Course Manual

Strategie
Block period 3
Code BCU 012

Bachelor semester 2.2

By
Prof. dr. Hans van Kranenburg
Dr. ir. Sjors Witjes
Dr. ir. Gerrit Willem Ziggers

Nijmegen School of Management

Radboud University Nijmegen
Course year 2018/2019
© Nijmegen School of Management
All rights reserved

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Table of Contents

Page

1. Introduction 3

2. Course Objectives 3

3. Required Literature 3

4. Course Format 4

5. Evaluation and Final Examination 4

6. Staff and Coordination 4

7. Schedule for Meetings 5

8. Justification Workload 6

Appendix 1: The Lectures 7

Appendix 2: Tutorials and Assignments 8

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1. Introduction

There is no one best way of developing strategy. Researchers in the field of management do not
always agree on how to solve strategic problems, and many different strategy theories exist. Some
theories may be more applicable than others, but often the approaches that best inform a particular
situation are difficult to discern. Some theories may only highlight one specific aspect of an issue,
while others may provide divergent assumptions about the nature of strategy. A prudent strategic
decision maker should be aware of the various approaches since a comparison and combination of
different perspectives may yield creative and innovative solutions.

In this course, students will study various – and often conflicting - approaches to strategic
management based on the original work of influential scholars in the field. Specifically, the course
provides insight into the levels of strategic management (corporate, business and network), the
strategy process (formation, change, and innovation), and the strategy context (organizational,
industry, international). The course offers students the opportunity to apply theory to practice by
analysing case studies and engaging in debate and discussion during group tutorials.

2. Course Objectives

The course aims to help students acquire, apply, and reflect on knowledge about strategic
management. This will be achieved by:
 developing an understanding of important schools of thought (i.e., differences and similarities),
models and techniques in the field of strategic management;
 developing a critical mindset with regard to the applicability and limitations of theories, models
and techniques in the field of strategic management;
 identifying and analyzing an organization’s strategy and annual report by applying theories,
models and techniques learned during the course and providing recommendations to the
organization;
 developing a critical, flexible and creative mindset in order to be able to challenge deeply rooted
ways of thinking and problem solving in organizations.

3. Required Literature

De Wit, B., (2017). Strategy: An International Perspective, 6th edition. Cengage Learning: Andover,
UK. ISBN: 978-1-4737-2515-7

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4. Course Format

The course consists of lectures and tutorials. During the lectures, we will discuss the main schools
of thought, models and techniques of strategic management, using cases to illustrate the theoretical
concepts. During the tutorials, you will work on assignments. There will be two assignments aimed
at applying the subject matter in an empirical setting. Assignment 1 involves analyzing and
interpreting an annual report. This year, the annual report is Akzo Nobel.

Assignment 2 entails diagnosing an organization’s strategy. Students will work in small groups to
perform the assignments. Both the aim of the lectures and assignments are elaborated upon in
appendices 1 and 2 at the end of this document. Information with regard to lectures, group
registration, assignments, meeting schedules, etc. will be provided on Brightspace. Be sure to check
Brightspace regularly for new information regarding the course.

5. Evaluation and Final Examination

Students will be evaluated on the basis of a written exam and the assignments.
 The written final exam is individual and comprises a set of 35 multiple choice questions. The
exam will make up 60% of your final grade.
 The Business Case assignment requires a report and a presentation and will be evaluated based
on the criteria provided in Appendix 2. This assignment will make up 40% of your final grade.
 The Annual Report requires a presentation and will be evaluated based on the criteria provided
in Appendix 2. This assignment will be a go/no go grade and will not be part of your final
grade, however has to be a go in order to pass the course.
 Final grades for the course will be in terms of .0 or .5

In order to pass the course, students are required to

 obtain a sufficient total grade for the course (5.5 or higher);
 obtain a grade of 5.0 or higher for the final written exam;
 obtain a grade of 5.0 or higher for the Business Case assignment report.
 obtain a go for the Annual Report assignment.

Students who have failed the course after the first examination opportunity will be offered one
written re-exam and one opportunity to revise the Annual Report and the Business Case assignment
during the same academic year. Students who fail to pass the course after the re-examination must
retake the course next year. However, passing grades for the assignments remain valid. This
means that students who passed the assignments but failed the course will not have to
complete the assignments again.

