Required textbook: None. We will use our readings in iLearn instead.

Recommended textbook: None.

If you feel you really want to buy a book called “Strategic Management” so you have it on your bookshelf, there are several reasonable possibilities.

• Dess, G, Lumpkin, G T, Eisner, A, and McNamara, G, Strategic Management: Text and Cases, 7th edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2013. ISBN: 9780077862527. 
• Hubbard, G, and Beamish, P, Strategic Management: Thinking, Analysis, Action, 4th edition, Pearson Australia, 2010. ISBN: 9781442528680.
• Rohaermel, F, Strategic Management: Concepts, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2014. ISBN: 9780077645069.
• Carpenter, MA, Sanders, WG, Rice, J, and Martin N, “Strategic Management: A Dynamic Perspective”, Pearson Australia, 2009.  ISBN: 9781442500372.

Readings: A selection of readings on strategic management will be made available to you. Each article is identified with a particular class session.

Other current articles may be handed out in class. 

Additional optional readings specific to the session’s topic will be listed at the end of each slide set. These are for people who want to delve deeper into a particular issue we discuss in class. 

For those with an unquenched interested in the field of strategy, here are some books both classic and more contemporary you may enjoy.

Afuah, A, Strategic Innovation, Routledge, New York, 2009.

Black, R.J, Organisational Culture: Creating the Influence Needed for Strategic Success, Routledge, New York, 2003.

De Wit, B, and Meyer, R, Strategy Synthesis, South-Western Publishing, Hampshire, 2010. 

Fleisher, CS, and Bensousson, BE, Business and Competitive Analysis, FT Press, New Jersey, 2009.

Gamble, JE, and Thompson, AA, Essentials of Strategic Management: The Quest for Competitive Advantage, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin, New York, 2011.

Hamel, G, Leading the Revolution, McGraw Hill, 2000.

Luthans, F, and Doh, JP, International Management: Culture, Strategy, and Behavior, 8th edition, HarperCollins, New York, 2011.

Kotler, P, and Caslione, JA, Chaotics, Amacom, New York, 2009.

Leinwand, P, and Mainardi, C, The Essential Advantage, Harvard Press, Boston, 2011.

Mintzberg, H, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, Prentice Hall, 1994.

Mintzberg, H, and Quinn, JB, The Strategy Process, Prentice-Hall International, 1991.

Osterwalder, A, and Pigneur, Y, Business Model Generation, Wiley, New Jersey, 2010.

Taylor, WC, and LaBarre, PG, Mavericks at Work, HarperCollins, New York, 2006.

Thompson, AA Jr, Peteraf, M, Gamble, J, and Strickland, AJ III, Crafting & Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage, 19th edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin, New York, 2013. 

Zweifel, Thomas D, and Edward J Borey, Strategy-in-Action: Marrying Planning, People and Performance. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014.

MGSM iLearn

The web page for this unit can be found at https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/login/MGSM/

Weekly class – Every Wednesday, 6pm - 10pm which will start on 19 September 2018. 

Session-by-session details are as follows.

Sessions 1, 2 and 3 develop the foundation essential to good strategic management, which ultimately means efficient and effective strategy implementation. This includes connecting the concept of strategic management to other units of study from your program, as well as introducing the definition of a market from a strategic, i.e., economic, perspective; the business strategy typology (BST) and its adaptive cycle; and the advanced competitive dynamics of population ecology. This work will underpin the remainder of the sessions.

Strategic management consists of three decision areas: strategy formulation, functional strategy alignment and strategy implementation. Session 1 focuses on key elements of the internal context that impact those three decision areas. Session 2 focuses on key elements of the external context that impact strategy formulation, functional strategy alignment and strategy implementation. In particular, we shine the spotlight on analysing competitors, competitor behaviour and retaliation. Session 3 integrates the inside and outside perspectives.

Session 1: 19 September​ - Strategic management from the inside

Read in advance of Session 1:

• “Miles and Snow: Enduring Insights for Managers” by Sumantra Ghoshal.
• “Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process” by Raymond E Miles, Charles C Snow, Alan D Meyer and Henry J Coleman Jr. This is the original book chapter on which the Ghoshal article (listed above) is based.
• “Formulating Strategy” by Eric Van den Steen.
• “Note on Market Definition and Segmentation”, Harvard Business School.
• How to use a MECE structure (if you are not already familiar with it): http://workingwithmckinsey.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/MECE-at-McKinsey.html

Case preparation in advance of Session 1. There is no case to prepare for Session 1. Just make sure you have done the readings.

……………………………………

Session 2, 26 September - Strategic management from the outside

Read in advance of Session 2:

• Pages 9-20 (starting at the section entitled “Population Ecology Perspectives on Market Evolution”) of “Evolutionary Processes in Competitive Markets” by Mary Lambkin and George S Day. (You are welcome to read the rest of the article as well, but some of it is technical and beyond the scope of our unit of study.)
• “Niche Strategy: Merging Economic and Marketing Theories with Population Ecology Arguments” by Eli Noy.
• Pages 874-878 of “Population Ecology Theory” by Manjula S Salimath and Raymond Jones III. (You are welcome to read the rest of the article as well...)

