Week |
Dates |
Topic |
Readings and Cases
|
Optional &Fun |
1 |
25 & 26 May |
What is Strategy?
Course Overview |
Lewis, “The Case Study Method of Learning”.
Ghemawat, “Competition and Business Strategy in Historical Perspective”, HBS Press, 1997.
Case: Argyle Diamonds
|
- Video: The Oppenheimer Diamond Empire & Artificial Scarcity (1994)
- Discovery and Mining of the Argyle Deposit
|
2 |
1 & 2 June |
Industry Analysis - Porter's Five Forces |
Grant, “Industry Analysis: The Fundamentals”, Chapter 3 in ‘Contemporary Strategy Analysis’, 6th Edition.
Ghemawat & Rivkin, “Creating Competitive Advantage”, HBS 9-798-062.
Case: Crown Cork & Seal Company, Inc (HBS 378-024) |
- Video interview with Michael Porter
- CCS website
|
3 |
8 & 9 June |
Competitive Positioning via Cost Leadership |
Besanko, et al., Strategic Positioning for Competitive Advantage, Chapter 11 in Economics of Strategy, 4th Edition. Only pages 343 – 378.
Case: Honda A. HBS-9-384-049(1989)
Quantitative Exercise - Learning curves (download from LMS)
- Argote & Epple (1990), article in Science on Experience Curves.
|
Honda
- Honda adverts
- 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
Optional Articles:
- Wikipedia on Learning and Experience Curves.
- Economies of Scale: see Sharon Oster's book on Modern Competitive Analysis.
|
4 |
15 -16 June |
Competitive Positioning via Differentiation |
Revisit the Besanko reading
N.Kumar (2006), Strategies to Fight Low-cost Rivals, Harvard Business Review Dec 84(12):104-112.
Case: Ducati: In Pursuit of Magic (A). IESE Case 168 by Mitchell & Cassiman
|
Ducati
- Ducati Legacy
- Don't try this at home!
- Ducati Financials 2001
- Ducati info on Wikipedia
Advanced: Saloner, Shepard and Podolny book: Appendix of Chap. 7, A model of product differentiation. |
Syndicate Project handed out on Friday 19th June. |
5 |
22-23 June |
Resource Based View - Internal Competencies and Capabilities
|
Read: Saloner, Shepard & Podolny, “Strategic Management”, 2001, Chapter 3, pp39-63.
Read: Robert S Kaplan and David P Norton, "Having Trouble with your Strategy? Then Map It", Harvard Business Review, Sep-Oct 2000.
Stalk, Evans and Shulman, Competing on Capabilities: The New Rules of Corporate Strategy, Harvard Business Review (1992).
Case: Wal*Mart Stores, Inc. HBS-9-794-024. |
Wal*Mart
- Wal*mart- High Cost of Low Price
- Wikipedia: Wal-mart
- Google Finance: Wal-mart
- Wal-mart Investor Information
Optional: Peteraf (1993), The Cornerstones of Competitive Advantage: A Resource-Based View, Strategic Management Journal Vol 14(3), pp 179-191.
Strategy Maps: A Step-by-Step Guide, Journal of Business Strategy 2006(3), pp 12-19. |
6 |
29 & 30 June |
Dynamic capabilities and Sustainability
|
Helfat, et al., 2007. Dynamic Capabilities, Chapter 4
Porter, M.(1996), What is Strategy? Harvard Business Review, p 61-78.
Kim and Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy: HBR, Oct 2004 Article and Chapter 2 of their book.
Optional: Coyne, K.P. (1997), Is Your Core Competence A Mirage? McKinsey Quarterly, pp 40-56.
Optional: McGahan, 1999. Competition, Strategy and Business Performance. California Management Review.
Case: Now Everybody can Fly: AirAsia, IESE Case IES123. |
- Optional: Doug Dow, “An Introduction to the 5C's”. These are powerpoint slides, not an article.
|
7 |
6 & 7 July |
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.
|
BlackBerry vs NTP
- BlackBerry Parody
- Crackberry
- ieee article
- CNN article
Intellectual Property
- IP Australia: intro to patents, trademarks, designs
- Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia (ipria.org)
- WIPO
He, Lim and 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) |
8 |
13 & 14 July |
Acquiring and Integrating 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: Skype 2010
Mckinsey Quarterly, Interview with Richard Rumelt (requires free registration)
|
TBD
Capabilities
- Someone amazing. When you lack some resources, innovate to develop new capabilities!
|
9 |
20 & 21 July |
Game Theoretic Approach |
Read: Joshua Gans, Game Theory Chapter 5.
Read: Brandenburger and Nalebuff, "The Right Game: Use Game Theory to Shape Strategy", Harvard Business Review (July-Aug 1995).
Case: Google, Inc. HBS-9-910-036(2009).
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)
Game Theory and Strategy:
- Core Economics
- War Games And Business Strategy (Economist.com)
- Bob Gibbons (MIT):
- Intro by Dixit and Nalebuff
|
10 |
27 & 28 July |
New Challenges in Strategic Management |
Each year I pick a current topic that is affecting strategic management. This year we look at climate change
Guest Speakers:
- Ross Wyatt, General Manager, Netbalance Foundation, and
- Andy Jones, MBS Alumni and Director of Group Sustainability at Amcor Ltd
Videos are available on the Course Materials page.
Read: Green to Gold, selected pages
Case: Maria Yee: Making Green Furniture in China, Stanford SI-110 (2009)
Optional:
- Garnaut Report, particularly the Introduction plus chapters 6 and 11.
- Jones & Levy (2007), North American Business Strategies towards Climate Change.
- Pew case studies and surveys on climate change strategy.
|
- Videos of Ross Wyatt and Andy Jones
|
Syndicate-based Case writeup due on FRIDAY 30th July at 5pm. |
11 |
3 & 4 Aug |
Syndicate Assignment Discussion |
Presentation and discussion of Syndicate Assignments.
- Each syndicate will discuss the report written by another syndicate.
Optional to help you get started with your syndicate assignment:
- Chapter 1 from The McKinsey Mind.
- Good summary of The McKinsey Way (not the same book): http://www.scribd.com/doc/398612/The-McKinsey-Way.
|
|
Deadline to submit your entry for the Best Strategy Application Contest. |
12 |
10 & 11 Aug |
Syndicate assignment postmortem
Summary and Review, Implementation. |
Summary/review and approach towards exams
- Past exam questions are on the LMS
In-class: How to "do" strategy.
- Collis + Rukstad, Can you say what your Strategy Is, HBR, April 2008
- Hamel & Prahalad, “Strategic Intent”, HBR, 1989.
- Mintzberg, “Crafting Strategy”, HBR, 1996.
Voting for the contest entries
Q&A on topics covered this semester; discussion of the syndicate assignment |
- 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: 2pm on 16 August. |