NUS BUSINESS SCHOOL
BMA 5104
GLOBAL STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Lecturer:
Office:
Telephone:
e-mail:
Dr. Nitin Pangarkar
BIZ1 (MRB), 6-6
6516-5299
bizpn@nus.edu.sg
Course objectives and focus
The course aims to provide participants with the basic theoretical knowledge, skills, and
sensitivities that will help them deal effectively with key management issues and challenges in
today’s global business environment. We intend to explore the major issues and challenges
facing companies with worldwide operations as seen by the managers themselves. We will
address the following issues:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Motivations for firms to globalize
Circumstances under which globalization may not be a useful strategy
Global versus regional strategy
How can global firms compete in emerging markets?
‘Global challengers’ from emerging markets
Different ‘types’ of global strategy
Specific aspects of global strategy: market selection, pace of expansion and mode of
entry selection.
8. The organizational challenges in implementing global strategies
Each of these areas poses the multi-disciplinary issues that are the hallmark of the general
manager’s job. The course will offer plenty of opportunities for students to: bring their diverse
perspectives and experiences; solve complex business problems; and build on the knowledge
acquired in several previous functional courses.
We will talk about interesting companies including the following:
1. Asia Pacific Breweries (Tiger Beer) (Singapore)
2. Osim (Singapore)
3. Asian Paints (India)
4. Jollibee (Philippines)
5. Schindler in India and a few others
Course materials
Required reading:
1. I will make a set of readings available on library e-Reserves, which will substitute for a
book. One reason for doing so is that each student will be required to purchase a
simulation access code which costs about $50 (approximate, can vary a bit)
2. A few cases (indicated by* next to them) will be from the Business Strategy in Asia (3rd
edition) by Singh, Pangarkar and Heracleous (2010). Two copies of the book will be
available on RBR. I will also check about getting copyright permissions and making PDF
files available through IVLE.
Optional/ supplementary reading
1. C.A.Bartlett, S. Ghoshal, and P Beamish, 2008. Transnational Management: Text, Cases
and Readings in Cross-Border Management. Fifth Edition. McGraw Hill.
2. Vijay Govindarajan, Anil K. Gupta and H. Wang 2008. The Quest for Global Dominance,
Josey Bass Publishers (available on RBR).
Evaluation
Your grade for the course will be determined based on the following criteria
Assessment criteria
Class Participation + Forum
Weightage
20
Four write-ups through the term
(one on a set of readings + three on cases)
20
Simulation decisions (performance in simulation)#
30
2 page simulation write-up#
10
Presentation on a topic or company#
15
Peer review of another group’s presentation
5
# indicates group assignment
Each student will be required to purchase a simulation access code from the NUS co-op. Though
the simulation decisions are supposed to be at the group level, the software company
(McGraw Hill) insists that we purchase individual simulation packs (just like Microsoft or any
other software firm).
Session-wise coverage
Session
no.
1
2
Topic
Readings + comments
Discussion of course
administrative issues
Optional: Kenichi Ohmae (1995). Putting global logic first,
HBR (an excerpt of his book: The end of the nation state).
Adopts the country perspective but is interesting because he
is one of the first proponents of the global movement.
Introduction to the
phenomenon of
Globalization
The ‘To go global or
not’ debate
George S. Yip, George A. Coundouriotis (1991). Diagnosing
global strategy potential: The World Chocolate
Confectionery Industry, Strategy and Leadership, 19(1): 414.
3
Case discussion:
William Holstein (2008). Indian outsourcers go global.
Strategy+ business.com
Optional (it’s a bit difficult to read but is very insightful for
its approach): Pankaj Ghemawat, Global value creation: The
adding value scorecard, from Redefining global strategy:
Crossing borders in a world where differences still matter,
HBS Press
Asia Pacific Breweries Regionalization Strategy
4
The case against
going global
Discussion
Marcus Alexander and Harry Corine (2008). When you
shouldn’t go global, HBR.
