COURSE SYLLABUS

COURSE:                            INTEGRATED BUSINESS POLICY & STRATEGY

Course Number:            M&IS 44285   Section:     007

Course Number:            15256               Semester: Spring 2012

Days:                                    M&W                  Time: 5:30 pm – 6:45 pm

Room:                                   106                     Instructor:     Cindy Jackson

Phone:                                 330-687-8733

Office Hours:                 M-W 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM

Other times by appointment

Email:                                cindy@globaltti.com     Skype:  globaltti3

Online Support:          http://www.globalthinktankin.com/strategy-syllabus

Class Notes:                        http://www.globalthinktankin.com/strategy-class-notes

READING MATERIALS:

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK:

Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson, (2011) Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization, Southwestern/Cengage Learning 10th edition, ISBN 978-1-111-82587-4.

REFERENCED HBR ARTICLES:

·          Porter, Michael, (1996) What is Strategy?, Harvard Business Review, Reprint #96608 http://www.ipocongress.ru/download/guide/article/what_is_strategy.pdf

·          Downes, Larry (2012) Why Best Buy is Going Out of Business…Gradually, Forbes.com; http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrydownes/2012/01/02/why-best-buy-is-going-out-of-business-gradually/

·          Porter, Michael (1997) How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy? Harvard Business Review, #79208 http://prolog.univie.ac.at/teaching/LVAs/KFK-LM/WS07/Porter.pdf

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

Note:  These are not required texts, but I will be drawing from them for notes, assignments and graded requirements.  I will provide class notes on graded materials, so the books are optional. 

·          Rasiel, and Friga, (2001) The McKinsey Mind: Understanding and Implementing the Problem Solving Tools and Management Techniques of the World’s Top Strategic Consulting Firm, McGraw-Hill, ISBN:  0-07-137429-9.

·          Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, Lampel (1998) Strategy Safari: The Complete Guide Through the Wilds of Strategic Management, Financial Times/Prentice Hall, ISBN:  0-273-65636-8.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: 

This course is designed to introduce the student to business analysis as it relates to strategic management.  The course examines the theoretical foundations, strategic formulation and implementation of strategy.  The student will use techniques and processes to systemically analyze industry sectors, competition and business resources in relation to strategic management. 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 

·          Use Techniques and Systems to Develop a Critical Understanding of Business and Industry Analysis

·          Introduction to Theoretical Constructs of Strategy

·          Systemic Approach to Strategic Formation and Management

·          Strengthen Presentation and Writing Skills as they would apply in Strategic Management

COURSE APPROACH: 

This course is taught from a consulting and systems approach.  Companies are reviewed from a systems approach including cultural, political, operational, and structural elements.  Written and oral presentations should be framed as though the student is presenting to a business client. 

CASE STUDIES:

Case studies are often used to provide further support and reference, but the student will be asked to look at the company beyond the scope of the case study.  Frequently, cases will be used together to discuss, compare and contrast strategic constructs.

EVALUATION: 

Your final grade in this course will be a weighted average of the grades obtained for the following (maximum points possible are shown).  There is no midterm or final exam in this course. 

GRADING SCALE:

Final course (letter) grades will be assigned using the plus/minus grading system adopted by the University. Also, numerical grades for all course components will be expressed in a 4.0 scale.

The equivalence between numerical and letter grades will roughly follow the same scale used by the University to award academic honor points. Specifically, the grading scale for this course will be as follows:

3.6 – 4.0 =   A

3.4 – 3.5 =   A-

3.1 – 3.3 =   B+

2.7 – 3.0 =   B

2.4 – 2.6 =   B-

2.1 – 2.3 =   C+

1.7 – 2.0 =   C

1.4 – 1.6 =    C-

1.1 – 1.3 =     D+

0.8 - 1.0 =    D

0.0 – 0.7 =   F       

OTHER UNIVERSITY and COLLEGE POLICIES

The Instructor reserves the right to modify course schedule and/or procedures in the event of circumstances beyond her control.

The following University and/or College policies apply to all students in this course:

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.

COURSE WITHDRAWAL DEADLINE:

The course withdrawal deadline is January 22, 2012 without the grade of W.  March 18^th is the last day to withdrawal with a W grade assigned. 

DISABLED STUDENTS:

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 http://www.registrars.kent.edu/disability/ for more information on registration procedures).

ENROLLMENT / OFFICIAL REGISTRATION:

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 January 22, 2012 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.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: 

Cindy Jackson is the President of Global ThinkTank Institute (Stow, Ohio) has more than 20 years experience in the consulting and management fields and currently works in Research, Consulting and Education worldwide in Healthcare, Service, Non-Profit, Government and Manufacturing Sectors. 

