Business Strategy for Lawyers Chapter 1: Framework

Transcript:Business Strategy for Lawyers Chapter 1: Framework:
Business Strategy for Lawyers Chapter 1: Framework Prof. Amitai Aviram Aviram@illinois.edu University of Illinois College of Law Copyright © Amitai Aviram. All Rights Reserved S14D Framework Overview of Chapter 1 Introduction to BSL What is business strategy? Business intelligence The value pool © Amitai Aviram. All rights reserved. 2 Introduction to BSL What this course is/isn’t about No law (!!!) Course is about how firms behave to maximize their profits Some such behavior can violate the law (e.g., antitrust) Course will give you a deeper understanding of how businesspeople think Your clients You (if you’re a partner/solo practitioner) The businesses you oversee (if you’re a regulator) But not a business school course either… Business strategy for lawyers This course does not prepare you to be CEOs It prepares you to either be: Regulators; or Lawyers representing corporate clients before regulators 3 © Amitai Aviram. All rights reserved. Introduction to BSL What this course is/isn’t about What does that mean? Consider both individual firm & market-wide impact CEO focuses only on own firm, subject to legal constraints Regulator interprets/enforces law, so “subject to legal constraints” would lead to circular thinking Emphasis on present analysis, not future predictions CEO sets firm’s course Regulator makes decisions based on existing market conditions (& defend in court if challenged, so solid evidence is required) 4 © Amitai Aviram. All rights reserved. Introduction to BSL What this course is/isn’t about This is not a course about picking good stocks Fundamental analysis of investments does require knowledge of business strategy, but it also requires assessing what is the firm’s value But the analysis we use can help strategize your career So what is the course about? (i.e. what is strategy?) Creating/maintaining a fit between the strategic environment & firm’s strategic traits (applying strengths to opportunities), in order to best achieve the firm’s goals More about this in the “What is strategy?” section (BSL 1c) 5 © Amitai Aviram. All rights reserved. Introduction to BSL The challenges of studying BSL Dealing with uncertainty Law classes tend to assume a lot of certainty about the analytic process (e.g., a given test determines if X is liable) But real life (including legal practice) is not nearly as certain – e.g., no rules & no analytical process that ensures business success A good analytical process helps focus on the issues that are likely to be the more relevant to success &