Business Strategy - I

Program : MBA Sessions : 33

Course Code : SL GM 611 Credit : 3 Units

Faculty : Jacob Chandy (JC)

A Lakshminarasimha (ALN)
Email : Jacob Chandy: prof.jacob.chandy@gmail.com
A Lakshminarasima: accordibsb@gmail.com
Cell : Jacob Chandy: 99006-07164
A Lakshminarasimha: 99861-67908

1. Objective
The objective of this course is to introduce the student to the fundamentals of Business Strategy especially on the strategic
planning aspects. This course also intends to familiarize students with the complexity involved in developing business
strategies.

2. Reference Books
Reference Books Author / Publication

Exploring Corporate Strategy Johnson & Scholes

Crafting and Executing Strategy – The Quest Thompson, Strickland, Gamble and Jain. 14th
for Competitive Advantage – Concepts & Cases Edition (2006, Special Indian Edition) – Tata
McGraw Hill.

Strategic Management John A Pearce II, Richard B Robinson JR,

All India Traveler Bookseller, 2000

Blue Ocean Strategy : How to Create W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne, Harvard
Uncontested Market Space and Make the Business School Publishing Corporation, USA,
Competition Irrelevant 2005

Competitive Strategy Michael E Porter, The Free Press 1980

Competitive Advantage Michael E Porter, The Free Press 1985

3. Detailed Curriculum
Introduction to business strategy: Contributions of leading management gurus. The nature of strategy and strategic
decisions – characteristics of strategic decisions – levels of strategy – vocabulary of strategy. Strategic management –
the strategic position – strategic choices – strategy into action

Understanding strategy development: Strategy development process in organizations – strategic planning systems –
strategic leadership – organizational politics – logical incrementalism – the learning organization – imposed strategy –
multiple processes of strategy development. Implications for strategy development – intended and realized strategies –
strategic drift – strategic management in uncertain and complex conditions

The strategic position: The environment – the macro environment – the PESTEL framework – structural drivers of change
– differential impact of environmental influences – scenarios. Industries and sectors – sources of competition – the five
forces framework – the dynamics of competition and hyper competition – strategic groups. Organizational fields.
Markets – market segments, understanding what customers value. Opportunities and threats – strategic gaps – SWOT.

Strategic Capability: Critical success factors. The strategic importance of resources – available resources – threshold
resources – unique resources. Competencies and core competencies – what is core competence – where core
competencies reside – importance of linkages. Performing better than competitors – historical comparison – industry
norms/standards, best in class benchmarking. Experience learning curve

Communicating organizational purposes: Mission statements – objectives

Strategy Choice: Corporate level strategy – the corporate portfolio – growth share matrix – BCG, GE, Arthur D Little.
Business level strategy – forces influencing business strategy – bases of competitive advantage – price based strategies
– added value or differentiation strategies – hybrid strategy – focused differentiation – failure strategies – differentiation
versus legitimacy. Sustaining competitive advantage – sustaining low price advantage – sustaining differentiation based
advantage – the delta model and lock in Competition and collaboration. Game theory – simultaneous games –
sequential games – repeated games – changing the rules of the game. Competitive strategy in hypercompetitive
conditions – Overcoming traditional bases of competitive advantage. Escalating bases of competition – Successful
hypercompetitive strategies. Value chain strategy.

4. Session Schedule

No Faculty Group Case/Discussion Topic Essential Reading

Ch 1: Introducing Strategy, Exploring Corporate Strategy

1&2 JC NA Robin Hood
by Johnson

Ch 1: Introducing Strategy, Exploring Corporate Strategy

3&4 JC 1 Corus
by Johnson

Ch 1: Introducing Strategy, Exploring Corporate Strategy

5 JC Faculty Electrolux
by Johnson

Ch 11: Understanding Strategy Development, Exploring

6&7 JC 2 ASM Lithography
Corporate Strategy by Johnson

Ch 11: Understanding Strategy Development, Exploring

8&9 JC 3 Ericsson
Corporate Strategy by Johnson

Ch 11: Understanding Strategy Development, Exploring

10 JC Faculty Strategy Development at Intel
Corporate Strategy by Johnson

The Global Pharmaceutical Ch 2: The Environment, Exploring Corporate Strategy by

11 & 12 JC 4
Industry Johnson

Ch 3: Strategic Capability, Exploring Corporate Strategy by

13 & 14 JC 5 The Formula 1 Constructors
Johnson

Global Forces and the European Ch 2: The Environment, Exploring Corporate Strategy by
15 JC Faculty
Brewing Industry Johnson

