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Strategic Leadership of Portfolio and Project Management is an eight-chapter book written by Timothy J. Kloppenborg, the Castellini Distinguished Professor of Management at Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Laurence J. Laning,a thirty-year IT executive who also teaches at Xavier. The book was published in January of 2012 by Business Expert Press. Written for executives, managers, and students of strategic management, the text addresses the gap between executives who determine strategy and the project managers who implement it. The authors advise leadership teams on implementing strategy through identifying, selecting, prioritizing, resourcing, and governing an optimal combination of projects that collectively helps them achieve their strategic goals. The book also guides executives about what they need to do at each project stage and how they can ensure project managers understand fully how their projects contribute to overall strategy. Further, the authors detail how regular reporting and quarterly updates in planning help to ensure results; propose proven, simple methods of collecting integral data; examine effective decision making methods; and explain how portfolio and project decisions must be made based on data using reliable analytical methods. Chapter 6 discusses the role of the Chief Information Officer and provides a practical overview of information technology and its purposes in business. Significant recent developments in IT and techniques for designing IT enterprise architecture are examined. The chapter shows how the CIO works with other executives to define a strategic IT master plan, and concludes with a presentation on best practices regarding the use of IT consultants and IT vendor companies. The chapter contains three appendices that discuss technology basics (software, hardware, telecommunications, the internet 1.0 and 2.0, and databases), IT global standards, and commercial software contracting basics.

Strategic Leadership of Portfolio and Project Management is an eight-chapter book written by Timothy J. Kloppenborg, the Castellini Distinguished Professor of Management at Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Laurence J. Laning,a thirty-year IT executive who also teaches at Xavier. The book was published in January of 2012 by Business Expert Press. Written for executives, managers, and students of strategic management, the text addresses the gap between executives who determine strategy and the project managers who implement it. The authors advise leadership teams on implementing strategy through identifying, selecting, prioritizing, resourcing, and governing an optimal combination of projects that collectively helps them achieve their strategic goals. The book also guides executives about what they need to do at each project stage and how they can ensure project managers understand fully how their projects contribute to overall strategy. Further, the authors detail how regular reporting and quarterly updates in planning help to ensure results; propose proven, simple methods of collecting integral data; examine effective decision making methods; and explain how portfolio and project decisions must be made based on data using reliable analytical methods. In Chapter 7 the authors discuss the analysis of data in making strategic decisions. Techniques to define, collect, clean, and analyze high quality data are examined. A selection of simple yet powerful analytical techniques to better make strategic decisions is provided. The chapter contains two appendices discussing additional quantitative and qualitative analytical techniques.

Strategic Leadership of Portfolio and Project Management is an eight-chapter book written by Timothy J. Kloppenborg, the Castellini Distinguished Professor of Management at Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Laurence J. Laning,a thirty-year IT executive who also teaches at Xavier. The book was published in January of 2012 by Business Expert Press. Written for executives, managers, and students of strategic management, the text addresses the gap between executives who determine strategy and the project managers who implement it. The authors advise leadership teams on implementing strategy through identifying, selecting, prioritizing, resourcing, and governing an optimal combination of projects that collectively helps them achieve their strategic goals. The book also guides executives about what they need to do at each project stage and how they can ensure project managers understand fully how their projects contribute to overall strategy. Further, the authors detail how regular reporting and quarterly updates in planning help to ensure results; propose proven, simple methods of collecting integral data; examine effective decision making methods; and explain how portfolio and project decisions must be made based on data using reliable analytical methods. Chapter 8 highlights the key learnings and takeaways from each chapter and presents ideas for implementing the authors' ideas within an organization.

In 2011, Cypress Semiconductor was doing well. Their 2010 revenues had grown 32 percent to $884 million, and coupled with diligent cost reduction efforts, their profits before taxes were up nearly 23 percent. In the preceding two years Cypress had eliminated its debt and built up a large cash position. But the semiconductor business was a brutal one demanding both continual cost reductions and innovation. Cypress was a comparatively small player, competing with firms like Samsung that was more than 40 times its size. Cypress founder and CEO, T.J. Rodgers reflected on the challenge of fighting large competitors in a tough environment by saying, "It's all about execution because if you haven't done what you said you were going to do it doesn't matter if you have a good plan or not." In Rodgers' view this meant that to be successful Cypress had to continue to be relentless in driving out costs and be able to generate a stream of new innovations. His solution was to manage Cypress as "a federation of entrepreneurs." This case details the history of the firm and its philosophy and practices that it uses to encourage innovation within its organization. The case gives a comprehensive account of Cypress's approach, people management including hiring and compensation procedures, and information systems. The focus is on Cypress's strategy and practices to stimulate innovation and launch successful new ventures.

