MIS 44285 Fall 2009 Anokhin

44285 Fall 2009 INTEGRATED BUSINESS POLICY AND STRATEGY

M&IS 44285-005

CRN 10287

Instructor: Dr. Sergey Anokhin

Office: 518, Phone: 330-672-1150, E-mail: sanokhin@kent.edu

Class Meeting Time: MW 3:45pm-5:00pm, Room: BSA 205

Office Hours: MW 1:00pm-3:30pm and by appointment

Fall 2009

Course expectations

This is a capstone course meant to provide each student with an integrative learning experience.  Knowledge and analytical skills gained from previous courses are used to help in analyzing the cases and in making management decisions in this course. The focus of the course will be applying concepts and ideas to real-world examples, primarily through class and case discussions. For the class to work well, and for you to benefit from it, preparation for each class meeting is essential. All students are expected to arrive at class, on time, having read the assigned materials and prepared to offer and defend their suggestions and recommendations.

Learning Objectives

This course provides students with the opportunity to:

1)      Improve general business knowledge and provide understanding of the interplay among different business areas.

2)      Learn about a number of influential management ideas, concepts, principles, and analytical frameworks.

3)      Apply these concepts, principles, and framework to real-life business cases.

4)      Hone your analytical skills and practice managerial decision-making.

5)      Develop the ability to structure, present, and sustain arguments in front of colleagues, as well as the ability to listen and react to the arguments of others.

Required text

Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases, Eights edition by Michael A. Hitt, R. Duane Ireland and Robert E. Hoskisson, South-Western College Publishing.

ISBN 13: 978-0-324-65559-9, ISBN 10: 0-324-65559-2

Additional readings may be assigned by the professor.

Prerequisites: Must have applied for December graduation. Students in the course who do not have the proper prerequisite risk being deregistered from the class.

Notes:

·         This syllabus is subject to change at the Professor’s discretion for the benefit of the class. It is your responsibility to become informed of any changes if you miss a class meeting.

• All required assignments must be completed by the specified due dates. Assignments will not be accepted after the due date.  Please note that disk and/or computer problems/malfunctions are not acceptable excuses for late assignments.

Case Preparation and Discussion:

This course relies heavily on case materials. Your preparation of the cases and participation in the discussion will be critical to your learning process and to the success of the class as a whole in effectively diagnosing problems and reaching recommendations. Preparation for the case discussion should begin with a quick reading of the assigned text and case material. Then, it is worthwhile to review the assignment questions for clues as to what issues require special attention. The next step is to reread the case carefully, take notes that sort information, facts, and observations under a number of relevant headings. Many cases require that you perform some quantitative analyses and explore alternative hypotheses as to the reasons for the company's observed performance. Finally, preparation will include notes that can be used to guide your contributions to class discussions on the assigned issues or other issues you think critical to the company's apparent dilemma. In grading participation, I will look at both the quantity and quality of contribution. With regard to quality, some criteria include:

•   Are the points made relevant to the discussion?

•   Do they go beyond a mere recitation of case facts, and are implications clearly drawn?

•   Is there evidence of analysis rather than expressions of opinion?

•   Are the comments linked to those of others?

•   Did the contribution further class understanding of the issues?

•   Is the participant a good listener?

Grade structure: your grade will be determined based on how well you perform on the following:

-        Quizzes (10 points)

-        Exams (35 points)

-        Case write-ups (20 points)

-        Group project (25 points)

-        Participation (10 points)

-        A: 90-100 points

-        B: 80-89 points

-        C: 70-79 points

-        D: 60-69 points

-        F: <60 points

Quizzes. There will be eight 10-minute quizzes as listed in the class schedule. Questions will be based on the textbook but may cover additional materials assigned by the professor and in-class discussion. Five best scores out of eight will count toward your final grade. The quizzes will be graded on a ‘hit-or-miss’ scale as follows: ‘hit’ (2), ‘near-miss’ (1), ‘miss’ (0). Importantly, cases may be based on both the chapter(s) and the case assigned for a particular week.

Exams. There will be three exams as listed in the class schedule to measure your understanding of the theory underlying the strategic management process. These exams will consist of essay questions where you will have to apply the concepts covered in the class to real-life or fictitious business situations. The exams are worth 10, 15 and 10 points respectively. The final exam may be cumulative (TBD).

Case Write-ups. You are required to submit written evaluations on two of the cases. Each case summary is worth 10 points. Case write-ups are due at the beginning of the class (consult the schedule) and are to be prepared as an individual effort, not as a group project. If you cannot make it to the class make sure to have the write-up emailed to me by 10am on the day that the case is due.

The length for the case summaries should be 4 to 5 pages. Case evaluation should include the following elements: 1-paragraph summary, industry attractiveness analysis (5 forces of competition), emerging trends in the external environment (4/6 segments) identifying among other things opportunities/threats, internal environment analysis (resources, capabilities, competencies) identifying potential sources of sustainable competitive advantage as well as likely weaknesses, application of the concepts covered by the week’s readings to the issues faced by the company, and your recommendations for success. The objectives of writing case reports are:

-        To gain expertise in the strategic analysis of complex business situations.

-        To gain experience in making recommendations that are clear, practical, specific, action-oriented, and supported by analysis.

-        To gain experience in writing clearly written, well-structured, and convincingly argued business reports.

Group projects.