Ch 3: Strategic Capability, Exploring Corporate Strategy by

16 & 17 JC 6 BMW Automobiles
Johnson

18 & 19 ALN

20 ALN

21 & 22 ALN
 Ch 4: Expectations and Purposes, Exploring Corporate
23 & 24 JC 7 Manchester United
Strategy by Johnson

Ch 3: Strategic Capability, Exploring Corporate Strategy by

25 JC Faculty Listening at eBay
Johnson

Ch 11: Understanding Strategy Development, Exploring

26 & 27 JC 8 The News Corporation
Corporate Strategy by Johnson

Ch 5: Business Level Strategy, Exploring Corporate

28 & 29 JC 9 The VSM Group
Strategy by Johnson

Madonna: Still the Reigning Ch 5: Business Level Strategy, Exploring Corporate

30 JC Faculty
Queen of Pop? Strategy by Johnson

Ch 6: Corporate Level and International Strategy,

31 & 32 JC 10 SAB Miller
Exploring Corporate Strategy by Johnson

33 JC NA Wrap Up

5. Student Evaluation Marks

No Item Marks Due Date

1 Assignment 1 15 To be Announced

2 Mid Term Examination 20 To be Announced

3 Assignment 2 15 To be Announced

4 End Term Examination 50 To be Announced

Total 100

6. Assignments
1. Each student is required to separately submit a written analysis of all the cases discussed in the class.
2. For Assignment 1 the cases that are included are:
a. Corus
b. Electrolux
c. ASM Lithography
d. Ericsson
e. Strategy Development at Intel
f. The Global Pharmaceutical Industry
g. The Formula 1 Constructors
h. Global Forces and the European Brewing Industry
i. BMW Automobiles
3. For Assignment 2 the cases that are included are
a. Manchester United
b. Listening at eBay
c. The News Corporation
d. The VSM Group
e. Madonna: Still the Reigning Queen of Pop?
f. SAB Miller

7. Assignment Presentation Evaluation

4. About 5 to 6 students will be teamed together to form a group and each of these groups will be required to present
and facilitate the discussion of a case as per the above schedule.
5. The case presentation must be for a duration of 45 minutes and will be held during the first session of each of the
above pairs of sessions.
6. The Discussion, Questions & Answers session will be held in the second session of each of the above pairs of
sessions.
7. The weights for evaluation of the case presentation are as follows:

No Item Weightage

1 Content 20%
2 Slides 20%

3 Presentation 30%

4 Time Adherence (duration of 45 minutes) 10%

5 Discussion, Questions & Answers 20%

Total 100%

8. The marks obtained will be averaged with the marks obtained through the class participation evaluation mechanism
detailed below.
9. Each student in the group is required to submit a written analysis of the case on his own for the purpose of
submission as assignment to the university.

