University of Southern California
Marshall School of Business
BUAD 497: MANAGERIAL DECISION MAKING AND PLANNING
Spring 2005
Professor Fleming
Instructor:
Office:
Phone:
Email:
Section:
Office Hours:
Prerequisites:
Quentin Fleming
Bridge Hall 300
(310) 459-9570 Voice, FAX, messages.
QFleming@marshall.usc.edu
Tuesday / Thursday 4:00 – 5:50 PM
Tuesdays 6:00 – 7:00 PM; AND by appointment
Successful completion of all core business requirements
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is designed to introduce the concepts, tools, and principles of strategy formulation
and competitive analysis. It is concerned with managerial decisions and actions that materially affect the
success and survival of business enterprises. The course focuses on the information, analyses,
organizational processes, and skills and business judgment managers must use to craft strategies, position
their businesses and assets, and define firm boundaries, so as to maximize long-term profits in the face of
uncertainty and competition.
Managerial Decision Making and Planning (BUAD 497) is an integrative and interdisciplinary
course in two important respects. First, it assumes a broad view of the environment that includes
buyers/consumers, suppliers, technology, economics, capital markets, competitors, government, and
global forces. And it assumes that the external environment is dynamic and characterized by uncertain
changes. Second, the course takes a general management perspective. It views the firm as a whole, and
examines how policies in each functional area can be integrated into an overall competitive strategy. In
studying strategy, this course draws together and builds on all the ideas, concepts, and theories from your
functional courses such as Accounting, Economics, Finance, Marketing, Organizational Behavior, and
Statistics. This course, however, is much more than a mere integration of the functional specialties
within a firm. It has been designed to develop among participants the “general management point of
view.” The best vantage point, in fact the only valid vantage point, for making decisions that effect long
run business performance is the general manager's point of view. The key strategic business decisions of
concern in this course involve determining and shaping organizational purpose to evolving opportunities,
creating competitive advantages, choosing competitive strategies, securing and defending sustainable
market positions, and allocating critical resources over relatively long periods of time in pursuit of
specific goals and objectives. Decisions such as these can only be can only be made effectively by
viewing a firm holistically, and over the long term.
This course helps students develop skills for formulating strategy. The strategy process demands
the mastery of a body of analytical tools and the ability to take an integrative point of view. You will
develop these skills through:
 In-depth analysis of industries and competitors
 Prediction of competitive behavior
 Techniques for analyzing how firms can develop and sustain competitive advantages over time
NOTE: While BUAD 497 is a universal core course it is taught by several instructors.
Policies regarding assignments and grading may be different for each instructor. Be
sure to refer ONLY to the syllabus that is provided by your instructor.
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EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES
Theory and Concepts. The central concept of this course is that of competitive strategy. Definitions
abound, but they all share some sense of the allocation of critical resources over relatively long periods
of time in pursuit of specific goals and objectives. Successful strategies exploit external conditions,
entrepreneurial insights, and internal resources, seeking configurations of prices, preferences,
technologies, and information that offer opportunities for sustainable competitive advantage. Strategy
can be usefully thought of as the comprehensive alignment of an organization with its future
environment.
Success, however, depends not only on the soundness of the strategy, but also on its effective
implementation through appropriate organizational and administrative choices. In the end, unforeseen
external factors may cause a well-conceived and executed strategy to fail, in spite of its initial wisdom -but a poor strategy badly executed increases the chances of failure. Opportunities to act strategically
occur infrequently. If missed, or mismanaged, they can prove disastrous for any firm.
Understanding the concept of competitive strategy formulation is a primary educational objective
of this course. This will involve mastering an array of economic, strategic, and organizational concepts
and theories, and acquiring an integrative general manager’s point of view. The course will cover
theories for in-depth industry and competitor analysis, for anticipating and predicting future industry
developments, and for examining the impact of change (in technologies, tastes, government regulations,
global competition, and other important environmental forces) on competition and industry evolution.
