Instructor: Jason Z. Yin, Ph.D.

Tel: 973-761-9360 (O), 973-993-5840 (H)

Fax: 973-761-9217

Office: 683 Kozlowski Hall

Office Hour: 3:00-5:00 Monday &Tuesday

Tel: 908-904-9368

Fax: 908-904-0060

E-mail: rfcavanaugh@worldnet.att.net

Class Hour: 6:15-8:25 Mondays

Classroom: 141 Kozlowski Hall

This course is a capstone course of the MBA degree program at Seton Hall University. It is designed for students (1) to learn the concepts and skills of strategic management for corporate long-range planning and management, and (2) to integrate the knowledge learned from functional courses in the MBA program through running a company in a simulated business environment. It is conceived with the following four objectives in view.

First, the course provides opportunities for students to thoroughly understand the role of chief executive managers for a business corporation. The issues discussed in this course, the role you are going to perform in running your ‘company’ are from the perspective of a CEO, CFO, or COO at the corporate level, in contrast to from the perspective of a manager at the functional level. The participants whose major experience have been in one of the functional areas of management will have opportunities to relate their experience to the contents of other functional areas, and to develop multi-functional integrative perspectives as a corporate general manager.

Second, the course provides an opportunity for participants to learn the concepts, tools, and approaches of strategy formulation and implementation. Strategy formulation involves identification of external opportunities and internal strengths, making strategic choices, and allocation of resources to critical functions. Implementation involves the development of action plans, policies and coordinating activities that would integrate the firm's resources toward the its mission and strategic objectives. This course gives sufficient emphasis on development of global vision and global strategy to compete in an industry in the globalized and digitized economy.

Third, the participants will be required to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills for identifying business issues and making decisions for an organization in the rapidly changing domestic and global environment. You are also expected to master skills of Emotional Intelligence to take responsibilities and perform all managerial duties on your own. There will be no spoon-feeding.

Finally, this course emphasizes the importance of teamwork and computer skills. Students will be assigned into teams and will collaborate with others to run companies in a competitive and dynamic environment. You should learn how to keep people working together by communicate properly, applying one’s strength to compensate for another’s weakness and creating a motivating and challenging work environment. Computer skills, Internet and e-commerce skills are essential to the class.

This course starts with a literature review of the strategy formulation process and strategic alternatives available to a business organization. It then discusses issues involved strategy implementation and strategic integration of business sub-units. Each functional area of a firm such as production/operations, human resource, marketing, and finance is revisited to understand competence associated with them and how they can be integrated to realize organizational goals effectively. Cases on strategic management and decision-making will be analyzed.

The central part of the course is to run a computerized simulation exercise, The Business Strategy Game (7th edition). The game provides an experiential learning environment through simulation of a global industry. This global industry will produce and market athletic footwear as specified in the Manual. The students will learn hands-on experience in crafting strategies, making business decisions, and being responsible for financial performance via running a company with co-managers in a competitive business environment. A series of business assignments will help to enhance the experiential learning.

Lecture/discussion, case analysis, and simulation exercise will form the pedagogical bases. The central goal in pedagogy is to provide both conceptual and practical understanding of the subjects. These three parts of the course work are integrated into the simulation and reports. The student's performance in his/her course work will be evaluated accordingly. The students are required to come prepared to the class (read and understand the assigned material). Be prepared for that I might call on you to (1) summarize and critique the readings of the session, or (2) discuss or give your conclusions about the assigned cases, or (3) report the progress of your teamwork. If you are not prepared, please let me know before class.

Business Policy (BMBA 9400) is a capstone course that is to be taken after fulfilling all core curriculum requirements. To be able to get full benefit from it, Business Policy should be taken in the last semester in your curriculum. It is your responsibility to make sure of your eligibility to enroll in this course. Without establishing eligibility, students will not be able to earn credits for this course! It may be in your own interest to establish your eligibility at the very beginning.

Textbook:

Arthur A.Thompson, Jr and A. J. Strickland III, Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases (11th Edition), Irwin, 2000 (It hereafter will be designated as Text)

Business Simulation Annual:

Arthur A. Thomson and Gregory J. Stappenbeck, The Business Strategy Game: A Global Industry Simulation (6th Edition), Irwin, 1999 (It hereafter will be designated as Game).

Fortune

                    Note 3: Standings in the game is calculated in the following fashion:

The weight for annual ranking (Scoreboard of the year)

CLASS SCHEDULE

BPOL 9400NB

Fall 2000

1 9/11 Course Introduction The course objectives; teaching approach; textbooks and teaching materials; and the schedule

Discussion: What is Strategic Management? The concept of strategic management and planning, strategic management process, the benefits and limits of strategic management approach.

