Business Policy - Bill Zierdt Marian College

Course Description: A study of the integration of the functional areas of business: accounting, finance, marketing, production, and personnel. Business cases are used. Pre-requisites: FIN301, MGT203. Senior standing preferred.

Course objectives: Application of all previous courses of study in the students' major. This course will be integrative in nature and require use of all prior learning. This will be applied to a web-based business simulation to operate a company in a competitive environment.

Teaching strategies: Students will perform individually and as teams to complete a web-based simulation. Students will be assigned to teams, which will function throughout the exercise. Overview lectures of strategic management will be presented and the ETS Business II Test will be administered. This test measures student performance in business topics and compares results with national norms.

Attendance: Students are expected to attend each class and more than two attendance's without prior notification of the instructor will result in a grade decrement.

Grading criteria: Students will be graded upon their individual and team performance on the simulation. Each student will complete all tutorials individually and the instructor will observe results online. Tutorial performance, simulation test, pop quizzes and the initial paper will account for twenty percent of the student grade. Fifteen percent will be based on the Business II Test and fifteen percent will be on peer review and peer assessment conducted online and on paper as part of the simulation. Twenty percent will be assigned for team performance on the simulation and the team paper critiquing the teams' own performance on the simulation. The remaining thirty percent will be assigned the final examination.

Special: Students will be required to complete the ETS Business II Test during this course. This two hour, nationally normed test will be scheduled at a mutually agreeable time with students and instructor. Not fulfilling this requirement will result in an F and the course will have to be retaken.

Required text: 1. Management Simulations, Inc, Capstone Business Simulation Team Member Guide and all online resources at the Capsim site. The Team Member Guides will be distributed at the first attendance and registration will be conducted individually online. This will involve a one-time credit card charge (or check, by arrangement) of $39.

2. Lectures on strategic management will run parallel with the simulation. Material covered will be pertinent to the simulation and will be covered on the final examination.

Outline:

Week 1: 1. Team formation and development of team contract. Each team member will sign the contract, developed by each team. The team will retain one copy and one copy will be submitted to the instructor.

2. Individual registration for the simulation at www.capsim.com. Simulation materials will be distributed by the instructor but must be activated and paid for as described at the Capsim site. Those paying by check (v. credit card) will follow alternative procedures described on the site. You must use the have the simulation number and your team name. Your simulation number is C4400. Your team name will be assigned at the first attendance. Team name: _______________________________ .

3. Team Roles: each team will develop its own structure including persons responsible for each product, each functional area, each market segment and each competitor's analysis.

4. Read chapters 1-4 of the Student Guide.

Week 2: 1. Complete registration and individual tasks at capsim.com. Complete tutorials individually.

2. Download/upload required software as instructed at the site. Each student will require a current and updated version of the software. After downloading the starting conditions, the disk should have the following files:

Capstone.xls

3. No other files should be on this disk and it should not be used for anything other than the Capstone Simulation. If you receive "disk full" messages, the most likely cause is that there are additional files on the disk. If you see any .txt or .htm files, you have downloaded improperly; erase them and start the download again. This single disk is adequate for the entire exercise but should be used for nothing else. The only file you should open is Capstone.xls. Do not attempt to open or make changes in the other files.

4. Read Chapter 5-6 of the Student Guide.

Week 3: 1. Submit a five page paper on your company's starting conditions. Describe your company's starting conditions with emphasis on those products and segments in your area of responsibility.

2. Develop team strategy and situational analysis for the practice rounds. Post in your team conference area of the capsim website. Note: participants can view or post to the class conference or your own team conference only. Your team-specific information is not visible to other participating teams. The instructor has access to all posting, uploads and downloads by every participant throughout the exercise.

3. Complete Practice Round 1. The instructor will post date and time of processing. Each team member will be responsible for all posting of decisions for his/her assigned product/function/segment. Warning: the current cpparm.prn file must be downloaded before decisions are posted and uploaded. If this is not done, decisions by other team members will be overwritten and rendered void. One team member should be designated to perform frequent updates and maintain an emergency disk.