The course will also examine the economic underpinnings of competitive advantages, and the
fundamental conditions that allow firms to conceive, develop, and sustain, advantageous strategic
positions. While our primary focus will be on mastering strategy formulation at the business unit or
competitive level, the course will also examine corporate and global strategy issues such as
diversification, vertical integration, economies of scope across related businesses, the transfer of
technology and core competencies, and international expansion and growth.
Analytical Skills. Theoretical concepts are a great aid to understanding, but by themselves they do not
help resolve real business problems or challenges. Also needed are analytical skills and techniques that
can be applied to the data to "fill in" the facts and premises assumed in the theories. A second
educational objective is to further increase each student’s inventory of useful analytical skills and tools.
Some of the tools are quantitative -- analyzing financial statements, computing comparative buyer costs,
and calculating the effects of scale and learning on production costs, for example -- while others are more
qualitative. Learning how to apply these techniques, and, more importantly, when to apply them is a key
objective of the course.
In learning to size-up a business and its problems or opportunities, this course will allow you
experience in conducting "full blown" strategic analyses. That is, identifying firms’ strategies and testing
them for consistency, recognizing potential entrepreneurial opportunities and strategic
challenges/problems, selecting and establishing competitively protected market niches, identifying
competitive advantages and shaping defenses to circumvent the advantages of rivals, formulating and
implementing internally consistent business strategies, and designing efficient and effective
organizations.
Rhetorical Skills. The best analysis in the world will have little effect if it cannot be communicated to
others. Managers must be able to articulate their views coherently and persuasively, and they must be
skilled at understanding and critiquing other points of view. Management is a "verbal sport;" perhaps
90% of a typical manager's day is consumed by oral communication. Time is often scarce. You must
learn to make convincing arguments and to make them quickly, or the merits of their ideas are likely to
become simply irrelevant. This skill takes practice, and we will place a great deal of emphasis on it in
class.
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Wisdom. Much of the knowledge that successful managers and consultants employ consists of "rules of
thumb" about what issues are likely to be important in certain kinds of business situations. These rules of
thumb, or heuristics, are often implicit in the thinking of people who have never bothered to articulate
them explicitly. A fourth goal of this course is to help you build up your set of useful "stories" and
heuristics for your future managerial careers.
In this course we are as much interested in developing an appreciation for the art of management
as we are in understanding the science of management. Tools alone will not a strategist make. While the
ability to master analytical models, frameworks, and tools is essential, ultimate success is more strongly
predicated on prescient judgment, entrepreneurial insight, iconoclastic vision, and a willingness to
forcefully act with conviction.
COURSE FORMAT AND THE CASE DISCUSSION METHOD
In order to achieve the objectives of the course, we will devote the majority of our class time to
the analysis and discussion of selected management, competitive strategy, and business policy cases.
Occasional lectures will be given to elaborate on key theoretical models and frameworks or to reinforce
crucial concepts. These lectures, however, will be subordinate to the case analysis. Cases provide a
natural "test-bed" for theory and provide vivid examples that aid memory of concepts. While nothing can
surpass first hand personal industry and managerial experience as a basis for analysis and decisionmaking, case analysis is an indispensable proxy for the kind of knowledge that can only be gained
through years of experience and research. A mix of old and new business cases has been selected on a
range of companies from a variety of industry settings. Each case is intended to teach us something
specific, yet each can teach many things. We will not attempt to exhaust each case of all its learning
experiences, but rather build up a "war chest" of analytical tools, skills and insights, progressively over
all the selected cases.
There are other reasons for employing the case discussion method of instruction. First, it allows
you to develop skills at problem definition in addition to problem solving. Cases typically do not have an
obvious set of tasks whose performance will lead to mastery. Rather, they force you to sift through a
mass of information, some of it irrelevant or contradictory, in order to identify the important or strategic
issues. Second, the case method gives you a chance to deal with ambiguity. Most cases do not have
obvious "right" answers. Managers must be able to function in situations where the right answer is not
known, without falling into the trap of assuming that any answer is as good as another. Some analyses
and proposed strategies are clearly wrong, and some are clearly better than others. A popular phrase in
case analysis classes is "There are no right answers, but there are wrong answers." Case discussion
techniques provide a chance to learn the meaning of analytical rigor in situations other than open-andshut problems.
