You are on page 1of 6

Graduate School of Business Spring 2015

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
258

Professor Wesley Hartmann

COURSE AND SYLLABUS OVERVIEW


CONTACT INFORMATION
wesleyr @stanford.edu

(650) 725-2311

Faculty Assistant for Course:


Chris Lion
Telephone: 723-9040
clion@stanford.edu

BE SURE TO PREPARE THE STUDY QUESTIONS FOR THE FIRST


CLASS. THESE ARE AVAILABLE ON THE COURSE WEBSITE
READ THIS DOCUMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE THE FIRST CLASS.
IT CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT ASSIGNMENTS,
NORMS FOR THE CLASS (INCLUDING A DISCUSSION OF THE
HONOR CODE), GRADING, ETC. WE WILL NOT COVER THAT
MATERIAL IN CLASS.

1. COURSE PERSPECTIVE
Successful leaders must be able to analyze their firms competitive environments,
formulate the firms strategy and implement it by guiding and motivating their
employees. This course focuses on the long-term strategy of the business organization
and the role of leaders in formulating and implementing the strategy.
We adopt the perspective of the general manager with overall responsibility for the
performance of the firm or of a business unit within the firm. We separately consider:

Business Unit Strategy: Understanding the competitive forces of the relevant


industry and the focal business units strategy within it.
Corporate Strategy: Understanding why different business units are united within
a firm and how to manage multiple units.

2. COURSE OBJECTIVES
The objectives for the course are as follows:

Developing a general management perspective.


Understanding the fundamental concepts in strategic analysis: strategy
identification and evaluation, competitive advantage, industry and competitor
analysis and corporate strategy (diversification strategy and managing the multibusiness enterprise).
Developing your analytical thinking and skills in reporting conclusions
effectively.
Applying and integrating the concepts from other courses such as economics and
marketing.

3. CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIORAL EXPECTATIONS


A vibrant and productive classroom discussion is an essential component of the learning
experience in this course. It is therefore essential that you come to class prepared and
that you are fully engaged in the classroom discussion. In addition, you should be
courteous and respectful of your professors and fellow classmates. This includes coming
to class on time and refraining from distracting behaviors.

4. REQUIRED READINGS
For each class, you are expected to read the case study, listed required readings and/or
news article. Readings are listed in the course outline and within the respective module
on the course website.

2/6

The readings are an integral part of the course. Some of them provide tools and
frameworks that are applied to specific cases in class. Others apply less specifically to
particular cases or topics, but deal with broader themes that run through the course.
These latter readings will be distributed through the course at the points where it is most
appropriate for you to read them.
Doing the required reading for each class is considered part of the preparation assignment
whether or not the assignment questions specifically refer to the reading.
5. COURSE OUTLINE AND READINGS
The structure of the course and the readings for each session are described below. For
each class session, the title highlights the main theme for that session. All the materials
referred to below are available on the course website.

April 3, 2015
The Evolution of Strategic Management
Case: General Electric, Strategic Position 1981 (HBS 381-174)
Case: General Electric in 1984 (HBS 9-385-315)
Reading: GE Chiefs Overhaul Slips on Oil Wall Street Journal, March 4, 2015.

April 6, 2015
Competitive Advantage I
Case: Capital One (GSB SM135)
Reading: Garth Saloner, Andrea Shepard and Joel Podolny, Chapter 3:
Competitive Advantage, Strategic Management, 2001, pp. 41-53.
April 10, 2015
Competitive Advantage II
Case: Wal-Mart Stores Inc (HBS 9-794-024 and HBS 9-702-466)
April 13, 2015
The 5 Forces: Substitutes & Rivalry
Reading: Michael E. Porter, The Five Competitive Forces that Shape Strategy,
Harvard Business Review, January 2008, pp. 1-18.
April 17, 2015
Switching Costs
Reading: Price War Intensifies for Top Wireless Providers, Wall Street Journal,
December 2014.
April 20, 2015
Barriers to Entry
Case: Airborne Express (HBS 9-798-070)

3/6

April 24, 2015


Demand-Side Increasing Returns
Readings TBA.
April 27, 2015
2-Sided Markets
Reading: Techs Fiercest Rivalry: Uber vs. Lyft, Wall Street Journal, Aug 2014.
May 1, 2015
Vertical Structure of Industry
Case: Shimano and the High-End Road Bike Industry (GSB SM150)
May 4, 2015
Bargaining
Readings TBA.

