Strategic Management - Dr. Thomas M. Box Pittsburg State University

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Pearce & Robinson, Strategic Management, 7th edition, McGraw Hill
Capstone^®; Business Simulation (Student Guide)
Discussion Articles - Fortune Magazine & Online

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
"The student assumes the role of a decision-maker exercising all management functions to implement policy based on effective management strategy."

COURSE PREREQUISITE:
MGMKT 327 Organizational Theory & Behavior, CSIS 420 Management Information Systems, MGMKT 811 Production Management, or waivers, and 9 hours of decision and strategy courses.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

The objectives of the course are:

1. To learn the principles of strategic management. Assessment - three examinations.
2. To learn how strategy is implemented. Assessment - case study analysis article evaluations.
3. To practice skills of integration of business functions. Assessment - Capstone^®;
4. Business Simulation.
5. To have an enjoyable, demanding learning experience.

GRADING:
Pop Quizzes (5 @ 10 points) 50 points
Three exams @ 100 points 200 points (drop the low score)
Simulation (Team) 200 points
2 Case Studies @ 50 points each (Team) 100 points
550 points
495-550 points A
440-494 points B
385-439 points C
less than 385 points D

ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

• Academic honesty is expected of all students enrolled in this course. Plagiarism, cheating, copying the work of others and other forms of academic dishonesty will result in a grade of "F" in this course. You should carefully review page 37 of the University Catalog so as to understand the issue of academic dishonesty. Acquiring research papers or business plans written by others and submitting them as your work is expressly forbidden. Please read APA Manual, 4th edition, pp. 292-294.
• Attendance is required and expected. Your participation in class, including classroom discussions is an important part of learning.
• All students must be connected to the GUS system and must be registered on CAPSIM by Tuesday, (8/28/01).
• Examinations are closed book and notes, but you may bring one 8 1/2 by 11 reference sheet to each exam. The reference sheets are to be in your handwriting and may not be shared with other students. Since examinations include objective questions and essay questions, you are required to bring a Scantron form to each exam. No dictionaries or PDAs are allowed.
• Students seeking assistance with academic problems because of a handicap should contact Teresa R. Massa. Director of Equal Opportunity, 125 Whitesitt (telephone: 235-4579). Students with learning disabilities should contact Dr. Nick Henry, Special Education Building (telephone: 231-8464). Please inform the instructor if you have a handicap or a disability that the instructor needs to know about.
• AACSB mandates the coverage of certain very important topics in the MBA Strategy class. These topics are:
  o Global issues (G)
  o Political, social, legal/regulatory and environmental issues (P)
  o Technological issues (T)
  o Oral skills (O)
  o Writing skills (W)
  o Critical thinking skills (C)
  
  These topics will be covered in a variety of ways during the semester. One very important component of this learning is your reading and discussion of articles.
  
• Each team will write up and discuss two case studies from the text. The write up is to be in accordance with APA 4th edition, and David text pp. xx-xxvii with exceptions as noted below.
• The case analyses (and presentations) for 995 will include the following sections:
  o Introduction - firm history and current situation-1 page max
  o SWOT Analysis 
  o Financial Ratio Analysis
  o Strategic Issues
  o Recommendation - specific actions to be taken to resolve the problem
  o Implementation - timeline and cost
  
  NOTE! You must use intermediate headers in accordance with APA - 4th edition.
  
• I will not be looking for a "correct" answer when scoring the analysis. I will be looking for
  o Effective Analysis. A critical ingredient of your brief is an insightful analysis of the issues. Facts or inference from facts should support your analysis. The brief is to be the insight and conclusions gained from your analysis (not a report of your analysis). There is not merit to a synopsis of the case. Your task is to tell me what I do not know provide insight) and support why your ideas have merit and validity. Your brief must be selective and targeted. To produce a quality brief you will need to distinguish what is critical from what is merely important or interesting.
  o Quality and clarity of writing and presentation. Since the briefs are an exercise in communication, it is essential that they be clearly written, unambiguous, and well organized.
  o Recommendations. The purpose of the analysis and the brief is to lead to useful and soundly based recommendations from an identified and clearly stated problem or issue. The recommendations should be derived from the analysis of the company and its situation. They should be specific and action-oriented (to recommend "the firm should hire the management consultants" or "develop a marketing plan" is to evade the issue!). Your recommendations should be internally consistent, and demonstrate good "business sense" based on the concepts in the text and your business training.

BUSINESS SIMULATION:

• Each individual will practice the skills of a general manager of the firm by competing in a Business Simulation. Details will be provided later in the course. The simulation will enhance your critical thinking skills.
• Students will be assigned to 4 - 5 person teams for the simulation and case studies. Teams will be specifically constructed to promote an international focus.

REVISED CLASS SCHEDULE (9-4-01)

Week AACSB
of Coverage Perspectives

8/20 Introduction and "Thriving on Chaos"

8/27 Chapter 1 (text) - Overview and Review of Financial Ratios

9/3 Chapter 2 - Mission & Tom Peters ("Branding")

9/10 Chapter 3 - External Assessment, Chapter 4 - Global G,P,T

9/17 Exam 1 (Tuesday) & Simulation Practice Round

9/24 Chapter 5 - Forecasting (text), Chapter 6 - Internal P,T,W,C
Analysis, and Round 1

10/1 Chapter 7 - LTO, Case Andrews 43 and Round 2 T,W,C,O

10/8* Chapter 8 - Choice (text), Round 3 C,W,O

10/15 Chapter 9 - Round 4 and Cases Baldwin 48 T,W,O,C

10/22 Exam 2 (Tuesday) & Cases Chester 51 Digby 52

10/29 Chapter 10 - Implementation (text), Round 5 and 
Cases Andrews 55 Baldwin 56 W,O,C

11/5 Chapter 11 - Reengineering (text), Round 6 and 
Cases Chester 58 Digby 66 T,O,C

11/12 Gary Hamel _"Creating the Future" (video) and Round 7

11/19 Round 8

11/26 Chapter 12 - Continuous Improvement (text)

12/3 Class Evaluation and Review & TBD

12/10 Exam 3 (Final Exam)