COURSE NUMBER:
BAdm 4801.14 (CRN 95522) Duques Hall #254
Mon 12.45-3.15pm
COURSE TITLE:
PREQUISITIES:
Strategy Formulation and Implementation
Restricted to students with senior-standing in the BBA program.
PROFESSOR:
Dr. Jennifer J. Griffin
Chairman and Professor, Strategic Management & Public Policy
Office: Funger 609 Telephone:
(202) 994-2536
Email: jgriffin@gwu.edu
Office hours: M: 11.30 - 12.15pm; and by appointment
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
1.
Examine the strategic management process.
2.
Sharpen analytical skills acquired in prior coursework (e.g., finance, HR, marketing,
operations) and apply relevant concepts via case studies.
3.
Develop your skills in analyzing organizational situations, key issues, opportunities and
challenges within the competitive context of societal, operating, and internal environments.
4.
Develop your capacity to listen and communicate accurately and precisely, with small
groups and large, both orally and written, in a concise, organized manner.
REQUIRED TEXT: Rothaermel, Frank T. (2013). Strategic Management. Concepts & Cases. Burr
Ridge, IL: McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 978-0-07-811273-7
Note: Many national and international current events are relevant to the strategic management of
business. Regular reading of Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The New York Times,
Financial Times, or Business Week is essential.
GRADING: Class Participation
Quizzes
EXAM (March 24th)
Group Case Presentation
Group Case Paper
10%
15%
35%
20%
20%
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Class Participation (10%)
Class participation by each student is an essential part of the course since verbal communication is an
important attribute of business professionals. Your verbal contribution, in the classroom or a boardroom, is
required because discussion is the major vehicle for improving our ability to deal with problem situations.
To discuss, you must prepare and attend. Class participation, just like verbal communication, is not just
talking. In class, good class participation means asking insightful questions; summarizing the situation in
the case; identifying problems and their root causes; performing a piece of analysis; asking helpful
questions; tying the case and the text; giving personal insights; highlighting current events occurring with
the company relevant to our discussion; recommending a solution; participating in Q&A sessions—in short,
whatever helps the class understand (explain and interpret) the concepts and the cases more fully.
Nearly every class period we will examine a case. For each case, please prioritize the critical issues,
evaluate the financials, understand key stakeholders, outline pros/cons of several alternatives, choose a
recommendation and develop an implementation plan. Come to class prepared to discuss your
analysis, recommendation and implementation plan for the firm. Your performance will be evaluated
after each day of class (scale: 0, 1, 2, 3). Missing more than 3 classes is cause for failing the class.
Quizzes (15%)
During the course of the semester, we will analyze a number of case studies, which are indicated in the
course schedule below. A short quiz will be given before the beginning of some classes covering some
of the general facts and issues described in the case study (or case studies). The reason for the quizzes
is to ensure you have a general understanding of the case study to enable a lively class discussion.
There will be no make–up quizzes allowed.
Exam (35%)
The exam will consist of three parts; 1) the first part will be True/False questions, 2) the second part
will be multiple choice questions, and 3) the third part will consist of student-generated questions. For
the student-generated questions, please submit your preferred questions before class on 3/17/2014 (by
9am). There is no limit to the number of questions you submit, and we will go over the questions in
class (3/17/2013).
Group Case Paper (20%) and Group Presentation (20%)
Case studies provide an opportunity to apply the concepts discussed during the class sessions to actual
business cases. In this case analysis, the team should make recommendations for the managers going
forward. To make viable recommendations the team must demonstrate a thorough understanding of
the case, as well as how the case study relates to the material covered in class (from the textbook). The
emphasis lies on (1) recommendations formulated upon a concise but comprehensive application of the
relevant concepts and frameworks; (2) supporting your recommendations with evidence from the case
study; and (3) discussing the critical management challenges inherent in implementing your
recommendations. Please read the “How to conduct a case analysis” in the Rothaermel textbook
(pages 390-400).
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A case study is based on material gathered about a real organization. Although the case contains a
great deal of information about that enterprise, not all the case information is important or complete
and many times you will not have enough information (just as managers do not in reality as well). You
will have to tease out the issues we have raised in class after thinking carefully about them. Expect that
you will have to read and re-read the case study several times. Use the tools learned in this class and in
past business classes.
Teamwork is prevalent in organizations as a means of accomplishing tasks, solving problems,
brainstorming, formulating strategy, and developing new products or services. Thus, it is important for
you to gain experience in such activities. Please self–organize into teams of 4–5 students during the
first two weeks of class and send me your team members. Then, prioritize your favorite case study
from the list of April classes. In February we will have a lottery to choose the cases and dates of your
group paper/presentation assignment. I will not assign any individuals to groups, so please choose
your teammates early and choose wisely. For teams of more than 5 people—please talk with me.
After the group paper and presentation, each team member will evaluate yourself as well as each of the
other team members (the group evaluation form is posted on Blackboard). The team evaluations are
important! Individual grades will be adjusted up and down based upon the group average and standard
deviation due to team participation (in effort and/or quality). Final grades won’t be turned into Banner
until all team evaluations are received.
Group Presentation—more information regarding the details of the group presentation will be
provided later in the semester when we know the number/size of groups as well as the cases that have
been selected. As seniors, use your resources (team skills, time, energy, effort) wisely—not everyone
must present in class. Yet everyone will be evaluated by one another to ascertain appropriate work
levels for all.
Academic honesty: The entire team is responsible for the academic integrity of the submitted case
analysis. Any incident of academic dishonesty (e.g., plagiarism) will automatically result in a failing
grade for this assignment for each member of the team who participated in the plagiarism. It is
therefore critical that all team members review the written case analysis before you turn it in. Please
refer to the GW “Code of Student Conduct” for details.
