STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

BPS7300, Section 001

Fall, 2000
Tuesday 2:00-5:00pm
JO4.804

Prof. Steven E. Phelan, Ph.D.

Office: JO 5.108 Phone: (972) 883-2754
Office Hours: Thurs 2-3pm or by appointment Email: sphelan@utdallas.edu

Course Description
Corporate strategy can be defined as “…the development and deployment of organizational resources to
achieve corporate objectives”. The academic discipline of strategic management investigates the way in
which organizational strategies are developed and then implemented. The purpose of this investigation is
two-fold; first, to understand why strategies succeed (or fail), and secondly, to use this knowledge to
prescribe better ways of formulating and implementing new strategies.

Over the years, the field of strategic management has had a major influence on corporate behavior. Terms
such as cash cow, sustainable competitive advantage and core competence are frequently raised in day-to-
day business conversation. In fact, the ability to apply strategic analysis to practical business problems has
become a valuable skill in many occupations, including stock broking, merchant banking, management
consulting, and corporate finance. This aim of this course is to give you the tools needed to analyze
situations and think strategically.

Textbooks:
Nil. Reading pack to be purchased.

Assessment Details

1. Class Participation (20%)

The participation mark will be a consolidated score for attendance, interaction in class (i.e. questions and
discussion), and demonstrated familiarity with the readings.

2. Summary of Readings (20%)

Each week, students need to read a number of seminal articles in the field. Key points from these readings
are required to be summarized and submitted to the instructor in each class. This is a hurdle requirement.
There is no imposition on the length and quality of these summaries but students should note the value of
keeping detailed notes for later reference in their studies. Note also that students should be prepared to
defend their conclusions in class.

3. Extra Reading (20%)

Each week, students are also required to go beyond the core readings and read one original article from the
last ten years that is relevant to the core readings. Students should summarize their reading and be prepared
to report their insights to the rest of the class (including the relevance of the selection).

4. Review of Recent Literature (40%)

Students are required to select a topic from the class and write a review of recent literature (i.e. from 1995-
2000). Students should highlight recent developments in the field and discuss the opportunities for future
research that arise from recent developments. The review should be no less than 3000 words.
Course Synopsis
Date Topic
29-Aug-00 Strategy concept
5-Sep-00 Strategy classics
12-Sep-00 Methodological issues in strategy
19-Sep-00 Planning & performance
26-Sep-00 Anti-planning
3-Oct-00 Strategic typologies
10-Oct-00 Industrial organization economics and strategic groups
17-Oct-00 Resource-based view
24-Oct-00 Dynamic capabilities
31-Oct-00 Knowledge strategy
7-Nov-00 Integrated views
14-Nov-00 Diversification
21-Nov-00 Strategic alliances
28-Nov-00 New ideas
5-Dec-00 New methods
PRESCRIBED READINGS
1. Strategy Concept
1. Mintzberg, Henry (1987) The Strategy Concept I: Five Ps for Strategy. California Management
Review. 30(1): 11-24.
2. Mintzberg, Henry (1987) The Strategy Concept II: Another Look at Why Organizations Need
Strategies. California Management Review. 30(1): 25-32.
3. Mintzberg, H. (1990). The Design School: Reconsidering the Basic Premises of Strategic
Management. Strategic Management Journal, 11(3), 171-195.
4. Ansoff, H. I., & Mintzberg, H. (1991). Critique of Henry Mintzberg's "The Design School:
Reconsidering the Basic Premises of Strategic Management"; Learning 1, Planning O: Reply to
Igor Ansoff. Strategic Management Journal, 12(6), 449-466.
5. Mintzberg, Henry. Lampel, Joseph. (1999) Reflecting on the strategy process. Sloan Management
Review. 40(3): 21-30.

