

“Classroom hours” (scheduled work) 12 h 12 h

Class preparation (non-scheduled work) 26 h 26 h

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hours)

- Final term paper 16 h 16 h

- Readings (approx. 50-100 pages

English text) 27 h 27 h

- Home exam n.a. 26 h

Total 81 h (3ECTS) 107 h (4 ECTS)

10. ETHICAL RULES

Aalto University Code of Academic Integrity and Handling Thereof:

https://into.aalto.fi/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=3772443

Hanken School of Economics code of conduct, and rules and regulations, please see:

https://www.hanken.fi

Personally, I take academic integrity matters very seriously. I maintain a “zero tolerance” approach to violations of academic integrity. Violations of academic integrity include, but are not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, unauthorized multiple submissions. If I discover that a student has violated the school’s policy in my courses, that student will receive an automatic “Fail” in the course.

11. OTHER ISSUES

Registration to course and signing up for teams:

Registration to the course: Enrolment to this course is restricted to 50 students (100 in total from Aalto and Hanken). The first 50 who register are accepted to the course. Priority is given to Aalto students studying in MSc Program of Marketing.

Important: Registration is also required via WebOodi. Please see WebOodi for registration dates and procedure(s).

Signing up for teams: Please also enroll to a team through WebOodi. (The members in each team should optimally be 50/50 from Aalto and Hanken.)

Retrieving course materials:

Students are responsible for searching and borrowing or retrieving the potential course book(s) and articles (using the school’s library and article databases).

Discussion guidelines:

You are all welcome and expected to contribute to class discussions both during the residency and online lectures. During the residency lectures, our class sessions will largely be organized around discussions of the conceptual material and how it connects or relates to real-world situations.

During the online lectures, we may use the Discussion Forum on Moodle to facilitate the discussion or clarify points raised if/when needed.

To deepen your learning, you are strongly encouraged to participate in each discussion (see below for guidelines), whether during the residency or online lectures. (For online lectures the Discussion Forum on Moodle may be used.) The more extensive the discussion, the richer the insights generated and the better the learning experience.

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• Aim at moving the discussion forward.

• Be sure to read your classmates’ contribution before making your own so that you can put your

comments in the context of the ongoing discussion. Isolated or disjointed comments do not make as valuable a contribution as those that take into account the current line of thought. Having said that, you may also change the direction of the conversation if you think it is productive to do so, but make it clear that is what you are doing.

• Add value by contributing to the understanding of the issues. Avoid restating facts or making “me

too” comments that simply repeat what other have said. If you agree with a previously made statement, you can say so, but add something new to reinforce your position.

• Comments linking the theoretical material from the readings, guest lectures, and the case

analysis are particularly valuable. Back up what you say with evidence from the readings, guest lectures or case. Avoid unsubstantiated opinions.

• Do not be afraid to disagree with a stated position if your analysis leads you to a different

conclusion. Diversity in opinions can enrichen the discussion and learning.

• Keep your comments relevant to the discussion thread. Although it is fine to take the discussion

in a new direction, that direction should not be irrelevant to the topic; keep comments within the scope of the focal topic.

Course policies: Professional Conduct

During discussions, whether in class or online, treat your classmates with respect. Use professional language. Learn to disagree and critique the work of others in a polite and respectful manner. Expectations of students participating in the course:

As a member of the course community (applies equally to all students in this course), you accept that it is your responsibility to act in a professional manner by:

Taking personal responsibility for your own education by:

ü Preparing fully for each class; completing assignments on time, honestly, and to the best of your ability.

ü Participating in class discussions without dominating the discourse.

ü Participating fully in group assignments, to include providing constructive and candid assessment of self and
others in group projects.

ü Seeking the applications of material learned in past courses. 
 Modeling professionalism within the course community by: 


ü Using professional language and communicating politely and respectfully with classmates and instructors.

ü Conducting ethically, honestly, and with integrity in all situations and not tolerating academic dishonesty 
in others.

ü Treating all members of the course community with trust, respect, and professional civility regardless of their
race, color, creed, religion, political orientation, affiliation, ancestry, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, age, marital status, or status with regard to public assistance, discouraging the use of inappropriate humor designed to denigrate individuals or groups, and insisting on the same from others.

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ü Being fair and impartial when giving feedback on the performance of other course or community members. 


Disclaimer

This syllabus is not a contract, but a plan for action. The course instructor reserves the right to alter its stipulations, notifying students thereof, if and when educational circumstances warrant changes.