Business Policy and

Strategic Management
MGT 409 Sec: 012
Spring 2013
Instructor:

Michael L. Williams

Office
Phone
Email:

N440 North Business Complex (BCC)

517-432-3522
will1875@msu.edu

Web Site:

Angel

Address:

Dept. of Management
Eli Broad College of Business
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1122

Office Hrs:

By Appointment

Required Course Materials

Strategic Management, Text & Cases, 6th edition By Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner, McNamara, 2012
(ISBN: 978-0-07-802931-8)

Course Description
This course will concentrate on techniques for analyzing, building and maintaining consistent
and effective strategies and policies within firms of various sizes. There will be an emphasis on
real life situations while we explore theories surrounding strategic management and the major
functions within a firm. Well explore the meaning of strategic integration, vision, goal setting,
and competitive advantage.
The course is designed to teach you how to think critically about problems facing companies of
different sizes and in various competitive situations. You will gain knowledge about the interrelationships of various departments and the key responsibilities of management

Spring 2013 Syllabus

Wk

Class

7-Jan

14-Jan

Topic

Assignment(s)
Read Chapter 1

Introductions, Syllabus, Expectations and Overview of Course

Intro to Strategy, Globalization, Technology
Read Chapter 2
External Environment and Analysis

21-Jan

No CLASS - MLK Day

28-Jan

Internal Environment and Analysis

4-Feb

Intellectual Assets

Read Chapter 3
Read Chapter 4
External Analysis Paper Due - CASE TBD - HAND IT IN BY END OF CLASS

11-Feb

Business Level Strategy

Read Chapter 5

18-Feb

EXAM I (Chapters 1 5, lectures, handouts, cases);

Review for exam

25-Feb

Corporate Level Strategy, Acquisitions

4-Mar

Spring Break

11-Mar

International Strategy

Read Chapter 7

18-Mar

Entreprenurial Strategy, Competition

Read Chapter 8

10

25-Mar

Strategic Control and Governance

Read Chapter 9

11

1-Apr

EXAM II (Chapters 6 - 9, lectures, handouts, cases)

Read Chapter 10

12

8-Apr

Case Presentations

Read Chapter 11

13

15-Apr

Case Presentations

Read Chapter 12

14

22-Apr

Organizational Structure, Leadership, CE

Study!

Read Chapter 6
Internal Analysis Paper Due - CASE TBD - HAND IT IN BY END OF CLASS

Cummulative Final Exam: Wednesday May 1, 2013

MGT 409

Course Overview
Successful management of any corporation in a global environment requires a thorough
analysis of the environment, formulation of a sound strategy, careful implementation of
that strategy, and evaluation and control of the progress made. These four components
together form the nucleus of the field of Strategic Management. Successful business
people quickly become familiar with and utilize these processes and techniques to
strategically managing a company. Whether your major is accounting, finance,
marketing, supply chain management, or human resources management, you need an
understanding of how a corporation formulates its mission, sets its objectives, and
chooses its strategy. This knowledge will allow you to function more effectively within an
organization as well as give you the foundation to eventually ascend to the top positions
of a company.
Specific objectives of this course include the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Identify a firms strategy.

Critically assess a firms capabilities and competitive advantage.
Critically assess the quality of an industry.
Determine a firms potential performance based on your analysis of the
firms capabilities and the characteristics of the industry.
Develop and present recommendations to improve a firms performance
based on your analysis of the firm and its industry.

Goal Attainment Strategies

To assist you in attaining the goals of this course, several attainment strategies have
been developed for you. During this semester you will be asked to
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Participate in class discussions of real world cases and companies.

Write an external analysis and an internal analysis paper.
Work in a team setting to develop and present a set of recommendations
for a company based on an analysis of a company.
Read and understand the textbook and other assigned materials.
Successfully complete three examinations.

Important Dates

Quizzes

There will be 12 online quizzes during the

semester. You can drop your lowest 2 scores.
Each quiz is worth 10 points (100 total.) Quizzes
are due Sundays at 11:59:59pm. Once the quiz
closes, I do not open them back up for any
reason.

February 4

External Analysis Due In CLASS

February 18

Exam I

February 25

Internal Analysis Due In CLASS

April 1

Exam II

April 8

Case Presentations Begin

Dates are subject

to change!