You will form 10 groups of 5 students. Each student will offer a public company to be analyzed for an in-depth case study to the instructor. The company should be facing a particular identifiable challenge. The company must be a publicly traded US-based company to ensure information availability. The instructor will select 10 most interesting proposals and will assign them to the groups.

The objective of the group project is to apply the tools of business strategy to evaluating the strategy and performance of a business enterprise and, on the basis of an analysis of the present situation and emerging trends, to chart a future direction for the enterprise. The content of the project will vary according to the issue(s) facing the company, the characteristics and circumstances of the company and its industry, and your preferences.

There is a 25 page limit for this report including all tables, references, and appendices. Please make sure the report is typed double-spaced with one inch margins using a 12 pt Times New Roman font. The paper must contain a proper reference section (endnotes are acceptable). The report should include the following industry and company topics (feel free to modify the order in which the parts appear as you see fit):

Industry Analysis:

The industry analysis should be organized as follows:

            1.         Industry Environment

-          Discuss the competitors and their market shares.

-          Discuss the products or services produced by the firms in this industry.

            2.         Strategies and Critical Success Factors in the Industry

                        - Which firms in the industry are pursuing which business-level strategies?

                        - What must a firm do well to compete effectively in this industry?

            3.         General Environment

                        - How have demographic changes influenced this industry?

                        - How have technological changes influenced this industry?

            4.         Key Issues and Future Scenarios

                        - What key opportunities exist for this industry?  Which company (or companies) is most likely to take advantage of these opportunities?  Why?

                        - What key threats (in terms of new entrants, product life cycle, product obsolescence, substitute products, etc.) exist for this industry?

Company Analysis:

Please address the following issues in your company analysis:

            1.         Description of the Firm

                        - Company history.

                        - Product lines.

                        - The scope of the firm (geographic, target customers, technologies, etc.)

                        - The size of the firm (sales, assets, employees, etc.)

                        - The firm's culture and philosophies

            2.         Strengths and Weaknesses

                        - Which functional areas within the firm are particularly strong and which are particularly weak?  Why?

                        - Discuss the firm's financial (ROA, ROS, sales growth, etc.) and nonfinancial (employment stability/growth, innovation, customer relations, etc.) performance over the last three to five years as compared to its industry.

            3.         Opportunities and Threats

                        - Provide a discussion of the opportunities and threats within the industry that are particularly applicable to your firm.

            4.         Current Strategy

                        - Describe the firm's strategies at the corporate and business levels.

                        - Discuss each in detail, and evaluate the "soundness" of each.

            5.         Value chain activities

- How can the firm take best advantage of or improve each of its primary and support activities?

            6.         Recommended Actions

                        -  What should your firm change about its corporate and business strategies to become more effective?  (Hint:  Be creative.  Don't just discuss what they've been doing in the past.  Provide solid recommendations for future actions.) What steps can the company take to overcome the particular issue they currently face? Please be specific and action-oriented.

Sources:

For your companies you will be able to rely heavily upon published data, including but not limited to: annual reports, 10K reports, proxy statements, newspaper articles, press releases, and investment analysts' reports. All sources should be properly referenced/acknowledged (i.e., footnotes or endnotes). See http://www.library.kent.edu/page/10032 for ideas. Feel free to consult with the librarian and/or the instructor.

Output:

The project has three principal outputs:

1.      A written executive summary of your analysis, findings, and recommendations (2 page maximum).

2.      A written report on the issue facing the company and the company’s overall strategic position.

3.      An oral presentation (maximum 12 minutes) in which you will outline the principal findings of your analysis and your recommendations. Your group will assume the role of consultants presenting recommendations for the firm. A question and discussion period will follow the presentation. Evaluation criteria include both content and style issues. You must provide all class members with a summary of your presentation on the day of your presentation.

Peer Evaluation:

Each group member will be evaluated by the other members of his or her team on his or her contribution to the group assignments. These evaluations may affect your individual grades.

Tentative schedule (may be revised at the discretion of the instructor for the benefit of the class)

The Following Policies Apply to All Students in this Course

A.   Students attending the course who do not have the proper prerequisite risk being deregistered from the class.

Students have responsibility to ensure they are properly enrolled in classes.  You are advised to review your official class schedule (using Student Tools on FlashLine) during the first two weeks of the semester to ensure you are properly enrolled in this class and section.  Should you find an error in your class schedule, you have until Sunday, September 6, 2009 to correct the error.  If registration errors are not corrected by this date and you continue to attend and participate in classes for which you are not officially enrolled, you are advised now that you will not receive a grade at the conclusion of the semester for any class in which you are not properly registered.

B.   Academic honesty: Cheating means to misrepresent the source, nature, or other conditions of your academic work (e.g., tests, papers, projects, assignments) so as to get undeserved credit.   In addition, it is considered to be cheating when one cooperates with someone else in any such misrepresentation.  The use of the intellectual property of others without giving them appropriate credit is a serious academic offense.  It is the University's policy that cheating or plagiarism result in receiving a failing grade for the work or course.  Repeat offenses result in dismissal from the University.

C.   Course Withdrawal:

For Fall 2009, the course withdrawal deadline is Sunday, November 8, 2009.

D.   Students with disabilities: 

University policy 3342-3-01.3 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have a documented disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments. Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through Student Accessibility Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit www.kent.edu/sas <http://www.registrars.kent.edu/disability/>  for more information on registration procedures).