BPS 6310.

501 – STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Fall 2007

Day and Time: Monday 07.00 to 09.45 PM

Place: SOM 2.714
Instructor: Padmakumar Nair, SOM 4.208
Telephone: 972-883-6264
Email: padmakumar.nair@utdallas.edu
Office hours: Monday 06-07 PM or by appointment

Text: Dess, G.G. and Lumpkin, G.T., 2003—Strategic Management: Creating Competitive
Advantages, McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Readings: The readings can be downloaded from the library website (go to eJournals:
http://www.utdallas.edu/library/collections/journals.htm )

COURSE OVERVIEW
The main thrust of this course is general management and leadership to achieve organizational excellence. In this
course, unlike most other courses you have studied in this series, you are required to use a wide range of business
knowledge and exhibit diverse skills. Therefore, the course will be demanding and challenging in two ways:
1. You must perform in topic areas where you have strengths and weaknesses.
2. For effective general management and strategic leadership, one should have not only the right skills and
knowledge but also the right mindset. A change in mindset is difficult to come by in a 16-week course, but
you should constantly work on it.

Historically, this course is referred to as Business Policy and its sole purpose was to help the learner integrate the
knowledge she had developed in other courses in the graduate business education. Business Policy traditionally had
little content of its own. However, in recent years it has become increasingly apparent that general managers and
business executives not only apply knowledge from wide variety of functional area, such as Marketing, Finance and
Accounting, but also perform activities that require knowledge and skills not addressed in those areas. Therefore, it is
now acknowledged that there is a unique body of knowledge that is not taught in functional business courses, which
should be taught in a course such as this. Topics such as, managerial work, strategic leadership, strategy formulation
and implementation, organization structure and design and organizational learning are examples of these topic
areas. Also, development / refinement of skills in scenario envisioning, leading in uncertainty and coaching and
facilitation are major course objectives.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
The course has multiple objectives that include the following:
1. To develop general management mindset, being able to analyze broad organization-wide problems.
2. To integrate the business skills you have already developed and knowledge you have obtained. In the near
future this should give you a better understanding of how your position within the organization relates to the
overall performance of your organization.
3. To develop skills in using your knowledge to come-up with practical and innovative solutions to actual
problems those are being experienced by today’s organizations.
4. Improving skills in oral and written communication.
By the end of the course, you should be able to:
1. Analyze a particular business situation
2. Analyze the external environment of a firm

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 3. Assess the resources and capabilities of a firm
4. Assess the firm’s current strategy
5. Identify the stakeholders of the firm and design ethical strategic responses
6. Create and justify explicit solutions, to address business issues, that are realistic and could
be implemented
7. Integrate skills acquired in FIN, AIM, MKT, and MIS courses to create a successful generic
strategy

Achieving the Objectives

You will be required to complete several activities in order to achieve the identified objectives:

1. Contribute to in-class discussions of chapters, cases, company analysis and readings by exhibiting
(a) an understanding and articulate analysis of the information presented and (b) skills in the
prerequisite course areas required for registration.

2. Attendance is required at all class sessions to fully make use of and participate in all class
discussions. That being said, I recognize that, at times, professional and personal emergencies
may arise which may prevent one from attending class. Let’s all be intrinsically motivated to
contribute and learn from each other! Everyone should strive to be off to a “fast start” by being
enthusiastically and actively engaged.

Overview of the Assignments

In the first day of the class eight (8) groups with 5 to 6 members in each will be formed for the group
assignments. Please “self-select” into your groups.

Please do not rely too much on the Internet for your research. Spend some time in the library—there are
greater opportunities for serendipitous results.

Assignment 1: Readings (CLASS PRESENTATIONS) and case discussions

Readings are pre-selected for the week. There will be 16 readings for the whole semester and two to three
readings will be pre-assigned for the week. The whole class should be prepared for leading the class
discussion as a group. Two to three groups will be randomly called to lead the class discussion based on
that week’s reading. Every group will get at least two to three opportunities to lead reading / case
discussions in the class. The readings can be downloaded from the library website [go to eJournals:
http://www.utdallas.edu/library/collections/journals.htm]. Discussion of the readings should include the
following:
1. Key ideas presented in the paper
2. Why these ideas are important and how they can be used in real life business situations
3. Aspects of the paper which you disagree with
The purpose of this is to generate a good class discussion.

Cases:
1. Harvard Business School case # 9-303-003 dated March 3 2004; P&G Japan; The SK-II
Globalization Project

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 2. Harvard Business School case # 9-794-079 dated Nov.13 2000; Bitter Competition: the
Holland Sweetener Company versus NutraSweet (A)

Assignment 2: Group
The group work should be presented as a power point presentation. Pick an organization / company which
had gone through ups and downs during the last several years. Some of the recent examples are Amazon,
Sun Microsystems, Cisco, K-Mart, Boeing, GM, Ford, ABB, Sony, 3M, Eastman Kodak, Intel, Johnson &
Johnson, Dow Chemical, Caterpillar, IBM, HP, Dell, TI, P&G, McDonald’s, Merck, AOL and Walt Disney.

