Business Strategy and Intrapreneurship

Course Syllabus here:APS1061H, Summer 2020

Instructor:     Professor Steve Treiber

e-mail: steve.treiber@utoronto.ca

APS1061, “Business Strategy and Intrapreneurship”, Pre-recorded lectures and Live Webinar collaborative course.  If you want to lead a business some day this is the course for you.  Every business executive and entrepreneur will encounter complex business problems they must urgently solve.  COVID19, SARS and 9/11 are extreme examples of unpredictable events that can destroy a business. Leveraging some of the problem-solving skills that you have learned during your engineering education, this course teaches how to define, solve and communicate the solution to a complex business problem using an engineering approach.   Each year we use an unsolved business problem published in newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal as the source of our challenge problem.  In 2020 it is Facebook and Libra. APS1061 course syllabus here.

Students will work in groups to develop a solution to the challenge business problem.  The groups will be given a package of material that identifies the problem in the first class and all groups will come up with their own definition and solution during the course. The inaugural problem, 2018, was how Walmart should respond to Amazon.  In 2020 the challenge business problem will be, Blockchain & Business:  Facebook™ is attempting to launch Calibra™,  the Libra Association and Libra™ cryptocurrency and blockchain.  Libra will be a mobile pay method intended for nearly 2 Billion people who do not use bank accounts.  The Libra digital currency value will be tied to a basket of international currencies to smooth out value swings such as those experienced by Bitcoin and others.  Facebook™ is facing a number of challenges including skittish partners, regulatory and Congressional resistance who fear money laundering and undermining of sovereign currencies.  Our objective is to develop a business strategy and plan that will bring this business to a successful launch.  Guest speakers from companies involved in cryptocurrency and blockchain are invited to class to discuss their views on the problem.