Class 7 9/20/11: I seem to prefer blogging on cases

There seems to always be nothing to say, not even a paragraph, the day after a lecture class. However, going to classes concerning the classes seems to always make me WANT to blog about it, and reflect. Would this be ok, that my blog posts are substantially longer(even if it's not ok, I seem to have kept it this way anyways...), but for both days of class combined? Since textbook classes thus far seem to still be rehashing material we learned before, it is sufficient to comment on them a little along the way.

Today's case on Harley Davidson was a very long(do they get longer and longer from here on out?) yet very interesting read. I seem to be saying that about all of the cases thus far, but I think I just got lucky. As a fitness enthusiast, Bally's was appealing. Luxury service like Wynn Resorts appeals universally. And then with Harley, it is the kind of interesting that blends itself with respect. Because the case spent so long talking about Harley's history, and building the image of a company tradition and a company brand, it seemed to give the corporation itself life.

I am also enrolled in Professor Martin's Business Ethics course this semester, and we have just gone through material relating to the moral responsibilities of a corporation as its own entity. Central to our discussion was how one could separate the corporation from its owners and executives. At what point does a company stop being just an extension of its owner's thoughts and take on its own identity? I feel like Harley has surpassed that point, with how much this case described Harley's past, present, and future, as one continuous process.

For these longer cases, however, do they not merit additional treatment beyond the about 45 minutes allotted in class today? For Bally's and Wynn Resorts, both shorter cases(although Professor Tuggle, why did you say Bally's is a very complex case?), I feel like class time was enough. It seemed somewhat rushed for the discussion about Harley -Davidson.

Also out of curiosity, will we be tested on the data about various cases on the midterm? There seems to be ample emphasis placed on getting the correct year, the correct names of executives, and so on.

As for the textbook material on chapter 4...sometimes I really wish we just had capstone class based on cases only. Since we have spent our previous semesters in school learning and memorizing all of the various theory, could this class not be simply all application? Just a thought...