Course Preparation and Group Assignment Quiz

Strategy and Management (2024-25)

• The course covers strategy and management, focusing on the concept of strategy.

Lecture 01: What is Strategy?

• Session Plan:
  • Introduction
  • What is strategy?
  • Course plan
  • Q&A
• Composition of the group:
  • Details of the group members for the course, thoughts of the team
  • There was an outline of the conceptual framework.
• Course Material:
  • Covered course material, evaluation plan, administrative issues, instructor assumptions, role and recommendations.
• Research Interests (Rajani Singh):
  • Corporate governance in emerging markets
  • Emerging market multinationals
  • Social entrepreneurship
• Teaching Focus (Rajani Singh):
  • Strategy and Management
  • Strategic management innovation
  • Market Dynamics and innovation
  • Strategy and Organization
  • Thesis supervisions

About Students

• Academic Focus:
  • 84% of students focused on economics
  • 19% had multiple interests
  • 7% focused on economics and management
  • 9% had other interests
• Strengths:
  • Supervisory experience: 27%
  • Preference for numbers: 31%
• Number of students enrolled: 150
• Current date: 10 AM today morning (for the poll data, this was done at the time of the slide)

Group's Thoughts

• Success
• Analysis
• Brainstorming
• Consulting
• Innovation
• Planning
• Optimization and problem-solving
• Decisions

Relevance of the Course

• Economist vs. Strategist:
  • Economist: Social welfare (curbing supernormal profits, increasing competition)
  • Strategist: Firm performance (maximizing supernormal profits, curbing competition)
• Interdependencies across business functions
• Career growth: Opportunities for professional advancement within an organization
• Making choices: Analogy to life decisions

Overarching Questions and Implications

• Why do firms differ in performance?
• How do I analyze a firm's external environment?
• How do I create competitive advantage?
• How do I sustain competitive advantage?

Learning Objectives

• Strategy's role in competitive advantage
• Definitions of competitive advantage, disadvantage, and parity
• Evolution of strategic thinking over time
• Challenges of strategy-making

Definitions of Strategy

• Strategy:
  • a plan, method, or series of actions to achieve a specific goal or effect – Wordsmyth Dictionary
  • determination of long-run goals/objectives, resource allocation – Alfred Chandler, Strategy and Structure
  • pattern of objectives, purposes, or goals, major policies and plans for achieving those goals (defines business/company) – Kenneth Andrews, The Concept of Corporate Strategy

Evolution of Strategic Management

• 1950s: Operational & capital budgeting
• 1960s: Corporate planning
• 1970-1980s: Emergence of strategic management
• 1980-1990s: Quest for competitive advantage
• 2000-2015: Adapting to turbulence

Describing Strategy

• Overall plan: Deploy resources for a favorable position (profitability, market share)
• Examples:
  • Sam Walton (Walmart): Lower prices
  • Steve Jobs (Apple): "Put a ding in the universe"
  • Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook): Open, connected world
  • Larry Page & Sergey Brin (Google): Accessible information

Types of Strategies

• Deliberate and Emergent Strategies (Mintzberg & Waters 1985)
  • Planned
  • Entrepreneurial
  • Ideological
  • Umbrella
  • Process
  • Unconnected
  • Consensus
  • Imposed

Pure Deliberate, Pure Emergent

• Deliberate:
  • Precise, concrete and explicit leadership intentions
  • Firm and pervasive control over actions
  • Benign, controllable, and predictable environment
• Emergent: Reverse characteristics of Deliberate

Planned Strategy

• Clear and articulated intentions
• Backed by formal controls
• Acquiescent (predictable) environment

Entrepreneurial Strategy

• Less precise intentions than planned strategy
• Entrepreneur's ability to impose vision
• Acquiescent and predictable/cooperative environment
• Common in small/crisis-filled organizations

Ideological Strategy

• Collective vision, not individual vision
• Difficult to change collective vision
• Stable environment
• Highly deliberate, unlike other strategies

