MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE MURSHIDABAD

PGPM: 2015-17
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT - I

STUDY MATERIAL

FACULTY

Introduction
The business environment in which a company operates is like the concept of entropy in
physics. The degree of randomness of the environment is always increasing which makes the
life of top management both interesting and challenging. How to understand and operate
successfully in such a complex environment highlights the need for strategy. Due to various
reasons, the concept of strategy is often not well understood and infact is misused many
times and which makes it imperative to know what strategy is and what it is not, and more so
in the Indian context. This course aspires to understand the basic concepts of strategy, and
business environment; and strategy formulation for long term success of an organization.
Course Objectives
Understanding the fundamental concepts of strategy.
Creating conceptual clarity and relating it with the practice of strategy.
Developing the skills and knowledge for strategy formulation.
Pedagogy
The course methodology will involve interactive sessions, case discussions, industry
interactions through guest speakers and project work. It puts specialize emphasizes on self
learning through projects.
Evaluation
Mid-Term Exam. 20%

Project 30%

End-Term Exam. 30%

Class Participation & Quizzes 20%

Suggested readings
Journals
Journal of Strategic Management

McKinsey Quarterly

Strategic Direction

Harvard Business Review

Session Plan
Sessio
n
1

Topic
Introduction to the course

Introduction to Strategy

Theory of Business

4
5

Performance
Strategic Intent

Essential Readings
Strategy in India: Why doesnt it deliver?
Pillania, SD, 2009. Class Exercise
Porter, Michael, E. What is Strategy? Harvard
Business Review, Vol. 74, No. 6 (November
December 1996), pp 61 78. Case: AnheuserBusch and US Brewing Industry.
Drucker, Peter, F. Theory of Business Harvard
Business Review, Vol. 72, (September October
1994) pp. 95-104. Case: Intel Corporation: 19682003
Collins, James C. and Jerry I. Porras. Building

6
7

Environmental Threats
Environmental Opportunities

Evaluating Firm Strengths and

Weaknesses

Value Chain Analysis and

Competitive Advantage

your companys vision. Harvard Business

Review, Vol. 74 No. 5 (September October
1996), pp. 65-77.
Case: The US Airline Industry in 1995
Porter, Michael E. Notes on Structural Analysis
of Industries. Harvard Business School (June
1983). Case: Yahoo! Business on Internet Time
Prahalad, C. K. and Gary Hamel. The Core
Competence of the Corporation. Harvard
Business Review, Vol. 70, No. 3 (May June
1990), pp. 79-93. Case: Matching Dell
Ghemawat, Pankaj and Jan Rivkin. Creating
Competitive Advantage. Harvard Business
School (December 1999). Case: StarBucks

10
Pre Mid Term Sum Up
*The session plan and scheduling is tentative and might change as we progress through the
course.