These rationales are offered because the case method is unfamiliar to most of you and frequently
causes initial confusion. There will be many times when we, as your instructors, will not reveal our own
opinions about a particular issue, and there will be cases which will not end up neatly packaged with an
"answer." You may discover that your preparation "misses" key points of a case, especially at first. This
is a normal part of the learning experience.
While we will direct class discussions, the quality of your learning experience will be directly
determined by: (1) your degree of preparation, active listening, and participation, and (2) your
classmates' preparation, listening, and participation. Some will not agree with you, and you may be
asked to defend your argument or change your mind. So long as criticism is directed at arguments and
not at individuals, is relevant to the issues at hand and coherently argued, it is very much welcomed.
Case Preparation Because this course relies heavily on case material, extensive before class
preparation and in class participation are required to ensure the class' success. (1) Preparation for a
case discussion should begin with a rapid reading of the assigned case and other materials. (2) Then, it
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is worthwhile to review the discussion questions provided for clues as to what issues require special
attention. (3) The next step is normally to re-read the case carefully, taking notes which sort information,
facts, and observations under a number of relevant headings. Try to formulate theories or hypotheses
about what is going on as you read ("the company loses money on small orders"), modifying or rejecting
them as new information surfaces ("Table 2 shows that shipping costs per unit are higher for small
orders, but only for long-distance shipments"). Push yourself to reach definitive conclusions before you
come to class. (4) You should perform quantitative analyses, “crunching” whatever numbers are
available. It is also very important to provide quantitative support wherever possible, particularly when
exploring various hypotheses as to the nature and importance of certain phenomena. (If the requisite data
are not available in the case, a precise description of what data are missing often triggers ideas for
making creative use of the information that is available.) It is usually worthwhile to identify trends in the
firm or industry, preferably with a quantitative measurement. Some of these trends, often very important
ones, will not be flagged in the text of the case. (5) Finally, preparation will include notes that can be
used to guide your interventions in class discussions.
You will probably want to, and are strongly encouraged to, form study groups that will meet
regularly to share insights and ideas about the assigned cases. While this is, of course, voluntary, past
experience has shown that satisfactory performance in this course, and a good grade, depend on it.
WARNING! There is a good chance that you will feel a bit confused or overwhelmed
during the first module, or two, of the course. This is a byproduct of the peculiar structure of the
strategy course that does not build up linearly by successively adding components of knowledge week by
week. Rather, every case in a sense contains all the material in the entire course. Furthermore, the early
theoretical concepts probably won't have much meaning for you until you've worked through a few cases.
As a result, there is no logical way to start off except by immersion, i.e. throwing you in the deep end of
the pool and letting you struggle to stay afloat. The good news is that the number of new ideas for you to
learn drops off quickly after the first three modules, and old ideas continue to be relevant. This way you
will get multiple chances to master the basic concepts of the course. So remember: SOME
CONFUSION IS NORMAL AT FIRST.
To have made it this far in your business program, simply put, you must be good. You have
tackled numerous challenges, demonstrated a high level of competence, and mastered many very difficult
courses and business concepts. So as this course attempts to overwhelm you, don't ever forget that you
are good! Keep in mind that this capstone course has been expressly designed to make you even better.
It will constantly push you and "help" you discover areas of weakness in need of improvement. We will
test you with fire, in a cost-free environment. For some, this course will be "finishing school," for others,
unfortunately, it will be like "boot camp." This is the course that makes you wish you had never sold
those old textbooks -- because we will be using all the "stuff" in them, again. Whether you have
aspirations for top management positions or not, this course will make you better in your own chosen
business specialty.
