BUS 478: Strategy
Sections D1 & D3  Spring 2010

Professor:       Jerry Sheppard
	
Phone: 	778-782-4918	Class:  	D-100 	Wednesday	    9:30 - 12:20	WMC 3220	
			D-200 	Friday	    9:30 - 12:20	WMC 2210	
e-mail:  	sheppard@sfu.ca	Office:  		Wednesday 	  12:30 - 13:20      	WMC 4387	
				Friday 	  12:30 - 13:20    	WMC 4387	

Objectives 
1.	Develop your capacity to think strategically about a company, its business position, how it can gain sustainable competitive advantage and how its strategy can be executed successfully.
2.	Build your skills in conducting strategic analysis in a variety of industries and competitive situations and to provide you with a stronger understanding of the competitive challenges of a global market environment.  
3.	Acquaint you with the managerial tasks associated with implementing and executing company strategies, drill you in the range of actions managers can take to promote competent strategy execution.
4.	Integrate the knowledge gained in other business courses, show you how the various pieces of the business puzzle fit together and demonstrate why the different parts of a business need to be managed in strategic harmony for a company to operate in winning fashion.  

Required Textbooks
•	There should be a shrink wrapped packet that includes two books from Nelson Education, 2009. ISBN: 0176500820 & 0176500065
•	Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson, Rowe & Sheppard. Strategic Management: Competitiveness & Globalization Concepts, 3rd Canadian Ed.  
•	Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson, Sheppard & Rowe. Strategic Management: Competitiveness & Globalization Cases, 3rd Canadian Ed.  

Grades
Individual written case analysis . . .	30%
Midterm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25%
Participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	14%
Individual contribution to group. . . 	  5%
Group written case analysis . . . . . . 	12%
Group presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . .	14%

Class participation
Constructive contribution to class discussion is an integral part of the course. Just coming to class is not enough! Attendance accounts for a significant part of this grade and contribution to class discussions accounts for the other part. The best way to contribute to class discussions is to be prepared by reading the material in advance. It is impossible for me to ascertain whether you are prepared or whether your brain is working unless you open your mouth and say something. However, keep in mind that your contribution will evaluated for both quality and quantity.  

Group project and presentation
You will form into groups of 4 to 5 students by the fourth class. Forming a group with preferred majors helps, but you should also be concerned with being in a group with needed skills, that is easy to work with and who have folks that that work well together. 
You will also evaluate the performance of others in the group. The average grade for the group is to be 3.1. If you choose not to fill out a grade form, all members of the group will receive a 3.14.
You will be doing a written case analysis of one of the cases listed in the last 3 weeks of the class. You will present your analysis to the class during a 30-45 minute presentation.3 sessions of the semester. You will need to let me know the case the case the group would prefer to work on (1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices).

Session breakdown
Most sessions will have the following format: the 1st half is case analysis and 2nd half is lecture.
•	The lecture material is taken from chapters in the text. Lecture notes (in power point) will be available on line at the class website: http://www.sfu.ca/~sheppard/478index.html.

Course Coverage
•	Ideally, the case analyses are intended to be discussed almost entirely by the students.  My role during these discussions is just to facilitate. This is where the majority of your class participation mark will be derived.  

  

		Week 	Topic 	Topic Detail, Cases or Case Presentations	Chapters	Due	
	B
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s	Wk.   1	Overview 	Strategic Mgmt. & Competitiveness 	Ch.  1   		
		1 -  6 / 8					
		Wk.   2 	Performance	Review on What is Performance     (Scan) 	Ch.  2		
		1 - 13/15	External Environment  	Environment, Ind. & Competitor Analysis	Ch.  3		
		Wk.   3	Internal Environment 	Resources, Capabilities, Core Competencies	Ch.  4		
		9 - 20/22	Bus. Level Strategy	Porter’s Generic Business Level Strategies	Ch.  5		
		Wk.   4
1 - 27/29	Corp. Level Strategy Competitive Dynamics
Working with Cases	Vertical Integration 
Competitive responses, 1st, 2nd, late movers Case Chapter	Ch.  6
Ch.   7 
Case Ch.	Group
Member list	
	A
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s	Wk.   5	Acquisition & 
Restructuring Strat.s / International Strat.s	Mergers, Downsizing & Downscoping
International & Entry Strategies 
Case: Keating Inc. (short version)	Ch.  8 
Ch.  9
Handout		
		2 - 3 / 5					
		Wk.   6	Cooperative Strategy	Types, Risks & Managing of Alliances	Ch. 10		
		2 - 10/12		Case: Target Stores’ Differentiation Strategy	Case 28		
		2 - 17/19	Olympic Break			Olympic	
		2 - 24/26				Break	
		Wk.   7	MIDTERM			Midterm	
		3 -  3 / 5					
		Wk.   8	Corp. Governance	Corp. Governance 	Ch. 11		
		3-10/12		Case: The Interbrew-AMBEV Merger Story	Case 19		
		Wk.   9	Structure & Controls	Control and Rewards	Ch. 12	Individual	
		3 - 17/19		Assigned Individual Case: Ryan Air 	Case 27	Case 	
		Wk.10	Strategic	Strategic Leadership	Ch. 13		
		3-24/26	Leadership	Case: Nucor in 2005 	Case 24		
		Wk. 11	Corp. Entrepreneurship	Corporate Entrepreneurship & Innovation	Text  Ch. 14	Present	
		3-31 / 4/2	& Innovation	Cases: Coach, GVM Exploration, 	Cases  8, 16		
		Wk 12.	Case Presentations	Cases: DHL Bangladesh; Innovation at Cirque	Cases 	Present	
		4 - 7 / 9		Du Soleil; L’Oréal’s Business Strategy; 	11, 18, 20		
		Wk. 13	Case Presentations	Cases: Global Luxury: the Four Seasons; 	Cases 	Present	
		4 - 14/16		Nintendo Wii: A 'Revolution'?; YMCA, London	15, 22, 30	Eval.	

Pre-requisites: Bus 207, 312, 343, 360, and either Bus 374 or 381; 90 credit hours.