6. Staff and Coordination

Prof. dr. Hans van Kranenburg (h.vanKranenburg@fm.ru.nl)

Dr. ir. Sjors Witjes (s.witjes@fm.ru.nl)
Dr. ir. Gerrit Willem Ziggers (course coordinator, g.ziggers@fm.ru.nl)

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7. Schedule for Meetings (Strategie)

Lectures are on Mondays WK 6,7 and 8. Thursday WK 6,7,8,9 and 10, and on Friday WK 8,9,10,11,
and 12. Tutorials in WK 9,11 and 12 including entire Monday afternoon or Thursday morning or as
otherwise mentioned. For locations tutorials consult Teaching Schedule Management Studies
(Raadpleeg Rooster Bedrijfswetenschappen).

WK Date Lecture/Tutorial/(Chapter Book) Deliverables Teacher

6 4-2 (L1) Introduction (CH1) GeZi
7-2 (L2) Missioning and Visioning (CH3) HvK
7 11-2 (L3) Strategy Formation (CH7) SjWi
14-2 (L4) Strategizing (CH2) HvK
8 18-2 (L5) Business Level Strategy (CH4) HvK
21-2 (L6) Corporate level Strategy (CH5) HvK
20-2 16.00 submitting contact
information of organization
Brightspace
22-2 (L7) Strategic Change (CH8) SjWi
25-2 (T) Tutorial Working on Assignments Gezi/HvK
9
28-2 (L8) International Context (CH12) HvK
1-3 (L9) Network Level Strategy (CH6) GeZi
4-3
10 CARNIVAL

7-3 (L10) Strategic innovation (CH9) GeZi

8-3 (L11) Industry Context (CH10) GeZi
11 11-3 (T) Tutorial Working on Assignments SjWi/GeZi

14-3 (T) Tutorial Working on Assignments HvK/SjWi

15-3 (L12) The organizational context (CH11) SjWi

12 18-3 (T) Tutorial Working on Assignments GeZi, HvK

21-3 (T) Tutorial Working on Assignments GeZi, HvK

22-3 (T) Tutorial Presentation Students,

Annual Report Analysis GeZi, HvK
/organization’s strategy
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27-3 16.00 submitting report
assignments STIP &
Brightspace
14 4-4
15 9-4 Examination …..
HvK= Prof. Dr. Hans van Kranenburg; GeZi = Dr. Ir. Gerrit Willem Ziggers; SjWi=Dr, Sjors Witjes

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8. Justification workload

Justification ECTS-norm

Aantal Norm Workload (hours)

Lectures/Tutorials 12/6 2/6 65
Literature (#pages) 835 ≈ 0.121 103
Exam 1 3 3
168

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The norm is set at approximately 8 pages per hour

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Appendix 1: The Lectures

The aim of the lectures is to provide students with an overview of the field of strategy. The specific
objectives of the lectures are:
1. To provide a broad overview of strategic management in terms of the three dimensions of
process, content and context, and the relevant topics related to those dimensions. For
example, with regard to strategizing one should understand the paradox of logic and
intuition.
2. To provide broad coverage of the different schools of strategic thought. Students should be
able to recognize and combine different perspectives when dealing with strategic issues - for
example, Porter’s Five Forces model and Barney’s Resource Based View.
3. To help students develop an academic mindset by confronting them with the uncertainties,
inconsistencies and disputes within the field of strategic management such as the differences
and consequences of adopting an inside-out or an outside-in approach when developing a
strategy.
4. To provide an international perspective. Students should understand that the “best” approach
to strategy may depend on culture and country.
5. To reflect on and apply theory by means of the assignments. This should help students
develop the skill of starting with a generic principle (theory), applying it to a specific setting
(practice), and then reflecting upon it. Students learn to evaluate practical strategic issues
without resorting to “blind” application.

Students are urged to prepare for each lecture by reading the assigned literature in order to be able
to participate in the lectures and get the most out of the course. Lectures will be recorded and made
available on Brightspace.

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Appendix 2: Tutorials and Assignments

Learning objective
The aim of the assignments is to apply the knowledge you have gained in the lectures and from the
book. The theories and principles provided serve as a framework for the analysis of a firm’s annual
report and strategy, and will enable you to draw conclusions with regard to that strategy. This
framework will also enable you to reflect on the approach that was implemented – that is, to
understand the limitations of a certain approach.

