TAM 541: Strategy in a Competitive World
ASU Thunderbird School of Global Management — Course
Report
Course Overview
TAM 541 Strategy in a Competitive World is a 3-credit graduate course offered by the
Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. It serves as the
Required Capstone (Culminating Experience) on the iPOS for the Master of Leadership
and Management (MLM) program.
"Focuses on choices that have an impact on the performance of the entire organization or
business start-up. Includes the problems faced by, and the decisions made by, executive
leaders who have to balance the needs and expectations of stakeholders including
customers, shareholders and employees with the requirements of local country practices
and government regulations. Analyzes problems and decisions from the point of view of
the founder, general manager or chief executive who has responsibility for the welfare of
the entire organization. By focusing on policy decisions, concerns the choice of goals as
well as the organization; management and deployment of scarce resources to pursue
these goals within the context of an imperfect, changing and competitive world."
— ASU Course Catalog & Thunderbird MLM Course Descriptions [1][2]
Key Course Details
Detail
Information
Course Number
TAM 541
Course Title
Strategy in a Competitive World
Detail
Information
Credits
3
Program
Master of Leadership and Management (MLM)
Role in Program
Required Capstone (Culminating Experience)
Delivery
Fully online, asynchronous (ASU Online)
Typical Sessions
Fall A / Spring / Summer A
Primary Instructor
David Slocum, Ph.D., Professor of Practice
Other Instructors
Joshua Ault (past sections)
Offered By
Thunderbird School of Global Management
Prerequisites
Degree- or nondegree-seeking graduate student; Department consent required
Syllabus Availability
The full syllabus for TAM 541 is not publicly available online. According to the ASU Class
Search system, the course materials section states: "Not yet provided by instructor. Refer to
syllabus for additional details." [3] The syllabus is distributed to enrolled students through
ASU's Canvas LMS platform during the first week of classes, consistent with ASU's syllabus
policy.
Course Structure (Based on Available Course Materials)
The course is organized into six modules, each centered on a major strategic management
topic and accompanied by a Harvard Business School case study:
Module
Topic
Case Study / Reading
Module
1
What Is Strategy? Competitive Advantage
Apple in China (HBS Case)
Module
2
Value Chain & Strategic Intent; CAGE
Framework
CEMEX Globalization Strategy
Module
3
Strategy as Learning; Five Forces Analysis
Southwest Airlines
Module
4
Strategic Positioning; Trade-offs & Fit
Walmart / Unilever
Module
5
Transient Advantage; Creative Destruction
Cardinal Health
Module
6
Platform Strategies; 4th Industrial Revolution
Amazon: Merging Digital and Physical
Worlds
Additional cases used in the course include Netflix in India, GAZ Group Russia, and
ThoughtWorks.
Main Textbook and Required Readings
Important Note on Course Materials Structure
TAM 541 does not appear to use a single traditional textbook. Instead, the course relies
primarily on a Harvard Business Publishing coursepack consisting of Harvard Business
Review (HBR) articles and Harvard Business School (HBS) case studies, supplemented by
instructor-created lecture materials. This is a common approach in graduate-level strategy
courses at top business schools.
Core Academic Readings Identified from Course Materials
The following key readings form the intellectual backbone of the course:
Author(s)
Title
Source
Key Concepts
Michael E.
Porter
"What Is Strategy?"
(1996)
Harvard Business
Review
Operational effectiveness vs.
strategy, trade-offs, fit, activity
systems
Author(s)
Title
Source
Key Concepts
Pankaj
Ghemawat
CAGE Framework &
AAA Model
Harvard Business
Review / Redefining
Global Strategy (2007)
Cultural, Administrative,
Geographic, Economic distances;
Adaptation, Aggregation,
Arbitrage
Rita Gunther
McGrath
"Transient Advantage"
(2013)
Harvard Business
Review
End of sustainable competitive
advantage, waves of transient
advantage
Amy
Edmondson &
Paul Verdin
"Your Strategy Should
Be a Hypothesis You
Constantly Test"
Harvard Business
Review
Strategy as learning
Van Alstyne,
Parker &
Choudary
"Pipelines, Platforms,
and the New Rules of
Strategy" (2016)
Harvard Business
Review
Platform ecosystems, network
effects
Marshall
Goldsmith
What Got You Here
Won't Get You There
Book (Book Briefing
assignment)
Leadership development,
behavioral change
Most Likely Primary Text
Based on extensive analysis of quiz questions, lecture content, case analyses, and the course's
heavy emphasis on the CAGE Framework and AAA Model (Adaptation, Aggregation,
Arbitrage), the most closely aligned textbook is:
Pankaj Ghemawat, Redefining Global Strategy: Crossing Borders in a World Where
Differences Still Matter (Harvard Business Review Press, 2007; updated edition 2018)
•
•
ISBN-13: 978-1633696075 (updated edition with new preface)
ISBN-13: 978-1591398660 (original edition)
This book introduces the CAGE distance framework and the AAA strategies that are
extensively tested in the course quizzes and discussed in lectures. However, it is used
alongside the HBR articles and HBS cases listed above rather than as a standalone textbook.
The Book Briefing assignment specifically requires students to read and analyze Marshall
Goldsmith's What Got You Here Won't Get You There, which serves as a supplementary
leadership development text.
Sources
1 ASU Course Catalog: TAM 541 Course Description
2 Thunderbird MLM Course Descriptions PDF: MLM AI, Analytics & FinTech
Innovation
3 ASU Class Search: Spring 2026 TAM 541
4 David Slocum Faculty Profile: ASU Search
5 Course Hero TAM 541 Materials: Course Hero
6 Thunderbird Graduate Student Handbook 2025-2026: PDF