COURSE EVALUATION
Course grades will be determined by students’ relative performance on the following course components:
Course Contribution (Participation and Group Presentation)
Group Presentation
Individual Assignments (3 SA and 2 QA)
Announced Quizzes (best 5 of 6)
Case Competition Presentation
Final Exam
4
25%
-25
15
10
25
100%
In order to successfully pass this course, a passing grade (> 50%) must be achieved in each individual
course component. Plus and minus grades will be assigned to those immediately above or below grade
cutoff points. The distribution of grades will closely follow the guidelines of the Marshall School of
Business (an average class GPA of 3.0).
Attendance Policy. Woody Allen once said: “90% of success is just showing up.” Woody was right
– class attendance is absolutely essential in the case study method. All missed classes will be noted. The
policy on missed classes is to allow each student three (3) absences, no questions asked, no penalty. All
further absences over the limit will reduce the student's participation grade, no questions asked, no
excuses of any kind accepted. Students with an excessive number of absences are at risk to fail the
course. Only Official University engagements, such as scheduled debating events, sports events, are
excepted. Job interviews, etc., are not excused, so choose your absences carefully. Habitual lateness
(and leaving class early), for whatever reason, will be noted as evidence of low course commitment and
penalized.
Class Contribution / Participation. Your overall commitment and attitude toward this course, and
your daily active verbal participation in case discussions, will be closely monitored. In grading class
participation, we will look at both the quantity and quality of your class contributions/interventions
(with quality being much, much more important). Class participation is obviously a function of
preparation, skills, attitude, and a willingness to actively commit yourself in front of your instructor and
colleagues. A classroom is a cost-free environment for experimenting and learning to "play the game."
Make use of it. Shyness is no excuse.
With regard to quality, the dimensions that we look for include:
Relevance -- does the comment bear on the subject at hand? Comments that do not link up with what
the discussion is focusing on can actually detract from the learning experience.
Causal Linkage -- are the logical antecedents or consequences of a particular argument traced out?
Comments that push the implications of a fact or idea as far as possible are generally superior.
Responsiveness -- does the comment react in an important way to what someone else has said?
Analysis -- is the reasoning employed consistent and logical?
Evidence -- have data from the case, from personal experience, from general knowledge been
employed to support the assertions made?
Importance -- does the contribution further our understanding of the issues at hand? Is a connection
made with other cases we have analyzed?
Clarity -- is the comment succinct and understandable? Does it stick to the subject or does it
wander?
It is expected that you will make brief notes or outlines -- identify critical problems, "crank-allthe-numbers," do the financials, generate alternative recommended courses of action, and generate ideas
about how to implement them. You should rely on these notes when contributing to the class discussion.
All students will be formally called on, at random, to take the lead in various aspects of class
discussions at least once or twice during the semester. If the student called upon is not present, is late, or
is not sufficiently prepared to make a substantial contribution to the class discussion, he/she will lose
points for class contribution. If the student makes helpful comments, he/she will accumulate points for
class contribution. Since it is unlikely that there will be enough opportunities to call on each student
more than once or twice, be warned that failure to be thoroughly prepared, on all occasions, can be
devastating to your overall grade.
Each student will receive a score for participation at the end of each case discussion session. The
simple recitation of facts from the case will receive some credit toward the student’s class contribution
score. Comments that do more than simply recite case facts, however, will receive substantially more
credit. For instance, comments that provide synthesis or raise counterintuitive points, will add much
more to a student’s class contribution score. Students who make no contributions will receive no credit.
Comments that contain factual misstatements, demonstrate lack of adequate preparation, or are
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distracting because they come too late in the discussion, will be penalized. Attempts to dominate class
discussion rarely result in consistent and significant contributions.
