Strategic Management
Outline Programme
Professor Dr. Maurice Yolles
prof.m.yolles@gmail.com
Course Objective:
This course will provide you with the knowledge and skills necessary to manage the
long term performance of a firm. Taking the perspective and mindset of top
management, you will learn to analyze the firm in its environment. By matching
opportunities and threats found in this environment with the internal strengths and
weaknesses of the firm, you will learn to formulate strategies and develop ways to
implement these strategies. As part of this you will learn to understand the concepts of
strategy, strategic management and other basic vocabulary of strategy; identify the
characteristics of strategic decisions; identify the various levels of strategic decision
making; understand the various elements of the strategic management process; and
understand different approaches to strategy.
After completing this course, you will be able to understand the purpose, processes
and tools of strategic management; discern how both internal and external
environment of the firm together suggest the appropriate strategy.
Learning Outcomes
Following delivery of this course, interactive discussions and project assignments,
students shall develop conceptual understanding of strategy formulation,
implementation and evaluation that forms the essence of ‘strategic management.
The course will equip students to develop requisite skills for developing long term
strategic plans for an organization by carrying out SWOT and TOWS analysis,
environment scanning, applying analytical techniques for strategy formulation,
applying balanced scorecard approach for strategy implementation, and carrying out
evaluation and control of the implementation by using different analytical tools
including strategic audit.
Resources:
Strategic Management: Concepts, 2008, Fred R. David Publisher: Prentice Hall
Hunger, J.D., Wheelen, T.L., 2006, Strategic Management, Addison Wesley, 6th
Edition
Journals:
CFO Asia; Strategic Management Journal, Strat Manag J,
Possible Online Resources:
www.cfoasia.com
http://strategic-management.bestmanagementarticles.com/
http://www.blogcatalog.com/topic/strategic+management/
Structure of Course
In the activity programme given below, students will take ownership of a case which
they will work to produce outline results (where actual figures may not be obtainable)
using principles of strategic management. To assist this process the students will work
on groups of 3-4; to enable them to experience collective environments and work
together cooperatively. You should seek to learn individually and collectively in the
class situations that develops.
The cases provide a way of seeing how strategic-management concepts and
techniques operate in corporate environments. It typically describes the external
conditions and internal situation facing a firm and presents sufficient information to
develop, analyze, and choose among alternative strategies. Strategic Management can
be a very useful linking text and cases. The cases cover a broad spectrum of business
and industry situations. The cases are about real organizations and real people.
Cases can be enhanced through Web searched for material on the Internet. Together
with the cases provided, students can get to understand the economic and political
conditions surrounding the strategic decisions to be made
Besides the cases, students will be asked to form into groups and create a corporate
environment of their own definition, in which they will assume functional roles that
will assist them to generate a corporate strategy and outline analysis illustrating how
they can implement the strategy. This will be presented in class and each individual
will hand in report that will be assessed.
The company could be modelled on a real organisation. So, select a company that
interests you, and log on to its corporate website to learn how it engages in strategic
management. Keep in mind that larger, more formal companies will have more
information available on their strategic management processes.
Perform a keyword search of the following terms on the corporate website of the
company that you have selected:o Strategic management/planning, and each of the phases:
 Strategy formulation
 Strategy implementation
 Strategy evaluation
Write a few paragraphs summarizing how the selected company engages in the stages
of strategic management. Be sure to address some of the following questions:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Give specific examples of how the company formulates strategic decisions.
Give specific examples of how the company implements strategic decisions.
Give specific examples of how the company evaluates strategic decisions.
Are the three stages of strategic management process separated and welldefined within the company? Explain.
Be prepared to discuss your analysis with your class colleagues.
Full Time Schedule of Programme
Day 1
3 hr
sessions
am
Lecture
≤1 hr
Guidelines to Web research
Introduction to academic referencing.
Introduction to Strategic Management
Business Mission
pm
External Assessment
Day 2
am
Internal Assessment
pm
Day 3
am
pm
Day 4
am
pm
Day 5
am
pm
Day 6
am
pm
Day 7 &
8
Strategies in Action
Strategic Analysis
Strategy Implementation
Strategy Implementation, other issues
Strategy Review and Control
Activity
≥2 hrs
Read through Strategic plan of Southern
Polytechnic State University. Identify the
structural elements of the strategic plan.
Examine the case studies distributed to each
group. Identify the vision and mission. Using
good practice to gather Web referenced material
see if you can verify the vision and mission you
have extracted.
Read through your notes on External
Assessment. Structure an external audit (p.29)
for opportunities and threats, External Factor
Evaluation Matrix (p.44), and a Competitive
Profile Matrix (p.46) for your case study.
Read through your notes on Internal
Assessment. Structure an internal audit (p47) in
relation to the provided company case. Structure
an IFE analysis (p.47), SWOT analysis (p.98), a
SPACE matrix (p.100), and a Grand Strategy
matrix (p.107)
Continuation
Read through your notes on Strategies in
Action, and prepare an Internal-External/Boston
Consulting Group Matrix (p.105), a Grand
Strategy Matrix (p.107), a Qualitative Strategic
Planning Matrix (QSPM).
Prepare a brief report on case analysis, to be
presented (5 minutes) in class, and handed in.
for assessment. Compare to a pre-prepared
worked strategic analyses for each case.
Group work: create or adopt a company and
write a group corporate profile. Define
functions, where each student in the company
adopts a functional role.
Prepare a strategic analysis, creating an internal
and external environment. Students need to take
responsibility for their own function.
Ethics and Social Responsibility
Global Issues
Continuation
Continuation
Impact of WTO membership on
Chinese companies
Competitive Advantage and Knowledge
Management
Project assignment
Group/individual class presentations.
Discussion
Assignment
Submission date: 6 weeks after start of course
Create or adopt a company and write a group corporate profile. Follow the guidelines
of the worked cases as indicated in the course notes. You should undertake an
analysis in strategic management, showing how strategic tools can improve the
organization or achieve a specific goal. Also explain under what conditions the
strategic management approach might fail or be inadequate.
In structuring the assignment, you will need to consider the following strategic
aspects in relation to the product/service/function: vision/mission; external audit (use
references that come from a literature review); internal audit; using your own
rationale, develop long term objectives; propose evaluate & select likely strategies;
propose how the strategies might be implemented & discuss related issues; discuss
how to measure and evaluate performance.
A useful guide may be Southern Polytechnic State University, as provided in the
course support materials. Also include tables as indicated in the Worked Case Studies.
This is a subdirectory of “3 Case Studies”, and is contained in “Worked Cases”.