MGMT E-5000 Strategic Management Course

Spring 2016
Joe Chevarley, Jr. (primary)
Email: jwchevar@fas.harvard.edu Office Hours: By Appointment
G. Timothy Bowman (non-profit) Classes: Thursdays 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Email: gtbowman@seas.harvard.edu 1 Story Street, Room 304
Claudia Hartmann (teaching assistant)
Email: chartman@fas.harvard.edu
Michael McCarthy
Email: michaelmccarthy@fas.harvard.edu
Siegfried Sharma
Email: ssharma@fas.harvard.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION 4/14/2016

Learning Objectives: This course is designed to help you, the student, integrate and apply your earlier
functional courses and your on-the-job experiences. The course takes the general management point of
view, emphasizing the creation, implementation and evaluation of strategy in organizations. In addition
to focusing on for-profit businesses, this section includes a module on strategy in non-profits as well. You
will put yourselves in the shoes of top management and make the really important "Big Picture"
decisions. You will develop expertise in the analysis of complex business situations and in clearly
presenting your findings both orally and in writing. You will also further develop your ability to work
effectively in teams.

Prerequisites: Coursework in accounting and two other functional areas is expected. You will be
required to analyze and interpret financial statements.

Academic Integrity: You are responsible for understanding Harvard Extension School policies on
academic integrity (www.extension.harvard.edu/resources-policies/student-conduct/academic-integrity)
and how to use sources responsibly. Not knowing the rules, misunderstanding the rules, running out of
time, submitting "the wrong draft," or being overwhelmed with multiple demands are not acceptable
excuses. There are no excuses for failure to uphold academic integrity. To support your learning about
academic citation rules, please visit the Harvard Extension School Tips to Avoid Plagiarism
(www.extension.harvard.edu/resources-policies/resources/tips-avoid-plagiarism), where you'll find links
to the Harvard Guide to Using Sources and two, free, online 15-minute tutorials to test your knowledge of
academic citation policy. The tutorials are anonymous open-learning tools.

Disability Services Office: The Extension School is committed to providing an accessible academic
community. The Disability Services Office offers a variety of accommodations and services to students
with documented disabilities. Please visit www.extension.harvard.edu/resources-
policies/resources/disability-services-accessibility for more information.

Distance Option:
You may take this class as an in-person or as a distance student; however, all students are expected to
rigorously participate in class discussion during the regularly scheduled class time. Distance
students may accomplish this by watching the live video stream on their computers and responding via a
live chat which will be monitored by Teaching Assistants. Class participation will count for 20% of your
final grade, so it is important that you be available during class time and be willing and able to use the
chat feature. The video will be recorded and posted for follow-up viewing, however, you will still be
expected to attend class and participate on a regular basis, whether that is in-person or virtually.

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Residency:
This course has an intensive – and mandatory – two-day residency. The on-campus sessions will take
place on Saturday, February 20th, 9am to 5pm, and Sunday, February 21st, 9am to 4pm. Attendance is
required at the entire weekend in order to earn credit and pass the course. No exceptions can be granted.
There will be an optional Meet and Greet on Friday February 19th, from 6:00pm to 7:00pm. Tuition
does not include hotel accommodations, transportation or meals. The website HARVARD
SQUARE.com (www.harvardsquare.com) is one good source for information about accommodations,
restaurants and general goings-on.

Assignments (to be completed in teams):

 Written Analysis of a Case (complete 2 out of 3 options)
 Final Paper (real-time analysis of a company)
 Strategy Concepts Presentation (end of semester)

 Written Analysis of a Case (team of 2 to 3 students)

For WACs, you will be given a set of detailed instructions and will be required to follow a
particular analytical model, both of which will be handed out and reviewed in class separately.
You must complete two out of three assignments, choosing from three eligible cases. These cases
and their corresponding due dates are noted on the Course Schedule with an asterisk (“*”).

 Final Paper (team of 2 to 3 students)

For the final paper, we will give you the detailed assignment sheet and the case you must use
approximately one month before the end of the course. The assignment will be similar to that of
the WACs, but will require that you update the case and analyze the company in real time. It will
be due on May 12th.

From a presentation point of view, you will want to present highly professional documents.
Sloppy spelling and poor grammar will be penalized. Papers should be single-sided, double-
spaced, machine-written and should not exceed the specified word limit. Please include a
cover sheet noting your name(s). Do not put your name(s) anywhere else. And, please do not
put your papers in binders or other covers. Electronic submissions by distance students should be
made in PDF and Word format. Please note that written assignments must be turned in when
due. There will be no exceptions.

 Strategy Concept Presentation (team of 5 to 6 students)

At the end of the semester, you will do a presentation on a strategy topic of your choice. You
can pick any topic that is related to strategy such as: competitive advantage, core competence,
strategic groups, diversification, boards of directors, ethics, social responsibility/conscious
capitalism, etc.