Unannounced Quizzes Short unannounced quizzes may be given at any time during the course to test
the level of student preparation for case discussions. Multiple choice and short answer questions may be
given at the beginning of classes where a case is assigned for class discussion. No make-up opportunities
will be given to students who are absent or late. Student performance on these pop-quizzes will be used
to determine a student’s participation grade.
Participation Cards At the end of each case discussion, students who actively participated in the
discussion should turn in a Participation Card. These cards should list your name, the date, the case
discussed that day, and a synopsis of your contributions during that day’s discussion. The Participation
Cards will be used in combination with the instructor’s own daily evaluations to determine your
participation grade for the day. For this purpose, please purchase a package of 3x5 index cards and bring
them to each class.
Group Presentation You will be required to participate in one brief presentation to the class as part
of a group. The presentation will be graded on a group basis and will count towards your class
participation score.
You will make your group presentations using an overhead projector or computer, and use your business
communication skills to explain and defend your conclusions to the class. Presentations should take
about 10 minutes. Presentations must be made in groups of 4-5 members. You are advised to request a
date for a presentation in advance and to talk with your instructor ahead of time about your presentation.
Groups that do not volunteer for presentations will have them assigned to them. No written write-up is
required when a group presentation is made, however, groups should provide their instructor with a copy
of their presentation slides and a full list of all members of the presenting group prior to your
presentation.
Announced Quizzes. A short quiz will be given at the beginning of several sessions (see the course
schedule below for the dates of these quizzes). The quizzes will consist of objective (usually multiple
choice) questions from the assigned readings in the course text, and/or short answer questions on key
concepts covered in the most recent lecture and subsequent class sessions. Missed quizzes cannot be
made up. The best 5 of 6 quizzes will count.
Short Assignment. You are required to complete three (3) Short Assignments [SA]. If you wish, you
may submit two SAs in a section (see below for SA sections A – C) and only the best one will count towards your
final grade. The short assignments are of different types. Some require the application of particular
analytical tools or models to a case. Others require you to provide recommendations to the company
featured in a particular case. SAs will typically consist of your key recommendations to the managers in
a case, along with the supporting logic for those recommendations. They should be presented in memo
format (bullet points are acceptable if the points are explained sufficiently). You should identify the
strategic problems facing the managers, state your position as what the managers in the case should do,
and support that position using strategic logic. You should not use precious space rehashing facts from
the case. Instead, key facts should be used (sparingly) to help justify particular recommendations. That
is, do not simply restate what the case writer has said in other words. Try to go beyond the facts
provided by the case writer by doing some new analysis of the situation facing the managers. Then
develop recommendations based on the analysis. Also, when making recommendations, do not dwell on
things that the company is already doing. Instead focus on things it is not yet doing, but probably should,
according to your analysis.
You must do at least one SA from each of the following groups:

Section A
Coke vs. Pepsi
Apple Computer

Section B
Nintendo
Intel: 1968-1997
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
Section C
P&G: Vizir
Euro-Disney
Saturn
Progressive Insurance
De Beers
BIC Pen
Vivendi
Choice Hotels
Lincoln Electric
The Body Shop
Quantitative Assignments Of the five (5) assignments you are required to turn in this semester, two
(2) of them must be Quantitative Assignments [QA]. If you wish, you may submit two QAs in a section (see
below for QA sections A & B) and only the best one will count towards your final grade. Quantitative
assignments usually involve numerical and/or graphical analysis of data from the cases we will discuss.
Details about the specific quantitative assignments are provided in the “Case Discussion and Assignment
Outline” document posted to the BUAD497 class folder on Outlook (see below for details).
You must do at least one QA from each of the following groups:


Section A
Wal*Mart
Chain Saw
RTE Breakfast Cereal
Section B
Barnes & Noble
Adolph Coors
Nucleon
Policies for SA and QA assignments:
1. Late SA and QA assignments will not be accepted. No excuses, no exceptions. *
2. SA assignments must be no longer than one side of one page.
3. The written portion of QA assignments must be no longer than one side of one
page.
