Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Randal Tame
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Credit points |
Credit points
4
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
Admission to MBA or MMgmt or PGDipMgt or GradDipMgt or GradCertMgt or MEngMgt or MSocEntre or GradCertSocEntre
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
This unit analyses the theories behind, and practical applications of, strategic frameworks used to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. You will learn why organisations change their strategic direction, the importance of those changes, and the process that leads to such key decisions. Importantly, there are no “universal solutions, only differing perspectives which can help you make competitively sustainable strategic decisions.
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Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Case Study Preparation
There is no prescriptive procedure for doing a written case analysis; only some general guidelines as outlined below – this is because company situations and management problems are diverse and therefore there is no one way to approach a written case assignment.
You are required to offer analysis and evidence to back up your conclusions. Do not rely on unsupported opinions, overgeneralizations, and platitudes as a substitute for tight, logical argument backed up with facts and figures.
Demonstrate that you have a command of the strategic concepts and analytical tools to which you have been exposed. Use them in the assignments and the exam to answer the questions.
For more, see the Preparing Cases for Exercises and Exam document in the Unit Guide section of the iLearn unit.
Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
---|---|---|---|
Individual participation | 20% | No | Throughout the term |
Individual Report | 20% | No | TBA in iLearn |
Group Report | 20% | No | TBA in iLearn |
Online Examination | 40% | No | Exam Week: 26 Nov - 2 Dec 2018 |
Due: Throughout the term
Weighting: 20%
Individual participation and contribution to online classes and forums
During the term, you will be expected to participate and make high-quality contributions to the iLearn forum discussions and weekly online classes. High marks are awarded to those who stimulate discussion and foster peer-to-peer learning in the online classes and iLearn forum discussions. You are highly encouraged to contribute to discussions as this provides the easiest and most time-efficient mechanism by which comprehensive feedback loops can be achieved. Your contributions will be marked according to the following rubric:
Criteria Comment Mark Quality of comments /5 Depth of comments /5 Contribution to discussion and building on other’s comments /5 Total /15
Due: TBA in iLearn
Weighting: 20%
Format: Max of 1000 words with 12pt font size and 2.54 cm with 1.5 line spacing. This excludes appendices or exhibits.
The individual report is your reflection on the Back Bay Simulation (Topic 6).
Prepare and submit an essay form report about the simulation experience, your individual results, and your analysis of the simulation. Include an evaluation of the firm’s success and failures, explaining what decisions were correct, and what you could have done differently. Use unit topics and readings as analytical tools and references.
See also the Simulation Foreground Reading: Back Bay Battery document in Topic 6 of the iLearn unit
Marking guide will be available in iLearn
Back Bay Battery Simulation
This simulation is designed to bridge theories in innovation and the impact of an emerging, disruptive technology to the real-world context in which managers must make decisions about investing in innovative technologies under conditions of uncertainty. The simulation presents you the challenges associated with making investment choices under uncertain and highly constraining real world conditions.
In playing the simulation, you will learn that:
Your role in the simulation
Students play the role of a business unit manager at Back Bay Battery Company, who faces the dilemma of balancing a portfolio of investment strategies across products in the rechargeable battery market space. Players have to manage R&D investment trade-offs between sustaining investment in the unit’s existing battery business verses investing in a new, potentially disruptive battery technology.
You must decide which market opportunities to pursue, each of which offers the student varying levels of market intelligence and differing short- and long-term payoff prospects.
You manage the investment portfolios over 8 simulated years. Throughout the simulation, you are forced to address a number of challenges, including timing and level of investment across both mature and new technology businesses, choices regarding market opportunities and inherent product performance characteristics, requirements to meet constraining financial objectives and constant trade-offs between investment options; all in the context of uncertain market information.
Due: TBA in iLearn
Weighting: 20%
Length:
Format: Each report is to be in the form of a “McKinsey Deck” - see the following links for a description of the anatomy of a McKinsey PowerPoint Deck:
Pay close attention to acknowledging all sources of data, especially existing internal company documents, plans, market research studies etc. In particular, you should cite any references fully and in an acceptable style as noted in the Student Handbook.
The document should be presented in a professional manner, in line with what would be presented by consultants to a management board. Specifically, it is vital that your document is easy to read.