Tutorials
The aim of the tutorial is to be able to discuss the assignments in small groups. This means that you
will be working in teams with a maximum of five students. Working in teams will require the
following: making appointments, assigning tasks, working under pressure, and writing and
presenting assignments that you have worked on together. Five tutorials have been scheduled to
allow you to prepare for and complete the reports and presentations for the assignments, and one
tutorials have been scheduled for the Annual Report and Business Case presentations (Friday the
22nd of March). Some classrooms have already been reserved for you to meet with your groups and
work on the assignments. Supervisors are available for consultation (supervisor rooms, see
schedule/raadpleeg rooster). Some groups will be invited to present their findings in Week 12. It is
the group’s responsibility to determine individual group members contribution.

To provide you with some additional guidance, the purpose of each tutorial session is described
below. This may help you to complete your assignments on time.
1. Tutorial 1 (week 9): Prepare for Business Case assignment: Design questionnaire that will
allow you to analyse the firm’s strategy; Prepare Annual Report analysis.
2. Tutorial 2 (week 11): Continue working on Business Case and Annual Report assignments.
3. Tutorial 3 (week 11): Continue working on Business Case and Annual Report assignments.
4. Tutorial 4 (week 12): Continue working on Business Case and Annual Report assignments.
5. Tutorial 5 (week 12): Continue working on Business Case assignment.
6. Tutorial 6 (week 12): Presentation of Business Case/Annual Report

Important Dates/Times - Deliverables

 Date: Wednesday, February 20th; Time: 16.00: Submit the contact information of the
organization that will be subject of your Business Case assignment via Brightspace.
 Date: Wednesday, April 4th; Time: 16.00: Submit your Final Report (includes both
assignments and presentations). Both a hardcopy and a digital version (via Brightspace)
must be submitted (Hardcopy: MSC, Management Study Center (STIP), Boxes 25 & 26
G.W. Ziggers strategy/strategie; 1st floor).

Signing up for a Team

To participate in the tutorial sessions, you must sign up for a team using Brightspace following the
procedure below
1. Finding four other students to work and sign up as a team on Brightspace, or
2. Sign up individually on Brightspace for a team that doesn’t yet have 5 members*.

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In the event of conflict regarding team number or other issues, the coordinator will provide a team
number that will be published on Brightspace. When you submit your work, always put your name
and team number on it!!! If your work lacks this information, it will not be reviewed.
*
The size of the team may vary, depending on the number of students in the course.

ASSIGNMENTS

Assignment 1: Annual Report analysis-Alliander

The purpose of the annual report is to communicate a company’s strategy and financial situation to
its stakeholders and the public. For most of us, the annual report is our only source of information
about a company’s finances and some other related firm issues. It provides a summary of how an
organization has performed in the preceding year, as well as a glimpse into what might be expected
in the future. It is, therefore, the best source of information to determine the (financial) health of an
organization and to learn about any potential problems or opportunities. However, reading an annual
report can be a demoralizing prospect if you don't know exactly what you are looking for and where
to find it. Therefore, the objective of this assignment is to learn how to read and understand a firm’s
annual report, and to determine the link to the firm’s strategy. This year we will examine Alliander’s
annual report.

Assignment:
Analyse Alliander’s annual report. Address the firm’s potential problems and opportunities in terms
of the company’s corporate strategy. What would you advise investors?

Procedure
There will be a web lecture available that is devoted to learning how to read and understand a firm’s
annual report, specifically its financial paragraph. The Alliander’s annual report as well as other
information about the company can be found at the following link:
https://www.alliander.com/en/investors/financial-publications (It is not yet known when the annual
report 2018 will be available).

Guiding questions with regard to analysing the annual report:

 What does the company’s mission statement tell you?
 What can be concluded from the company’s corporate governance (e.g. supervisory board,
issues, etc)?
 What can be concluded from the company’s financial statement (e.g. key figures, link with
the organization’s strategy, link with societal tasks, etc)?
 What is mentioned about market developments or other specific issues and are they linked to
the organization’s strategy ?
 What is your overall conclusion based on these questions?