Umbrella Strategy

• Relaxation of control
• Leadership sets guidelines/boundaries
• Allows strategies to emerge within the boundaries
• Environment unlikely to impose change

Process Strategy

• Leadership focuses on the strategy process itself, rather than content
• Leadership controls who makes strategy, not what

Unconnected Strategy

• Discretion exercised by part of the organization in the absence of strong oversight from senior management
• A subunit or individual exercises discretion

Consensus Strategy

• No prior intention but rather mutual adjustments
• Not based on ideologies; therefore, emergent
• Difficult to predict its final direction

Imposed Strategy

• Environment imposes choices on the company.
• Seldom offer unlimited choices
• Example: Clients return to a firm demanding the same services again and again

Designing vs. Emergent Strategy

• Intended Strategy: Top-level management team's concept of strategy
• Emergent Strategy: Decisions that arise from complex processes where managers interpret the intended strategy and adapt to environmental constraints
• Realized Strategy: The actual strategy implemented.

Corporate, Business, and Functional Strategy

• Corporate Strategy: Where to compete
• Business Strategy: How to compete in a specific market (SBU)
• Functional Strategy: How to implement business strategy in specific functions

Strategy vs. Tactics

• Strategy: Plan for deploying resources to gain favorable positions (plan to win a war)
• Tactics: Scheme for specific actions (manoeuvre to win a battle).
• Example: Amazon Prime vs. Free shipping by Amazon

Competitive Advantage

• Superior or better performance relative to competitors or industry average.
• Competitive advantage is relative not absolute.
• Benchmark:
  • Compare firm to competitors in the same industry
  • Compare firm to industry average

Sustainable Competitive Advantage

• Outperforming competitors or industry average for a prolonged period.
• Example: Apple vs. Samsung in the smartphone industry.

Competitive Disadvantage & Parity

• Competitive Disadvantage: Underperforming rivals or the industry average.
• Competitive Parity: Two or more firms performing at the same level

Gaining a Competitive Advantage

• Vision: What the business ultimately wants to achieve
• Mission: How the business accomplishes goals
• Values: Company commitments and safeguards for legally and ethically pursuing vision/mission

Vision

• Outlines firm's stretch goal and captures aspirations
• Spells out organization's long-term objective and should be inspiring.
• Action based on vision should build necessary resources and capabilities.

Vision as Strategic Intent

• Research shows vision statements and firm performance align (especially when customer-oriented, with stakeholder involvement and the alignment with organization structures).
• Voluntary assignment: Students analyze a firm's vision, mission, and actions.

Mission

• Explains what the organization actually does.
• Outlines products/services
• Specifies the markets in which it will compete.
• Credible actions supporting the organization's vision.
• Voluntary assignment: Analyze if the mission adequately supports the vision of a particular firm

Vision, Mission, & Values

• Example: Whole Foods Market (vision, mission, values given).

Profit and Purpose

• Profits are essential but not the sole purpose of business
• Companies now consider stakeholders beyond shareholders (ethical reasons, reasons of self-interest).
• Examples: Sustainability, reputation, and the license to operate

Strategic Leadership

• Who is a strategic leader? What do they do? How does one become a strategic leader?
• Leaders can increase or destroy shareholder value.

How Do You Become a Strategic Leader?

• Function of innate abilities and learning.
• Actions reflect: age, education, career experiences, and personal interpretations of situations.
• Organizational outcomes reflect the top management team and its unique perspectives; shaped by personal circumstances, values, experiences
• Outcomes include strategic choices and performance levels

Big Picture for Strategy & Management

• Outline of the complete curriculum. Includes:
• External analysis
• Internal analysis
• Business strategy I
• Business strategy II
• Corporate strategy
• Global strategy

Course Material

• Textbook: Foundations of Strategy Grant, RM. and Jordan J. 2015
• Case studies: Mini cases, and guiding questions
• Assigned papers (links in course manual)

Evaluation Components

• 1. Case assignment and active participation (25%)
• 2. Group assignment (25%)
• 3. End Term exam (50%)

Case Assignments and Active Participation

• Case Presentation: 15%
• Active Participation: 10% (using PeerWise Score)
• Students will present on mini cases every week.

