Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy Globalization, Innovation and Sustainability, 15th Edition By Thomas L Wheelen
Email: Richard@qwconsultancy.com
PART A SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Strategic management ... Business policy ... Strategy. Whatever its name, it’s typically considered a “capstone” course in most business schools. Its primary job is to examine a business firm as a whole and to integrate the various functional disciplines. It generally includes industry analysis and competitive strategy with a healthy dose of SWOT analysis. It may also include corporate governance and/or social responsibility and ethics, depending upon the instructor. The course is generally expected to take a practical view of how business corporations actually function “in the real world.” Nevertheless, there are many ways to teach strategic management. Some people are strong proponents of “the case method.” Others argue that simulations are the best method of giving students a “hands-on” understanding of strategic decision making. A number of instructors also use experiential exercises, group projects, and audio-visual presentations. Very few, if any, argue for a straight lecture/discussion type of strategy course at the undergraduate and master’s level. Each approach, however, has its strengths and weaknesses. Lecture/discussion, for example, is a good way to communicate a lot of information and to critically analyze theoretical concepts. In a strategy course, however, the emphasis is typically on developing integrative and problemsolving skills. This is a weakness of the lecture/discussion approach. The simulation, in contrast, is an excellent method to develop these skills and to put learning in the hands of the student rather than in the hands of the instructor. It also emphasizes strategy implementation, an aspect of strategic management often receiving little emphasis in most strategy courses. Its weaknesses include turning the instructor from a teacher into an administrator. If teams are used, there is a strong tendency for students to let the “computer geeks” take charge of decision making as the objective turns from strategy making to “playing the game.” The Case Method The most popular as well as the most perceived effective approach to teaching strategic management is the case method. Its strengths include a real-world orientation (believed to generate student involvement) and the ability to focus on developing decision-making skills by taking an integrative and conceptual, yet action-oriented approach. This method may not go well, however, if the instructor is inexperienced in the use of cases and/or the students are not motivated to do more than a superficial reading of the cases. A capable case instructor must be able to force the typical student to go beyond satisficing at a very low level (e.g., “In my opinion, they ought to fire the CEO.”). If given a free rein, the average undergraduate tends to “Monday morning quarterback” the case. For example, if everyone knows that Hershey Foods successfully developed and marketed a new type of sugar-free candy this year, there is a strong tendency to recommend this solution rather than other alternative courses of action. As a result, an instructor new to the case method must ensure that students truly understand that the best solution to any case problem is not (a) the one the instructor mentions, (b) what the company actually did, or (c) the most obvious solution. The best solution comes from the best analysis. This means that the instructor must work hard to ensure that students don’t take the easy route by merely stating the symptoms as if they were underlying problems and going immediately to their desired solution without regard for other alternatives. Possible Course Syllabus and Outlines A number of policy instructors, including us, have a strong bias in favor of 75-minute classes meeting twice a week. Open class discussion or oral presentations of complex strategy cases usually require at least an hour’s worth of time. Given the usual rigmarole involved in starting and ending a class, it is very difficult to handle a case well in a 50-minute period unless the case is analyzed over two class sessions. The course outlines you see below have been developed with generic activities. Instructors should explore MyManagementLab to review all possible activities in which students can participate. One other variable, which complicates the development of a course outline, is the decision concerning the timing of the lectures on strategic management. Some instructors choose to spend the first part of their course lecturing over the book while the students quickly read the chapters. Others attempt to intersperse lectures with case discussions or presentations. The key question seems to be: How much information do students need before they can competently
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analyze their first comprehensive strategic management case? This is completely up to the instructor. We believe that a use of the strategic audit will help students to competently analyze their first comprehensive case even if they have not gone beyond corporate strategy in Chapter 7. We have found this point to be a good time to begin oral presentations, for example. The first case should, however, emphasize strategy formulation over implementation and be reasonably easy to analyze with each following case increasing in difficulty.
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SAMPLE COURSE SYLLABUS COURSE TITLE: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ———————————————————————————————————— Class Times & Location: Course Web Site: Instructor Information: Office & Office Hours: ————————————————————————————————————
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course serves as a cohesive map for strategic management. It is designed to integrate the accepted theories in the area with real-world applications to provide students with the basic knowledge and skills needed for strategic management. Lecture and class assignments given in the course are intended to help students understand the needs of modern public and private organizations, including emerging national and international trends.
COURSE OBJECTIVES By the end of the course, students should be able to understand the basic elements of planning and implementing strategy.
RESOURCES TEXTBOOK: Strategic Management and Business Policy: Globalization, Innovation, and Sustainability, 15th Edition by T. Wheelen, J. Hunger, A. Hoffman, and C. Bamford. SOFTWARE: MyManagementLab (This is an optional resource, see www.mymanagementlab.com for more information.) LIBRARY & INTERNET RESOURCES: Students are encouraged to use the university library and the Internet for research and to complete assignments when necessary.
COURSE COMPONENTS EXAMS: A designated number of exams and a final exam will test students’ understanding of the materials discussed in class and in the assigned readings. CASE ASSIGNMENTS: Students will answer discussion questions from case applications assigned in the text. The goal is for students to apply the information discussed to these real-world situations to the concepts and principles presented in the course. IN-CLASS EXERCISES: Throughout the semester, students are expected to be prepared to discuss issues relevant to the course and to participate in team exercises. For these exercises, students will be required to be actively involved to receive credit—for example, making substantive comments, answering questions, and preparing short presentations. Points will be awarded by the instructor based on individual and group participation. Students should bring their textbook to class as part of their participation grade. Material for in-class assignments can be found at the conclusion of each chapter—–see Ethical Dilemmas and Team Exercises.
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