After identifying the company, describe how the press (or other experts including “gurus’, consultants and
professors) viewed the leadership style and strategy of that company. Then analyze how consistent were
their views over the years you have studied. Ask yourself questions like what could we learn from these
experts on effective strategy making and implementation. That will help you prepare a critical presentation
on this topic. Remember, the goal of this assignment is to demonstrate the complexity of developing
predictive theories on Strategic Management. You can collect news items from regular news papers,
business news papers (Fortune, Business Week and Economist etc.), books or any other source.

All groups should give a 15 min Power Point presentation on this topic on November 19th 2007. Please
remember to send me the presentation one day before your actual presentation.

Assignment 3: Exam I (Multiple Choice and/or short answer) and Exam II (short answer /
essay)

GRADING
The grades in the activities in which you will be participating will be combined to determine your final course
grade. Please note that items 1 and 2 below will be multiplied with a peer evaluation multiplier* to get your
effective grade. The relative weights are as follows:

1. Class Participation (includes readings and case discussions) 30%

2. Group’s Final Presentation 20%
3. Exam I (includes questions from the reading) 20%
3. Exam II (includes questions from the reading) 20%
Total 100%

* Peer Evaluations (to be completed at the end of the final class meeting)

All group members are expected to do their fair share of work on the assignments. Fortunately, about 90
percent of the groups this is not the case. Unfortunately, that leaves (historically) approximately 10 percent
of the groups in which inequities occur. Since I do not know which groups have such a problem, I will use
peer evaluations for all groups. For such a system to work, everyone must be honest and fair. First, if a
group member(s) is making only a nominal contribution and/or is overly difficult to work with, the other
group member(s) may expel them/her/him from the group and this individual must complete the assignment
individually within two weeks after the due date. Second, all groups members should assign a certain points
to themselves and to other group members based on the following three dimensions:

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 1. Contribution (this includes data collection and time spend on constructive discussions)
2. Command over the subject matter
3. Team work

A final grade-multiplier will calculated based on the total points every individual gets from self and other
group members.

EXAMPLE: You should start with a total point of 100 x (number of members in the group). If your group has
8 members, start with 800 points. Distribute 800 points to your group based on the above three dimensions.
If a person gets 100 each from every other member including herself, then her grade-multiplier will be 1
(800/800 = 1). If another person gets a total of 780, then his grade-multiplier will be 0.975 (780/800 =
0.975). If your total point is 900, then your grade-multiplier will be 1.125 (900/800 = 1.125).

Week/Day Course Content

Week 1 COURSE OVERVIEW/EXPECTATIONS/OBJECTIVES
August 20
2007
Week 2 KEY CONCEPTS AND ANALYSIS EXTERNAL & INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
August 27 OF A FIRM
2007 Chapters 1, 2 and 3 (Dess/Lumpkin)
Reading 1
Reading 2
Week 3
September No class
03 2007
Week 4 ANALYSIS EXTERNAL & INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT OF A FIRM (contn…)
September 10 Chapters 2 and 3 (Dess/Lumpkin)
2007 Reading 3
Reading 4
Week 5 ASSESSING INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL
September 17 Chapter 4 (Dess/Lumpkin)
2007 Reading 5
Reading 6
BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGIES
Week 6 Chapter 5 (Dess/Lumpkin)
September 24 Reading 7
2007 Reading 8
Week 7 CORPORATE AND INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIES
October 01 Chapters 6 & 7 (Dess/Lumpkin)
2007 Reading 9
Reading 10
Week 8 DIGITAL BUSINESS STRATEGIES
October 08 Chapter 8 (Dess/Lumpkin)
2007

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 Group project pre-presentation [all groups will make presentation on their
group project]
Week 9 Exam I
October 15
2007
Week 10 Prof. Gregg Dess on Social and Intellectual Capaital
&
October 22 Video: Gary Hamel, "Creating the Future" (50 minutes)
2007
Week 11 STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION: POWER & INFLUENCE
October 29 STRATEGIC CONTROL
2007 Chapter 9 (Dess/Lumpkin)

Video: Jeff Pfeffer, “Managing with Power” (approx. 50 minutes)

Reading 11
Reading 12
Week 12 FOSTERING CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
November 05 Chapter 12 (Dess/Lumpkin)
2007 Reading 13
Reading 14
Reading 15
Week 13 STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION: LEADERSHIP, ETHICS & CHANGE
November 12 Chapter 11 (Dess/Lumpkin)
2007 Reading 16
Reading 17
Week 14 Exam II
November
19 2007
Week 15 Final Class Presentations
November
26 2007

Readings
1. Henry Mintzberg. 1996. “Managing Government, Governing Management”, Harvard Business
Review, May-June 1996
2. Hamel, G. & Prahalad. 2005. “Strategic Intent”, Harvard Business Review, July 2005
3. Porter, M.E. 2000. “What is strategy?”, Harvard Business Review, February 2000
4. Peter Navarro. 2005. “The Well-Timed Strategy: Managing the Business Cycle”, California
Management Review, Fall 2005
5. Bartlett, C.A. & Ghoshal, S. 2002. “Building competitive advantage through people”, Sloan
Management Review, 43-2: 34-41.
6. Bassi, L. & McMurrer, D. 2007, “Maximizing Your Return on People”, Harvard Business Review,
March 2007