Also, before Session 2, prepare this case for in-class discussion: Tennant Company: Innovating Within and Beyond the Core.

• Read the case thoroughly and be highly familiar with the facts of the case.
• Be prepared for a wide ranging discussion by organising your answers to the following questions, some or all of which will be asked specifically but all of which need to be thoughtfully considered prior to class in order to maximise your learning from the case discussion:

1. What insights do you have about Tennant Company that you would not have had before the Strategic Management unit?
2. Describe Tennant’s current overall business strategy, and assess its appropriateness to the situation.
3. Now cascade that strategy down to the critical functional strategies. That is, identify which one or more of the specific business functions (e.g., finance, marketing, operations) are the most critical to the success of the business strategy you identified in Question 2, and then describe the strategy for each of those specific business functions you named. For example,
4. What will be the key elements of an implementation plan for that strategy?
5. How and when will Chris Killingstad know if the strategy has been successful – or when it is not? ……………………………………

Session 3, 3 October - Integrating the inside and outside perspectives

Read in advance of Session 3:

• Pages 632-637 (stopping at the beginning of the section “The Laser Printer Industry”) of “Churn, Baby, Churn: Strategic Dynamics Among Dominant and Fringe Firms in a Segmented Industry” by John M de Figueiredo and Brian S Silverman. (You are welcome to read the rest of the article as well...)
• “A Dynamic View of Strategy” by Constantinos C. Markides.

Also, before Session 3, prepare this case for in-class discussion: eHarmony. 

• Read the case thoroughly and be highly familiar with the facts of the case.
• Be prepared for a wide ranging discussion by organising your answers to the following questions, some or all of which will be asked specifically but all of which need to be thoughtfully considered prior to class in order to maximise your learning from the case discussion:

1. What insights do you have about eHarmony that you would not have had without our Strategic Management unit?
2. Describe eHarmony’s current business strategy, and assess its appropriateness.
3. Design and recommend to Greg Waldorf an integrated growth strategy, and justify your choice.
4. Identify which one or more of the business functions (e.g., finance, marketing, operations) are the most critical to the success of the strategy you have selected. Then describe the functional strategy for each of those specific business functions you named.
5. What will be your implementation plan? Be specific: tasks, timelines, responsibilities. Be sure to include any leadership issues.
6. What specific measures should Greg Waldorf monitor to see whether your chosen strategy is on track to be successful? Provide the name of the measure, the specific level and the time by which that level should be achieved.

……………………………………

Sessions 4 through 7 cover four special topics relating to strategic management. Each of these topics is designed to assist in all three decision areas of strategic management: strategy formulation, functional strategy alignment and strategy implementation.

Sessions 4 through 7 will also feature the syndicate group presentations, the guidelines for which are covered in the Assessment Task section of this document and will be further discussed in Week 1. Subject to class numbers, for each of these 4 sessions, either 2 or 3 syndicate groups will be allocated to each of the special topics and will apply their learnings to a topic-specific case study that will be provided one week prior to their scheduled presentation.

Session 4, 10 October - Strategic innovation, including technology as a strategic enabler

• “Disruptive Technology: How Kodak Missed the Digital Photography Revolution” by Henry C Lucas Jr and Jie Mein Goh. Just read/skim this article lightly to extract the main points.
• “Reverse Engineering Google’s Innovation Machine” by Bala Iyer and Thomas H Davenport. Just read/skim this article lightly to extract the main points.
• “Scoping: Where to Look”, which is Chapter 2 of Peripheral Vision: Detecting the Weak Signals That Will Make or Break Your Company by George S Day and Paul J H Schoemaker.
• “Making the Most of Uncertainty” by Hugh Courtney.

Before Session 4, read the special topic case that will be distributed in the previous session and will be the focus of the day's syndicate presentations.

……………………………………

Session 5, 17 October - Geographic expansion, particularly international and global expansion

Before Session 5, read for the topic of geographic expansion:

• “Have You Restructured for Global Success?” by Nirmalya Kumar and Phanish Puranam.
• “Managing Differences: The Central Challenge of Global Strategy” by Pankaj Ghemawat.
• “The New Rules of Globalization” by Ian Bremmer.
• “When You Shouldn’t Go Global” by Marcus Alexander and Harry Korine.
• “In Pursuit of Globalization: Learning from the Hard Lessons” by Mohammed A Burney and M Sadiq Sohail.

Before Session 5, read the special topic case that will be distributed in the previous session and will be the focus of the day's syndicate presentations.

……………………………………

Session 6, 24 October - Strategic alliances

Before Session 6, read for the topic of strategic alliances:

• “Alliances: The Secrets of Successful Co-operation” by Benjamin Gomes-Casseres.
• “How Partners Shape Strategy” by Henrich R Greve, Timothy J Rowley and Andrew V Shipilov.
• “Managing Ambiguity in Strategic Alliances” by Rajesh Kumar.
• “Competing Globally, Allying Locally” by Tieying Yu, Mohan Subramaniam and Albert A Cannella Jr. Just read/skim this article lightly to extract the results, unless you are statistically inclined.