In 2007, Takeda was a leading Japanese pharmaceutical company with sales primarily in Japan and the U.S. Although Takeda ranked around 15th in global sales, the pharmaceutical market had been shifting due to major industry consolidation. Yasuchika Hasegawa, the president of Takeda, was concerned about the future of the company. To counter the shrinking Japanese pharmaceutical market, Takeda had expanded its business to overseas markets. But Takeda's attempts to become a global company had been criticized as slow and not sufficiently aggressive. One reason for this was Takeda's risk-averse corporate culture. Worse, Takeda's R&D pipeline was shrinking, and patents on several of its major products were about to expire-which would inevitably lead to a decline in profits as generics entered the market. This case explores Hasegawa's plan to transform Takeda into a global pharmaceutical company in a rapidly changing market. It covers Takeda's history, industry trends, and Hasegawa's acquisition strategies.

DD Traders was the Asian branch of DEMDACO, a privately held company that wholesaled unique gift products, which were marketed and distributed to the specialty retail channel in the United States (as well as some international markets). Carolyn Glasow recognized an opportunity to leverage a quantitative approach to sourcing future allocations across vendors that would also improve the short-term demand transparency that was provided to the company's key business partners, which could lead to increased bargaining power for price negotiations and production lead-times. This was a recurring issue for Glasow and her sourcing team: how should she allocate product purchases among the various manufacturers that bid for the opportunity to supply products to DD Traders?

Better World Books was founded as a for-profit "B corporation" committed to a triple bottom-line of financial, social, and environmental performance. After early growth, BWB now faces challenges growing while sustaining their social-entrepreneurship business model. Problems such as narrow margins, shrinking supply, low brand awareness, and even copycat competitors are a few of the issues BWB faces. CEO David Murphy must decide how to handle these issues in a way that keeps BWB competitive in the crowded used-book industry and creates value for all of BWB's stakeholders.

After a series of entrepreneurial successes, Elon Musk invested and took a leadership role in Tesla Motors, a company dedicated to commercializing the fully electric car for the mass market. Tesla's current product, the Tesla Roadster, is considered the first fully electric vehicle capable of replacing a gasoline-powered automobile due to its high performance and acceptable range. As other companies, including the traditional vehicle manufacturers and new entrants, develop their own electric vehicles, Musk must decide what to do with Telsa Motors as a company. Should he sell to a larger manufacturer, take the company public to generate the capital for growth, or remain a private niche company? Could Tesla expand their product line to compete with the traditional players in the market?

Jeff Hawkins, founder of Palm Computing, wants software that "thinks" like the human brain. His latest company, Numenta, has developed "Hierarchical Temporal Memory" (HTM), a cutting-edge pattern-recognition software that functions as the human brain does. Hawkins struggles with how to license Numenta's software while protecting Numenta's intellectual property. He must also balance moving his research forward with creating a profit and sustaining his company. Hawkins, who doesn't want to lose control of this company like he lost control of Palm Computing, must decide what strategic alliances to make or not make to ensure that his dream of making computers "more human" becomes reality.

Bank of America has historically pursued a strategy of growth through acquisition. The bank acquired Countrywide Financial in 2008 and Merrill Lynch in early 2009, but at the same time took on $100 billion in toxic assets and exposure to potentially massive losses in the mortgage industry. After being bailed out by the U.S. government preventing what would have been the largest bankruptcy in history, Bank of America is looking to the future and new opportunities. Stephanie Miller is part of a team tasked with developing a new strategy for the bank. How should the bank position itself strategically to compete successfully and grow in the future?

