Joseph Lampel

Robin Hood is Britain’s most famous outlaw. In ancient times, he was reputed to have stolen from the rich to give to the poor. In these modern times, the story of Robin Hood serves as a wonderful way to introduce some basic ideas about strategy.

This session begins by considering the strategies of Robin Hood as a way of moving into the strategies of your own organizations. This case, written by Joseph Lampel has become one of the, if not the, most widely used business cases in the world.

The objectives for this topic are to:

• Learn some basics of strategy
• Apply this to your own organization

Clear strategic thinking depends on a solid assessment of your organization’s internal and external environments. SWOT, which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, is one of the simplest and yet most powerful tools that you as a manager can use to bring your strategic situation into sharper focus. Let’s begin this introduction to SWOT where so much has begun: with the Tower of Babel.

This topic suggests a SWOT analysis of the Tower of Babel project and then asks you to SWOT one of your own strategic issues.

The objectives for this topic are to:

• Understand the basis of SWOT analysis.
• Apply a SWOT analysis to a strategic issue within your organization.