Room | BBC 105 | |
Day | Monday | |
Time | 6pm-8:45pm | |
Instructor: | Simon Rodan | |||||
Office: | BT 457 | |||||
Office Hours: |
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Email: | simon.rodan@sjsu.edu |
Course Description
Integrative capstone seminar analyzing inter-relationships of managerial decisions/actions within and between the firm and its environment. Applies multi-disciplinary techniques to diagnose and recommend actions appropriate to specific company situations, using case method.
Prerequisites: COMM 100W or ENGL 100WB or LLD 100WB. The course is restricted to graduating seniors only.
Program Level Learning Objectives
Course Learning Objectives
By the end of the course students should be able to demonstrate an ability to:Required Reading
There are three required readings for this course.
The first two are:
The second is a collection of handouts, Supplemental Readings in Strategy
Evaluation
Exams (NAN%) There is one mid-term exam and a final which will respectively count for INF% and INF% of your course grade. The exams will generally require either short answers or a single short essay based on a 3-4 page fictional case. Spelling and grammatical errors will reduce your grade.
In your written reports and oral presentation clarity and straight-forwardness is infinitely preferable to spin and BS.
Peer 360 evaluation (NAN%) Four times times during the semester you will be asked to make an assessment of your team members’ contribution to the team's collective effort. Of the 4 evaluations, the lowest will be dropped and the 3 best used in calculating your grade. You must complete your evaluation for your team’s assessment of your performance to be counted towards you grade.
Quizes and other exercises (NAN%) You will be asked to complete the Business Assessment Test (BAT) which will count for 9% of your grade. There is an accounting Excel based assignment worth 3%. There is an accounting Excel based exercise on decision trees worth 3%.
Grading scheme
I do not use a fixed scale to assign final letter grades. Since exams may vary in difficulty from semester to semester and I often introduce new ones, a fixed scale would not be fair, for example when an exam or a new assignment is particulalry challenging. My approach is to anchor the grading scale loosely based on the highest and lowest total scores for the semester’s work. This means you are not penalized if I set a particularly hard exam. This is not a forced curve, but the ends of the scale are determined by the range in perfomance across all the graded assignments. Differently abled students should contact me if these evaluation procedures are not appropriate.
Following a recent change in university policy, there are no extra credit assignments.
Aug 26th, 2019 (Monday) |
1. Introduction to the Course and the Simulation |
To prepare: | Buy the book - “Strategic Management 3rd edition Concepts and Cases” Download - “Supplemental Readings in Strategy” Download - Business Policy Game manual |
Class agenda: |
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Sep 9th, 2019 (Monday) |
2. Foundational Corner-stones |
To prepare: | Financial Measures handout Bertrand and Cournot - Two models of oligopolostic competition. THIS READING IS OPTIONAL |
Class agenda: |
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Presentation slides: | Bertrand and Cournot |
Sep 16th, 2019 (Monday) |
3. Generic Strategies, Scale and Learning |
To prepare: | Rothaermel, Chapter 6 "Business Strategy: Differentiation, Cost Leadership, and Blue Oceans" Supplemental Readings, Chapter 7, "Generic Strategies" Rothaermel, Chapter 1 "What Is Strategy, and Why Is It Important? Accounting exercise |
Class agenda: | |
Presentation slides: | Generic strategies Profitability, Scale and Learning |
Assignments due: | Accounting exercise |
Sep 23rd, 2019 (Monday) |
4. Industry and External Analysis |
To prepare: | Frank Rothaermel, Chapter 3 "External Analysis: Industry Structure, Competitive Forces, and Strategic Groups" Chapter 1, “Competitive Strategy”, Porter, M. E. (1980), Free Press Supplemental Readings in Strategy: Chapter 4 "Porter's 5 forces" Supplemental Readings in Strategy: Chapter 5 "More on Bargaining Power of Buyers" Exide case (up to "Manufacturing, Employees, and Facilities") |