May 8, 2015
Vertical Integration/Mergers
Readings: See module on course website

May 11, 2015


Vertical Examples
Readings: See module on course website
May 15, 2015
Horizontal Extensions/Mergers
Readings: See module on course website
May 18, 2015
Spinoffs
Readings: See module on course website
May 22, 2015
Shift Business Units
Readings: See module on course website
May 27, 2015
Corporate Strategy in the Digital Economy
Readings: See module on course website
May 29, 2015
Corporate Strategy Projects
In-Class Presentations
June 1, 2015
4/6

Wrap-Up

6. COURSE POLICIES: GRADING, ABSENCES & HONOR CODE


Your grade for the course will be comprised as follows:

Class participation 1/3


Group Project 1/3
A final examination 1/3

Each of these components is briefly discussed below.


6.A. Class Participation
Classes will discuss both the cases and conceptual frameworks. Class participation will
be judged on contributions to both.
Each student is assessed on his or her class participation in each session. The quality of
participation has a greater impact on the grade than the quantity. High-quality
participation is considered to be a comment or question that is relevant to the discussion
and moves the conversation forward by aiding our understanding of the issue, case or
framework. Comments that stimulate debate are especially valuable, such as a comment
in which a student respectfully disagrees with the view expressed by another student and
explains why.
A minimum requirement for good participation is being engaged in the discussion with
the instructor and fellow students, so it is important that you try to participate regularly.
Nonetheless, students should avoid focusing on the quantity of comments or air time.
Do not simply reiterate case facts, or merely signal your agreement with what other
students have said. Students who consistently do this do not do well on class
participation.
You are encouraged to use your study group to prepare cases for class.

6.B. Group Project


Each group is required to submit and present a strategic analysis for a conglomerate
(preferably based abroad). The analysis should cover the strategy of independent
business units as well as the corporate strategy describing why these units fit together and
how they are jointly managed. This will be due by end of day May 22.
6.C. Final Exam

5/6

There will be a take-home final exam. The exam can be accessed online and will have a
time limit for completion. More detail on the structure of the final exam will be provided
closer to the exam.
6.D. Absences
Because a case-oriented course relies on class participation for its success, attendance at
every class is expected and is monitored. Since you can participate in multiple ways, not
coming to class is worse than not having anything to say. Please schedule other activities
at times other than when Strategic Management meets. Missing multiple classes will
have a substantial negative effect on your grade, including possibly failing the class.
The exception to this is absences due to genuine emergencies, prolonged illness or other
extreme circumstances. In these situations, you should (at the appropriate time) contact
your professors and the Office of Student Life for appropriate guidance and support.
However, remember: Weddings, interviews etc. may be extreme for you but they arent
for us.
If you do miss a class it is your responsibility to find out from your classmates what
materials were covered, what additional assignments were made and what items may
have been distributed in class. Wrap-up slides will generally be posted on Coursework.
6.E. Honor Code
We consider the Honor Code to be an extremely important part of the educational system
and expect that all students will live up to it.
Students are often unclear about how the Honor Code applies to preparation for case
discussions, especially since we encourage preparation in study groups. To be clear,
discussion within a formal study group or with other class members is acceptable and
encouraged for purposes of general case preparation.
However, your class preparation should not benefit from notes of case discussions from
others, e.g. former students not currently enrolled in the course. We consider it an Honor
Code violation to do any of the following:
Read from notes simply handed to you by others.
Use analyses of cases posted to the free rider home page, formal or informal
email virtual study groups, shared network drives etc.
Consult students in other sections about the right answers.
In short, we expect you to present in class only case analyses that you participated in
preparing.
The reasons for this are threefold. First, class discussion is enriched if there is variety in
points of view. This is diminished if many students come to class with the same case
analysis. Second, a great deal of your learning occurs in the process of preparing the
case. Third, we want to grade your performance.
6/6

You might also like