Class Discussion Cases

• Critical evaluation of presentation strengths/weaknesses
• Team's conceptualization of the strategic problem or if it was well done.
• Generation of appropriate options/alternatives
• Evaluation of options to arrive at the best solution
• Solution fit
• Employing key ideas/theories; engagement with case concepts
• Logical presentation of arguments

Case Assignments and Active Participation

• PeerWise (10%): Create questions, topics, and deadlines for questions
• Questions to be created by students and tagged under topics

Group Assignments

• Written Report (15%)
• Recorded Presentation (10 minutes, 10%)
• Submission Deadline (January 15, 2025) via Blackboard

Group Formation

• Students can form their own groups.
• Teams of 5 people.
• Group members should be in the same tutorial group.
• Contact tutor to share group details during first tutorial.
• Final groups by the end of the first tutorial.

Suggested Timeline (for Group Assignments)

• Firm selection and initial research (Weeks 1-2)
• Detailed strategic analysis (Weeks 3-4)
• Comparative analysis & report drafting (Weeks 5-6)
• Report finalization & presentation preparation (Week 7)
• Report submission & group presentation (Week 8).

Guide to Firm Analysis

• Framework for firm analysis: What, Why, When, How, Where, Who

Why do we do Firm Analysis?

• Increase business understanding
• Build skills in identifying competitive strengths & weaknesses

Elements of a Good Analysis

• Identify pertinent management issues.
• Perform analysis and evaluation.
• Propose action plan/recommendations.

Identification

• Provide a sharp diagnosis.
• Understand the firm's present situation and strategy.
• Pinpoint strategy implementation issues.

Analysis and Evaluation

• Assess underlying factors impacting success/failures.
• Evaluate if the firm capitalizes on resource strengths.
• Determine satisfactory results and reasons (if any) for the lack of them
• Evaluate the competitive forces confronting the company.

Analysis and Evaluation

• Use evidence to back conclusions
• Demonstrate command of strategic concepts & analytical tools in discussions
• Objective and reasonable interpretations.

Recommendations

• Address identified problems/issues.
• Recommendations should logically follow from analysis
• Offer a reasonable prospect for success
• Explain how recommendations solve the problems.

A Final Word

• Presentations should be well-organized.
• Use strong logic, present convincing evidence, and create persuasive arguments

End Term Exam

• Date: January 20, 2025 (8:30 am - 10:30 AM, via reminder)
• Format: Multiple Choice Questions (20) & Open Ended Questions (3-4).
• Material covered in lectures & real-world examples.
• At least 1 open-ended question and a few MCQs from each book chapter are included.

Early Exit Students

• Specific details/criteria given by email later that day (to avoid confusion with the larger groups)

Recommendations: Key Processes

• Attendance
• Learning from peers, preparation, readings
• Individual/group work, participation
• Critical questioning, teamwork, case analyses and PeerWise insights.

My Assumptions and Role

• Mutual respect is assumed for all participants.
• Expectations for maximum learning experience during the course.
• The onus must lie with all group participants.

Course Administration

• Lecturer: Rajani Singh ([email protected])
• Tutor: Anne-Sophie Halbertsma ([email protected])
• Slides/lectures available on Blackboard.
• Preparation and Punctuality: Important for all parts of the course

Course Administration (e-mail instructions)

• Include class/student number in emails to instructor.
• CC group members for group work information

Office Hours

• 9:00 - 11:00 AM, every Friday (appointment needed) via Teams

To Keep an Eye On

• Lecture dates & times for the course.
• Tutorial dates & times (check timetable).