Class agenda: |
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Presentation slides: | Industry Analysis |
Sep 30th, 2019 (Monday) |
5. Internal Firm Analysis - The Resource Based View |
To prepare: | Frank Rothaermel, Chapter 4 "Internal Analysis: Resources, Capabilities, and Core Competencies" Supplemental Readings in Strategy, Chapter 6, "The Resource Based View" The Air Express Industry Airborne Express in 2002 TeleDanmark in 1995 |
Class agenda: |
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Presentation slides: | The Resource Based View of the Firm |
Assignments due: | 360 Evaluation #1 |
Oct 7th, 2019 (Monday) |
6. Internal Firm Analysis - The Resource Based View Continued |
To prepare: | Frank Rothaermel, Chapter 4 "Internal Analysis: Resources, Capabilities, and Core Competencies" Supplemental Readings in Strategy, Chapter 6, "The Resource Based View" Nucor |
Class agenda: |
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Presentation slides: | The Resource Based View of the Firm |
Oct 14th, 2019 (Monday) |
7. Mid-tem Exam and BAT |
Class agenda: | 1 ¼ hours, open book Use the link below to submit your answer. 1 ¼ hours, closed book |
Assignments due: | Mid-term exam Business Assessment Test (BAT) |
Oct 21st, 2019 (Monday) |
8. Exam review and Business Models |
To prepare: | Frank Rothaermel, Chapter 5, page 129 "Popular Business Models" Frank Rothaermel, Case: "Barnes & Noble vs Amazon" Dixons - Dealing with on-line retailing |
Class agenda: | Focus on what Dixons did to combat the threat from on-line retailing.
What were the key components of its strategy? What is the key to Dixons' new business model? |
Presentation slides: | Business models |
Assignments due: | 360 Evaluation #2 |
Oct 28th, 2019 (Monday) |
9. Diversification |
To prepare: | Frank Rothaermel, Chapter 8.4 "Corporate Diversification: Expanding Beyond a Single Market" First Grayhound, Then Grayhound Dial, Then Dial... Case "Sony vs. Apple: Whatever Happened to Sony?" |
Class agenda: | If time permits... |
Presentation slides: | Diversification |
Nov 4th, 2019 (Monday) |
10. Acquisition and Vertical Integration |
To prepare: | Frank Rothaermel, Chapter 9 "Corporate Strategy: Mergers and Acquisitions, Strategic Alliances" The Hanson Trust Honda and Triumph (pt 1) Frank Rothaermel, Chapter 8.2 "8.2 The Boundaries of the Firm" Frank Rothaermel, Chapter 8.2 "8.3 Vertical Integration along the Industry Value Chain" Supplemental Readings, Chapter 8, "Transaction Cost Economics" Swiss watchmakers - Time is money |
Class agenda: | |
Presentation slides: | Acquisitions Vertical Integration and Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) |
Nov 18th, 2019 (Monday) |
11. Network Externalities |
To prepare: | The Home Video Game Industry: From Pong to X-box |
Class agenda: | |
Presentation slides: | Network Externalities |
Assignments due: | 360 Evaluation #3 |
Nov 25th, 2019 (Monday) |
12. Corporate Social Responsibility and Final Review |
To prepare: | Case "Google Inc.: Figuring Out What to do with China" |
Class agenda: |
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Assignments due: | AI research paper - initial draft |
Dec 2nd, 2019 (Monday) |
13. Artificial Intelliegence |
To prepare: | Other Peoples Money Speeches |
Class agenda: | Watch the speeches (there is a transcript in the link above) and answer the assignment questions. |
Dec 9th, 2019 (Monday) |
14. Presentations |
Class agenda: | Imagine this to be a presentation to a business audience not from the indsutry that is the focus of your research and not directly involved with artificial intelligence. For example, it might be a group of business journalists or a Rotary Club meeting.
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Assignments due: | 360 Evaluation #4 Final presentation slides - due the day before the presentation |
Dec 16th, 2019 (Monday) |
15. Final Exam |
Class agenda: | |
Assignments due: | Final exam - part 1 (~75 minutes) Final exam - part 2 (~60 minutes) |