The group report requires you to do a strategic analysis of a business and provide the executive with a deck that clearly identifies the competitive environment and industry trends, the key issues facing the firm, your view of the strategic options and risks and recommendations for future actions. Your group should choose a firm that at least one member of the team is very familiar with. This may be a company that they currently or previously worked for. For this assignment your group will take the role of strategy consultants advising the firm’s executive (note that this is an exercise and you are not in reality advising the firm’s executive). Your two reports should be of the quality expected of top tier management consultants.
The Part A report should detail your analysis of the internal and external environments and identify the key trends and the issues facing the firm. The Part B report is the final report, including Part A report, and should present the strategic options available to the firm, the recommended strategic action and the risks in implementation.
Student groups must ensure that all members contribute equally to the presentation of their project. Should any difficulty occur with this, the group should talk with the lecturer as soon as possible. At the time of handing in the assignment the group should agree on what percentage of the mark each person should receive. You should indicate this information on the cover sheet of the assignment.
If the group assesses the contribution of each member as equal, each would receive 100% of the final mark. In cases where the group decides that some did not contribute equally, this should be reflected in the percentage (if there is problem in the group, please tell me sooner rather than later).
As part of the written submission, the group is also required to provide, on one page, a statement of exactly what each member did for the project, signed off by each member of the group. If there are sizable discrepancies concerning contributions within the group, the lecturer reserves the right to apportion marks unequally.
Marking guide will be available in iLearn.
Please ensure all participants full names, the unit code (MGSM850), unit name (Strategic Frameworks), lecturer (Randal Tame), as well as the topic presented is clearly visible on your presentation front page.
Due: Exam Week: 26 Nov - 2 Dec 2018
Weighting: 40%
Format: Online Open book exam – 3 hours and 20 mins reading time.
The online exam format will be open-book. More details will be provided over the term.
The online exam will cover content from:
Please note that to pass the subject, students must pass the online exam and perform satisfactorily in each assessment component.
Required Textbook:
There is no required textbook, however the below textbook is highly recommended.
Recommended (optional reading)
Johnson, G., Scholes, K. & Whittington, R., 2014, Exploring Strategy: Text & Cases with MyStrategyLab, 10th Edition, Prentice Hall, Harlow, England, ISBN: 9781292007007
Textbook lists for Sydney classes are available at
https://students.mgsm.edu.au/sydney-students/study/textbooks/
WHERE TO PURCHASE TEXTBOOK IF YOU WISH TO BUY?
The Coop Bookshop
The Coop Bookshop is our main retailer for textbooks and other related academic material. For information on textbook prices and online ordering, please refer to The Co-Op Bookshop webpage at http://www.coop.com.au
Pearson website
Textbook is also available for order via the publisher’s online store. For information on textbook prices and online ordering, please refer to the website at http://www.pearson.com.au/9781292007007
Disclaimer: MGSM does not take responsibility for the stock levels of required textbooks from preferred retail outlets and other book retailers. While we advise our preferred book retail outlet, The Co-op Bookshop, of our maximum expected number of students purchasing specific required text each term, The Co-op Bookshop and other book retailers will make their own judgement in regards to their physical holding stock levels. To prevent disappointment if a textbook is out-of-stock, we highly advise students to order their textbooks as early as possible, or if the required textbook is currently out-of-stock, place an order with the book retailer as soon as possible so that these book retailers can monitor demand and supply, and adjust their stock orders accordingly
Other optional resources
We have also provided additional material in the iLearn unit (articles, book chapters and video links) as a resource for you. These supplementary unit materials are not compulsory and have been provided as extra resources should you be particularly interested in a topic.
Writing resources
Our MGSM Student Handbook contains Essay Writing Guidelines for students who may lack confidence in their writing skills to produce reports/essays to an academic/business standard. Please click on the link below to access the MGSM Student Handbook (you may need your Macquarie One ID to access this). The Essay Writing Guidelines can be found in Section 3: Study Skills, starting page 39.
https://students.mgsm.edu.au/assets/PDF/Student-Website/mgsm-student-handbook.pdf
The Macquarie University Library also provides excellent resources covering writing skills, researching online: and a guide to citations and referencing. A Learning Adviser can also be contacted for further details.
http://www.students.mq.edu.au/support/learning_skills/
MGSM iLearn
You will receive information, including your student ID and password, to access the MGSM iLearn unit after you have enrolled. Login (using your OneID) to the MGSM iLearn unit at: https://mgsm.edu.au/iLearn
Access the following:
To access resources and assessment tasks in the MGSM iLearn unit, you will need:
OTHER required technology
Zoom
Zoom is the web conferencing software used for the live online classes. Please download and install the software in advance. A link and password to the webinar will be provided in the iLearn unit.
