STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT COURSE OUTLINE 1999/2000
Lecturer
Malcolm Brady Tel: 7045188
Fax: 7045446 Email: malcolm.brady@dcu.ie
Texts
TS Crafting and Implementing Strategy A.A. Thompson and A.J. Strickland 6th edition 1995
JS Exploring Corporate Strategy - Johnson and Scholes, Prentice Hall, fifth ed.
L Key Processes in Strategy - B.Leavy, International Thomson 1996.
CA Competitive Advantage
- M.E.Porter, Free Press, 1985.
LW Strategy and General Management - B.Leavy, J.Walsh (eds), Oak Tree Press 1995.
Objectives
The objectives of the linked modules on strategic management are:
(i)
To help you to develop skills in business analysis and strategic thinking, and particularly to
give you insight into the strategic thinking of client firms.
(ii)
To help you to gain insight into the processes of strategic leadership and into the
management of strategic change.
(iii)
To provide a framework that you can use to integrate what you are learning in the other
disciplines of the programme and to enhance this learning through case analysis.
(iv)
To familiarize you with the literature in the strategy field.
Teaching Method
The main teaching method in this course is the discussion method and the main media employed are
pre-assigned case studies and pre-assigned readings. The case study will generally be the central focus
of each class session. The cases are deliberately chosen to reflect the problems of the management of the
total enterprise rather than those of any specific functional area.
For the learning process to be really effective it is necessary that you carefully prepare the
cases/readings before class and actively participate in the case discussions during class. You will be
expected to be fully prepared for each class and may be called on without notice to start off the class
discussion or to take a position on a particular issue during the class on any day.
Assessment
30% for group assignment
70% for individual assignment
Sessions
0 Friday 1 Oct, 1999
4.00 – 5.00
1 Thursday 21 Oct, 1999
9.00 – 1.00
(Sat. 23 Oct. 1999
2 Thursday 11 Nov, 1999
9.00 - 1.00
3 Sat., 13 Nov, 1999
14.00 – 18.00
4 Thurs, 2nd Dec, 1999
9.00 –1.00
5 Sat. 4th Dec, 1999
14.00 – 18.00
6 Semester two date to be decided
Introduction
Strategy process/ role of leadership
postponed to semester two)
Industry analysis
Company analysis
Diversified companies
Innovation and transformation
Social Responsibility and Ethics/ Review
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SYLLABUS 1999/2000
Session 0.
Introduction to the main themes and topics of the course.
Session 1.
Case:
Readings:
"The fall and rise of strategic planning" - Mintzberg
"Managers and leaders:are they different?" - Zalesnick
"Building your company's vision" - Collins and Porras
Branson's Virgin
Assignment:
1. What is your assessment of Richard Branson as a strategist?
2. What business is Virgin in as of 1995? How has the company's business mission changed over the
years? Why has Virgin been so successful?
3. What strategic issues face the company as of 1995 and what is your assessment of this company's
longer-term prospects?
Session 2.
Case:
The Cola Wars - Coke -v- Pepsi in the 1990s
Readings:
CA Chp 1. Competitive strategy:the core concepts.
"Attacking industry leaders:undermining their virtuous cycles" "What is strategy?" - Porter.
Leavy
Assignment:
1. Assess the attractiveness of the US Soft Drink Industry (using the Porter Model). Why does it
continue to be dominated by Coke and Pepsi?
2. Compare and contrast the strategies of Coke and Pepsi for competing in this industry. Why did Coke
allow Pepsi to close the market share gap dramatically over the 1950-80 period? Why has Pepsi's
determined challenge failed to reach its ultimate goal of overall market leadership?
3. Will this duopoly pattern hold as the industry continues to develop internationally in the late 1990s?
Explain.
Session 3.
Case:
Wal-Mart Stores - competing in services
Readings:
CA Chp2. The value chain
“From value chain to value constellation" - Normann & Ramirez
"The leader's new work:building learning organisations" - Senge
Assignment:
1. Identify the main sources of competitive advantage that Wal-Mart enjoys in discount retailing and
explain how Wal-Mart managed to come from nowhere to become the leading player in an industry
long dominated by large incumbents (like KMart and Sears).
2. Assess the sustainability of Wal-Mart's advantages in the discount retailing environment of the
1990s, now that the leadership has passed on to Sam's successors.
3. What new initiatives at strategic and organizational levels, if any, should Glass and Soderquist take in
order to build on the success achieved during the Sam Walton era? What new strategic issues will they
face if they try to replicate Wal-Mart's success internationally?
Session 4.
Case:
Portfolio planning at Ciba-Geigy
Readings:
"Corporate strategy:the quest for parenting advantage". Campbell et al.
"Strategic outsourcing" - Quinn and Hilmer.
Assignment:
1. Should Ciba-Geigy make the Newport investment? Which option and why?
2. How does portfolio planning help or hinder the decision?
3. What are the purposes of portfolio planning. Does it fulfil those goals?
Case:
Readings:
Canon: Competing on Capabilities
"The core competency of the corporation" - Prahalad and Hamel.
Assignment:
1. How does Canon's approach to corporate strategy and the management of diversification compare
with that of Ciba Geigy?
2. Explain why Canon was able to successfully diversify into the photocopying industry and become the
major competitor to Xerox, where more resourceful companies like IBM failed.
3. What future direction(s) should Canon's corporate diversification take, and why?
Session 5.
Case:
Revolution at Oticon
Readings:
"Strategic change: logical incrementalism" - Quinn
"The 7-S framework" - Waterman et al
"Balancing corporate power:a federalist paper" – Handy
Assignment:
1. Why was major transformation necessary at Oticon?
2. Compare the management of renewal and innovation at Oticon with that at Waterford. What is your
assessment of Kolind's approach to strategic renewal? Is he trying to go too far too fast with his
strategic renewal effort?
3. What lessons from the Oticon experience might be valuable to others trying to lead the processes of
strategic and structural transformation?
Session 6.
Case
RU 486(A)
Readings:
“The discipline of character building” – Badaracco, HBR, March-April 1998
Assignment:
1. What, in your view, were Edouard Sakiz's principal responsibilities regarding RU 486?
2. How should he and the othe Roussel executives go about making their decisions on whether or not
to launch the drug?
3. Should they approach the issue of launching the drug differently in France, China and the United
States, and if so, how? Explain.
Other useful articles:
"Strategy as stretch and leverage" - Hamel and Prahalad
"The living company" - de Geus.
"Increasing returns and the new world of business" – Arthur
"Breaking compromises, breakaway growth" - Stalk et al.
"Matrix management, not a structure, a frame of mind" - Bartlett & Ghoshal
"The knowledge creating company". Nonaka
"Strategy as revolution" - Hamel