COURSE:
TITLE:
BUS 478 D400 (Wed.)
Strategy
SEMESTER: Fall 2015 (1157)
CLASSROOM: WMC 3220
WEBSITE: http://www.sfu.ca/
~sheppard/478index.html
INSTRUCTOR: Jerry Sheppard
Office: WMC 4387
Hours: Wed. 12:40-13:20
Mon. 12:40-13:20
Phone: 778-782-4918
E-mail: sheppard@sfu.ca
1. Develop a capacity to think strategically about a firm, its business position, how it can gain a competitive advantage.
2. Conduct strategic analyses for a variety of industries, organizations and situations in order to develop a stronger grasp of the competitive challenges of a global environment.
3. Become acquainted with the managerial tasks associated with strategy formulation, and the actions managers can take to promote competent implementation.
Pre-requisites: Bus 207, 312, 343, 360, and either Bus 374 or 381, and 90 credit hours.
Objectives Grades
Individual written case analysis . . . . . . . 28%
Midterm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28%
Participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12%
Individual contribution to group . . . . . . . 5%
Group written case Synopsis . . . . . . . . . 5%
Group written case analysis . . . . . . . . . . 10%
Group presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12%
Class participation
4. Integrate knowledge from other courses to see how parts of the business puzzle fit together and why different parts of a firm need to be managed in harmony.
Required Textbook
Positive contribution to class discussion is an integral part of the course; coming to class is not enough!
Attendance accounts for some of this and contribution to discussion accounts for a major part. The best way to contribute is to be prepared by reading the material in advance and saying something in class. However, keep in mind that your contribution will be evaluated for quality and quantity.
Group project and presentation
Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, Strategic
Management, Competiveness &
Globalization, Concepts 11 th ed.
Cengage Learning. ISBN:
9781285425184
Ethical Considerations
You will form into groups of five by the 3 class. Groups should have folks who have a range of skills, and can work well together. rd
You will be evaluating others in the group. The average grade for the group is to be 3.1. If you choose not to fill out a grade form, all group members will receive a 3.15.
You are expected to do your own work on the individual assignments. Failure to do so, or plagiarism, or insufficient citation could result in a zero for the assignment.
Your group will write a 5 to 8 page synopsis of an organization of your choice. It will cover firm history, environment, current situation and main strategic challenges. Your group will
Revised: September 30, 2015

present a 30-minute analysis of this firm. The group will then have two days to complete a written analysis.
Session breakdown
Most sessions will include a short lecture on critical chapter points, some strategy based exercise and a case (a 20%, 40%
40% split, respectively). Lecture material, taken from the concepts chapters, is available online in Power Point (an ‘Essentials’ version that I go through in class, and a full version, with audio) at my convenient website: http://www.sfu.ca/~sheppard/478index.html
Course Coverage
Responsibility for discussion of case analyses and exercises is the students; the instructor’s role is to facilitate. This is where the majority of the class participation mark is derived. .
Date Topic Detail and Cases
Sept. 09 Strategic Management, Performance & Cases
Read Due
Ch. 1,
Case PPT,
Performance PPT
Sept. 16
External & Internal Environment, Insourcing,
IMI Case, & Double-In-Class practice, Part 1
Insourcing article,
Double-practice 1
Sept. 23
Bus. & Corp Level Strategy, Toms case
In-Class exercise # 1,
Ch.
4 & 6, Toms case,
In-Class exercise 1,
Pasta sauce video
Group
List
International / Cooperative Strategy,
Sept. 30 In-Class exercise # 2,
Double-In-Class practice, Part 2
Ch. 8 & 9,
In-Class exercise 2,
Double-practice 2
Oct. 07
Dynamics, Restructuring, Kaskazi 1, Kaskazi 2,
In-Class Exercise #2 & Chapter Review
Ch. 5 & 7,
Kaskazi 1 & 2 cases
Oct. 14 Renewal Innovation & Corp. Governance, Juwi
Juwi case Synopsis
Oct. 21 Midterm
Oct. 28 Control & Rewards, Van Halen & Corning case
Nov. 04 Assigned case: Arla Foods: … a ‘Milky Way’
Ch. 11,
Corning case,
Van Halen reading
Arla Foods case
Individual
Case
Nov. 11 Remembrance Day
Nov. 18 Leadership & the BP Deepwater Horizon case
Nov. 25 Case Presentations
Ch. 12,
BP Deepwater case
(Written analysis due Nov. 27)
Dec. 02 Case Presentations ( Written analysis due Dec. 04)
Revised: September 30, 2015

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COURSE: BUS 478-3
TITLE: Strategy
NOTES: http://www.sfu.ca/~sheppard/index.html
GROUP MEMBERS:
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. J. Sheppard
Office: WMX 4387
Phone: 778-782-4918
E-mail: sheppard@sfu.ca
Name Student ID # Title Concentration
CEO
COO
CMO
CFO
CHR
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Group _________________________
Grade range is 0.0 - 4.4. Fill in only the column that applies to your group
Title
5 Person
Group
CEO:
Comments
COO:
CMO:
CFO:
CHR:
Total:
Revised: September 30, 2015
15.5