Globalization in the supermarket industry
Guest speaker
Dr Andreas Birnik (date is subject to availability of the
speaker)
5
Case discussion:
Jollibee Foods
International
Regional versus
global strategy
6
The challenge (and
rewards) of
competing in
emerging markets
Case study: Read and prepare
Simon Collinson and Alan Rugman (2007). The regional
character of Asian multinational enterprises, Asia Pacific
Journal of Management
Chips and Biryani’, Forbes Global 2000 (about the experience
of Cadence in India), April 17, 2006.
Making China your second home market: An interview with
the CEO of Danfoss, McKinsey Quarterly, Feb 2006.
William Melor and Femi Adi (2011) Citigroup collides with
death in Indonesia emerging market debt, Bloomberg
Markets Magazine, June 30, 2011.
Optional: Warren Liu (2008). KFC in China: Secret Recipe for
Success. John Wiley
Optional: Usha CV Haley (1998). The hair of the dog that bit
you: Successful market strategies in post-crisis SE Asia.
Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 18(5): 236. (An
interesting account of Unilever’s success in Indonesia)
Recess week
7
Case discussion:
Silvio Napoli and
Schindler India
Case study: Read and prepare
Catching up
8
Guest speaker
The local firm
Ramesh Sankar (ex GE Asia Pac manager) (date is subject to
availability of the speaker)
9
perspective: How
firms in emerging
markets can cope
with global
competition
Arindam K Bhattacharya and David C Michael (2008). How
local companies keep multinationals at bay. HBR, March,
Jie Wu and Nitin Pangarkar (2006). Rising to the global
challenge: Strategies for emerging market firms, Long Range
Planning, 39(3), 2006, 295-313.
How emerging
market firms are
challenging their
global rivals
Tarun Khanna and Krishna Palepu: Emerging giants: Building
world class companies in developing markets, Harvard
Business Review, Oct 2006.
Global champions from emerging markets, McKinsey
Quarterly, 2005, Issue 2.
Ming Zeng and Peter Williamson (2003). The hidden
dragons, HBR, October 2003,
Case discussion:
Asian Paints*
10
11
12
13
14
Case study: Read and prepare
Case discussion:
Osim and Brookstone
Case study: Read and prepare
Designing global
strategy
Govindarajan, Gupta and Wang (2008), Chapters 2 and 3
(only chapter 2 may be available on library reserves because
of copyright issues). The book is available on RBR.
Karnani, Aneel and Wernerfelt, Birger, Multiple point
competition, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 6 (1), 1985,
pp. 87-96;
Competitive rivalry
and interaction
(cross-subsidization
and price
competition across
national markets)
Informal simulation
presentations (abt 57 mins each group +
Q&A)
To be announced
To be announced
Presentations (abt 20
mins each group +
Q&A)
To be announced
To be announced
Each group is required to make a presentation on the
internationalization of a selected company
General standards and evaluation process:
1.
Participating in class is important to learning strategy through the case method. It gives
you an opportunity to discuss your proposed solution with peers. In the process, you can judge
clarity of your own thoughts as well peers' reaction to your ideas. Attending as many classes as
possible is important for receiving a good grade on class participation.
2.
There may not be one correct answer to the question posed in the case though some
answers may be more correct than others. The quality of supporting reasoning that you provide
for choosing one alternative over others will be used to evaluate your contribution to the class
discussion. Class participation also means listening to other people and being sensitive to their
points of view.
3.
Please read, in advance, the cases and the readings assigned for every class. If you are
not prepared for any class, please let me know in advance so that I don't inadvertently
embarrass you. Individuals and/or groups may be called on to present their analyses in class.
4.
Feel free to come and talk to me regarding any aspect of the course including your
individual performance or issues discussed in the class. Suggestions for improving the quality of
class discussion are always welcome.
5.