2. Strategy Classics
1. Barnard, C.I. (1938) The Functions of the Executive . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.
2. Chandler, A.D. (1962) Strategy and Structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
3. Ansoff, H.I. (1965) Corporate Strategy. New York: McGraw-Hill.
4. Andrews, K.R. (1971) The Concept of Corporate Strategy. Homewood, IL: Dow Jones-Irwin.
5. Rumelt, R.P. (1974) Strategy, Structure and Economic Performance. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.
6. Miles, R.E. & Snow, J.G. (1978) Organization Strategy, Structure, and Process. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
7. Steiner, G.A. (1979) Strategic Planning: What Every Manager Must Know. New York: The Free
Press.
8. Porter, M.E. (1980) Competitive Strategy. New York: The Free Press.
9. Quinn, James B. (1980) Strategies for Change - Logical Incrementalism. Homewood, IL: Irwin.
10. Porter, M.E. (1985) Competitive Advantage. New York: The Free Press.
11. Buzzell, R.D. & Gale, B.T. (1987) The PIMS Principles. New York: The Free Press.
12. Fredrickson, James W. (1990) Perspectives on Strategic Management. New York: Harper
Business.

3. Methodological Issues in Strategy

1. Hambrick, D.C. (1980) Operationalizing the concept of business strategy in research Academy of
Management Review 5(4): 567-575.
2. Snow, C.C. and Hambrick D.C. (1980) Measuring organizational strategies: Some theoretical and
methodological problems Academy of Management Review 5(4): 527-538.
3. Harrigan, K.R. (1983) Research methodologies for contingency approaches to business strategies
Academy of Management Review 8(3): 398-405.
4. Venkatraman N. and Grant J.H. (1986) Construct measurement in organizational strategy research:
A critique and proposal Academy of Management Review 11(1): 71-87.
5. Snow C.C. and Thomas J.B. (1994) Field research methods in strategic management:
Contributions to theory building and testing Journal of Management Studies 31(4): 457-480.

4. Planning & Performance

1. Dess, Gregory G.; Robinson, Richard B., Jr. (1984) Measuring Organizational Performance in
the Absence of Objective Measures: The Case of the Privately-Held Firm and Conglomerate
Business Unit. Strategic Management Journal, 5(3): 265-273.
2. Chakravarthy, Balaji S. (1986) Measuring Strategic Performance, Strategic Management
Journal, 7(5): 437-458.
3. Venkatraman, N. & Ramanujam, V. (1986) Measurement of business performance in strategy
research: A comparison of approaches. Academy of Management Review, 11(4): 801-814.
4. Boyd, Brian K. (1991) Strategic Planning and Financial Performance: A Meta-Analytic Review.
Journal of Management Studies, 28(4): 353-374.
5. Capon, Noel; Farley, John U; Hulbert, James M. (1994) Strategic planning and financial
performance: More evidence. Journal of Management Studies, 31(1): 105-110.
5. Anti-Planning
1. Quinn, James B (1978) Strategic Change: “Logical Incrementalism” Sloan Management Review,
Fall, 7-21.
2. Mintzberg, Henry. Waters, James A (1985) Of Strategies, Deliberate and Emergent. Strategic
Management Journal. 6(3): 257-272.
3. K. E. Weick, (1987) Substitutes for Strategy in D.J. Teece, ed., The Competitive Challenge
(Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Co.): 221-233.
4. Mintzberg, Henry (1993) The pitfalls of strategic planning. California Management Review.
36(1): 32-47.
5. Barry, David. Elmes, Michael (1997) Strategy retold: Toward a narrative view of strategic
discourse. Academy of Management Review. 22(2): 429-452.