You will submit your topic proposal (no more than one page, double-spaced) by March 10th.
Once the topic is approved, you will develop your presentation. You should start with a
description of the topic and explain its importance to business and strategy. Next, building on
and updating what is in the textbook, present the key findings related to the topic that
currently exist in the popular business press and academic literature. Then, and most importantly,
discuss the challenges and unanswered questions associated with the topic and offer your
recommendations to senior managers for dealing with the challenges.

You will have fifteen minutes to present. Afterward there will be a brief Q&A session.

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 A professional PowerPoint presentation is expected. You will need to turn in three hard copies
of your slides (three slides per page), plus an annotated bibliography on the evening you
present. Two classes are allocated to the presentations. The order of presentations will be
assigned.

Teams
All written assignments and presentations are to be completed in teams—no individual assignments will
be accepted. Teams for WACs and the final paper should be 2-3 people. Teams for presentations should
be 5-6 people. Peer evaluations will be required for the presentation and final paper assignments and
optional for the WAC assignments. To help you get started, the TAs will make initial team assignments
for you. You may keep the same team all semester or switch to another team if you prefer, but you will
be responsible for finding a new team and for informing your old one in a timely manner. Every
presentation team must also be sure to have at least one local member.

Teams are encouraged to hold an introductory meeting (in person or virtual using phone, web conference,
Skype, etc.) within the first two weeks of class in order to establish expectations and ground rules for
working together. Not all of you will have the same goals, nor will you have the same work style. (Some
of you are planners, some are procrastinators, some are taking the class for fun, some care very much
about getting a high grade, and some will prioritize class work higher than others.) Discussing these
issues openly and early in the process will save you all a great deal of frustration throughout the semester
and may help you make smarter assignments within your teams. Part of your task will be learning to
work effectively with a disparate team toward a common end. Teams will include a mix of in-person and
distance students, so be prepared to deal with different time zones as well as different technologies.

Case Discussions/Participation
The case situations you will be reading about and which you will be expected to analyze and discuss in
class are complex, unstructured and may defy precise treatment. Often, information you might wish to
have will be incomplete or lacking. In addition, you may possess only limited technical or functional
expertise. Yet, you will be expected to commit yourself to a sensible and workable strategic course of
action and be able and willing to justify your choice. In that sense, you will find yourself in exactly the
same situation managers have to face in the "real world". It will be important that you do quantitative
financial analysis as well as qualitative synthesis and analysis of case facts. (This is also true for
your treatment of cases in the written assignments.)

Class participation involves summarizing the situation in the case, performing a piece of analysis,
asking a helpful question, tying the case together, recommending a solution -- in other words, whatever
helps the class explore the ramifications of the case effectively. Participation is not just talking for air-
time's sake. We are interested in both the quality and quantity of your contributions to discussions.

Participation by each student in class discussions, whether in-person or via live chat, is an essential
part of this course. Such participation is required because the class discussions are the major vehicle for
improving your capabilities in dealing with situations involving the formulation and implementation of
strategy. You should, therefore, prepare the assigned material prior to class, actively participate in class
discussions and be ready to defend your comments against constructive criticism by other members of the
class.
As you mainly will learn from checking your ideas, reasoning, and hunches with those of others, you do
have an obligation to participate. Your own experiences and ideas are an important part of the learning
process for all in the class -- while listening is important, so is contributing to the discussion.
NOTE: Attendance by itself does not constitute participation.

Around mid-term we will provide you with your interim class participation grade to give you an

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indication of your performance up to that point. If in-class and live distance students miss more than
two classes, participation grades will be lowered.

In the classroom you are expected to act professionally. Therefore, the use of laptops is only permitted
for taking notes. Web surfing and other non-class-related activities on laptops are strictly prohibited.
Failure to adhere to this policy will jeopardize your participation grade.

Web Conferences

Since class discussions will focus mainly on the assigned cases, web conferences will be
presented in which the TA will review concepts from the text as well as the material presented in
class. These will be scheduled on weekends and on some of the Thursdays when no class is
scheduled. A summary will be posted on Canvas after each web conference. Web conference
attendance is not required, but is extremely helpful.

Note: To succeed in the course you will need to fully understand all the requirements and to keep track
of all important dates. It is your responsibility to check in regularly to the course’s website.
Communications, schedule changes, information, as well as class material will be available.

Grading Policy

WACs 30% (15% each)

Final Paper 20%
Presentation 20%
Participation 20%
Residency Presentation 5%
5% “floats” to the best of the above

We strongly encourage you to follow stories and reports in business publications like The Wall Street
Journal, Bloomberg Business Week, Fortune and The Chronicle of Higher Education and to relate course
concepts to day-to-day events in the business world.

Best of luck and hope you enjoy the course!

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Course Materials

 Text: Strategic Management: creating competitive advantages, Seventh Edition.

Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner and McNamara, McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2013 (text only,
ISBN #9780077636081). Available at The COOP or as an eBook at
http://www.coursesmart.com
A copy will be on reserve in Grossman Library.

