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Course Objectives: The aim of this course is to provide students with a broad overview of the basic concepts in strategic management and strategic management process. Students will be exposed to a number of frameworks and models to better understand and analyze the macro-environment, the industry environment, firm level resources and strategy formulation & implementation at functional, business and corporate level. At the end of the course, students should be able to think strategically, as opposed to only having a functional orientation, and students should be able to formulate and implement creative and innovative strategies that are conducive to the demands of the firm and the environment in which it resides. Further, student should be able to get into a winner’s perspective, from a player’s perspective, which is gained in the fundamental and functional courses. At the end of the course students should be able to do two things. Firstly – a comprehensive strategic analysis for a firm, covering strategic direction, external & internal analysis, identifying central problem/ opportunity, strategic recommendation and implementation. Secondly – students should be able to create business plan(s).

Pedagogy: Classes will be conducted with equal emphasis on lecture and class participation. Class lectures-discussion sessions will relate to assigned readings but will not attempt to cover all the material in the text. Students are therefore expected to do the basic reading and come prepared to the class for discussion. Further, because this course is integrative, it makes heavy use of cases and is designed to generate discussion of problems that you may face in real business settings.

Group Term Paper: The term paper is designed to help students learn to apply the tools and concepts covered in this course to a strategic situation. It shall be discussed in detail during the first session. There will be written submission and presentation in four phases, 1^st phase – strategic direction, 2^ndphase – external analysis, 3^rd phase – internal analysis, and 4^th phase – strategic moves.