4. Read Chapters 7-8 of the Student Guide.

Week 4: 1. Analyze results for Practice Round 1 from the year-end results for you company and the Capstone Courier.

2. Complete Practice Rounds 2&3. Round 2 will include labor negotiations and Round 3 will include Total Quality Management initiatives.

3. Set Success Measurements for your team.

Week 5: 1. Analyze the results of the Practice Rounds. Simulation will be reset to Round 0) as announced. Modify strategy as desired and post the revisions to the Team Conference.

2. Complete Round 1: Each student is responsible for uploading decisions for assigned areas of responsibility. Coordinate within teams to insure that all members are downloading and using current data to post decisions. The instructor will post processing time of each Round in Class Conference. Processing will be on schedule and students are responsible to have all decisions uploaded by that time.

Week 6-12: 1. Process one Round per week. Special initiative requirements (HR, labor negotiations, TQM, marketing) will be as scheduled on the site.

2. Complete Five Factor Personality Test as scheduled at the site.

3. During this time the ETS Business II Test will be administered. This is an integral part of this course and must be completed for course completion. Schedule for administration will be announced in class.

4. Capstone, Inc, will announce a worldwide competition during this time. It is separate from the required simulation. Participants are encouraged to form teams to participate in this competition. Existing teams, reconstituted teams or individuals may participate. Participation is not mandatory but will be noted for grading purposes.

Week 13: As a team, prepare a critique of your team's performance on the simulation. The critical decisions that determined your greatest successes or shortfalls should be identified and the results of those decisions shown. Material from year-end results, Capstone Couriers and team notes and yearly analysis should be included as supporting data. This analysis should be in any MS Office format and submitted on disk.

Week 14: Peer evaluations and Peer assessments will be submitted. Each team member will complete a peer evaluation for each other team member at the Capsim site. Additionally, each team member will complete a Peer Assessment (attached) and submit it to the instructor. The results of these will be used in tallying final grades.

Final: The final examination will cover all course materials, simulation with attendant exercises, and lecture.

Peer Assessment
BUA402 Business Policy Name _____________________

Each person has this opportunity to evaluate individual contributions to team performance. This peer review will form a part of the final grade for this course.

On the lines below, list all team members (include yourself) using full names. Count the number of team members and multiply by ten. This will give you the total number of points you have to distribute among team members. Assign each person a number of points indicating his or her contribution to team results. No ties are allowed and the total must equal the number you calculated (the two numbers in brackets must be equal). Return to the instructor at the time specified.

Team _________________ Number of members ______ x 10 = { ______ }

Name: Points assigned:

1. ________________________________________ ________

2. ________________________________________ ________

3. ________________________________________ ________

4. ________________________________________ ________

5. ________________________________________ ________

6. ________________________________________ ________

 ========

Total: { ________ }

Include any comments you wish on team performance or the simulation below and on the back of this page:

Strategic management is that set of managerial decisions and actions that determine long-term success of the organization.

Operational organizations go through four stages in becoming strategic: basic financial planning or budgeting; forecast based planning seeking growth beyond the current year; externally oriented planning to increase responsiveness to markets and competition, and strategic management seeking competitive advantage and future success.

Mission:
What is the organization providing to society; the purpose; reason for existence.

Objectives:
End results of planned activities. What should be done by when? Highly measurable!