Each team must prepare a presentation of its findings and conclusions. During the tutorials you are
expected to work on this assignment, but of course you may need to meet outside of class time as
well. The presentation should contain no more than 10 slides and last for 30 minutes - 20 minutes

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for presenting and 10 minutes for questions. Presentations are scheduled to take place on Friday the
22th of March, in lecture room CC1 from 08.30-10.15. IN THE EVENT OF A NO-TEAM
SHOW UP, THE TEAM’S GRADE FOR THE ANNUAL REPORT ASSIGNMENT WILL BE
A NO-GO

Guidelines for submission: See FINAL REPORT section.

Assignment 2: The Business Case

The Business Case assignment involves diagnosing an organization’s strategy. The organization can
be profit or non-profit. This assignment is described below.

ASSIGNMENT :
Conduct a diagnosis of an organization’s strategy. Identify the defining characteristics or issues
of the strategy related to the dimensions of strategy process, content and context.

What is diagnosis?
In order to evaluate or improve an organization’s strategy, you must first know what the current
situation is and how it arose. Diagnosis will provide this knowledge. The diagnosis includes
identifying the company’s current strategy and the developments taking place within it, identifying
the cause(s) of that situation, and drawing conclusions and recommendations on the basis of the
gathered insight. In other words, diagnosis involves the following components:
 Identifying the characteristics of the organization and its developments;
 Analysing the various strategic dimensions and identifying the links between them;
 Defining the cause(s) of the specific situation in the organization.

Diagnosing will help you to identify specific issues within the organization and their possible
causes.

The diagnosis should be in line with the book’s approach to strategy: process, content and context.
In other words, what lines of reasoning that you have gathered from the book applies to the
organization’s strategy? You should also make use of the literature (key articles) in the book in
your analysis of the organization’s strategy. We expect you to use references. You are free to use
additional literature as well.

Specifically, this assignment will require the following:

1. Strategic process
You have to diagnose the organization’s strategic process. Some questions for consideration are:
How is the strategy made (formed/created/conceived/developed)? How is it implemented? How
is it controlled (managed)? Who is involved? When do the necessary activities take place? What
can you conclude regarding the organization’s strategic process and why?

2. Strategic content

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 You have to diagnose the organization’s strategic content, which is of course the product of the
strategy process. Some questions for consideration are: What is the organization’s strategy?
What is it about? What can you conclude regarding the organization’s strategic content and
why? Keep in mind that it will be difficult to define THE strategy of the organization. In many
cases, a strategy will consist of different sub-strategies that together comprise the organization’s
strategy (e.g. decisions about market entry strategy, competing strategy, innovation strategy).
The strategy also relates to the mission and vision of the organization (see chapter 3) and
strategic context.

3. Strategic context
You have to diagnose the organization’s strategy in its context. The context is the set of
circumstances under which both strategy process and strategy content are determined. Some
questions for consideration are: How are the strategy process and strategy content embedded in
the context? What can you conclude regarding the context the firm is operating in and why? In
general you could elaborate on the organization’s strategy context in terms of industry (e.g.
highly competitive) and internationalization (e.g. a local responsiveness approach), but also in
relation to the organization’s mission and vision (e.g. creating shared value)

In conducting your analysis, use and reflect on the theories and paradigms discussed in the literature
and lectures. They provide you with your analytical framework. Be aware that you need arguments!
You should draw conclusions and make recommendations based on arguments. A conclusion such
as “The organization has adopted an inside out approach in developing its strategy” is
unsatisfactory if you don’t have evidence or arguments to back it up. Just stating the conclusion is
not enough; you need to explain how you arrived at this conclusion. You are urged to use the
theories and concepts provided in the course. It cannot be emphasized enough that strategy process,
content and context are not different parts of strategy, but are intertwined dimensions of strategy.
For instance, the manner in which the strategy process is organized will have a significant impact on
the strategy’s content. Likewise, the content of the current strategy will strongly influence the
strategy’s process. We are distinguishing among the three to help us diagnose strategic problems and
issues, but ignoring that they are intertwined could lead to fragmented reality. Finally, your findings
and conclusions must be submitted in the form of a report. See the REPORT section for guidelines
and submission information.