4. SA and QA assignments must be typed in 12-point font with one-inch margins
around the page.
*Note: I use a slightly different variation called the “no problem” policy for SAs/QAs
handed in late. (This policy is: I have no problem accepting assignments late – so long
as you have no problem with the fact that I will grade it just like those papers received on
time, but I will then automatically deduct 20% of the total value [e.g., a paper that would
have been 10 will be 8; one that would have been 8.5 will be 6.5, etc.]. This is fair to
those students that did the work on time while not being overly draconian.)
Returned paperwork, unclaimed by a student, will be discarded after 4 weeks and hence, will not be
available should a grade appeal be pursued by a student following receipt of his/her course grade.
Case Competition Presentation You will be required to participate in a second brief presentation to
the class as part of a group. The presentation will also be graded on a group basis. You will be given a
case in late March. You will be asked to analyze the case using the concepts learned so far in class. All
teams shall submit a copy of their PowerPoint slides to the instructor at the beginning of the first
scheduled day of case presentations. A random selection will determine the order of presentation.
All groups will present their solutions over two days of class in November.
Final Exam A final exam is scheduled for this course. It will be given during the exam time specified
by the University. The exam may consist of multiple choice, short answer and short essay questions. The
final exam will focus on a case that will be handed out a week before the exam AND on the cases we
have read throughout the semester.
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COURSE MATERIAL
Case Package: The assigned cases for this course are available from the University Book Store. When
necessary, your instructor may place additional materials in the bookstore for you to
purchase.
Text:
Hitt, Michael A., R. Duane Ireland, and Robert E. Hoskisson [H.I.H]. Strategic
Management: Competitiveness and Globalization - Concepts, Cincinnati, OH:
Southwestern College Publishing, 6th edition, 2004 (Note: this is a softbound book).
This is an excellent text. It provides students with definitions of key terms, detailed
descriptions of conceptual frameworks, and very useful guidelines for undertaking
various aspects of strategic analysis. Refer to it constantly. You should use this book
to help you fill in gaps in your understanding, add to your strategic analysis tools and
"bag of tricks", and reinforce your skills. It is not, however, a precise template for how
we want you to analyze cases.
COURSE COMMUNICATION: OUTLOOK E-MAIL SYSTEM
An “Electronic Folder” has been created for this course in the Outlook e-mail system. You should begin
the habit of checking the course folder on a very regular basis. The course syllabus, case discussion and
assignment information have been posted to the 497 folder. Additional course lecture notes/materials,
further details on quantitative assignments and position outlines (where appropriate), and general course
announcements, will be posted to the folder throughout the semester.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
The following information on academic integrity, dishonesty, and the grading standard are placed here at
the recommendation of the School of Business Administration Faculty and are taken from the Faculty
Handbook. Additional statements about academic integrity may be found in SCampus handbook
available at the Topping Student Center and online at http://www.usc.edu/go/scampus. Further
information may be obtained from the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards at
http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/SJACS/index.
“The University, as an instrument of learning, is predicated on the existence of an environment of
integrity. As members of the academic community, faculty, students, and administrative officials share
the responsibility for maintaining this environment. Faculty have the primary responsibility for
establishing and maintaining an atmosphere and attitude of academic integrity such that the enterprise
may flourish in an open and honest way. Students share this responsibility for maintaining standards of
academic performance and classroom behavior conducive to the learning process. Administrative
officials are responsible for the establishment and maintenance of procedures to support and enforce
those academic standards. Thus, the entire University community bears the responsibility for
maintaining an environment of integrity and for taking appropriate action to sanction individuals
involved in any violation. When there is a clear indication that such individuals are unwilling or unable
to support these standards, they should not be allowed to remain in the University.” (Faculty Handbook,
1994: 20)
Academic dishonesty includes: (Faculty Handbook, 1994: 21-22)
1. Examination behavior - any use of external assistance during an examination shall be considered
academically dishonest unless expressly permitted by the teacher.
