Module 1 – Strategy from viewpoint of management scholars
Objectives
The aim of this assignment is to suggest the role played by management scholars in developing new ideas useful to managers, academics, students and others interested in strategic management.
Instructor Comments
Among the greatest challenges facing an analyst is keeping up with knowledge in one’s area of expertise. The time spent in university or college can serve as a catalyst for a tremendous intellectual awakening, exposing the individual to a wide array of new ideas and skills. The homes for many of these ideas are management journals written for practitioners that translate research and theory into a form that is accessible to non-academics. These practitioner oriented journals originate in some of the most famous Business Schools including those of Harvard, Wharton, MIT, and the University of California.
Along with providing exceptional content for management education courses, these journals play another important role and that is they serve as repositories for new ideas that are accessible to managers in the business world. To some extent they serve as a pulse for what is fashionable or influential in management thought. Not only do leading management scholars seek out these publications as forums for their ideas but so too do leading executives such as Jack Welch of GE fame. Students and competitive intelligence analysts can benefit from keeping up to date with managerially oriented academic journals. The first challenge is learning about each journal and the type of information found in each.
Assignment
This assignment seeks to help you understand the answer to a broader concern and that is, “Where is strategy at from the perspective of management scholars?”
To undertake this assignment you will need to view information found on the web sites of four online management journals. Each of the journals offers access to at least the table of contents of the most recent issue as well as brief summaries of each article. These journals include,
Harvard Business Review http://hbr.org/magazine
MIT Sloan Management Review
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/smr/
Knowledge@Wharton
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/
Ivey Business Journal
http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/
Please answer the following questions:
For each of the online journals noted above, please examine the latest issue and identify four ideas or issues that appear to be relevant to the field of strategy. Please summarize each of the issues in two or three sentences.
Are there any common ideas that are being discussed in articles across two or more of the journals? If so what are they?
In your own words, and using no less than 250 words to do so, please comment on how each of these journals is different from the others in the types of insight that they offer.
Hint: Management scholars seek to explain corporate activity. The journals are important vehicles for disseminating research findings and insight. Each journal targets a slightly different audience. Regardless of how the ideas are communicated, it is your task to identify the ideas that are currently hot or topical.
Please limit your response to this assignment to three single spaced, typed pages. Cite your sources in the text and please reference them at the end of your assignment. End your write–up with one paragraph that summarizes what you think is the importance of this assignment.
Module 2 – Strategy from the viewpoint of management consultants
Objectives
The aim of this assignment is to suggest the role played by Management Consulting firms in developing new ideas useful to managers, academics, students and others interested in strategic management.
Instructor Comments
What may not be apparent to many students is that many of the new ideas in the field of management and strategy originate with Management Consulting firms. Management scholars interact with these firms and with large organizations and then incorporate these ideas into their teaching, their research and instructional material such as textbooks. The intent of this assignment is to introduce you to a number of the key players in the management consulting field, make you aware of the vehicles they use to disseminate some of the ideas that they create and have you explore what ideas are currently in use by these consultants.
It is important for analysts to understand who these companies are and the type of advice that they offer. Almost all of the Fortune 500 firms would actively contract with Management Consulting for ideas and advice. Not only do they redesign organizations, develop strategy and offer guidance regarding new product development, they also coach senior executives, serve as sounding boards for new ideas and serve as important vehicles for disseminating best practices throughout and between industries. It is now fairly common for management consultants from the more famous firms such as McKinsey, Booz, Allen, Hamilton and Accenture to switch careers and take on senior management positions with clients or leading industry players. The alumni network of these major professional service firms also serve as powerful business development tools that open the door to new ideas and opportunities for their clients and employers. Knowing what ideas are being sold and disseminate by these corporate advices can help an analyst make sense of new and intriguing competitor behaviour.
Assignment
To undertake this assignment you will need to view information found on the Web sites of a number of management consulting firms. In many instances these firms have a publishing vehicle. These include:
McKinsey & Co. (www.mckinseyquarterly.com)
Bain & Company (www.bain.com/publications)
Accenture (www.accenture.com/us-en/outlook)
Monitor (www.monitor.com)
The Boston Consulting Group (www.bcgperspectives.com)
This assignment seeks to help you understand the answer to a broader concern and that is, “Where is strategy at from the perspective of management consultants?”
Please answer the following questions.
For each of the five management consulting firms noted above, please identify four ideas or issues that they are actively selling to potential clients. Focus your efforts on identifying North American issues. Summarize each in two or three sentences.
Are there any common ideas that are being highlighted across two or more of the firms? If so what are they?