The following rules will need to be adhered to for distraction-free discussions
o Notebook/ laptop computers cannot be open
o Handphones must be turned off and gadgets like MP3 players and PDAs/
Blackberries cannot be used during the class.
o The movement of people (leaving the classroom and re-entering) is minimal
6. I believe in the saying: You teach some by what you say, teach more by what you do, but
most of all, you teach most by who you are. I will always be on time, well-prepared and
willing to hear from you (please make sure that you are not airing unfounded opinions; are
ready to substantiate your arguments; have done research/ thinking before having a strong
stand).
Write-ups
Each of you will need to hand in four short (max of 2 pages, single spaced but 1 page is
preferable; 1 inch margins on all sides; 12 size Times Roman or equivalent) write-ups on a
combination of cases and readings (details below). Each of the write-ups will be graded.
1. Each of three case write-up should identify the key issue(s) in the case according to you
and your analysis of the case (addressing one or more key issues identified above). You
will be judged on identification of the key issues (whether they are appropriate,
sufficiently broad and strategic) as well as your analysis. Please note that this is
supposed to be your own work and any collaboration/ plagiarism/ drawing from
previous work is unacceptable—NUS policy will be in force in cases of plagiarism.
Pleading ignorance of the rule is not acceptable.
a. There is zero credit for writing some general stuff which doesn’t relate to either
the material in the case or the readings on the topic (if that’s the focus of the
particular writeup). These write-ups will simply be given zero marks.
2. You need to hand in a write up on any one of the set of readings (topics). This will
represent your synthesis of the assigned readings for the topic. You can include
additional readings in your discussion, if you so wish. Please observe the rules about
plagiarism.
3. You need to submit the write-ups to IVLE prior to the (beginning of the) class in which
we are going to discuss the case or the topic.
4. The file you submit to IVLE must be named as yourname_topic title or
yourname_casename and so on. My time is in short supply and I don’t wish to spend
valuable time trying to chase all the submissions and correlate the various submissions
with the individual students. You may not receive full credit to any assignments that
that are not appropriately named.
5. Generally, I will edit the MS Word files that you submit (using the Tools/ Track changes
feature) and return them to you (as graded assignments). Considering this modus
operandi, please do not submit PDF files. I will grade PDF papers but provide no
feedback on them for the simple reason that they are difficult to edit.
Term Project to be done in groups
Each group is required to do a project which is intended to achieve two objectives. First, it will
give you an opportunity to apply some of the material learned in the course to business
contexts closer to home. Second, I am hoping that the term projects will make the course more
live and up-to-date.
For the term project, you are required to identify a multinational/ global firm. You should try to
find a multinational/ global firm from the SE Asian or East Asian region. You can, however,
choose to study a firm outside this region if you face constraints in terms of finding a suitable SE
Asian or East Asian MNC firm or you believe that your chosen firm allows you to study an
interesting situation. Once you have identified the firm to be studied, Your task is to gather
some relevant material to the topic, read, summarize and synthesize the articles and prepare a
20 minute presentation (exact duration will be communicated closer to the date) on the topic.
Your presentation should include, at the minimum, some background information, discussion of
the focal firm’s strategy, a key strategic issue facing the company (more detailed discussion
than the overall strategy) and your recommendations (including justifications abt why the
particular strategy was chosen over others).
Simulation decisions
We will be playing a game which will need you to work in groups and make decisions. Some of
the key benefits of playing the game include competing against each other and becoming aware
of the interrelationships among the various decisions undertaken by your firm and how these
decisions, together, influence the competitive outcome. The game is a fun way to learn and put
in practice some of the concepts we cover in the class. Please note that, at the end of the
semester, you have to prepare a writeup about your strategy—consistency and coherence in
strategy will be highly valued. The intent is not to figure out the game’s algorithm and
somehow attain superior performance but to conceive strategies and see how those strategies
perform in the face of competition.
*****End of outline*****