3
COURSE OUTLINE. (NB: The syllabi may change at any time to accommodate relevant situations.)
Date
Topic
1/13
Introduction and Overview
Strategic Management Concepts -- Introduction
Read: Chapter 1 and pages 389-400
1/27
Strategic Management Concepts
Read: Chapters 1 and 12
Rothaermel (Roth) Case: MiniCase 4: Starbucks, page 371
Rothaermel (Roth) Case: MiniCase 5: GE, page 372
Co-creating Shared Value
Read: Porter & Kramer, 2011 HBR (Blackboard)
Case: Hunger Site Decision (Blackboard, .pdf)
2/3
Boards of Directors and Governance
Read: Chapters 1, 2 and 12
Case: Roth, Corporate Governance in Three Economies, C441
Case: Roth, United Technologies-Global Ethics, C447
(Team 1: Germany; Team 2: Japan; Team 3: US)
2/10
Industry Analysis -- External Analysis
Read: Chapter 3
Read: Note on DuPont Analysis (Blackboard, .pdf)
Case: Tesla Motors & US Auto Industry (A), (B), C32 & C50
2/17
NO CLASS – President’s Day Holiday
2/24
Competitive Strategy – Internal Analysis
Read: Chapter 4
Read: Note on Functional Analysis (Blackboard, .pdf)
Case: Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2006, C344
**Case: Cola Wars in China: The Future is Here, C368
(last names: A-L Coke; last names M-Z Pepsi)
4
Date
Topic
3/3
Corporate/Business-Level Strategy and Firm Performance
Read: Chapters 5 and 6
Read: Note on Corporate Performance (Blackboard, .pdf)
Case: JetBlue Airways: Managing Growth, C157
Case: Bank of America and Financial Landscape, C175
3/10
NO CLASS: Spring Break
3/17
Global Strategy— Competing Around the World
Read: Chapters 10 and 11
Case: DeBeer’s Diamond Dilemma, page C194
3/24
Midterm Course Review
Read: Chapters 1-6, 10, 11 and 12
Case: MiniCase 6: JetBlue Airways, page 374
MiniCase 10: IKEA, page 383
Assignment: Submit your questions for the exam (T/F, MC format)
3/31
FINAL EXAM
4/7
FINAL Exam Review and Course REVIEW
4/14**
Group Paper & Presentations Planning Day
5
Date
Topic
4/21
GROUP Presentations
Rogers’ Chocolates, page C56
Lego Group: an Outsourcing Journey, page C249
Apple After Steve Jobs, page C455
4/28
GROUP Presentations
Best Buy After Circuit City, page C137
UPS in India—a Package Deal?, page C395
Embraer: Aircraft Manufacturing in America, page C382
Cemex: The Southdown Offer, page C327
4/29
Make-up
Day
GROUP Presentations
Siemens Energy: How to Engineer a Green Future?, page C281
HealthyImagination at GE, page C261
Merck: Open for Innovation?, page C228
4/30
Designated
Monday
GROUP Presentations
Interface RAISE: Raising the Bar in Sustainability Consulting, C107
IBM and the Emerging Cloud Computing Industry, page C207
Infosys Consulting in the US, page C303
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BAdm 4801 Strategy Capstone
Professor Griffin
SAMPLE!!
The Assignment:
Analyze and identify the company’s current strategy. How does this company
make money and compete against other companies? Is their current strategy
sufficient to guide them into the future? Why or why not? Give the
management of this company a performance evaluation and an overall grade!
Make a clear recommendation. Develop a plan of action for what they can do in
the future to remain competitive. Detail the critical implementation challenges
and how management can appropriately address these challenges.
This is a group assignment. Please discuss and develop the exhibits and relevant arguments for the
case with other class members with the final written paper to contain your team’s thoughts and
recommendations. As usual, please remember that I, as your audience, am a busy manager. Your
paper needs to be clear, structured and focused when analyzing the current strategy and recommending
a future plan of action. There is a maximum limit of 15 typed pages with 1” margins, double-spaced;
use exhibits as needed. Note: the exhibits do NOT count as part of the 15-page limit. Papers are due
by 12.45pm Monday via Blackboard on the day you give your presentation in class.
Following are a number of questions focusing on different levels of analysis you may want to consider
when strategically analyzing any company. Examining each of the following questions is meant to be
helpful and illustrative. It is merely optional--You do not need to explicitly answer the questions.
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Badm 4801: Strategy Formulation and Implementation
Strategic Analysis, Professor Griffin
Industry
How well is the organization positioned in the industry?
Suppliers, Buyers?
Entry barriers?
Exit barriers?
Potential substitutes?
What resources do their competitors have?
Where is the power in the industry?
Organization
What is the overall strategy for the organization? (HR, finance, operations, marketing combined)
Is this a parent/subsidiary relationship, or a wholly-owned subsidiary, or what?
How tightly controlled is the organization?
How often is it reviewed?
Does HQ look at just the numbers or does it manage the relationships?
Does it provide an integral product for the whole organization?
Does it rely on variable costs or fixed costs? What about operating leverage?
Individuals
Who are the people involved and how are they affected?
What are their objectives?
How do the people inter-relate?
What are their resources?
Skills?
Experience?
Contacts?
How much of each resource will they commit and for how long?
Who assumes what risks and for what rewards?
Funds
What are the sources of funds?
Are they adequate?
Are they reliable?
What is their timing?
What is their cost?
What are the financial benefits?
For whom?
When are they realized?
Is it a fixed cost business or a variable cost business?
Strategy for implementation
What are the key decisions which must be made?
Price, cost, volume, market share, market potential
Organizational and operating policies
On what assumptions does the transaction rest? How reasonable are those assumptions?
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COURSE:
BADM 4801.14
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Spring 2014
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