For this assignment answer each question with two paragraphs or less, each question scored on a 0 to 5 scale with 5 being the best score.

1. I nominated In N Out Burger as the best company of the year for 5 years in a row when I was on Dow Jones nominating committee. It also makes the lists of the best companies to work for a year after year even though its a fast-food business. Why do you think this happens? How is this relevant to effective strategic management? Are they the model for how lousy jobs can be made into good jobs?

2. What is MSV and how did it come to dominate so much strategic management over the past 40 years? (see Joe Noceras articles, David Gelles )

3. Do you think that management in any organization, private or public, should make ESG sustainability (taking climate change as an existential threat to the planet and creating a mandate to take care of the environment); social (treating employees as family not throwaway cogs, and governance (being good citizens both locally and nationally.) an important part of its strategic planning? I see that Fox and the Republican Party have made attacking ESG part of their ongoing platform. Their argument: Companies should solely focus on MSV and that ESG is do-gooder nonsense that has no business in any organizations strategy.

4. It is clear that Boeing had systemic failings that predated the crashes of its 737 Max aircraft and the software failures/hairline fissures in the wings of its 787 a few years earlier (and ongoing, along with structural issues in its 777). What happened to this company that was once the engineering envy of its industry? What caused Boeing to stray from its original mission: to produce the finest commercial aircraft in the world?

5. When we speak about the human costs of maximizing shareholder value above all else in the case study of Boeing, what are we referring to? Did short-term thinking poison the long-term viability of Boeing? Is doing the right thing (see Boeing 1920 to 1997) also the most cost-effective thing long-term?

6. Sir Timothy Clark, CEO of Emirates Air, recently stated that Boeing still doesnt get it. What do you think he meant by that?

7. If you were an outside consultant to Boeing, what steps would you recommend to restore Boeing to its former identity as the best aircraft manufacturer in the world? Is this possible within Boeings current management culture and Board of Directors?

8. What do we mean by Skin in the Game and how can it apply to curtailing current and past management failures that we have discussed (from Wall Street to Boeing to GE)?

9. Bloombergs Joe Nocera and The New York Times's David Gelles say that Jack Welch inflicted great damage on corporate America and America generally, not just GE; a point that the authors of Lights Out would agree with. What are the major points of their argument? Do you agree with them?

10. Do you think that Honesty, Transparency, and Flattened Organizational Structures are essential tools for effective strategic management and healthy quality of work life? (See Jim Farley, Marc Benioff, Simon Sinek)

11. Francesca Gino, Prof of Management at the Harvard Business School, has written in Rebel Talent that managers should let your workers rebel. She argues for creative non- conformity as essential for productive strategic management. Why? Do you think this will create more productive and healthier workplaces? Just as an example, can you imagine what Boeing would look like today if Prof. Ginos management ideas were embraced by the companys C-suite?

12. Its an honest-to-goodness miracle is how Automobile magazine describes the new Hyundai Sonata N-Line which they compare favorably with the BMW 530i. And the new Genesis GV-70 was recently named Motor Trends SUV/Car of the year. Kia, Hyundais sister company has received similar accolades for its Telluride SUV, Stinger, etc. How did the Korean car companies accomplish their rapid success story and what made them a model of brilliant strategic management? What did their management do that catapulted them to the top of the price/quality/value charts?

13. Galloway argues that the pandemics the most enduring impact will be as an accelerant; and that in any crisis there is opportunity: the more disruptive the crisis, the greater the opportunities. (See Healthcare and Higher Education and Hybrid work/Working from home) What does he mean by that and do you agree? Examples?

14. If you were part of a management team of a real estate investment trust that owned and managed high rise office buildings in cities, shopping malls, movie theaters, and fitness centers, what survival strategies would you be considering it right now? Are shopping malls and high-rise office building REITs zombie companies?

15. McKinsey, the largest management consulting firm in the world) says the 4-day workweek is the future. In fact, Bill Schaninger, one of McKinseys Directors, says that we should be talking about the 20-hour workweek. Many B-School professors, government officials and innovative corporate managers are also arguing for a 3 or 4-day/30/32-hour week (with the same pay as the old 40 hour week) for most organizations that employ over 50 or 100 people. Do you think that this is desirable? Feasible (except for Mom and Pop operations)? Productive? What would be the tradeoffs? (Remember, it was only 100+ years ago that businesses said that they couldnt afford an 8-hour/5 day workweek.)

16. Safety belts, tobacco, food, sustainability, health, and the climate crisis: Do you think meat, salt, sugar, and fat is going the way of tobacco and becoming legislated health hazards? (See the current strategic planning of food giants such as ADM, ConAgra, and Cargill.) Why are health insurance companies lobbying for major changes in the way we eat and the way we live? (Think strategic management and cost analyses by the insurance companies; note that they were proponents of making tobacco a semi-outlawed product and making safety belts and airbags in motor vehicles the law.)

Optional questions: 2 points each one paragraph max. a.) What are the primary reasons fueling the Great Resignation (4 million/month for well over a year)? b.) Why is understanding complex systems/complexity so important to effective strategic management - especially in the new millennium?