Syllabus

The basic structure of the course is as follows:

• Week 1: Introduction. What is Strategy?
• Weeks 2-5: Industry Analysis: Porter’s five forces, cost leadership versus differentiation strategies, and value chain analysis.
• Weeks 6-8: Developing internal capabilities and the resource based view.
• Week 9-10: Game theoretic approach. We will attempt to integrate the lessons you learnt in Managerial Economics into the materials covered here.
• Week 10: New Trends in Strategic Management -- Climate Change and the Environment
• Week 11: Syndicate project presentations
• Week 12: Wrap-up

Weekly Schedule

Items in the reading pack are marked with a

Topic

Readings and Cases

What is Strategy?
Course Overview

Lewis, “The Case Study Method of Learning”.

Ghemawat, “Competition and Business Strategy in Historical Perspective”, HBS Press, 1997.
A similar version is available online from BHR

Case: Argyle Diamonds

• Video: The Oppenheimer Diamond Empire & Artificial Scarcity (1994)
• Discovery and Mining of the Argyle Deposit

Industry Analysis - Porter's Five Forces

Grant, “The Determinants of Industry Profit”, in ‘Contemporary Strategy Analysis’, Blackwell, 1998, pp54-70.

Skim: Michael E. Porter, “How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy,” Harvard Business Review 1979 (pp. 32-41)

Case: Crown Cork & Seal Company, Inc (HBS 378-024)

• CCS website
• Collecting cown caps

Competitive Positioning via Cost Leadership

Ghemawat & Rivkin, “Creating Competitive Advantage”, HBS Press, 1998.

Case: Honda A. HBS-9-384-049(1989)

Quantitative Exercise - Learning curves (download from Learning Managment System)

Optional Articles:

• Bowman (2008), "Generic Strategies: A Substitute for Thinking?", Ashridge Journal (Spring).
• Argote & Epple (1990), article in Science on Experience Curves.
• Wikipedia on Learning and Experience Curves.
• Short excerpt on Economies of Scale from Sharon Oster's book on Modern Competitive Analysis.
• Gujarati - Basic Econometrics. Brief intro to Cobb-Douglas Production functions and returns to scale.

• Honda adverts
• The Honda Heritage
• Honda CB350
• Recent Honda ad (The Cog)in which 2 of only 6 existing hand-made Accords are taken apart and used .
• Honda Choir: original vs spoof

Competitive Positioning via Differentiation; sustainability.

Porter, M.(1996), What is Strategy? Harvard Business Review, p 61-78.

Case: Ducati HBS-9-701-132 (2002)

Skim: N.Kumar (2006), Strategies to Fight Low-cost Rivals, Harvard Business Review Dec 84(12):104-112

Optional: Saloner, Shepard and Podolny book: short extract on perceptual maps in product differentiation.

Optional: Colis and Rukstad, Can "Can You Say What Your Strategy Is?", Harvard Business Review, April 2008.

Advanced: Saloner, Shepard and Podolny book: Appendix of Chap. 7, A model of product differentiation.

Advanced: Besnahan, Stern and Trajtenberg (1997), "Market Segmentation and the Sources of Rents from Innovation: Personal Computers in the late 1980's", RAND Journal of Economics S17-S44.

• Ducati Power- how is Ducati positioned in this video?
• Ducati Legacy
• Don't try this at home!
• Ducati Financials 2001
• Ducati info on Wikipedia

Industry Analysis and Positioning: Putting together the ideas from weeks 1-4

Revise the materials covered in sessions 1-4

Read: Robert S Kaplan and David P Norton, "Having Trouble with your Strategy? Then Map It", Harvard Business Review, Sep-Oct 2000.

Read: Strategy Maps: A Step-by-Step Guide, Journal of Business Strategy 2006(3), pp 12-19.

Case: Ice Fili, HBS 9-703-516.

Optional: Doug Dow, “An Introduction to the 5C's”, 2007(password required)

Advanced: Misangyi et al (2006), A Multilevel Approach to Industry, Corporate and Business Unit Effects, Strategic Management Journal Vol 27, pp 571-590.

• History of Ice Cream
• Ice-Fili (USA)

Resource Based View - Internal Competencies and Capabilities

Read: Saloner, Shepard & Podolny, “Strategic Management”, 2001, Chapter 3, pp39-63.

Case: Wal*Mart Stores, Inc. HBS-9-794-024.

Skim: Anita Mcgahan (1999), "Competition, Strategy and Business Performance", California Management Review Vol 41, no 3.

Optional: Stalk, Evans & Shulman, “Competing on Capabilities”, HBR, 1992.

Optional: Peteraf (1993), The Cornerstones of Competitive Advantage: A Resource-Based View, Strategic Management Journal Vol 14(3), pp 179-191.

Advanced: Susan Athey and Scott Stern, "An Empirical Framework for Testing Theories About Complementarity", NBER Working Paper . See commentary on O&M and an application to the Auto industry .

• Wal*mart- High Cost of Low Price
• Wikipedia: Wal-mart
• Google Finance: Wal-mart
• Wal-mart Investor Information

Knowledge as a Strategic Capability

Read: Gans and Stern (2003), "The Product Market and the 'Market for Ideas': Commercialization Strategies for Technology Entrepreneurs", Research Policy 32(2)

Case: David Weston and Kwanghui Lim, Blackberry, IPRIA/WIPO Case 2008.

