Room | BBC 003 | |
Day | Monday | |
Time | 6pm-8:45pm | |
Instructor: | Simon Rodan | |
Office: | BT 457 | |
Office Hours: |
Monday 5:15-5:45pm Thursday 4:30-5:45pm |
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Skype: | simonrodan | |
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 two required readings for this course.
The first is Rothaermel, Frank, Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases, 3rd Edition. This is a version of the book customized for this class. It is significantly cheaper than buying the complete book (we will be using only a small proportion of the cases in the complete book and removing them from the custome text reduces the costs significantly).
Follow this link to buy the book
The second is a collection of handouts, “Supplemental Readings in Strategy” which you can download here.
Evaluation
Class contribution (5%) At the end of the semseter, I make an assessment of the contribution you have made to the plenary class discussions. I tend to ask questions of the class as a whole and will rarely call on you individually to answer a question; so it is up to you to volunteer information. At a minimum, you must show that you have prepared for the class. Beyond knowing basic facts about the case, I will look for your ability to think logically and to connect the different theories we look at to the case material.
Exams (35%) There is one mid-term exam and a final which will respectively count for 15% and 20% 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.
Simulation (35%) Your grade in the simulation exercise will be based on:
In your business plan you should explain:
Similarly, in your presentation you should explain:
In your written reports and oral presentation clarity and straight-forwardness is infinitely preferable to spin and BS.
Typically teams should be three or four - larger than that leads to coordination problems which generally lead to poor finanical performance. The roles / functions that need to be undertaken are:
Peer 360 evaluation (15%) 4 times during the semester you will be asked to make an assessment of your team members’ contributions. Each assessment counts for 5% and the best 3 out ot 4 will be 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 (10%) There will be occasional pop quizzes and in-class (or occasionally take-home) exercises.
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 be unfair. My approach is to determine the grading scale approximately 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 evaluation dimensions mentioned above. Differently abled students should contact me if these evaluation procedures are not appropriate.
If you want to keep track of your scores during the semester do not use Canvas. Instead, use "Score View" to view your scores in the course.
Following a recent change in university policy, there are no extra credit assignments.
Jan 29th, 2018 (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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Feb 5th, 2018 (Monday) |
2. 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? Mini case - Threadless: Leveraging Crowdsourcing to Design Cool T-Shirts |
Class agenda: | If time permits... Questions:
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Presentation slides: | Generic strategies Profitability, Scale and Learning |
Feb 12th, 2018 (Monday) |
3. Foundational Corner-stones |
To prepare: | Financial Measures handout Supplemental Readings, Chapter 2, "Value Creation and Appropriation" Frank Rothaermel, Chapter 5, pages 117-122 "Economc Value Creation" Bertrand and Cournot - Two models of oligopolostic competition. THIS READING IS OPTIONAL |
Class agenda: |
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Presentation slides: | Economic Value Creation Bertrand and Cournot |
Feb 19th, 2018 (Monday) |
4. Organizational Structure, Change, and Control |
To prepare: | Rothaermel, Chapter 11 "Organizational Design, Structure, Culture and Control" Forecasting model spreadhseet |
Class agenda: |
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Presentation slides: | Organizational Structure, Change, Culture and Control |
Feb 26th, 2018 (Monday) |
5. 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") Accounting exercise |
Class agenda: |
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Presentation slides: | Industry Analysis |
Assignments due: | Accounting exercise |
Mar 5th, 2018 (Monday) |
6. 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" TeleDanmark in 1995 The Air Express Industry Airborne Express in 2002 Frank Rothaermel, Mini-case 13 "From Good to Great to Gone: The Rise and Fall of Circuit City" |
Class agenda: |
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Presentation slides: | The Resource Based View of the Firm |
Assignments due: | P-score weights 360 Evaluation #1 |
Mar 12th, 2018 (Monday) |
7. Internal Firm Analysis - The Resource Based View Continued |
To prepare: | Nucor in 2001 Frank Rothaermel, Mini-case 8 "From Circuit City to CarMax" |
Class agenda: | If time permits... |
Mar 19th, 2018 (Monday) |
8. Mid-tem Exam |
Class agenda: | Use the link below to submit your answer. |
Assignments due: | Mid-term exam Business plan |
Apr 2nd, 2018 (Monday) |
9. 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 Stihl Chain Saws - Thriving Outside the Big Box |
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 |
Apr 9th, 2018 (Monday) |
10. 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 |
Apr 16th, 2018 (Monday) |
11. 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) |
Apr 23rd, 2018 (Monday) |
12. Network Externalities |
To prepare: | The Home Video Game Industry: From Pong to X-box |
Class agenda: | |
Presentation slides: | Network Externalities |
Assignments due: | A.I. report assignment 360 Evaluation #3 |
Apr 30th, 2018 (Monday) |
13. 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: | Decision tree exercies exercise |
May 7th, 2018 (Monday) |
14. Artificial Intelliegence |
Class agenda: | |
May 14th, 2018 (Monday) |
15. Presentations |
Class agenda: | Imagine this to be a presentation to your board of directors. These are the poeple who hire (or fire) you as the company's managers. Their job is to ensure that you are doing the best possible job for the company's shareholders. Keep this in mind as you put your presentation together.
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Assignments due: | Final presentation slides - due the day before the presentation 360 Evaluation #4 |
May 21st, 2018 (Monday) |
16. Final Exam |
Class agenda: | |
Assignments due: | Final exam - part 1 (~60 minutes) Final exam - part 2 (~90 minutes) |