COURSE GRADING
Examinations (350 pts. total)
Exam 1 ..................................................................................... 100
Exam 2 ..................................................................................... 100
Exam 3 ..................................................................................... 150
Team Presentation (150 pts. total)
Presentation-PowerPoint / Facts / Analysis ............................. 100
Presentation-Individual Presentation .......................50
Written Case Analyses (200 pts. total)
External Analysis Paper.. ......................................................... 100
Internal Analysis Paper.. .......................................................... 100
Subjective, In-class assigns & class participation ......................... 100
10 Online Quizzes (Take 12 Drop 2) .............................................. 100
Total
900 pts.

Final Grade
The final grade for the course is based on the total points accumulated from the assignments
listed above. At a minimum, scores of 93% or better should be considered 4.0, 87.5% or better
earns a 3.5, 83% or better earns a 3.0, a 77.5% or better earns a 2.5, and so forth.

Examinations
Examinations will be given in the classroom on the dates scheduled (see important dates above),
and will consist of computer graded objective true/false and multiple choice questions. Exams
may cover any and/or all material from 1) the textbook 2) class lectures, 3) cases 4) in-class
discussions, and 5) other materials as directed by your instructor. Note that only answers
marked on the computer answer sheet will be considered when grading the examinations. The
instructor will occasionally add essay questions to test your knowledge.
Bring a #2 pencil to mark your answers on the computer-graded scoring sheet.

Make-up Exams:
For students to have the opportunity to make up an exam, you must get permission from the
instructor, Mr. Williams, prior to the regularly scheduled examination period. Appropriate
documentation supporting the reason for missing an exam must be presented at the time of the
make-up. Though make-up exams cover the same material as the regular exam, their format is
different. Make-up exams normally contain from 15-20 short answer and essay questions of
varying point values. But, they can be completely different based on timing and circumstances.

COURSE POLICIES
Participation and Attendance
Attendance is not taken during class. However, because of the strong discussion orientation of
this class, the level of class participation has a major effect on overall course quality and will be
noted in determining the subjective portion of your grade. Thus you are strongly advised to attend
and participate in case discussions and class exercises. An exchange of viewpoints and ideas is
essential to maximize the value of class discussions. You are encouraged to give your own
opinion and respect the opinions of others. BE ON TIME AND REMAIN FOR THE ENTIRE
PERIOD.
Let me be very clear:
Showing up does not constitute participation. It is possible to show up to every lecture and not
receive participation points for the course.

Quizzes, In-Class Assignments and Subjective Assessment

200 points of the total grade is allocated to completion of the quizzes, in-class assignments and a
subjective assessment of all of your contributions to class, as well as your professionalism in
dealing with other students and your instructor.
In general, subjective points are accumulated by doing more than the minimum requirements, by
participating in class with insightful contributions to class discussions, by engaging in responsible
and professional behavior in the class, and by any other contributions your instructor deems
meritorious. Conversely, disruptive, irresponsible and unprofessional behavior will result in
significant loss of points.
All students begin with zero points and accumulate points throughout the semester.

Late Papers
Late paper assignments carry a penalty of 10% for each day the assignment is late. All papers
will be submitted in class on the day assigned. If it is submitted late, you will suffer a 10%
automatic deduction for every day it is late.

Academic Dishonesty
Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated in any form. While you may discuss assignments
outside of class, turning in identical assignments will be considered cheating and will result in a
zero grade on the assignments and could result in more severe penalties as allowed by University
policy. The use of solution manuals, solutions from prior terms, copying from other students
(either in current semester or prior semesters), or any such aids will be considered an act of
academic dishonesty and treated accordingly.

Grade Disputes
Grade disputes are handled in writing. To dispute a grade, you must submit a memo to your
instructor describing the disputed item, and why you believe the grade was incorrect. Be as
specific as possible, especially when advocating a position or recommendation (e.g., Company
XYZ should have diversified into product segment A versus B). Relevant class materials,
readings, table from the case, etc. should also be included to support your position. Grade
appeals must be submitted within 14 days after the return of assignment.