Better World Books was founded as a for-profit "B corporation" committed to a triple bottom-line of financial, social, and environmental performance. After early growth, BWB now faces challenges growing while sustaining their social-entrepreneurship business model. Problems such as narrow margins, shrinking supply, low brand awareness, and even copycat competitors are a few of the issues BWB faces. CEO Andrew Perlmutter must decide how to handle these issues in a way that keeps BWB competitive in the crowded used-book industry and creates value for all of BWB's stakeholders.

Why is a U.S. solar technology firm manufacturing in China instead of the U.S.? Chuck Provini faces this question not just from the market, but also from the U.S. government. This case examines the making of a new joint venture in China at a time when both the U.S. and Chinese governments are eager to expand and develop their clean tech sectors.

Following a successful split-off of Conoco in 1999, management at DuPont engaged in a decade-long challenge to reposition the company from a mature worldwide petrochemical firm to a leader in biotechnology. In 2010, president and CEO Ellen Kullman considered how to structure her organization and how to position DuPont for future growth. In this case, students consider Dupont's six business segments at this point in time - agriculture and nutrition, electronics and communications, performance chemicals, performance coatings, performance materials, and safety and protection - and how to evolve a strategy that would create the most value for the company and for its investors.

BHP, an Australian mining company, threatens to enter the potash mining industry through a hostile takeover of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan. Complicating matters is the fact that the Canadian potash industry has operated as a legal cartel in which the provincial government has a stake. This case enables students to assess BHP's strategy in terms of value creation and value capture, how it relates to its existing investments in the industry, and the risks and rewards of alternatives to BHP's strategy.

Steady, predictable growth is what every big company strives for, and what investors prize above all else. McGrath set out to discover how many companies actually deliver. To meet her initial criteria, a company had to have a market capitalization of at least US$1 billion and to have grown by 5% each year over a five-year period. Only 8% of the companies in her sample of 4,793 qualified. When the five-year period was doubled, only 10 companies qualified--and of those, only five had grown both revenues and net income every year. The success of these "growth outliers" can't be explained by industry, company age or ownership structure, global location or economy (emerging versus developed). They do, however, share a lot of practices. For example, they diversify their portfolios with early, small bets, manage major resource allocations centrally, focus attention on culture and shared values, and hold on to their talent. Their practices add up to an intriguing, counterintuitive profile: Although they are nimble and adaptive, their leadership, strategy, and values are extraordinarily stable. The author concludes that this seeming paradox is a feature, not a bug: Stability is what enables these companies to innovate and to maintain steady growth.

Trying to operate two business models at once often causes strategic failure. Yet LAN Airlines, a Chilean carrier, runs three models successfully. Casadesus-Masanell, of Harvard Business School, and Tarzijan, of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, explore how LAN has integrated a full-service international passenger model with a premium air-cargo business model while separately operating a no-frills passenger model for domestic flights. LAN's multimodel success comes from recognizing the complementarity of its two high-end services and the distinct, or substitute, nature of its no-frills offering. LAN came to that insight by analyzing the major assets that the models share and the compatibility of the models' operational resources and capabilities. It recognized that the more the models have in common, the more likely they are to generate greater value together than apart; the less they share, the more likely they are to be best executed separately. Nevertheless, managing multiple models is a tall order. LAN has had to face greater complexity, broaden its organizational skills, increase the flexibility of its workforce, and make other investments. But by mastering three models, the company has built formidable advantages that are difficult for competitors to overcome. Its example has shown how, properly applied, the implementation of multiple business models is not a risk but rather a new tool for strategists.

For decades economists have wondered whether inequality is good or bad for long-term growth. A detailed examination of economic data from 48 U.S. states suggests that a certain level of inequality promotes growth. Still, reducing inequality has clear benefits over time, and growth policies that ignore inequality may ultimately be self-defeating.

In 2009, Paul Sagan, CEO of Akamai, the leading online content delivery network with a 60% market share, needs to decide how to respond to aggressive entry in its market, whether and how to pursue the explosive growth in online video, and whether to stay with its distributed network model or move towards its competitors' more centralized design.

In 2009, Paul Sagan, CEO of Akamai, the leading online content delivery network with a 60% market share, needs to decide how to respond to aggressive market entry, whether and how to pursue the explosive growth in online video, and whether to stay with Akamai's distributed network model or move towards its competitors' more centralized design.