6. Strategic Typologies
1. Miller, Danny (1986) Configurations of Strategy and Structure: Towards a Synthesis. Strategic
Management Journal. 7(3): 233-249.
2. Chrisman, James J; Hofer, Charles W; Boulton, William R. (1988) Toward a System for
Classifying Business Strategies. Academy of Management Review, 13(3): 413-428.
3. Segev, Eli A. (1989) Systematic Comparative Analysis and Synthesis of Two Business-Level
Strategic Typologies. Strategic Management Journal, 10(5): 487-505.
4. Venkatraman, N. (1990) Performance Implications of Strategic Coalignment: A Methodological
Perspective. Journal of Management Studies, 27(1): 19-41.
5. Meyer, Alan D. Tsui, Anne S., Hinings, C R (1993) Configurational approaches to organizational
analysis. Academy of Management Journal, 36(6): 1175-1195.

7. Industrial Organization Economics and Strategic Groups

1. Caves, R.E. and Porter M.E. (1977) From entry barriers to mobility barriers: Conjectural decisions
and contrived deterrence to new competition Quarterly Journal of Economics 91: 241-262.
2. Caves R.E. (1980) Industrial organization, corporate strategy and structure Journal of Economic
Literature 18: 64-92.
3. Porter, M.E. (1981) The contributions of industrial organization to strategic management
Academy of Management Review 6: 609-620.
4. McGee, J. And H. Thomas (1986) Strategic groups: Theory, research taxonomy Strategic
Management Journal 7: 141-160.
5. Rumelt, R.P. (1991) How much does industry matter? Strategic Management Journal 12: 167-185.

8. Resource-Based View
1. Barney, J.B. (1986) Strategic factor markets: Expectations, luck and business strategy
Management Science, 42: 1231-1241.
2. Dierickx, I., & Cool, K. (1989). Asset stock accumulation and sustainability of competitive
advantage. Management Science, 35(12), 1504-1511.
3. Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management,
17(1), 99-120.
4. Mahoney, J. T., & Pandian, J. R. (1992). The resource-based view within the conversation of
strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 13, 363-380.
5. Peteraf, M.A. (1993) The cornerstones of competitive advantage: A resource-based view Strategic
Management Journal 14: 179-191.
9. Dynamic Capabilities
1. Prahalad, C. K., & Hamel, G. (1990) The core competence of the corporation. Harvard Business
Review: 79-91.
2. Porter, M. E. (1991) Towards a dynamic theory of strategy. Strategic Management Journal, 12:
95-117.
3. Thomas, L.G. (1996) The two faces of competition: Dynamic resourcefulness and the
hypercompetitive shift. Organization Science. 7(4): 221-242.
4. Teece, David J. Pisano, Gary. Shuen, Amy (1997) Dynamic capabilities and strategic
management. Strategic Management Journal. 18(7): 509-533.
5. Sampler, Jeffrey L. Short, James E (1998) Strategy in dynamic information-intensive
environments. Journal of Management Studies. 35(4): 429-436.

10. Knowledge Strategy

1. Grant, Robert M (1996) Prospering in dynamically-competitive environments: Organizational
capability as knowledge integration. Organization Science. 7(4): 375-387.
2. Conner, Kathleen R. Prahalad, C K (1996) A resource-based theory of the firm: Knowledge versus
opportunism. Organization Science. 7(5): 477-501.
3. Liebeskind, Julia Porter (1996) Knowledge, strategy, and the theory of the firm. Strategic
Management Journal. 17: 93-107. 1996
4. Szulanski, Gabriel (1996) Exploring internal stickiness: Impediments to the transfer of best
practice within the firm. Strategic Management Journal. 17: 27-43.
5. DeCarolis, Donna Marie. Deeds, David L (1999) The impact of stocks and flows of organizational
knowledge on firm performance: An empirical investigation of the biotechnology industry.
Strategic Management Journal. 20(10): 953-968.