Students are highly encouraged to attend the live online classes and that weekly readings, cases and preferably the forum activity are completed prior to attending the online class. The live online classes aim to emulate a classroom and provide the opportunity to ask questions, further analyse and critique the frameworks and cases and learn from your peers as well as the lecturer, so come to class prepared!
The classes are an opportunity to contribute to your overall grade via participation in this forum. Lectures will be recorded for those who cannot attend.
The live online classes will be run every Wednesday (Sydney time) (unless specified otherwise)
*Session 0 will run for 15-20 minutes and is designed to test the technology and get familiar with using Zoom. While this isn’t compulsory to attend, attendance by all would be greatly appreciated so we can try and minimise any technical problems for students before session 1.
Session | Live Online Class | Topic | Textbook Chapters: Exploring Strategy: Text and Cases |
0 | 12 September 2018 | Introductions/Zoom testing (15-20 minute online class) | |
1 | 19 September 2018 | LEADERSHIP AND ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE Case: GE’s Growth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative | Chapters 1 & 14 |
2 | 26 September 2018 | A HISTORY OF STRATEGY Case: Dog Fight over Europe – Ryanair | |
3 | 3 October 2018 | ENVIRONMENTAL AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS Case: Skil Corp | Chapter 2 |
4 | 10 October 2018 | RESOURCE BASED VIEW OF THE FIRM – STRATEGIC CAPABILITIES Case: Apple Inc. in 2015 | Chapter 3 & 5 |
5 | 17 October 2018 | HYPER COMPETITION Case: Hypercompetition in E-retail: Flipkart.com | Chapter 6 |
6 | 24 October 2018 | Back Bay Batteries Case STRATEGY SIMULATION | Website Familiarisation Case preparation |
7 | 31 October 2018 | BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY Video Case: Crafting Winning Strategies in a Mature Market: The U.S. Wine Industry in 2001 | Chapter 2 |
8 | 7 November 2018 | ENTERING AN INDUSTRY Case: Ecowash: A business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? | Chapter 7 & 9 |
9 | 14 November 2018 | GROWTH & DIVERSIFCATION, RESILIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY Case: Microsoft’s Diversification Strategy | Chapter 10 & 11 |
10 | 21 November 2018 | Course wrap up |
Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:
Undergraduate students seeking more policy resources can visit the Student Policy Gateway (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/student-policy-gateway). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.
If you would like to see all the policies relevant to Learning and Teaching visit Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central).
Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/getting-started/student-conduct
Results shown in iLearn, or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au.
Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/
Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.
Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.
For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au
For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/.
When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.
Our postgraduates will demonstrate a high standard of discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgment. They will have the ability to make informed choices and decisions that reflect both the nature of their professional work and their personal perspectives.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our postgraduates will be able to demonstrate a significantly enhanced depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content knowledge in their chosen fields.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our postgraduates will be capable of utilising and reflecting on prior knowledge and experience, of applying higher level critical thinking skills, and of integrating and synthesising learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments. A characteristic of this form of thinking is the generation of new, professionally oriented knowledge through personal or group-based critique of practice and theory.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our postgraduates will be capable of systematic enquiry; able to use research skills to create new knowledge that can be applied to real world issues, or contribute to a field of study or practice to enhance society. They will be capable of creative questioning, problem finding and problem solving.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our postgraduates will be able to communicate effectively and convey their views to different social, cultural, and professional audiences. They will be able to use a variety of technologically supported media to communicate with empathy using a range of written, spoken or visual formats.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our postgraduates will be ethically aware and capable of confident transformative action in relation to their professional responsibilities and the wider community. They will have a sense of connectedness with others and country and have a sense of mutual obligation. They will be able to appreciate the impact of their professional roles for social justice and inclusion related to national and global issues
This graduate capability is supported by:
Leadership: The unit developed my understanding of the role of leadership at a strategic level within organisations and its importance in achieving superior performance through incremental and transformational change.
Global mindset: The unit supported my ability to apply a range of strategy frameworks and models to firms that operate in international markets across a wide range of industries in order to improve competitive positioning.
Citizenship: The unit allowed me to develop an appreciation of how firms contribute to society by their adoption of a ‘triple bottom-line’ approach that encompasses corporate social responsibility, corporate governance and ethical decision-making.
Creating sustainable value: The unit encouraged my understanding of how effective strategy creates sustainable competitive advantage that benefits all stakeholders.
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.