MGF 3684

Business Strategy
Week 1 - Strategy Introduction
 What you need to know today

1. Unit Introduction 3. Strategy Making Process

2. Strategy Management Basics 4. Capstone Introduction

Concepts Case Studies MGF

3684

Concepts StratBusines
eg y s
Mgt

IT Security Vs
Take-aways Cybersecurity
 S E C T I O N 1

Unit Introduction
Unit Learning Outcomes

Strategy development is a creative,

dynamic and yet analytic process
framework, one that is open to
different interpretations of the times
and formulates how an organisation
can develop & sustain its own internal
and agile capabilities to pursue
dynamic external opportunities and
respond to threats
Scope of Learning Topics: Theories

Underlying Learning Roadmap

Scope of Learning Topics: Hands on Experience
Hands on experience of dynamic strategy planning
& execution in a stimulated game (Capstone),
which helps you understand the importance of:

1. Focusing on knowing your enterprise mission &

vision and the generic orientation of the
strategies that you will be formulating
throughout the game. Students often lost sight
of the strategic drivers and have no idea of
where their changing strategies are going

2. Interpreting the external influencers in order to

identify & apply the correct internal functional
capability changes and the associated financial
performance indicators in strategy formulation

3. Reflecting and learning from success or failures

as on-going improvements, including having the
critical thinking and management
communication skills to report the reasons for
strategic success and failures
 Teaching Staff

On Leave Chief Examiner & 2022 S1 Substitute:

Lecturer
Dr Chan Cheah
Email:
Chan.cheah@monash.edu

Biography:

30 years in corporate management,

specialising in digitalising corporate to
business level strategies, digital service
innovations, governance & regtech
systems.

Current Research Projects:

1. Banking Anti Money Laundering
Ecosystems Redesign
2. Kpop & Cross Culture Branding
Strategies
3. AI Enterprise Process Optimisation
& Analysis
4. Local Government & Governance
Performance
 2022 Tutors

David Teh
david.teh@monash.edu

Georgina Caillard
georgina.caillard@monash.edu

Chan Cheah
Chan.cheah@monash.edu
 Structure of Weekly Learning Activities
There is no lecture sessions. However, students are responsible
for self-directed reading of the weekly lecture slides and videos
in Moodle, which explain the key theories, which will be
reviewed and applied in the week’s case during tutorial class

2 hours Tutorial Classes, which highlight & apply the week’s key
theories ; review the given case and share the Capstone
stimulation results. Students are expected to read the case
before class otherwise case discussions offer little value add.

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning
outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically
comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and
independent study. Independent study may include associated
readings, assessment and preparation for scheduled activities.
The unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled
activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a
combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning
and online engagement.
This means you need to spend at least 12 hours per
week of productive learning for this unit
• At least 12 hours in reading weekly lecture
resources
• 24 hours participating in weekly tutorials
Leaving minimum 108 hours for self directed
learning and assignment work
 Consultation Support & Other Administration Matters
Consultation:
• Discuss with your tutor about consultation approaches
and support arrangements.
Healthcare Management:
If you are sick or have been tested positive, please do not
attend class. If you are tested positive via a PCR or Rapid
Antigen Test (RAT), you must:
1. Follow the reporting guidelines for the Department of
Health either through the online form or by phone by
calling 1800 675 398.
2. Notify Monash Connect with their details on 9902 6011
Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm to ensure the University is
aware and can provide any support available to you.
3. Notify your tutor AND lecturer via email.
4. If you are part of an online class, you can still join if you
are not too ill.
Assignment Extension:
Your tutor has delegated authority to approve up to 2 days
extension.
For 3 to 5 days request, you must email to both your tutor and
lecturer, and it is the lecturer, after consulting with your tutor,
who finalises the decision to approve or reject your request.
Extension request must NOT be made within 5 days of
submission-dates – they are likely to be rejected. If you provide a
medical certificate (MD), it specifies the start and end dates on
which you are unable to work. We expect you to submit your late
assignment not more than 2 days after the MS’s end-date. If you
submit much later, penalty of 10% will apply.
For requests greater than 5 days, you must apply for Special
Consideration, following the SC application procedure.
Please note that this unit has a take-home exam, which
extension requests do NOT apply, in accordance to exam
absence protocols
 Assessment
Group or
Individual Unit Learning
Assessment Task Weighing Due Assessment Outcomes
Group: 15% Group 1–4
• Capstone Strategy Statement Week 4;
• Simulation Decisions (week 5-10) Week 10 (using week 10 final
score)
Group: Board Report 15% Week 10 Group 1–4
Group: Board Presentation Slides 5% Week 11 or 12 Group 1–4

