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Your Turn Get Down to Earth to Teach Strategy Professors who teach strategy often face two major problems in the class- room. First, strategy, as a concept, often appears vague and fuzzy to students. Students know it's impor- tant; but they often see it as too broad and variable. Second, and perhaps most troubling, educators often start at the wrong point when teaching strategy. It doesn't help matters at all when they start in the air, so to speak, introducing stu- dents to concepts such as "mission" and "objectives." What business educa- tors really need in the classroom is a down-to- earth approach, using methods that comple- ment the importance of the strategic concepts with practical applica- tions. Educators need to start not with vagaries, but by having students look at a company's basics: where the com- pany is, what it sells, who it invoices, which market segments pay the bills, and which segments don't. For instance, students may be by Jorge A. Vasconcellos e Sá of creating a strategic map in terms they can understand. Having defined a strategic map of the market's terrain, students are now ready to answer another down- to-earth question: How can a com- pany defend its market segments and attack competitors? Once again, I find that theory still often rules the day, especially when it comes to the initial lessons in strategy. Professors may want to present a neat list of bullet points before the class outlining the eight defense moves a company can make (such as signaling defense, creating Jorge A. Vasconcellos e Sá THEORY HAS ITS PLACE, BUT WHEN IT COMES TO TEACHING STRATEGY, IT'S BETTER TO GET DOWN TO EARTH IN THE PROCESS EARLY, QUICKLY, AND THOROUGHLY. lost in the haze if professors begin a strategy course defining amorphous or theoretical terms. But they'll latch on to concepts quickly when pre- sented with, say, a brewery looking to increase its share in the market- place. Ask students the real-world questions: Does the company sell red, lager, or stout? Nonalcoholic, light, or standard? To a young or mature market? To men or women? Before the end of the course, stu- dents have learned the foundations 54 BizEd MARCH/APRIL 2006 barriers to entry, or counterattack) and the six attack moves (such as guerrilla warfare, bypass, or flank- ing). I argue, however, that it's more important to show these moves in action, not in theory, from the first moment of instruction. Rather than bullet points, first introduce students to a business— say, a pizza parlor. Invite them to consider opening a new pizza parlor in their neighborhood. They first can note what firms already are doing business—maybe a Pizza Hut, a Domino's, and an independent pizza parlor. Then, they learn to first con- centrate on the industry leader. In this case, perhaps it's Pizza Hut—the company with the most financial resources trying to block their restaurant's entry by cutting prices and increasing advertising. Students can choose to open a sit-in restau- rant with low prices and fast service as a direct frontal attack on Pizza Hut, which already leads in that seg- ment. They might choose to open a gourmet pizza restaurant as a bypass attack on Pizza Hut, which isn't in that segment and may lose customers to a new option. Or they can operate from a home kitchen and special- ize in home deliveries as a guerrilla attack on Pizza Hut, which doesn't have clientele in that segment at all. As students decide which seg- ment—and how many segments— they should target, and what attack moves they should utilize, they're simultaneously learning the con- cepts. It isn't essential for them to be immersed in theory before get- ting their hands dirty creating a strategic plan. Theory has its place, but when it comes to teaching strategy, it's bet- ter to get down to earth in the pro- cess early, quickly, and thoroughly. Students emerge from these early strategic exercises knowing what the available strategic moves are, when to follow them, and how to implement them. In other words, they spend less time being confused and more time knowing the rules of strategy and how to follow them, minimizing their mistakes. And as any strategic planner knows, those who make fewer mistakes are those who win. ■ z Jorge A. Vasconcellos e Sá is the Jean Monnet Professor at the University of Lisbon in Portugal.