Assignments:

1. Read Text: Chaapter1. The Strategic Management Process: An Overview
2. Read Game Chapters 1 & 3

Form your team for running a company in the Game

2 9/18 Discussions: How to run the Business Strategy Game?

Assignments:

1. Read Game: Chapters 2,4 &5
2. Submit practice decision for Year 11 ( Use Industry 10 for this run)

3 9/25 Quiz on Rules of the Business Strategy Game, Chapters. 1-5

Assignments:

1. Read Text: Ch.2. The Three Strategy-Making Tasks
2. Read Case 14: Dell Computer Corp. for next class

Assignments:

1. Read Text: Ch.3 & Ch.4.
2. Submit brief case analysis for Dell Computer
3. Submit: Decision for Year 12

5 10/09 Discussions: How to select generic competitive strategies?

Assignments:

1. Read Text: Ch. 5 (pp. 134-156)
2. Submit Five-Year Strategic Plan for Years 13-17
3. Submit Decision for Year 13

6 10/16 Discussions: What are vertical integration strategies and competitive advantages?

Assignments:

1. Select 3 companies following different integration strategies and justify your selection for each
2. Read Text: Ch.5 (pp. 156-170)

(3) Submit Decision for 14

7 10/23 Discussions: What are diversification strategies and competitive advantages?

Assignments:

1. Select 3 companies following different diversification strategies and justify your selection for each

(2) Submit Decision for Year 15

8 10/30 Discussions: Globalization and competitive strategies

(1 ) Read articles to be handed out in class

(2) Submit Critique of corporate strategy for the company you work for (or a company you are familiar with for those who are not currently employed)

(3) Submit Decision for Year 16

9 11/06 Discussions: E-Commerce and competitive strategy

Assignments:

(1) Read Articles to be handed out in class

(2) Decision for Year 17

10 11/13 Group Presentation on Business Strategy Game

Assignments:

Submit Strategic Plan Revisit

PART I: MISSION AND LONG-TERM OBJECTIVES:

1. Mission Statement/ Strategic Vision

2. Market share objectives for Year 13-Y17

Your company’s objective of total market share

in all three Branded Markets by Y17 _______ %

• % In North America ________%
• % In Europe ________%
• % In Asia ________%

Your company’s objective of market share in Private Label by Y17 ________ %

3. Annual Financial Performance Objectives

4. What are your strategic objectives?

5. Explain on what basis you made your projections.

PART II: INDUSTRY AND COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

(Please read Thompson/Strickland Chapter 3: Industry and Competitive Analysis for details)

1. What are the industry’s dominant economic features? What is the trend of the market?

2. What are the driving forces of the industrial competition? Assess the competitive forces

3. Who are your Key Competitors and what are their competitive strengths and weaknesses?

4. Do a SWOT analysis. Identify company’s strengths/weaknesses, resource capabilities, competencies; Identify market opportunities and threats; Does your strengths and capabilities match market opportunities?

PART III: COMPETITIVE STRATEGY

1. Overall Generic Competitive Strategy

Based on your mission, objectives and competitive analysis, spell-out clearly what generic competitive strategies (low-cost, differentiation, focus, or best cost provider) you plan to employ and your rationale, e.g. competitive advantage being sought, and market structure, etc. (Please read Thompson/Strickland Chapter 5 for details)

2 Primary Market Target (rank 1 to 4 in order of importance)

3. Define your overall competitive positioning

4. Is your competitive strategy consistent with your business objectives and positioning? Explain.

5. What are the functional strategies used to support your overall competitive strategy?

What is you production strategy? Marketing strategy? Finance strategy ? Human resource strategy?

6. How to implement your strategy (Please read Thompson/Strickland Chapter 9 for details)

Conclusions

It is now the time to assess your overall performance by comparing it to the company’s initial situation and strategic plan. The Board asks you to prepare a Review of the formulation and implementation of your strategic plan, the outcomes and what you have learned from it. Special attention should give to the discussion of the effectiveness of your business strategy.

You may need to present to the board the consolidated financial statement for year 13-17 to support your arguments. The financial statements include (1) Cash flow statement, (2) Income statement, and (3) Balance sheet.

Your written report should be followed by an oral presentation to the Board, reporting your strategy and performance. Please be prepared to answer the Board’s questions.