Individual: Director's Evaluation Report 5% Week 12 or 11 Individual 1–4

Individual: Case Analysis Report 60% Week 14 Individual 1–4

TOTAL 100%
 Work Culture

Given there is such a large group component…

Work Values
…free-riding behaviour is taken seriously TEAM PLAY

Work on any group problems TEAM PROBLEM SOLVING

Come to us with problems early ! PROACTIVE PROBLEM SOLVING

Final sanction: Adjustment of free-rider’s group scores. TRANSPARENT TEAM CONFLICT MGT
 S E C T I O N 2

Strategy
Management Basics
 Some Famous Strategists

Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 600 BC

Hannibal, Carthaginian general, 300

BC

Julius Caesar, The Gallic Wars, 100 BC

von Clausewitz, On War, 1800 AD

Mao Zedong, On Guerrilla Warfare, 1937

Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon

Other Famous Strategists -

https://insights.regenesys.net/10-great-strategists/
What is “strategy”?
 The Definitions of Strategy

“We are the blind men and strategy is our elephant”

“Nobody really knows what strategy is.” (Mintzberg 1999)
The Economist, March 1993 The Blind Men and the Elephant
It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
“What is Strategy?” Who went to see the Elephant
Michael Porter, 1996 (Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
“What is strategy and how do you know if you The First approached the Elephant,
have one?” Costas Markides, 2004 And happened to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to brawl:
“God bless me but the Elephant
Is very like a wall. “
[…]
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong.
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong.
John Godfrey Saxe, "Poems"
More Conventional Practice Based Definitions

“Strategy is the art of … bringing value to

customers and delivering that value at a profit.”

(Normann & Ramirez 1993)

“… strategy is about being different. It means

deliberately choosing a different set of activities
to deliver a unique mix of value.”
(Porter 1996)

…today’s cybersecurity schemes and

developments bring back the meaning of
strategy to the notion of cyber warfare & risks
management.
 Strategy has economic implications

Porter (1981, in this week’s readings) explains how business strategy

(strategic management) emerged out of Industrial Organization (IO) In today’s practice, there are 3 other
economics new dimensions of strategy, as
• IO framework: industry structure (environment)  firm conduct governance principles are very much
(strategy)  performance embedded in guiding behaviours in the
pursuits of strategies
Different frames of reference
• IO economics – society and public policy perspective; strategy – 1. Social Responsibility
private firms
2. Environmental Sustainability
Different units of analysis
• IO – industry; strategy – firm 3. Cybersecurity (cyber risk
management)
Different views of the decision maker
• IO – economic objectives; strategy – combines cognitive and
behavioral factors
Key Question in Strategic Management
The definitions of strategy varies in different contexts; both micro
from the firm’s perspectives to macro perspectives of nations.
These perspectives also vary further, from notions of warfare,
economic system structures to other pillars of sustainability and
even cybersecurity scheming.

“The core question for strategy researchers is

Why do some firms perform better than others?”
(Rumelt et al. 1991)

The same question implies even in different guises:

• What determines the success and failure of firms?
• What drives firm performance?
• How can a firm gain and sustain competitive
advantage?

The reasons for strategic success and failure give more

comprehensive insights into characterising strategy, hence
resulting in more practice-oriented definitions of strategy.
 S E C T I O N 3

The Process of
Strategy Making
 Elements of the Strategy-Making Process
Analyse Internal & External Strategic Drivers that enable &
threaten the firm’s capacity in sustainable profit taking

Identify what and describe how the Plan the implementation actions
firm’s resources & capabilities can to deploy the identified strategies
be applied to make sustainable into making sustainable profits
profits
 The Strategy Making Process
• Define the Mission, Vision & Values
• Analyse the internal & external factors for
strategy formulation ideas

• Plan the organisation project management

• Formulate whole of organisation structures to implement the strategies
corporate level strategies identifying
• Drill-down corporate strategies • Restructure the organizational structure of
into different business level and enterprise work;
more implementable strategies • Redesign enterprise functional changes and
checking alignment or compliance to corporate
mission, vision and work values
Different Levels of Strategy Making
Corporate-level strategy
“What industries to be in?”
“How to manage our collection of businesses?”
The choices of strategy formulation often apply concepts
of:
• Vertical Integration
• Horizontal (Product) Diversification
• International Diversification

Business-level strategy
“How should a business compete in its industry?”

Need clear specifics of

• Vision, mission and values
• External analysis findings
• Internal analysis findings
• Generic Strategies
• Strategic positioning, notion of functional “fit” and
competitive advantage drivers
 S E C T I O N 3

Capstone
Introduction
Capstone Gaming

This is an important guidebook to read and

understand the game rules for playing the
Capstone game.

There is a visual summary of the important

guidelines / rules of engagement to remember
when playing the game.

More will be discussed during your tutorials

Next Week’s Lesson

Vision, Mission & Objectives