In your own words, and using no less than 250 words to do so, please comment on how each of these journals is different from the others in the types of insight that they offer.
Hint: Management consulting firms sell advice. The web sites of these firms are important vehicles for building awareness of the advice or ideas that each seeks to sell. Each firm labels its ideas through different means. Some may place articles or book excerpts written by their employees on their web site. Others may feature a section labeled “issues” or “big ideas.” Regardless of how the ideas are communicated, it is your task to identify the ideas that are currently hot or topical.
Please limit your response to this assignment to three and one half single spaced, typed pages. Cite your sources in the text and please reference them at the end of your assignment. End your write–up with one paragraph that summarizes what you think is the importance of this assignment.
Module 3 – Assessing the External Macro Environment – PEST
Objectives
The aim of this assignment is to make use of online information to assess the external macro-environment of a company. This is known as a PEST Analysis www.provenmodels.com/32/pest-analysis/
Instructor Comments
Consider a well known company such as Canadian Pacific, Dell or Sears. Each employs thousands of individuals. Each would contract with hundreds if not thousands of suppliers. Each would have numerous direct competitors. For Dell and Sears, their direct customers would number in millions. Indirectly, Canadian Pacific would also have millions of customers if one considers the end uses of the materials that it transports. Each of these companies would also be visible in hundreds of communities and their business operations would be subject to the rules and regulations of at least dozens of jurisdictions and multiple levels of government. Each would also be entwined in thousands if not millions of contractual relationships of various forms. It would be an oversimplification to suggest that these businesses are complex in their operations.
With these points in mind, how might an analyst working for a competitor, supplier, or customer organization really understand the business environment of one of these companies? How would an investment analyst working in London or New York make sense of the challenges and opportunities faced by these large entities? Or, how would an analyst working with Industry Canada explain one of these companies to policy makers in Ottawa? More than one good response can be offered for each of these queries. However, a common response is to suggest that a PEST analysis framework would be helpful. It would enable our analyst, to portray the complexity of the operating environments of these corporations in an organized and fairly straight forward manner. A PEST analysis is a tool that enables managers to think about the key features of the external macro environment facing their company by focusing on the politics, economics, social issues and the state of technology of their surroundings. It is a management tool that is used extensively in practice and is a staple of Business School instruction around the world.
Assignment
This assignment seeks to help you understand the answer to a broader concern and that is, “How might managers undertake a PEST assessment for their company?”
In order to do so, please identify a country that it operates in or that is of interest to you. You should base your responses to the following questions on your analysis of the company that you have chosen for this course along with a specific country of your choosing.
Please answer the following questions:
Identify five political factors (as well as the online sources of information ) facing the company.
Identify five economic factors (as well as the online sources of information) facing the company.
Identify five social factors (as well as the online sources of information ) facing the company.
Identify five technology factors (as well as the online sources of information) facing the company.
In your opinion which four of these factors are most pertinent to the company and why?
Hint: Online information sources that you might consider using are those that address country specific socio-cultural, health oriented, technological, economic, environmental, or political legal issues. The table below specifies some useful examples and for each online source offers a profile and factor or issue that addresses for each country. Some examples of online sources of information include Earth Trends (http://earthtrends.wri.org/), the Population Reference Bureau (www.prb.org), the Economist Country Profiles (http://www.economist.com/countries/), and the U.S. State Department Country Back Ground Notes (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/).
National Country Profiles
Source Website Country Profile
Center for Intercultural Learning – DFAIT http://www.intercultures.ca/ Culture
Kwintessential http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/ Culture
Geert Hofstede.com http://www.geert-hofstede.com Communication Styles
Doing Business – World Trade Organization http://www.doingbusiness.org Business Regulation
World Health Organization http://www.who.int/countries/ Health
World Weather.org http://www.worldweather.org Weather
Google News http://news.google.ca News
U.S. State Department Country Background Notes http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/ Economics, Politics
Economist Country Profiles http://www.economist.com/countries Politics and Economics
U.S. Energy Information Administration http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/contents.html Energy
Earth Trends http://earthtrends.wri.org/ Environment
Thomson Reuters http://www.reuters.com Industries
Population Reference Bureau http://www.prb.org Demography
Global Property Guide http://www.globalpropertyguide.com Real Estate
Please ensure that the online source of each factor is identified. Limit your response to this assignment to three and one half single spaced, typed pages. Cite your sources in the text and please reference them at the end of your assignment. We do not want you to use old information to answer the questions of this assignment. Please ensure that your references are dated within three years of you commencing this course. End your write–up with one paragraph that summarizes what you think is the importance of this assignment.
