Course Syllabus
ICMB 431 Strategic Management
Trimester II/2014-15
Prerequisite: This is a senior year subject. Normally students will need to have completed all
the business core courses
Course Description
1. To show the importance of both domestic and international companies achieving
strategic competitiveness in order to survive
2. To explain how to choose appropriate business policies using the strategic
management process.
3. To understand why strategic management is critical to an organization’s success and
future.
4. To examine the context of globalization and why achieving success in the world-wide
competitive landscape require specific capabilities without which an organization will
stagnate.
5. To improve the research, innovativeness, and the thinking ability of students by
involvement as working teams in the analysis of major “real-life” business case
studies.
Learning Objectives
1. To understand the importance of strategic management to survival and success to
domestic and international business,
2. To examine environmental opportunities and constraints based on firm’s strengths and
weaknesses,
3. To be able to integrate appropriate business policies into meaningful corporate,
functional, and business strategies.
Instructor
Dr. Pard Teekasap
E-mail: pteekasap@gmail.com
Textbook and Material
Required Reading
Michael A.Hitt, R. Duane Ireland, and Robert E. Hoskisson, Strategic Management:
Competitiveness & Globalization: Concepts and Cases, 11th edition, Cengage Learning,
2015.
Outside Reading
W.Chan Kim, and Renee Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested
Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant, Wiley 2005
1
Assessment
Case Analysis Role Plays
As Management Team
As Board of Director
As Shareholder and Participation in Class
Assignment
Assignment and participation
Group project and presentation
Final examination
(5% for outside reading)
15%
10%
5%
5%
30%
35%
Tentative Topic/Lecture Listing
Week
1
2
3
4
5
Date
6/1
8/1
13/1
15/1
20/1
22/1
27/1
29/1
3/2
5/2
6
7
8
10/2
12/2
17/2
19/2
24/2
29/2
9
10
11
3/3
5/3
10/3
12/3
17/3
19/3
Topic
Part I: Strategic Input
Course Introduction
How to analyze the case
SM Overview
Review of Key business function
Analysis of External Business Environment
Analysis of External Business Environment (2)
Analysis of Internal Business Environment
Case Analysis: Black Canyon Coffee (Pg 43)
Part II: Formulation of Strategic Actions
Business Level Strategy and The Competitive
Nature of Strategy
Case analysis: Campbell: Is the Soup Still
Simmering (Pg. 64)
Strategy at corporate level
Case analysis: Harley-Davidson: Strategic
Competitiveness that Spans Decades (Pg. 176)
M&A and Strategy Abroad
Case analysis: Logitect: Finding Success through
Innovation and Acquisition (Pg. 272)
Cooperative Strategic Management/
Organizational Structure
Case analysis: Will J. C. Penney Strike Gold with
Its New Strategy? (Pg. 217)
Part III: Implementation of Strategic Actions
Leadership and Entrepreneurship
Case analysis: Research in Motion (Pg. 323)
Case analysis: Tesla Motors: Charging into the
Future (Pg. 381)
Case analysis: Lockheed Martin (Pg. 259)
Final project presentation
Wrap-up and Review
Reading
Role as
Mgt
team
Role as
Board of
Director
1
4
2
5
3
6
4
7
5
8
6
7
1
2
8
3
Ch 1
Ch 2
Ch 3
Ch 4, 5
Ch 6
Ch 7, 8
Ch 9, 11
Ch 12, 13
2
Assignments
1. Role-playing Case Analysis
The overall aim of role-playing assignments is for students to get involved in a much more
direct and practical way than is the case with classic face-to-face teaching. Students will be
asked to form eight groups. In each role playing case analysis session, the class will be
separated into three main groups: management team, board of directors (BOD), and
shareholders similar to real life annual business meeting. That is, one team will be asked to
play a role of management team, another team will play a role of BOD team, while the rest of
the class play the role of shareholder (Please refer to tentative outline for the schedule of role
playing case analysis). These three groups must be prepared before the meeting begins
according to the roles they have to perform in each session. Basically, everyone must read the
designated cases beforehand.
Role Definition
A management team is responsible to the growth of the organization’s earnings.
They have to identify problems, create choices and provide alternative course of
actions. Management team must submit case analysis report prior to the annual
meeting. Format of case analysis report is provided in class. Apart from written
report, management team has to prepare for 25-minute oral presentation. Only key
important issues should be included in the presentation.