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 7. K.M. Eisenhardt and D.N. Sull, 2001, “Strategy as Simple Rules”, Harvard Business Review,
Jan. 2001
8. J. Magretta, 2002 “Why Business Models Matter”, HBR, May. 2002
9. Grant, R.M., 1991 “Resource-Based Theory of Competitive Advantage”, California Management
Review, Vol.33, No.3, Spring 1991
10. Readings: Gupta, A. & Govindarajan, N. 2001. “Converting global presence to global competitive
advantage”, Academy of Management Executive, 15(2): 45-56.
11. Jim Collins, “Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve”, HBR, Jan. 2001
12. Max H. Bazerman and Dollu Chugh, “Decisions Without Blinders”, HBR, Jan. 2006
13. O’Reilly, C.A. III. And Tushman, M.L. 2004. “The ambidextrous organization”, Harvard
Business Review, 82(4): 74-81.
14. Hamel, G. 2006. “The Why, What, and How of Management Innovation”, Harvard Business
Review, Feb. 2006
15. Pfeffer, J. and Fong, C.T. 2002. “The end of business schools? Less success than meets the
eye.” Academy of Management, Learning & Education, 1(1): 78-95.
16. Charles Handy, 2002, “What is a Business For”, HBR, Dec. 1, 2002
17. Bane, M.J. & Ellwood, D.T. 1991. “Is American Business Working for the Poor”, Harvard Business
Review, Sept.-Oct. 1991

APPENDIX
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

When doing company and industry analysis one should start with a broad overview of the industry, its
boundaries, and its evolution over time, with particular emphasis on the key dimensions that have shaped
its condition in the last ten years. It establishes who the participants in the industry are, the nature of the
markets, key strategic issues for the industry, growth rates, profitability, market shares, the products,
financial trends, takeovers, the uncertainties in the environment, the distribution channels, etc.

Also look at the current state of the industry in terms of the “five forces” framework proposed by Porter. In
addition, the key points to be developed are the nature of competition, various segments in the industry, the
general environmental trends that affect the industry, diversification efforts by participants and probably
likely scenarios for the future.

To summarize, the industry analysis includes issues such as the following:

1. DEFINITION OF THE TASK ENVIRONMENT

• The boundaries of the industry

• The competitors, their market shares, and segments they focus on
• The products
• Other elements of the task environment
• The value-add chain and how individual firms vary

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2. KEY STRATEGIC FACTORS IN THE INDUSTRY

• What are the ways to compete?

• Historically, which of these have been most successful?
• What distinctive competencies are required in the industry?

3. KEY GENERAL ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

• Demographics
• Technology
• Political, social, and economic trends
• Internalization

4. STRATEGIC GROUPS WITHIN THE INDUSTRY

• Describe bases for clustering

• Identify “strategic groups”
• Name key firms or SBUs in each strategic group
• Indicate direction of movement

5. KEY ISSUES AND FUTURE SCENARIOS

• Key opportunities (in terms of products, vacant market niches, etc.)

• Key threats (in terms of new entrants, product life cycle, product obsolescence, substitute
products, etc.)
• Key issues/choices facing the members of the industry

COMPANY ANALYSIS

The company analysis, in keeping with the pattern that we followed for industry analysis, consists of two
interrelated parts. The first part should provide a broad overview of the firm, its evolution over time with
particular emphasis on it strengths and weaknesses, its financial performance, its product lines, its
distinctive competencies, its structure, its culture, and key executive who have shaped the company’s
policies in the last ten years.

The second part of the analysis identifies the current strategy at corporate, business, and functional levels,
labels these strategies, and identifies any changes in strategy in the 10-year period. Further, you should
analyze the company’s performance in the light of the strategy followed and your own evaluation of the
current strategy. You should also consider the key issues that the company is currently facing. The insights
developed from the industry analysis should be of particular help in identifying the key issues/choices that
the company is faced with, recommended actions, and implementation considerations.

To summarize, the company analysis includes issues such as the following:

1. DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRM

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 • Product lines
• The scope of the firm (geographic, target customers, technologies, etc.)
• The size of the firm (sales, assets, personnel, etc.)
• The firm’s distinctive competencies
• Key strategic managers
• The company’s culture and philosophy

2. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

• In various functions (finance, marketing, production, R&D, etc.)

• In organization
• At various levels (top, middle, and lower)
• Incorporation of value chain concepts

3. OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS (Summarize)

• See 3 and 5 under INDUSTRY ANALYSIS.

4. CURRENT STRATEGY

• At corporate, business, and functional levels

• Their descriptions and label
• Sources of competitive advantage(s) and sustainability

5. ISSUES FACING THE FIRM

• Match of strengths and weaknesses with opportunities and threats
• Product market choices
• Resource generation/allocation issues
• Potential/opportunities for value creation
• Personnel issues (including managerial succession)
• Stakeholder related issues

6. RECOMMENDED ACTIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION CONSIDERATIONS

• Goal consistency
• Strategic relevance
• Organizational capability
• Political feasibility