 Casebook: Strategic Management, MGMTE-5000. Chevarley, McGraw-Hill Irwin, Fall 2015

Available at The COOP (ISBN 9781308612386) or as an eBook (ISBN 9781308613529) at
http://create.mheducation.com/shop

 University Readers Course Pack (UR Course Pack): available at

https://students.universityreaders.com/store/

 During the Not-For-Profit strategy portion of the course you will also need
reading materials available from Harvard Business Publishing (HBP Course Pack) at
https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/import/ptos/46755104

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MGMT E-5000 Strategic Management Spring 2016
Joe Chevarley, Jr. & Tim Bowman

SCHEDULE 2/14/2016
Note: Cases followed by an asterisk (“*”) are eligible for the WAC Assignment.

1. Thur 1/28 Introduction to the Course

The Strategic Management Point of View
Read: (ch. 1) Strategic Management: Creating Competitive Advantage
Video: Executive Suite (intro)

2. Thur 2/4 The Strategic Management Point of View

Video: Executive Suite (cont.)
Read: Showtime for AOL Time Warner (UR Course Pack)
Read: Parsons faces major test in unifying AOL (UR Course Pack)

3. Thur 2/11 Contributions of Strategic Managers

Video: Executive Suite, cont.
Read: Seven Surprises for New CEOs
Analyzing Companies
Read: (ch. 13) Analyzing Strategic Management Cases
Read: (ch. 3) Assessing the Internal Environment of the Firm
Read: (Appendix 1 to ch. 13) Financial Ratio Analysis
Case: United Products, Inc. (UR Course Pack)

Thur 2/18 No Class

Sat 2/20 Residency

to Sun 2/21 Analyzing Companies
Read: (ch. 2) Analyzing the External Environment of the Firm
Read: What is Strategy?
Case: Panera Bread Company in 2012
Case: Costco Wholesale in 2012
Strategy in Not-for-Profits (Bowman)
Read: A Short Note on Public Sector Strategy-Building, Herman B.
Leonard, HKS (course web page)
Non Profit Organizations, an excerpt from Strategy Maps:
Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes, Robert S.
Kaplan; David P. Norton (HBP course pack)
The Blended Value Proposition: Integrating Social and Financial
Returns, Jed Emerson (HBP course pack)
A New Approach to Funding Social Enterprises,
Antony Bugg-Levine; Bruce Kogut; Nalin Kulatilaka (HBS course pack)

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MGMT E-5000 Strategic Management Spring 2016
Joe Chevarley, Jr. and Tim Bowman

SCHEDULE, CONT.

Residency
Strategy in Not-For-Profits, cont.
Read: Emerging Capital Markets for Nonprofits, Robert S. Kaplan;
Allen S.Grossman (HBP course pack)
Mission Impact, chapters 3 and Epilogue (UR course pack

Thur 2/25 No Class

4. Thur 3/3 Assessing the Strategy

Read: (ch. 5) Business-Level Strategy: Creating and Sustaining
Competitive Advantage
Leadership: Crisis Management
Case: JetBlue Airlines
Corporate-Level Strategy
Read: (ch. 6) Corporate-Level Strategy: Creating Value
Through Diversification
Case: Newell Company: The Rubbermaid Opportunity
First WAC DUE: Cooper Tire Company in 2014*

Thur 3/10 No Class

Presentation Proposals DUE

Thur 3/17 SPRING BREAK

5. Thur 3/24 Analyzing Organizational Culture

Read: (ch. 9) Strategic Control and Corporate Governance
Case: Southwest Airlines
Case: Tesco Plc.

6. Thur 3/31 Strategy in Not-For-Profits Continued (Bowman)

Read: (ch. 4) Recognizing a Firm’s Intellectual Assets
(ch. 11) Strategic Leadership
What is an Organization’s Culture?, Clayton M. Christensen,
Kirstin Shu (HBP Course Pack)
Bridgewater Associates Multi Media Case, Jeffrey T. Polzer,
Heidi K. Gardner (HBP Course Pack)
Second WAC DUE: The Harlem Children’s Zone Case*, Allen
Grossman, Daniel F. Curran (HBP Course Pack)

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MGMT E-5000 Strategic Management Spring 2016
Joe Chevarley, Jr. and Tim Bowman

SCHEDULE, CONT.

Thur 4/7 No Class

7. Thur 4/14 Five Forces Analysis

Read: (ch. 2) Analyzing the External Environment of the Firm, review
pages 48 to 61
Case: Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc.

8. Thur 4/21 Five Forces Analysis cont.

Managing Innovation
Read: (ch. 12) Managing Innovation and Fostering Corporate
Entrepreneurship
Read: Transient Advantage
Case: Evolution of the Circus Industry (A)
Third WAC DUE: Lululemon Athletica*

9. Thur 4/28 PRESENTATIONS #1

10. Thur 5/5 PRESENTATIONS #2

Thur 5/12 Final Paper DUE

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