Board of director team must submit report before class. The content of its report will
include only problems, alternatives, and recommendations (numbers 2, 3, and 4 in
case analysis format). After the end of management team’s case analysis presentation,
board of director team should ask management team questions according to its
presentation.
Shareholders are the rest of the class. They do not have to submit any report;
however, they will have 10 minutes to ask management team questions about its case
analysis. Before asking question, please inform instructor your name and ID.
Questions must be creative and relevant to the case.
Evaluation Criteria
Element
As Management Team
As Board of Directors
As Shareholders and Participation in Classroom
Weighting
15%
10%
5%
2. Assignments
Each student has to complete both take home and in-class assignments pertaining to the
specific course materials. These assignments include case studies, role plays, answer to
questions, etc.
3. Group Project and Presentation
3
Each group of students will act as a consulting team of a designated company. A case study
of a real world company will be provided to each team on week 4. Students have to find
additional background information from various sources including libraries, internet sites,
books, magazines, and newspapers in order to conduct a professional case analysis
The general flow and the format of the case analysis are similar to that of the role playing
case analysis assignment with emphases on how a group can systematically apply strategic
concepts and theories and provide effective recommendations. However, its scope of analysis
will be larger and students should put more effort to come up with the best solution for client
firms. Student teams may be required to present their case analysis in MUIC internal case
competition where they have to compete with the teams in other sections.
Evaluation Criteria
Element
Team project paper (Team)
Presentation and Q&A (Individual)
Weighting
20%
10%
Uniform Policy: Students must wear the regular uniform in class otherwise you will not be
allowed to attend the class.
4
GRADING
Management Team (graded as a Team)
**** Management team must submit case analysis report before class. You must conduct
all elements of case analysis format below.
Content
1. Appropriate problem statement from the shareholder’s perspective
2. Analysis complete yet concise and includes more than restating what is given in the
case facts
3. Creative alternatives
4. Recommendation is well supported
Presentation
1. Presentation
a. interesting and holds the classes attention
b. reading should be avoided
c. does not have to be multi-media
2. Salesmanship
a. Did you convince the Board of Directors that you chose the correct problem
statement
b. Did you convince the Board of Directors that you selected the best
recommendation
3. Class participation
a. did you make the case interesting enough for the class to be active in asking
questions
b. sometimes being controversial is good
4. Defense
a. how well did you handle the questions from the Board of Directors
b. how well did you handle questions from the Shareholders
5. Balance
a. did each Team member contribute relatively equally to the presentation
b. did each Team member contribute relatively equally to answering the
questions
Board of Directors (graded as a group for report and as individual for Q&A )
*** Board must submit report before class. Report is included only problems, alternatives,
and recommendations (numbers 2, 3, and 4 in case analysis format)
1. Written report
2. Quality of questions
3. Quality of decision
5
CASE ANALYSIS FORMAT
Note1: Please follow main 5 steps. Bullet points are only clarification of
each step which you do not need to do all.
1. Situation Analysis
 Separate relevant facts from irrelevant facts
 Focus on the Company’s current situation (in the case) not on history
 Complete a SWOT analysis (should result from General environment analysis,
Industry analysis, Competitor analysis, and Internal analysis)
 Determine if the Company has distinctive competencies
 Determine if the Company has sustainable competitive advantages
2. Problems
 Review the Company’s most serious problems
 Select the most important problem the Company has from the shareholder’s
perspective as
 Your Problem Statement
 Support your selection with analysis
 Set up the objectives to achieve
3. Alternatives
 Each alternative does not necessarily have to solve the problem but could potentially
solve the problem
 Alternative evaluation
Hint: Radical ideas many times turn out to be the best solution
4. Recommendation
 Select alternatives which best solve the problem statement and achieve your objective
 Alternative choice.
 Support your choice with analysis
 Strategy (What your team would like to do?)
5. Action Plan
 How to Implement your recommended alternatives
 You must include
o Identify framework in corporate level or business level that you use for this
recommendation
o Elements of strategy stated in recommendation to implement
o Who would involve with this action (both internal and external)
o Budget or financial need
o Marketing action plan (optional according to particular plan)
o Financial Projection (optional according to particular plan)
o Gantt Chart
o Contingency Plan
**** Note2: all you point out in the case and recommendation must give some data or
number to support in order to strengthen your analysis and recommendation.
6