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2. Fabrication - any intentional falsification or invention of data or citation in an academic exercise will
be considered a violation of academic integrity.
3. Plagiarism - the appropriation and subsequent passing off of another’s ideas or words as one’s own.
If the words or ideas of another are used, acknowledgment of the original source must be made
through recognized referencing practices.
4. Other Types of Academic Dishonesty - submitting a paper written by or obtained from another, using
a paper or essay in more than one class without the teacher’s express permission, obtaining a copy of
an examination in advance without the knowledge and consent of the teacher, changing academic
records outside of normal procedures and/or petitions, using another person to complete homework
assignments or take-home exams without the knowledge or consent of the teacher.
The use of unauthorized material, communication with fellow students during an examination, attempting
to benefit from the work of another student, and similar behavior that defeats the intent of an examination
or other class work is unacceptable to the University. It is often difficult to distinguish between a
culpable act and inadvertent behavior resulting from the nervous tensions accompanying examinations.
Where a clear violation has occurred, however, the instructor may disqualify the student’s work as
unacceptable and assign a failing mark on the paper.
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with
Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved
accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in the
semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday through
Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.
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COURSE SCHEDULE
Session
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
CP
HIH
QA
SA
Date
T 1/11
Th 1/13
T 1/18
Th 1/20
Course Introduction and Overview
Lecture/Discussion: What is Strategy? (CP: What Is Strategy?)
Lecture/Discussion: Strategic Thinking (HIH 1, 12)
Wal*Mart Stores, Inc
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
T 1/25 Lecture/Discussion: External Analysis & the Business Landscape (HIH: 2)
Th 1/27 Chain Saw Industry in 1974
T 2/1
Coca Cola vs. Pepsi-Cola and the Soft Drink Industry
Th 2/3 Apple Computer in 1992
CREATING AND SUSTAINING A COMPETITIVE POSITION
T 2/8
Lecture/Discussion: The Internal Environment (HIH: 3, 4)
Th 2/10 Saturn: A Different Kind of Car Company
T 2/15 Progressive Insurance
Th 2/17 The Ready to Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry
T 2/22 DeBeers Consolidated Mines
Th 2/24 Lecture/Discussion: Anticipating Competition and Cooperative Dynamics (HIH: 5, 9)
T 3/1
Barnes and Noble versus Amazon.com
Th 3/3 Nintendo
(CP: The Right Game – HBR article)
T 3/8
Adolph Coors Co.
CORPORATE STRATEGY
Th 3/10 Lecture/Discussion: Rivalry Issues (HIH: 6,7)
Intel Corporation: 1968-1997
3/15-17 Spring Break. Have fun and stay out of jail.
T 3/22 BIC Pen
Th 3/24 Vivendi
T 3/29 Case Competition Day 1
Th 3/31 Case Competition Day 2
T 4/5
Choice Hotels
GETTING INSIDE THE FIRM: MANAGING SUBSIDIARIES AND PEOPLE
Th 4/7 Lecture/Discussion on multi-site firms (HIH 8, 10)
T 4/12 Nucleon
Th 4/14 Procter & Gamble: Vizir Launch
Note: Mini lecture on Clans/Markets/Bureaucracies
T 4/19 Euro-Disney
Th 4/21 Lincoln Electric Company (HIH: 13)
T 4/26 The Body Shop
Th 4/28 Course Review
T 5/3
Final Examination (4:00 – 6:00 PM)
denotes a reading that is available in the Course Reader / Case Package
denotes reading that is in Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, Strategic Management textbook
denotes that a Quantitative Assignment [QA] is due at the beginning of this class period.
denotes that a Short Assignment [SA] is due at the beginning of this class period.
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QA
Quiz
QA
SA
SA
Quiz
SA
SA
QA *
SA *
Quiz
QA
SA
QA
Quiz
SA
SA
SA
SA *
Quiz
QA
SA
SA
Quiz, SA
SA