| Weed-by-week= schedule | Topic ideas<= /font> |
| # | Date | Who | Topic | Readings befor= e class |
| 1 | 27-Aug | DGM | Course introdu= ction | |
| 2 | 29-Aug | HRV | Selling inform= ation | Inforules: Cha=
pters 1,
2 and 3 Software: Chapter 1, Sections 2.1 and 9.3 |
| 3 | 3-Sep | DGM | Hardware/softw= are, Moore's law | Software: Sect= ions 2.2, 2.3 |
| 4 | 5-Sep | DGM | Software quali= ty | Why Software i=
s So
Bad Software: Chapter 3 |
| 5 | 10-Sep | HRV | Economies of s= cale | Inforules: Cha=
pter
7 Software: Sections 3.2 and 9.1, 9.2 |
| 6 | 12-Sep | HRV | IT and product= ivity | Software: Sect= ion 3.1 |
| 7 | 17-Sep | HRV | Auctions | |
| 8 | 19-Sep | Outside | Software deve= lopment | Software: Sec= tion 4.1-3 |
| 9 | 24-Sep | DGM | ||
| 10 | 26-Sep | Eric Allman of Sendmail | Open source s= oftware | Software: Sec= tions 4.2.4, 8.2-3 |
| 11 | 1-Oct | DGM | ||
| 12 | 3-Oct | HRV | Switching cos= ts | Inforules: Ch=
apter
5,6 Software: Section 9.1.3 |
| 13 | 8-Oct | |||
| 14 | 10-Oct | |||
| 15 | 15-Oct | |||
| 16 | 17-Oct | Jayarami Redd= y of SUN | Standardizati= on processes (Java) | |
| 17 | 22-Oct | |||
| 18 | 24-Oct | |||
| 19 | 29-Oct | |||
| 20 | 31-Oct | |||
| 21 | 5-Nov | |||
| 22 | 7-Nov | |||
| 23 | 12-Nov | DEBATE | ||
| 24 | 14-Nov | DEBATE | ||
| 25 | 19-Nov | |||
| 26 | 21-Nov | |||
| 27 | 26-Nov | DEBATE | Online media<= /td> | |
| 0 | 28-Nov | HOLIDAY | ||
| 28 | 3-Dec | DEBATE | ||
| 29 | 5-Dec | DEBATE | ||
| Title | Who? | Description | |||
| Economies of sca= le | HV | Many IT industri= es exhibit significant economies of scale, which means, roughly, larger firms have a competitive advantage. What are the sources of this competitive advantage on the demand s= ide, and the supply side, and how do they influence industry structure and corporate strategy? | |||
| Hardware and sof= tware complementarity | DM | What are the sca= ling laws for hardware underlying Moore's law? In any given implementation, ho= w do we trade off hardware vs. software? How does Moore's law underlie the expansion of the software industry? What happens to the software industry= if Moore's law came to a halt? | |||
| Selling informat= ion | HV | Review of basic = business models for pricing and selling information goods. | |||
| IT and productiv= ity | HV | What is producti= vity, how can it be measured, and what is its role at the level of the economy,= the industry, the firm, and with business processes? | |||
| Auctions | HV | Computer based communication has made it much easier and cheaper to conduct online aucti= ons and serveral successful businesses have been built around this model. We will describe some of the the= ory and practice of auction design. | |||
| On-Line media | Pau Grabowicz | What is happenin= g with oneline media? What's the s= tate of the online advertising market? Are there success stories? | |||
| Multimedia | Marc Davis | What are business prospects in multimedia? Wh= at can we expect to see developing in this area? | |||
| Open source soft= ware | Eric Allman of S= endmail | What are some distinctive licensing terms and conditions? What does open source teach us about software development in a commercial context? How can open source be used as a competitive tool? | |||
| Software qualit= y | DM | Why is software= quality perceived to be so low? Is this a correct perception?What is needed to fix the problem: a different industry culture, different economic incentives, more product liability lawyers? Or is perhaps the industry just immature?= | |||
| Software develo= pment methodolgies | Outside speaker= | As software dev= elopment projects get more and more ambitious, how are processes and tools evolvin= g to meet this challenge? How can we get higher quality and more secure softwa= re? | |||
| Software distri= bution options | DM | There is an exp= ending list of software distribution options, including network download, remova= ble media, application service provider, and Web services, as well as differe= nt intermediate forms (native code, source code, scripting, and intermediate forms of object code). What are the business implications of all these options? | |||
| Peer-to-peer architecture | DM | What are the bu= siness opportunities and implications of the peer-to-peer distributed software m= odel as opposed to its more centralized options (client-server and Web service= s)? | |||
| Open systems | DM | What are the re= lative merits of open vs proprietary systems, from different perspectives (custo= mer, supplier, policy, legal, etc)? | |||
| Switching costs= | HV | Many technologi= es exhibit significant switching costs, so that once they are adopted, it is very hard to switch to an alternative.&n= bsp; What are the implications of switching costs for industry structure and corporate strategy? | |||
| Options compens= ation | HV | Options compens= ation is widely used in technology industries.&nb= sp; What are the theories and facts about options as incentive devices, and what underlies the current controversy about the accounting treatment= . | |||
| Security and pr= ivacy in the marketplace | DM | Does the market= place provide sufficient incentives for security and privacy? If not, what can = we do about it? | |||
| Distributed sys= tem management | DM | What are the so= urces of value in delivering working software to the end user? What are the challe= nges in dealing with distributed management of applications, and how do we deal with them? Are Web services a panacia? | |||
| Instructional management systems | Fred Beshears of Berkeley ETS | What are the tr= adeoffs between choosing a coodinated solution vs. local autonomy and innovation. Illustrates in one concrete case how content suppliers, software supplier= s, and end users respond to the need for commonality. | |||