Skim: Zilin He, Kwanghui Lim and Pohkam Wong (2006), "Entry and Competitive Dynamics in the Mobile Telecommunications Market", Research Policy, 20th Anniversary Special Issue of "Profiting from Innovation" by David Teece. Earlier version (IPRIA)

Optional: IP Australia: intro to patents, trademarks, designs

BlackBerry vs NTP

• BlackBerry Parody
• Crackberry
• ieee article
• CNN article

Intellectual Property

• Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia (ipria.org)
• WIPO

Acquiring New Capabilities

Read: Rahul Kapoor and Kwanghui Lim (2007), "The Impact of Acquisitions on the Innovation Performance of Inventors at Semiconductor Companies", Academy of Management Journal

Case: HP and Compaq Combined: In Search of Scale and Scope. Stanford Case SM-130

Skim: Hsu-Lim paper on knowledge bridging.

Optional: Coyne, K.P. (1997), Is Your Core Competence A Mirage? McKinsey Quarterly, pp 40-56.

Optional: Mckinsey Quarterly, Interview with Richard Rumelt (requires free registration)

HP & Compaq

• Carly Interviewed on TV
• Worth the wait?
• Fortune interview with Carly
• Fiorini and the Frog
• HP-Compaq post-merger
• HP-Compaq 5 yrs on
• knowledge@wharton on the merger

Capabilities

• Someone amazing. When you lack some resources, innovate to develop new capabilities!

Game Theoretic Approach

Read: for a great introduction or a quick revision, visit Joshua's website on Game Theory and Strategic Thinking.

Read: Brandenburger and Nalebuff, "The Right Game: Use Game Theory to Shape Strategy", Harvard Business Review (July-Aug 1995).

Review: the book Co-opetition by Nalebuff & Brandenburger (1996), which you read in Managerial Economics.

Case: Google, Inc. HBS-9-806-105(2006).

Skim: Google's Innovation Machine, HBR April 2008

Optional:

• Erhun & Keskinochak (2003), Game Theory in Business Applications, Stanford Working Paper, pp 1-35 only.
• Gametheory.net
• Boeing/Airbus Example by Nicholas Economides
• Ramon Casadesus-Masanell: interesting examples (Wintel, itunes vs filesharing, microsoft vs opensource)

Advanced:

• Erhun & Keskinochak, Pages 35 onwards.
• Ming-jer Chen, Kuo-Hsien Su and Wenpin Tsai (2007), "Competitive Tension: The Awareness-Motivation-Capability Perspective", Acad of Mgt Journal.

Game Theory and Strategy:

• Joshua's Blog
• War Games And Business Strategy (Economist.com)
• Bob Gibbons (MIT):
• Intro by Dixit and Nalebuff
• MIT- McAdams (15.040)

Google Case:

• Larry Page's Keynote address at CES 2006
• Google Inside Look Video and Factory Tour
• Life at Google - The Microsoftie Perspective
• Two Giants but they aren't twins (NYtimes)
• Search Engine Strategy- interview with Avinash Kaushik (Google Analytics )
• Google Data Centers
• Google Adsense Optimization

New Challenges in Strategic Management

--This was earlier scheduled for week 11

Each year I pick a current topic that is affecting strategic management. This year, we will discuss strategy in relation to sustainability in a world of global climate change and other environmental challenges.
Organized in conjunction with Nigel Hembrow and the folks at MBS Net Impact, as well as Toyota Australia

Case: Toyota Prius.

Read: Jones, Charles A. and David L. Levy (2007) "North American Business Strategies Towards Climate Change", European Management Journal.

Skim: Garnaut Report, Chapter 1 (the executive summary)

Skim:The Contradictions That Drive Toyota's Success, HBR, June 2008

Optional:

• Levy, David L. and Sandra Rothenberg (2002) "Heterogeneity and change in environmental strategy: technological and political responses to climate change in the automobile industry.
• Griffiths, Haigh and Rassias, A Framework for Understanding Institutional Governance Systems and Climate Change: The Case of Australia. European Management Journal 2007.
• Kolk, Ans and David L. Levy (October 2001) "Winds of Change: Corporate Strategy, Climate Change and Oil Multinationals", European Management Journal, Vol. 19, No. 5, pp. 501-509.

• Hybrid Car Blog
• The Economist on Climate Change, 2008: and alternative fuels
• Biofuels

Syndicate Assignment Presentations and Discussion

-- This was earlier scheduled for week 10

Presentation of Syndicate Assignments: Borders Group 2008.

Summary and Review, Implementation.

Read: Hamel & Prahalad, “Strategic Intent”, HBR, 1989.

Revisit: Robert S Kaplan and David P Norton, "Having Trouble with your Strategy? Then Map It", Harvard Business Review, Sep-Oct 2000.

Read: Mintzberg, “Crafting Strategy”, HBR, 1996.

Revisit: Ice-Fili case and Honda(B)

In-class: A step by step guide to creating a better strategy for your organization.

Q&A on topics covered this semester

• Steve Jobs discusses the path dependent nature of his becoming a CEO
• Jeff Bezos, Amazon
• Bill Greene, Accenture CEO
• Akamai: From Theory to Practice

Exam Week: 11th - 16th August.