Exams
All examination questions are objective and computer graded. For each question, you must
select the best answer. There is no penalty for guessing if you are uncertain about the correct
answer. Do not leave blanks because they are automatically counted as wrong answers. The
instructor will occasionally add essay questions to test your knowledge.
Students may ask questions during the exam. The instructor reserves the right to determine
if the question will be answered. In general, questions of clarification or those concerning the
meaning of words will be answered.
The questions are not deliberately written to be tricky, vague or ambiguous. The questions are
meant to be answerable by a student who has properly studied the chapters, attended all lectures
and recitations, prepared all written cases and completed all in-class exercises. There will be
many questions that are application or comprehension in nature and not definitional. This means
that you must be able to take the information received in the book or the lectures and be able to
apply it to certain situations.

Written Analysis Assignments

External Analysis and Internal Analysis
CASE:
Case analysis puts you in the shoes of those faced with actual managerial situations and
forces you to make decisions as managers based on limited information and a finite time
frame.
Papers should be between 5 and 8 pages, 1.5 spacing, 10 or 11 pt, Arial.
Your objective is to appraise the situation from a top managers perspective, by
asking the following:
1) What factors are critical to understanding the current situation?
2) How do these factors affect one another (do some cause others)?
3) What problems and/or opportunities are evident?
4) What actionable recommendations can be offered?
When preparing a case analysis it is important to be thoroughly familiar with the case.
This means that you must read the case for both general impressions and for specific
facts.
In writing a case analysis, and in class discussions, you need to provide supporting
evidence for your views and judgments. Use tight logical arguments backed by facts
and figures; avoid unsupported opinion and over-generalizations. Avoid sentences that
state the obvious. Finally, your analysis should be reasonable and objective.

Purpose
The purpose of analyzing cases is to help you identify those factors which directly
influence the companys performance and its competitive advantage in the
market place.
Written assignments should present the situation as it exists at the time of the
case, however, if you would like to bring in current material and situations, cite
your work.
These assignments are designed to help you develop skills at sifting through lots
of data about a company and its industry, and find that information which can help
you understand why the company is successful or not.
Once you understand what drives company performance, you can more easily
see what needs to be done to ensure future profitability. Also, mastering this skill
will help you determine which employers are likely to grow and prosper and which
might be headed toward failure.
Procedures and Formats
Cases should be done individually. Below you will find the required format.
Follow this format.

Be SURE to include your name on the paper!

External Analysis Paper REQUIRED FORMAT
External Environmental Analysis
Introduction
In this section, give an overview of the whole case (a situation analysis). It is helpful to give a
historical frame (the who, what, where, when and why) and a summary of the critical strategic
issues.
General Environment
Which general environment dimension(s) is/are most relevant in this case? Why? List them in
descending order of importance (most important first); but, ALSO discuss why the TOP
THREE are so important to this company:
-

Demographic segment
Economic segment
Political/legal segment
Sociocultural segment
Technological segment
Global segment

Be sure to indicate if the segment is an OPPORTUNITY or a THREAT to the company.

Industry Environment
Answer what kind of industry this is in general and then define it specifically below.
Industry Definition e.g. Retail Industry / Airline Industry
List and explain the dominant industry characteristics (Growing?
environment?, etc. etc.).

Fast pace? Competitive

Apply Porters Five Forces Model to the industry AND ANSWER: Is this an attractive
industry?
Five Forces Model of Competition:
Threat of New Entrants
Bargaining Power of Suppliers
Bargaining Power of Customers
Substitutes
Rivalry Among Competitors

Competitive Environment

Competitor Analysis
Who are the companys primary competitors? What do you know about their current strategies,
missions, capabilities, competencies, and competitive response profiles, and how does this relate to
the companys competitive profile?
Conclusion
Summarize your analysis of how the company can mitigate risks and maximize opportunities.
Does this company have a bright future given your recommendations?

Internal Analysis
Business Level Strategy Define the companys business level strategy. Be specific as to
why you believe they follow that BLS.
Resources What are the companys resources? Be specific. I would like to see dollar
amounts for tangible resources and very descriptive reasoning behind the intangible
resources.

Tangible

Intangible

SWOT analysis Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats to the company.

Capabilities - Answer how this company combines their unique resources to bring about their
capabilities.
Core Competencies - List by bullet pointing each core competency and then explain them. List
and explain how their capabilities lend to their core competencies.
Finally, answer this question:
Does the company have the resources, capabilities and core competencies to execute their
business strategy?
If it does not have them, then answer the question of what it will need to do to execute it.

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