11. Integrated Views

1. Barney, J. B. (1986). Type of competition and the theory of strategy: Toward an integrative
framework. Academy of Management Review, 11(4), 791-800.
2. Amit, R. and P.J.H. Shoemaker (1993) Strategic assets and organizational rent Strategic
Management Journal 14: 33-46.
3. Miller, Danny. Shamsie, Jamal (1996) The resource-based view of the firm in two environments:
The Hollywood film studios from 1936 to 1965. Academy of Management Journal. 39(3): 519-
543.
4. Roquebert, J. A., Phillips, R. L., & Westfall, P. A. (1996). Markets vs. management: What 'drives'
profitability? Strategic Management Journal, 17(8), 653-664.
5. McGahan, A. M., & Porter, M. E. (1997). How much does industry matter, really? Strategic
Management Journal, 18(Summer), 15-30.

12. Diversification
1. Teece, D.J. (1980) Economies of scope and the scope of the enterprise Journal of Economic
Behavior and Organization 1: 223-245.
2. Amihud, Y. And B. Lev (1981) Risk reduction as a managerial motive for conglomerate mergers
Bell Journal of Economics 12: 605-617.
3. Prahalad, C.K. and R.A. Bettis (1986) The dominant logic: A new linkage between diversity and
performance Strategic Management Journal 7: 485- 501.
4. Ramanujam, V., and P. Varadarajan (1989) Research on corporate diversification: A synthesis
Strategic Management Journal 10: 523-551.
5. Palich, L. E., Cardinal, L.B., Miller, C.C. (2000) Curvilinearity in the diversification-performance
linkage: An examination of over three decades of research. Strategic Management Journal, 21(2):
155-174.
13. Strategic Alliances
1. Kogut, B. (1988) Joint ventures: Theoretical and empirical perspectives Strategic Management
Journal 9: 319-332.
2. Borys, B. And Jemison, D.B. (1989) Hybrid arrangements as strategic alliances: Theoretical issues
in organizational combinations Academy of Management Review 14: 234-249.
3. Osborn, Richard N; Hagedoorn, John (1997) The institutionalization and evolutionary dynamics of
interorganizational alliances and networks. Academy of Management Journal, 40(2): 261-278.
4. Jeffrey H Dyer; Harbir Singh (1998) The relational view: Cooperative strategy and sources of
interorganizational competitive advantage. Academy of Management Review, 23(4), 660-679.
5. Gulati, Ranjay (1998) Alliances and networks. Strategic Management Journal, 19(4)(Special
Issue supplement): 293-317.

14. New Ideas

1. Spender, J-C (1993) Some frontier activities around strategy theorizing. Journal of Management
Studies. 30(1): 11-30.
2. Coff, Russell W (1999) When competitive advantage doesn't lead to performance: The resource-
based view and stakeholder bargaining power. Organization Science. 10(2): 119-133.
3. Beinhocker, Eric D (1999) Robust adaptive strategies. Sloan Management Review. 40(3): 95-106.
4. Williamson, Peter J (1999) Strategy as options on the future. Sloan Management Review. 40(3):
117-126.
5. Rindova, V.P., Fombrun, C.J. (1999) Constructing competitive advantage: The role of firm-
constituent interactions. Strategic Management Journal, 20(8): 691-710.

15. New Methods

1. Barnett, William P. Burgelman, Robert (1996) Evolutionary perspectives on strategy. Strategic
Management Journal. 17 (Summer): 5-19.
2. Phelan, S.E. (1997) Using Artificial Adaptive Agents to Explore Strategic Landscapes.
(http://www.aom.pace.edu/bps/Papers/Thesis/dissert.html)
3. Ghemawat, Pankaj. McGahan, Anita M (1998) Order backlogs and strategic pricing: The case of
the U.S. large turbine generator industry. Strategic Management Journal. 19(3): 255-268.
4. Jayachandran, Satish. Gimeno, Javier. Varadarajan, P Rajan (1999) Theory of multimarket
competition: A synthesis and implications for marketing strategy. Journal of Marketing. 63(3): 49-
66.
5. Rowley, T., Behrens, D., Krackhardt, D. (2000) Redundant governance structures: An analysis of
structural and relational embeddedness in the steel and semiconductor industries. Strategic
Management Journal¸ 21: 369-386.