Module 4 – Business Models
Objectives
The aim of this assignment is to have you think about how companies make money. A description of this is often referred to as their business model.
Instructor Comments
Often analysts are asked to look at different companies and determine why they are successful or why they are not. That some are profitable and others are not might be obvious but that is probably not the reason for success or failure. An explanation for why Wal-Mart has been more successful in the last two decades than Sears may be easier to formulate if one has a clear understanding of how each company makes money. Lessons associated with Wal-Mart’s success may prove to be very valuable for other retailers. How it succeeded may be less relevant to a mining company such as Rio Tinto. It’s business model or formula for making money might be somewhat different as might the model followed by the New York Yankees or the giant family owned construction firm Bechtel.
Few businesses are alike though many are similar. An important point of similarity for firms within an industry and a means by which to distinguish these companies from those in other industries can be a common business model. It lies at the heart of what a company does and for many companies such as Dell can serve as a powerful branding tool. In a nutshell, if an observer can determine a company’s business model then he or she understands what it actually does to make money.
Assignment
This assignment seeks to help you understand the answer to a broader concern and that is, “How do companies make money?”
In order to complete this assignment you will be using the AIEIS video interview database.
How to get access to AIEIS video database: (click to open/close)
First, go to the web site of the Acadia International Executive Insight Series (AIEIS) http://amcms.acadiau.ca and access
Busi 4913 Online CI for Business Strategy -> Online CI for Business Strategy Collection
View and listen to at least ten of the responses as they discuss the business models of their company.
Second, read the description for “business model” noted on the Wikipedia web site. Many different models are suggested. Once you have undertaken these two tasks, please do the following:
Match 10 interview responses with business models noted on the Wikipedia web site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_models. Your response should include at least 4 business models. More than one interview response may correspond with a particular business model.
For each of the ten matches, please summarize the model in one or two sentences, quote a sentence from the video database interview that leads to suggest the match and identify the speaker as well as his or her company.
Hint: Feel free to use other online information sources to clarify your understanding of business models.
Please limit your response to this assignment to three single spaced, typed pages. Cite your sources in the text and please reference them at the end of your assignment. End your write–up with one paragraph that summarizes what you think is the importance of this assignment.
Module 5 – Defining Strategy
Objectives
The aim of this assignment is to have you think about business strategy.
Instructor Comments
Strategy is one of the most overused words in the field of management studies. Some days it appears that everything is a strategy or is strategic. Henry Mintzberg suggests that strategy can be a plot, ploy, position or perspective. Different researchers argue that there are different “theories of the firm” each of which really defines a company’s behaviour in pursuit of profit.
Further there are different levels of strategy such as corporate, business unit, and operational. Along with these levels, there are also different functions associated with strategy such as finance, accounting, marketing, human resource management, etc. For the student of management or analyst, these different characterizations can be extremely confusing and distracting.
A true corporate strategy affects the entire organization. An analyst will be well served to look at the broader picture of a company when seeking to understand what it is up to, why it might succeed, or why it might fail.
Company wide frameworks are simple but in depth enough to help analysts and students understand the implications of competitor, customer, or supplier behaviour. They are less common than one might think.
Assignment
This assignment seeks to help you understand the answer to a broader concern and that is, “What is strategy?”
In order to complete this assignment, please undertake two tasks.
First, read Don Hambrick’s paper entitled, “Are you sure you have a strategy?” He suggests that strategy as it related to companies should be thought of in terms of arenas, vehicles, differentiators staging, and economic logic.
Second, glance at the list of 错误! 超链接引用无效。 provided to you as part of this course.
Please complete the following tasks:
In two paragraphs and in your own words, explain Hambrick’s notion of strategy as well as the five strategy elements.
Using the company that you have chosen for the course as an example, please define each element (arena, vehicles, differentiators, staging and economic logic) using online information sources. Each element should be defined in this manner in one separate paragraph. In other words,
What is the Arena for this company?
What are the Vehicles for this company?
What are the Differentiators for this company?
What are the Staging elements for this company?
What is the Economic Logic that drives the activities of this company?
Hints:
Online information sources may include but are not limited to company websites. for example:
News aggregators such as News.Google (http://news.google.com)
Sites hosting industry overviews such as
High Beam Business (http://business.highbeam.com/industry-reports)or Plunkett Research (http://www.plunkettresearch.com/)
Industry association websites
Government regulator websites, etc.
Please limit your response to this assignment to three single spaced, typed pages. Cite your sources in the text and reference them at the end of your assignment. Please end your write–up with one paragraph that summarizes what you think is the importance of this assignment.
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