Section of report
Grade range is 0.0 –4.4
Mission,
Objectives, Goals, stakeholders
Form
 Updated Information
 Current Mission
 Goals & Objectives
 Stakeholders
General and
Industry
Environment
Resources and
Capabilities / Core
Competencies
Business, Corp. and
International
Strategies
 Business Level Strategy
 Corporate Level Strategy
 International Strategy
 Cooperative Strategy
Synthesis
Selecting a Course of Action
Implementation
 Macro Environment

(Demographics, Economy, etc.)
Industry Environment (Porter’s 5)
 Competitors (top 3 or so)
 What are the industry dynamics
 Resources (Tangible / Intangible)
 Capabilities (by Functional Area)
 Core Competencies (VIRO)
 Performance
 Firm Strengths & Weaknesses
 Enviro. Opportunities & Threats
 SWOT Matrix
 Does the strategy fit the SWOT
 Possible Alternatives
 Criteria by which you will evaluate Alternatives
 Evaluation of Alternatives
 Recommendation
 Describe Action Plan for implementation
 Discuss the logic of Action Plan
 Are any new organizational structure or controls needed
 Criteria to evaluate change success.
Content

If case info. needs updating, update it and bring the audience/reader up to speed.
 Provide the firm’s current Mission & Goals.
 Who’re the stakeholders & what do they want?

Clearly outline these elements.

Industry dynamics include the likelihood of competitor attach and response and the form these attacks and responses are likely to take given conditions in the environment

Details will be needed (e.g. you should say
“Their physical plant is the most modern and efficient in the industry and it allows them to….” rather than simply listing “physical
Plant” under a list of tangible resources).

Tell me what is their:
־
Generic Bus. level strategy is (Cost
Leadership, Diff, Focus, etc.)
־
Corp. level strategy (Conglomerate, Vert.
Integration Single bus., etc.)
־ International Strategy (Global,
Transnational, Multidomestic).
־
Any Joint Ventures, etc.

Summarize not only the strengths & weaknesses / opportunities & threats but relate them to each other – how does all that you’ve said so far fit together.

Generate possible alternatives.

Evaluate possible courses of action given mission, SWOT and strategy.

Evaluation (Apply the criteria)

Recommend (This is a must)

Logical & appropriate Action Plan for implementing your recommendations (1 st this, then)

Review any new organizational structure or controls needed

Criteria by which you will evaluate whether the change was successful.
Average
Revised: September 30, 2015

The written version should be no more than 20 page, including cover and citations, no table of contents or exec summary needed, no less than 11 pt, double space, and no less than 1-inch margins. Mix the tables and figures into the text as they are mentioned in the paper.
INTRODUCTION
Background in Brief
The Organization Today
MISSION, GOALS & STAKEHOLDERS
Mission
Goals and Objectives
1. …
2. …
Stakeholders
1. …
STRATEGY
Business Level Strategy
Corporate Level Strategy
International Strategy
Cooperative Strategies
SYNTHESIS
Strengths
1. …
2. …
Weaknesses 2. …
EXTERNAL ANALYSIS
General Environment
1. …
2. …
Industry Environment
1. …
2. …
Competitor Analysis
1. …
2. …
Analysis of Dynamics of External Forces
1. …
2. …
INTERNAL ANALYSIS
Resources
Tangible
1. …
2. …
Intangible
1. …
2. …
Capabilities
1. …
2. …
Core Competencies
1. …
2. …
3. Three is plenty
Performance
1. …
2. …
1. …
2. …
Opportunities
1. …
2. …
Threats
1. …
2. …
SWOT Matrix!
SWOT fit with strate gy
SELECTING A COURSE OF ACTION
Alternatives
1. …
2. …
3. …
Criteria for Evaluation
1. …
2. …
3. …
Evaluation
Matrix of Criteria to Alternatives
Recommendation
Short term
Long Term
IMPLEMENTATION
Action Plan Described
1. …
2. …
Rationale for Action Plan
New Structure & Control Systems needed
Criteria to Evaluate Implementation Success
Revised: September 30, 2015

Name ___________________________
(Due last Class) Student # ___________________________
General attendance A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D F
(Missed Classes)
          
Comments: ___________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
On-time attendance A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D F
(Late Classes)
          
Comments: ___________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
Minutes of Sleep or A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D F
Newspaper Reading
          
Comments: __________________ in Class __________________________________________________________________
Contribution Quantity A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D F
          
Comments: ___________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
Contribution Quality A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D F
          
Comments: ___________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
Other (Specify) A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D F
          
Comments: __________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Other (Specify) A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D F
          
Comments: __________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Revised: September 30, 2015