7. Assignment Discussion Evaluation Mechanism

1. The individual student’s score in assignment discussion will be determined by the average of the scores obtained by
him/her at a significantly large though indeterminate number of “scoring opportunities” as specified below over the
course of all the sessions.
2. Students are required to read and prepare for the class discussion topic as indicated in the above session schedule
prior to the class.
3. A scoring opportunity is provided to the student by the faculty inviting the student to contribute to the discussions
during a class.
4. Students can volunteer to contribute to the discussion by raising their hands to signal interest in participating in the
discussion. However, if the student enters into the discussion without the invitation of the faculty, the student’s
contribution will be awarded zero marks.
5. It should be noted that private conversations amongst students will qualify for the award of zero marks since that is
equivalent to uninvited participation in the class discussion.
6. The predominant method for providing scoring opportunities is by the faculty randomly cold calling students from
the roster to contribute to the discussion. However, the individual student can increase the probability of being
invited by the faculty by volunteering to contribute to the discussion by raising his/her hand.
7. If the student who has been called is not present in the class, the faculty will call another student.
8. If the student who has been called does not want to contribute to the discussion, he/she can pass the opportunity to
contribute to the discussion, in which case he/she will be awarded zero marks.
9. If the student contributes to the discussion, the faculty will award marks according to the quality of the contribution.
10. Let us assume that on average an individual student will use about 3 minutes to make his/her contribution in order
to exploit his/her scoring opportunity when he/she is called by the faculty to contribute to the discussion.
11. If we assume that there are 30 sessions and about 75 minutes per session, it means that there can be around 30 x
(75/3) = 750 scoring opportunities available in total during the entire course.
12. If we assume that there are 50 students in the class, it means that there can be around 750/50 = 15 scoring
opportunities per student during the entire course.
13. It is important to note that this is the expected average number of scoring opportunities based on the assumed
values of the determining variables and that the individual student may have more than or less than 15 different
scoring opportunities during the course depending on the number of times that he/she has been actually called by
the faculty and the actual value of the determining variables.
14. It is important to note that since there are about 75 minutes per session and an individual student is likely to use
about 3 minutes to make his contribution, that potentially 75/3 = 25 students could be cold called during a session.
If we assume that there are 50 students in the class, it means that the probability of an individual student being
cold called in any given session is around 25/50 = 50%.
15. The overall marks awarded to the student for class participation will be the average of the scores obtained by the
student for all such scoring opportunities.
16. It is important to note that all students may not have had the exact same number of scoring opportunities at the
end of the course although the faculty will ensure that a sufficiently large number of scoring opportunities would
have been provided to every student so that any difference in actual scoring opportunities is not likely to have any
material impact on his/her relative overall score.
17. To illustrate the calculation of the overall score, if there are 100% marks for class participation, and the student
obtained 80% marks at the first scoring opportunity and 0% marks at the second scoring opportunity because of
poor quality of contribution, his overall score will be (80+0)/2 = 40% marks at the end of the second scoring
opportunity. To continue, if the student obtained 70% marks at the third scoring opportunity, his overall score will
be (80+0+70)/3 = 50% marks at the end of the third scoring opportunity.
18. By implication, the student should understand that he/she may be called by the faculty to exercise his scoring
opportunity at any time and at any session, and that the marks that he/she obtains at that scoring opportunity will
have an immediate and material impact on his/her overall score.
19. Therefore, in order to ensure that he/she obtains a good overall score, the student must ensure that he/she:
a. Does not enter the discussion unless invited by the faculty
b. Consistently makes quality contributions to the discussion at each scoring opportunity in order to avoid
deterioration in his/her overall average score
20. The faculty will email a copy of the updated score sheet to all students at the end of each session so that prompt
motivating feedback is available to students, thus enabling individual students to keep track of their current
performance and plan for future sessions.
21. The faculty will open a fresh score sheet at the beginning of the 1
session and close the score sheet at the end of
st

the 16 session and submit the score sheet to the Academics Department for updating the student Internal
th

Evaluation Performance Record.

 22. Likewise, the faculty will open a fresh score sheet at the beginning of the 17th
session and close this score sheet at
the end of the 32 session and submit this score sheet to the Academics Department for updating the student
nd

Internal Evaluation Performance Record.

23. Students are advised to carefully consider the likely implications of the above mechanism on their individual
performance and to make profit maximizing decisions on a robust business like basis.
24. It should be noted that marks awarded by the faculty are unavoidably based on subjective as well as objective
judgments and that the faculty’s decision on all issues regarding the award of marks is final and binding on all
participants.
25. A flow chart of the scoring mechanism is provided below to facilitate better understanding

8. Rules and Regulations

1. Students are required to bring the text book ‘Exploring Corporate Strategy’ by Gerry Johnson to every class since
most of the cases discussed in the class are taken from this text.
2. Attendance will be taken within the first 10 minutes of the class.
3. Students who are not present at the time of taking attendance will not be given attendance under any
circumstances.
4. Requests for attendance when a student was not present in the class (say for attending to placement work,
participating in competitive events, etc.) will not be entertained. Please contact the Academics Department Office to
obtain attendance in such cases.
5. Students who do not appear for internal evaluations will not be given make-up tests under any circumstances.
6. Students are responsible for ensuring that the faculty is informed of their correct individual email address. In case
the student is not receiving official email communications from the faculty, the student should send his correct email
address to the faculty at the faculty’s email address given at the beginning of this document. Non-receipt of official
email communications from the faculty will not be accepted as an excuse for non-fulfillment of any academic
requirement.