Contacting an organization for an interview

The following are some guidelines to help you find an organization for your assignment. You may
try to get access to large companies such as Philips or Ahold, but that might be rather difficult. Very
small companies might not have a strategy, although they have to make a strategy too! The most
obvious suggestion is to work with an organization where you have a part-time job or an
organization where one of your relatives works. It does not really matter whether an organization is
a service provider, wholesaler or manufacturer. Any of these companies will have a strategy. Be sure
to make it clear to whomever you meet with what the purpose of your visit is and how the
organization might benefit by participating in your research project. Make sure that you and your
team are well prepared before going into the meeting. This does not imply that you should have
finished your research plan, but rather that you have gathered information about the organization by
consulting their website, Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel) or other sources.

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Be aware that you may have to make multiple appointments to retrieve all the information that you
need. Make the appointments well in advance because agendas fill up quickly. During the meeting,
don’t forget to ask (politely) for any written information available about the organization, such as
annual reports, brochures, etc. We recommend that you type up your notes immediately after each
interview while the information is still fresh in your mind. Doing so will facilitate the report writing
process.

Presentation Preparation
The presentation should include introduction, methods, results and conclusion sections. The
presentation should contain a maximum of 10 slides and should last no longer than 30 minutes – 20-
minute presentation and 10 minutes for Q&A. Business Case presentations will take place on Friday
the 22th of March in lecture room CC1 from 8.30.-10.15. IN THE EVENT OF NO- TEAM
SHOW UP, ONE POINT WILL BE DEDUCTED FROM THE TEAM’S GRADE FOR THE
BUSINESS CASE ASSIGNMENT.

FINAL REPORT
The final report should include the written report of the business case assignment and the
presentation of the annual report.

The business case report should not exceed 15 pages excluding cover page, references, and
appendices. The format should be 1.5 line spacing and new times roman font size 11. The cover
page should include the number of your tutorial group, team number and the names and
student numbers of the team members. Be sure to use correct grammar, to check the document
for spelling errors prior to submitting it, and that the layout of your document is professional and
neat. In addition, make sure that you have properly referenced your sources. (See www.apastyle.org
or https://owl.english.purdue.edu for guidelines, if necessary.)

Evaluation criteria with regard to the Annual Report Assignment

 The presentation should be clearly divided into introduction, main body, and conclusion
sections.
 The line of argumentation and reasoning should be logical and clear, and should address the
guiding questions (see page 9)

Evaluation criteria with regard to the Business Case Assignment (15 pages max)

 The report should be clearly divided into introduction, main body and conclusion sections.
The introduction should inform the reader of the purpose and background of the assignment.
It should also outline the structure of the report. The body should contain the framework and
results of the analysis. The conclusion should draw all the findings together in a discussion
and clarify their implications for the firm’s strategy.
 The line of argumentation should be logical and clear and the issues should be well-defined
and put into the context of the assignment.
 The diagnosis of the firm’s strategy should be related to the literature. The theories discussed

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 during this course should be used as a frame of reference when conducting the diagnosis. This
will help you to conduct a systematic diagnosis of the firm’s strategy and assess the
usefulness of the theories. In other words: Is the analysis well-grounded in the literature and
are adequate research methods used to analyse the problem, to gather information and to
analyse the data? It is not necessary to provide an extensive description of the theories.
 The conclusions should be logically derived from the analysis.
 The appendix should include the affiliation of the person or persons interviewed, notes of the
interview, and the presentation.

SUBMISSION OF YOUR REPORT:

 Both a hardcopy and a digital version (Brightspace) of the report must be submitted no later
than Wednesday, March 27th at 16.00 hours. The hardcopy must be put in the box at MSC,
Management Study Center (STIP), Boxes 25 & 26, G.W. Ziggers strategy/strategie; 1 st
floor.
 Put your names, student number and team number on your work. Reports lacking this
information will be considered as not having been submitted and will not be reviewed
and graded!!!
 If you are unable to submit the report by the deadline for a legitimate reason, please contact
the coordinator via e-mail.

ALWAYS CONSULT THE STRATEGY COURSE SCHEDULE AND BRIGHTSPACE FOR

COURSE UPDATES AS WELL AS INFORMATION REGARDING WHAT, WHEN, AND
WHERE TO SUBMIT YOUR WORK!!!!

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