| Industrial orga= nization and software architecture | DM | What is the relationship? Which is cause and which is effect? In practice what are the mechanisms by which software archtiectures involving multiple firms are determined? | |||
| Architectural c= ontrol | DM | How does a firm= gain control over a software arcitecture, and what advantages and challenges a= rise from that control? How should government policies interfere, if at all? | |||
| Telecom | Greg Duncan | How did we get = into this mess, and what are future prospects for the industry. | |||
| Politics in standardization | Jayarami Reddy = of SUN | What really hap= pens in standardization? How do firms game the system, how does standardization f= it in corporate strategy, how can standardization be used as a competitive t= ool? | |||
| Infrastructure = and application complementarity | DM | What is infrast= ructure, why is it important? How does the market handle the complementarity of infrastructure and applications? | |||
| Disruptive tech= nologies | Steve Blumenfel= d of AOL | Disruptive tech= nologies and why they are important to organizations, but also why they are disruptive. How does a firm launch new products and services with partner= s? | |||
| Software indust= ry structure | DM | What are the implications in moving industry structure from from stovepipes to layerin= g; from product to service? | |||
| Components | Clemens Syzpers= ki of Microsoft | Software indust= rial revolution: Why hasn’t the industrial revolution of software happen= ed? Will it in the future? | |||
| Components: from hardware and software to systems | DM | What is a compo= nent? How do hardware and software components differ? Why are components rarely thought of in systems, and should they? | |||
| Web services | DM | What are the te= chnical, quality, and legal issues surrounding Web services? What about trust and liability? | |||
| Investing in so= ftware | DM | What types of s= oftware are best pursued by a large firm, by a small boutique firm, by venture capture funding? What is the relationship between mechanisms for investme= nt and success, and how does this depend on the type of software? | |||
| Document engine= ering | Bob Glusko | How to reorgani= ze the flow of information in an organization.&= nbsp; Planning, practice, and productivity. | |||
| Strategic stand= ards setting | HV | Standards setti= ng is critically important in technology industries. How does it affect the economic = forces at work, and what sorts of strategies are used? | |||
| Managing patent portfolios | Peter Detkin of= the Intel | How do patent portfolios fit into corporate strategy, and how does this differ across startups, small and large firms, hardware and software? What are the meri= ts of defensive and offensive strategies against competitors? | |||
| Trade secrets, = patents, and copyrights | DM | In what ways are intellectual property law failing to keep up with changing technologies? Similarly the business models of content and intellectual property suppli= ers? What should be done about this? | |||
| Research and th= e future | DM | What kinds of r= esearch can a firm support, and why? What is tech transfer? What will be the impa= ct of future developments in information appliances, pervasive computing, mobility, etc? | |||
| Dealing with pi= racy | DM | The content and software markets have taken very different directions to dealing with pir= acy. If a good is subject to piracy, what are the tradeoffs between policy, law enforcement, and business models? | |||
| Software and pr= otected speech | DM | Resolved: softw= are should be protected speech under the first amendment | |||
| Antitrust in so= ftware | Carl Shapiro | What are the is= sues in the Microsoft case, and how could or should they be resolved? | |||
| Privacy | Allessandro Acq= uisti | Privacy is both= a social policy problem and a business problem. What policies and practices are necessary and appropriate? | |||
| Service provide= rs | DM | Telecom has traditionally depended on a service provider (supplier-customer intermediary), but this is only now becoming prominent in software. What = are the advantages and disadvantages to supplier and customer, how does this affect pricing strategies, etc.? | |||
| TCPA | Debate | What are the tr= adeoffs between the interests of content suppliers and platofrm suppliers? What a= re the implications for technology and content suppliers, and for makers of = open platforms and for information applicances? | |||
| Platofrms | Debate | Should the owne= r of a platform for new applications (in this case wireless cell phones) have the right to control what applications run on that platform? Another example = is unbundled digital subscriber loop. What are the downsides, and what are t= he possible problems if access is opened up? | |||
| Copy protection= | Debate | Resolved: Copy protection and watermarking technologies are effective if protected by anticircumvention laws, and there is no need for content suppliers to alt= er their business models | |||
| Telecommunicati= ons | Debate | Resolved: The telecommunications infrastructure in the U.S. is in serious trouble and n= eeds a government bailout. | |||
| Architectural c= ontrol | Debate | Resolved: Archi= tectural control is a market dominating strategy, and thus must be closely regulat= ed by the government. | |||
| Options compens= ation | Debate | Resolved: Accou= nting rules should be changed so that options are expensed. | |||
| Internet domain= s | Debate | Resolved: The t= op level domain space should be dramatically expanded. | |||
| Number portabii= lity | Debate | Resolved: Number portability should be mandated by the government. | |||