Before Session 6, read the special topic case that will be distributed in the previous session and will be the focus of the day's syndicate presentations.

……………………………………

Session 7, 31 October - Implementing strategic change

Before Session 7, read for the topic of implementing strategic change:

• “Enduring Ideas: The 7-S Framework”. Found (including an 8 minute podcast) at http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/strategy/enduring_ideas_the_7-s_framework .
• “Six Ways to Sink a Growth Initiative” by Donald L Laurie and J Bruce Harreld.
• “Cultural Change That Sticks” by Jon R Katzenbach, Ilona Steffen and Caroline Cronley.
• “The Perils of Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt.
• “Robert McNamara's ‘11 Lessons’ in the Context of Theories of Strategic Management” by Robert Grattan.
• “Why System, Not Structure, Is the Way Toward Strategic Alignment: A Historical Perspective” by Robert S Kaplan and David P Norton.

Before Session 7, read the special topic case that will be distributed in the previous session and will be the focus of the day's syndicate presentations.

……………………………………

Session 8, 7 November - Integration of the previous topics, including prioritisation and the role of leadership

Before Session 8, read:

• “How Leadership Matters: The Effects of Leaders’ Alignment on Strategy Implementation” by Charles A O’Reilly, David F Caldwell, Jennifer A Chatman, Margaret Lapiz and William Self. Just read/skim this article lightly to extract the results, unless you are particularly interested in the methodology or technical issues.
• “Rubust Imitation Strategies” by D Sudharshan, Olivier Furrer and Ramesh A Arakoni. Just read/skim this article lightly to extract the results, unless you are particularly interested in the methodology or technical issues.
• “Being an Entrepreneur: Emergence and Structuring of Two Immigrant Entrepreneur Groups” by Luca Storti. Just read/skim this article lightly to extract the results, unless you are particularly interested in the methodology or technical issues.

Also, before Session 8, prepare this case for in-class discussion:: Nine Dragons Paper (NDP). 

• Read the case thoroughly and be highly familiar with the facts of the case.
• Be prepared for a wide ranging discussion by organising your answers to the following questions, some or all of which will be asked specifically but all of which need to be thoughtfully considered prior to class in order to maximise your learning from the case discussion:

1. Describe NDP’s current strategy and identify the stated and real issues of the case. 
2. Provide Mrs Cheung with a critique of her existing strategy and leadership and propose your recommended strategy.  
3. Identify which one or more of the business functions (e.g., finance, marketing, operations) are the most critical to the success of the strategy you have selected. Then describe the key elements of the functional strategy for the specific business functions you named, and justify your choice. 
4. What specific measures should be monitored to see whether your chosen strategy is on track to be successful? Provide the name of the measure, the specific level and the time by which that level should be achieved. 

Some time will also be spent in preparation for the following week's "live case". 

……………………………………

Session 9, 14 November - Welcome to the real world

This is a special session with a live client who will come to us for a fresh perspective on one or more business strategy issues within his or her organisation. During the session we will work both in small groups and as an integrated class to provide new insights. This day will provide you with practice using your collective MBA knowledge and skills in a real-world environment and in the process getting satisfaction from assisting a real organisation that needs your insight. This is "real" consulting - bring your A game!

Before Session 9, read: Read any materials provided by the client.

In class: Live client

……………………………………

Session 10, 21 November - Psychological biases, and review

Before Session 10, read:

• “The Hidden Traps in Decision Making” by John S Hammond, Ralph L Keeney and Howard Raiffa.
• “Before You Make That Big Decision” by Daniel Kahneman, Dan Lovallo and Olivier Sibony.
• “Strengths Become Weaknesses: Cognitive Biases in Founder Decision-Making” by Noam Wasserman and Kyle J Anderson.
•  “Self-Selection Bias in Hypothesis Comparison” by Jennifer C Whitman and Todd S Woodward.

Also…

We will also do exam preparation today, so bring to class all of your cases, notes and slides from the Strategic Management unit

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Final exam, Exam Week: 26 November - 2 December 2018

Leadership: The unit develops judgment capability as to what is effective ethical leadership within different contexts.  

Global mindset: The unit required me to make decisions from different cultural positions than my own.

Citizenship: The concepts corporate social responsibility, corporate governance and ethical decision making are core components of the unit.

Creating sustainable value: The unit demonstrated how the interrelatedness of functional business decisions connect to create value within an ethical context over the short and longer-terms.  

The interactive environment of the classroom is central to the MGSM experience. Students are required to attend the full duration of all classes for the units in which they are enrolled. We recognise that exceptional circumstances may occur, such as unavoidable travel on behalf of your organization or the serious illness or injury of you or a close family member.

Special consideration may be given for a maximum of 20% non-attendance for such circumstances as long as lecturers are contacted in advance, and supporting documentation provided, to request exemption from attendance. Failure to abide by these conditions may result in automatic withdrawal, with academic and/or financial penalty. The full Student Attendance Policy is published in the MGSM Student Handbook at https://students.mgsm.edu.au/handbook.

These unit materials and the content of this unit are provided for educational purposes only and no decision should be made based on the material without obtaining independent professional advice relating to the particular circumstances involved.