Strategies:
Comprehensive master plan to accomplish the mission and objectives:
1. Corporate strategy: overall direction
2. Business strategy: specific to business unit or product/segment
3. Functional strategy: specific to functional area

A decision is strategic if it is:

1. Rare
2. Consequential
3. Directive

Steps for a strategic decision:

1. Evaluate current performance
2. Review corporate governance
3. Scan external environment
4. Scan internal environment
5. SWOT - analyze strategic factors
6. Alternative strategies
develop
evaluate
choose
7. Implement
8. Evaluate

Environmental Scanning
Internal
Strengths
Weaknesses
Equipment, location, people, positioning, investment, decision making, budget and
Economic management, R&D, marketing
What do we do well or poorly

Establish Core Competencies and Distinctive Competencies

External 
Opportunities
Threats

Task Environment

Stakeholders
Stockholders
Creditors
Employees
Competitors
Communities
Vendors

Societal Environment
Economic
GDP Trends
Financial
Interest; Money Supply; Inflation
Unemployment
Wage/Price Controls
Currency Issues
Energy
Disposable and Discretionary Income
Technological
Government spending on R&D
Industry spending on R&D
Patent Protection
New Developments
Productivity Improvements
Political/Legal
Monopolistic Laws
Environmental Laws
Taxes
Foreign Trade
Regulations on Foreign Companies
Labor laws
Stability of Government
Sociocultural
Lifestyle Changes
Population
Demographics
Birth Rates

Current Societal Trends
1. Environmental Awareness
2. Aging of Population
3. Current US will crest at 30.8 million - 2005
4. Mass Market will give way to niche markets 
5. Increased e-commerce
6. Childless households will become norm
7. Diversity of workforce and markets

Possible Industry Scenarios
1. Uncertainties in task environment
a. New Entrants
b. Competitors
c. Substitutes
d. Buyers
e. Suppliers

2. Plausible assumptions
3. Analyze industry situation under each scenario
4. Determine Competitive advantage for each
5. Predict competitors response to each
6. Select most likely scenario

Sustainability

1. Durability
2. Imitability
a. Transparency
b. Transferability
c. Replicability
3. Determinants
a. Slow Cycle
i. Shielded
ii. Patents, Service Mark
b. Standard Cycle
i. Mass Production
ii. Economies of Scale
iii. Complicated Processes
c. Fast Cycle
i. Easily duplicated
ii. Idea driven

Strategic Marketing Issues - 4P's
1. Product
a. Quality
b. Features
c. Options
d. Style
e. Branding
f. Packaging
g. Warranties
h. Returns

2. Place
a. Channels
b. Coverage
c. Location
d. Inventory
e. Transport
3. Promotion
a. Advertising
b. Personal Selling
c. Sales Promotion
d. Publicity
4. Price
a. List Price
b. Discounts
c. Allowances
d. Payment Periods
e. Credit Terms

Strategic Financial Issues
1. Sources
2. Uses
3. Control
4. Leverage
Debt-Equity ratio

Strategic R&D Issues
1. Intensity
2. Technological Competence
3. Technology Transfer
4. Product R&D vs. Process R&D

Strategic Human Resource Issues
1. Skill level/ Pay level
a. Training
b. CQI Processes
2. Diversity
a. Age
b. Gender
c. Ethnic
3. Size of workforce

Strategic Operational Issues
1. Vertical Integration
2. Horizontal Integration
3. Outsourcing
4. Global Considerations
5. Level of Automation

Implementing Strategy
Who, What, How
Major Problems:
1. Slow implementation
2. Unanticipated problems
3. Ineffective coordination
4. Distraction with operational issues
5. Lack of skills and capabilities
6. Inadequate training
7. Uncontrollable external factors
8. Inadequate direction by mid-managers
9. Poor definition of key activities
10. Inadequate monitoring

New programs
New budgets
New procedures
Form follows function:
1. New strategy created
2. New administrative issues emerge
3. Economic performance declines
4. New structure is developed
5. Profit returns
The classic J-curve

Stages of corporate development
1. Simple
a. Entrepreneurial
b. Centralized
c. Personal
2. Functional
a. Specialization
b. Team
c. Crisis of Autonomy - let go
3. Divisional
a. Coordination
b. Decentralized
c. Impersonal

Role of the Board
1. Composition
2. Responsibilities
a. Setting strategy
b. Succession
c. Control of top management
d. Approve use of resources
e. Stockholder interests