University of Louisiana at Monroe – College of Business Administration BMBA 5039-40204: Strategic Management

R 5:30 p.m. - 8:15 p.m. - HMPH 121 Fall, 2012 - Syllabus

Contact Information Dr. H. Ulas Ograk Office: HMPH 155 Phone: 342-1201 Email: ograk@ulm.edu Office Hours: M 10 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. T 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. W 10:00 a.m. – 12 noon R 3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Course Prerequisites/Corequisites Credit for at least four of the following six courses: BMBA 509, 511, 512, 520, 521, and 522 Official admission to the MBA program. Course should be taken in the final semester of coursework. Course Description Philosophy and Goals: Strategic management is an integrative capstone course with an overall management perspective. The course requires students to analyze business functions and disciplines (i.e., accounting, finance, marketing, etc.) as affected by environmental, social, economical, international, and ethical influences. This course challenges students to bring together all of their learned functional skills and use them to study organizational problems within the context of hands-on exercises, real-world business case studies, and open discussion forums. Performance Objectives: By the end of the course, you should be able to: • Define strategic management and the steps involved in the Strategic Management Process

(SMP) as well as understand and explain the concepts of core competencies and competitive advantage

• Identify and evaluate the forces that govern competition in an industry and market opportunities and threats.

• Identify and evaluate internal resources, capabilities, core competencies and competitive advantage(s) to pursue opportunities and overcome threats.

• Have a clear understanding of various strategies firms choose to use and make a strategic choice using the input from the external and internal environments of the firm.

• Understand corporate governance and explain how external and internal control mechanisms impact managerial decisions.

• Describe the relationship between strategy and structure and explain the significance of structure in implementing strategies.

• Explain what top management teams are and how they affect firm performance. • Understand and discuss the importance of strategic leaders in determining the firm’s strategic

direction

Course Topics Course topics include the Strategic Management Process (SMP), strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and control, The Industrial Organization (I/O) View, The Resource-Based View (RBV) and Knowledge-Based View, Corporate Governance, Organizational Structure and Strategic Leadership among others. Instructional Methods and Activities Computer Applications: All written assignments must be typed using any word-processing package available. The body of the text should be typed in size 12, double-spaced Times New Roman font, and must include a cover page. You should also familiarize yourselves with the various search engines offered by the library as research is required to adequately address assignments. Performance Measures: Exams: There will be two exams and a final exam during the semester. All exams are comprehensive essays. All exam grades will count towards your grade in the course. The exams must be taken on the assigned dates. Exams will cover the textbook chapters, and all material covered and discussed in class.

• No exam grade will be dropped.

• There will be no make-up exams. Projects: A term project is due at the end of the semester. Projects entail devising a strategic plan for a company that you will be assigned. You will present the strategic plan to class at the end of the semester. More information about the project and the case analysis will be delivered in class. Participation: Like all graduate courses, this class heavily relies on interaction. For the course to serve as a “bridge” between academia and practice, we need to turn the class meeting into an interactive discussion. Therefore, it is extremely important that you come to class prepared. There will be assigned readings and cases depending on the topic we will be covering. Your participation in the case and reading discussions are instrumental to attaining a good participation grade, which accounts for 20% of the overall grade. There will also be individual assignments throughout the semester that will count towards the participation grade. The assignments will be announced in class and via Moodle. ETS Assessment Exam All MBA students are required to take the ETS Major Field Test for assessment purposes. It is a comprehensive, cross-functional test that includes questions from Marketing, Management, Finance, Accounting, and Strategic Integration. There is no grade associated with the ETS Test, however, the following bonus table is applicable: Score Bonus . >90th percentile Automatic A >80th percentile One letter grade (100 points)

>70th percentile Half-a-letter grade (50 points) All assignments must be completed and the student must have at least 600 points out of 1000 for the above bonus table to apply. Grade Distribution: Exam 1 100 points 900 – 1000 points A Exam 2 150 points 800 – 899 points B Final 250 points 700 – 799 points C Participation 200 points 600 – 699 points D Project 300 points Below 600 points F TOTAL 1000 points Written and Oral Communication Skills: The projects and any other written assignments should reflect graduate level writing. It is always a good idea to have someone proof read your assignments before you turn them in. You can also always come to me (provided ample time before the due date) for advice on content. To become effective communicators and in meeting expectations of producing acceptable graduate course work and assignments in the MBA program at ULM, MBA students are expected to write documents with minimum errors in spelling, grammar, sentence structure, format, and other writing conventions that illustrate adequate audience awareness and adaptation. Therefore, a writing component will be assigned in all graduate classes in which the instructor will factor in the above style elements in grading the writing component. To assist students in improving their writing skills, students may use the following books and web links in addition to teacher provided resources:

• Harbrace College Handbook by John C. Hodges (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich). • Strunk and White. (2000). The Elements of Style. 4th ed. Longman Publishing, New

York. • The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association:

http://www.apastyle.org/ • The Chicago Manual of Style: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html • The Modern Language Association Style Manual: http://www.mla.org/ • The Oxford Guide to Style: http://www.ritter.org.uk/

Class Policies and Procedures At a minimum, all policies stated in the current ULM Student Policy Manual & Organizational Handbook should be followed (see http://www.ulm.edu/studentpolicy/). Additional class policies include: Textbook(s) and Materials: Wheelen, T. L., and Hunger, J. D. (2008) Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy. 13th Edition, Prentice Hall. ISBN-13: 9780136097358. Additional readings and cases will be assigned as the semester progresses. Attendance Policy:

The instructor reserves the right to drop a student for excessive absences. Two unexcused absences in total are deemed excessive. Make-up Policy: THERE ARE NO MAKE-UP EXAMS OR QUIZZES. Refer to the exam section under title V. Academic Integrity: Faculty and students must observe the ULM published policy on Academic Dishonesty (see Page 4 in ULM Student Policy Manual)- (http://www.ulm.edu/studentpolicy/). Course Evaluation Policy: At a minimum, students are expected to complete the on-line course evaluation. Student Services: Information about ULM student services, such as Student Success Center (http://www.ulm.edu/cass/), Counseling Center (http://www.ulm.edu/counselingcenter/), Special Needs (http://www.ulm.edu/counselingcenter/special.htm), and Student Health Services, is available at the following Student Services web site http://www.ulm.edu/studentaffairs/.

Mental Wellness on the ULM Campus

If you are having any emotional, behavioral, or social problems, and would like to talk with a caring, concerned professional please call one of the following numbers:

§ The ULM Counseling Center 342-5220

§ The Marriage and Family Therapy Clinic 342-9797

§ The Community Counseling Center 342-1263

§ The ULM HELPS Project Office 342-1335

Remember that all services are offered free to faculty, staff, and students, and all are strictly confidential.

Emergency Procedures: In case of an emergency, such as a fire, students will quietly and orderly exit down the stairs nearest the classroom and will meet directly behind the Administration Building (at the north end) where the instructor will take roll. Any student who needs assistance exiting the building should inform the instructor immediately. Some students may be designated to assist students who are unable to descend the stairs. In case of a tornado warning, students will move orderly to a designated classroom in the middle of the building where the instructor will take roll. Students will remain in the designated areas until clearance is given. Also, students should memorize the ULM Police Dept. phone number or program the number into their cell phones. The number is 342-5350. Discipline/Course Specific Policies:

1. Each student will be responsible for providing his or her own SCANTRON and pencils for the examinations, if they are required. Also, you will not be allowed to leave the room once an exam begins. If you leave, then I will assume that you have completed your exam. 2. Turn off all cell phones, pagers, and any other electronic or noise making devices and put them away. Also, during exams, no student is allowed to wear a baseball cap or hat of any other kind. 3. I will post course related material and grades etc. on Blackboard. It is your responsibility to periodically check Blackboard for announcements, assignments, etc. Also, please make sure that you have a valid e-mail address listed on Blackboard as from time to time you will receive e-mail communications. 4. I expect you to maintain high standards of academic honesty. Cheating and plagiarism will result in course failure and referral for disciplinary action.

Course Outline

Additional readings/cases will be announced/posted by the instructor as the semester progresses

Month Date Activity

Aug 23 Class introduction, team formation Chapter 1: Basic Concepts in Strategic Management

30 Chapter 4: Environmental Scanning and Industry Analysis

Sep 6 Chapter 5: Internal Scanning: Organizational Analysis 13 Exam 1: Chapters 1, 4, and 5 20 Chapter 7: Strategy Formulation: Corporate Strategy 27 Chapter 6: Strategy Formulation: Situation Analysis and Business Strategy

Chapter 8: Strategy Formulation: Functional Strategy and Strategic Choice Oct 4 Fall Break

11 Exam 2: Chapters 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 18 Chapter 9: Strategy Implementation: Organizing for Action 25 Chapter 10: Strategy Implementation: Staffing and Directing

Nov 1 Chapter 2: Corporate Governance 8 Chapter 11: Evaluation and Control

Chapter 3: CSR and Ethics 15 Project Presentations 22 Thanksgiving 29 ETS Exam – location TBA

Dec TBA Final - Comprehensive

This is a tentative schedule. It may be modified at the instructor’s discretion. Graduating students must take the final exam during the last week prior to the finals week. A date and time will be determined in class. Non-graduating students will have the option to choose between the two dates. Once an option is chosen, it is final and cannot be changed.