Cindy has both a BA (Psychology) and MBA (M&IS) from Kent State and was the former Director of the Center for Executive Education and Development, in the College of Business at KSU.  Global ThinkTank Institute runs consulting and research internships and mentoring programs for undergraduate and graduate students.

COURSE OUTLINE

COURSE:                            INTEGRATED BUSINESS POLICY & STRATEGY

Course Number:            M&IS 44285

Section:                             007

Course Number:            15256

Semester:                          Spring 2012

Days:                                    M&W

Time:                                                 5:30 pm – 6:45 pm

Room:                                   106

Instructor:                      Cindy Jackson

Phone:                                 330-687-8733

Office Hours:                 M-W 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM

Other times by appointment

Email:                                  cindy@globaltti.com

Skype:                                  globaltti3

The Instructor reserves the right to modify course schedule and/or procedures in the event of circumstances beyond her control.

Written Assignments:

Three written assignments are required for this course.  The objective is to show the student’s critical thinking skills as they related to the subject matter covered in class notes and text readings.  Assignments can draw upon other academic or business referenced materials, if appropriately cited.

The expectations will be that the assignments will be written using APA style, and will include a minimum of two academic references.  The writing should be driven by evidence and not by opinion.

Consultants are often called upon for position papers that show expertise about a topic area, the assignments should be framed as client-based documents, as such should be appropriately formatted.   Assignments will be verified for originality of content and plagiarism will not be tolerated, lack of original content will result in 0 points and may result in course failure.

Format Requirements:

Assignments should be 1000 -1500 words in length with a 2000 word maximum.  The format should use 1” margins (top, bottom, left and right), with 1.5 line spacing.  Fonts should be Arial, Verdana, Maiandra GD or Tahoma with a 12-point font for the body.  All other format requirements should comply with APA standards.

The assignments will be graded as follows:

50 points:  Content (the evidence, support and argument for the position)

20 points:  Style (grammar, structure, APA format, spelling and sentence structure)

30 points:  Evidence (referenced support for the position of the paper)

100 points total per assignment

Assignments are due on the due date (before 11:59 pm).  In cases of emergency late papers can be accepted with prior approval for a maximum of 70 points. 

Company/Industry Reports

Vital to the strategic management process is the analysis of a company’s current and future position.  This includes analysis of internal resources, value proposition and sustainable competitive advantage.  It also requires an understanding of how the company stands in market against existing and potential competitors. 

Company reports are designed in the style of consulting reports, to analyze companies in a systems approach, so political, cultural, financial and operational systems will need to be considered as well as the elements of the company that allow it to provide a needed solutions in the marketplace. 

Company Reports must:

1.     Frame the Problem  (Company Purpose, Mission and Vision)

2.    Design the Analysis (Hypothesis and Issue Tree)

3.    Gather Data (Including Company Resources, Competition, Industry Trends) 

4.    Interpret the Findings

Format Requirements:

Reports should be 2000-2500 words in length with a 3000 word maximum.  The format should use 1” margins (top, bottom, left and right), with 1.5 line spacing.  Fonts should be Arial, Verdana, Maiandra GD or Tahoma with a 12-point font for the body.  All other format requirements should comply with APA standards.

The Company will be graded as follows:

50 points:  Content (the evidence, support and argument for the position)

20 points:  Style (grammar, structure, APA format, spelling and sentence structure)

30 points:  Evidence (referenced support for the position of the paper)

100 points  Total per Report

Reports are due on the due date (before 11:59 pm).  In cases of emergency late papers can be accepted with prior approval for a maximum of 70 points. 

Presentations:

It is critical to be able to present your ideas with clarity, innovation and relevant content.  Presentations will be the development of strategic plan for one of the companies from your company report. 

The presentation must identify the strategic approach (including the supporting school of thought), define purpose, vision and mission as well as integrating the strategic elements with the value proposition and sustainable competitive advantage. 

In addition, it should offer a plan of action to achieve this strategy (incorporating systems and policy) and should be able to address concerns, questions or challenges from the client. 

Format Requirements:

Oral presentations can use any medium – handouts, PowerPoint or other resources to present the strategy.  Length of Presentation will be determined by number of students presenting. 

The assignments will be graded as follows:

60 points:     Content: The Strategy (the evidence, support, clarity of mission, vision and purpose, integration to the strategy, school of thought and argument for the position) and the Plan of Action (use of policy, systems and plan to communicate strategy)

20 points:     Innovation, clarity and creativity of the presentation

30 points:     Ability to address questions and answers

100 points     Total per assignment