Session	Topic	Issues to be discussed	Reading Materials	Case Analysis
1	Introduction and overview	The Origin of Strategy – background. Academic underpinnings, the rise of strategy consultants, emerging problems; ten schools and five Ps of strategy Long term simple and agreed objectives, profound understanding of competitive environment, objective appraisal of resources, effective implementation	Strategic Management Process. Role of strategy in success	General Giap & Vietnam Wars Madona Willams & Daughters
2	Strategic Direction: Goals, Values and Performance	Strategic Intent, Vision, mission, goals and objectives	Strategic Intent	Alignment of strategic intent: National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), India
3	Strategic Direction: Goals, Values and Performance	Strategic Intent, Vision, mission, goals and objectives	Strategic Intent	Sprylab Inc. :Unlocking India’s potential as an outsourcing software hub
4&5	Strategic Direction	Presentation & Discussions on setting strategic direction for the organization chosen for term paper
6	Analysing the External Environment	STEP Analysis, Porter’s Five Forces, Cooperation and the Value Net; Strategic Groups; Segmentation; Key Success Factors.	Evaluating a Firm’s External Environment	The United States Steel Industry, The United States Beer Industry
7			Evaluating a Firm’s External Environment	The Global Auto Industry in 2009
8&9		Presentation & Discussions on external analysis related to the term paper
10	Internal analysis – Resource Based View of Firm	Resources, organisational capabilities; profit earning potential; developing resources & capabilities	Analyzing Resources and Capabilities	Regaining McDonald’s Competitive Advantage, Southwest Airlines
11	Internal analysis – Resource Based View of Firm		Analyzing Resources and Capabilities	Wal-Mart Stores Inc. , 2009
12	Competitor analysis	Future goals; assumptions; capabilities – functional analysis, resource base analysis, value chain analysis; current strategy, competitor response profile	A framework for competitor analysis	Western connector corporation
13	Creating Competitive Advantage	The logic of value creation and distribution; activity analysis of cost and willingness to pay	Creating Competitive Advantage	Sony’s Failure in Competitive Positioning
14	Functional level strategy	Improving efficiency; quality of product; ability to innovate; improve customer responsiveness	Building competitive advantage through functional-level strategy	Productivity improvement at United Technologies Boosting efficiency at Matsushita
15&16	Presentation & Discussions on internal analysis related to the term paper
17	Business level strategy & Competitive Positioning	Cost Advantage – economic rationale, controlling cost drivers, reconfiguring value chain	Cost Advantage
18				Toyota in 2009: the origin and evolution of the world’s leading automotive manufacturer.
19		Differentiation Advantage – economic rationale, sources of uniqueness, configuration of value chain activities that create	Differentiation
20				General motors: from birth to bankruptcy in 2009.
21		Industry segmentation, specialisation by customer, by product and by geography		Samsung Electronics
22		Total Customer Solutions & Systems Lock-in	The Delta Model: Adaptive Management for a Changing World	Castrol Dell
23	Business strategies in different industry contexts	Industry evolution; Competitive strategies in emerging fragmented, maturing and declining Industries.	Business Level Strategy and the Industry Environment	Competition in microchip business speeds up
24	Business strategies in different industry contexts		Business Level Strategy and the Industry Environment	Warfare in Toyland
25&26	Term paper presentation & discussions – strategic moves and positioning
27	Strategy in high technology industries	Technology and Competitive Advantage; Competing for Standards	Strategy in High Technology Industries	The Format War in Smart-phones
28	Strategy in global environment	Global Competition – Cost reduction and Local Responsiveness; International, multi-domestic, global and trans-national strategies.	Strategy in the Global Environment	The Evolving Strategy of Coca-Cola MTV Networks: A Global Brand Goes Local
29				The Globalization of Cemex
30	Corporate Strategy	Horizontal Boundaries of the Firm	Horizontal Integration, Vertical Integration, and Strategic Outsourcing	News Corp Forges ahead
31		Vertical Boundaries of the firm		Beating Dell: Why HP Acquired Compaq.
32		Related Diversification	Formulating and Implementing Related and Unrelated Diversification	The Dynamics Of Related Diversification: The Retail Initiatives In Petroleum Limited
33		Unrelated diversification		GE’s Two Decades Transformation: Jack Welch’s Leadership
34		Rivalry and Multipoint Competition: Mutual forbearance – familiarity, deterrence; a contingency model – structure of competing firms, spheres of influence, seller concentration & resource similarity.	Multipoint competition	TBA
35		Parenting Advantage : Assessing fit; Making changes to improve fit; Changing parenting characteristics;	Corporate Strategy: The Quest for Parenting Advantage	TBA
36-37	Strategy implementation	Role of structure, control systems and culture in business strategy implementation, building distinctive competence; use of restructuring and reengineering in improving firm performance.	Implementing strategy that compete in single industry	A new look for Liz Claiborne Strategy implementation at dell computer,
38	Comprehensive Strategic Analysis			Apple Inc. in 2010
39	Comprehensive Strategic Analysis			Sona Koyo Steering Systems Limited
40	Course review and closing

There will be 5 quizzes in multiple choices format to assess the students’ conceptual skills. The questions will be from the selected part of text/ caselets and readings given for the course. There will be negative marks for wrong answers.If a student misses a test/ quiz for any reason, s/he will have one opportunity to make up. However, if a student misses more than one test/ quiz, the makeup opportunity will be limited to one.

The mid-term examination will be on OPEN NOTES basis, where students will be allowed to use their own notes. However, books, class handouts, laptop computers or lose sheets of paper will not be allowed. A typical mid semester examination will be based on 3-4 caselets, requiring students to do analysis using various concept, tools & techniques discussed in class, and come up with perspectives/ solutions.

The end-semester examination will on OPEN NOTES basis, similar to the mid-semester examination. However, it will be based in an integrated case study. The case study will normally be handed over to students between 5.00 p.m. – 6.00 p.m. on the day before the examination. Students will be required to analyze the case study and come up with solutions/ perspectives. A typical integrated case study will cover issues relating to strategic intent, profiling opportunities and threats, profiling the resource base, strategic moves to gain competitive as well as corporate advantage and challenges facing strategy implementation.

Fundamentals of Business Strategy, Volume 1 – 6, SAGE Library in Business and Management