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MADM 760 - ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY AND POLICIES

Louisiana State University in Shreveport - College of Business
Fall A 2015

Overview Syllabus
Instructor: Dr. Bill Bigler
Associate Professor of Strategy
Phone:

318-797-5213 (Office)

Email:

bbigler@lsus.edu

Office Hours:
Best by appointment by emailing me for a phone
conversation or an email chat.
Required Material:
Books:
1. Mastering Strategic Management, Dave Ketchen and Jeremy Short,
2013, Flatworld Knowledge.
https://students.flatworldknowledge.com/course/2434145

Please do not search for a used copy on Amazon. This book is

customized for us and is very inexpensive.
2. Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, A.G. Lafley and Roger
Martin, 2013, Harvard Business Review Press. Order from Amazon.
3. Harvard Business School Case Study:
Netflix in 2011

https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/access/38334181

If you have not used the Harvard system before you will see you
need to set up an account. Very simple to do.

Course Description and Objectives:

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I.

Course Overview

This course, Management 760 Organizational Strategy and Policies, is a

lecture, discussion and application case oriented course designed to provide
you with an overview of the problems, opportunities and challenges of
generating sustainable results, properly understood, in mid-size and large
established companies. This course is not a course in global strategy.
The deliverable of this course is:
An Overview Understanding of the Capabilities, Accountabilities and
Roles Required For Sustainable Competitive Advantage at the
Business Unit and Corporate Levels of the For-profit Firm
MADM 760 will approach the deliverable from a strategy formulation and
strategy execution perspective. This course will provide you with current and
time tested strategy concepts, frameworks and tools and newer emerging
views of strategy execution in aid of attaining the course deliverable. This
course will also serve your larger MBA coursework by providing an integrated
view of how the many facets of business you have studied in your core and
elective courses fit together to define a strategy that aims to achieve
sustainable competitive advantage and sustainable wealth creation.
We will see the line between strategy formulation and then execution is
beginning to blur in todays fast paced business world. Our course, MADM
760, is designed to not only expose you to the profession and practice of
business and corporate strategic management, but also to lay out the basic
foundations of strategic management that will be useful for the rest of your
career.
II.

Course Objectives

MADM 760 has nine objectives in service of the course deliverable:

1. To be the catalyst for each student to start to develop their own initial
model of strategic management to be honed with your other MBA
courses
2. To immerse you in the world of strategic management and the
management of strategy
3. To introduce you to a variety of tools employed in strategy formulation
and strategy execution
4. To highlight the necessity for an integrative perspective for strategic
management
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5. To introduce you to the requirement for alignment among strategy,

structure, processes, technology, and firm wealth creation. Rewards
and company culture are part of this alignment as well and we will
discuss these two aspects but they will be covered in more depth in
other courses
6. To provide you an opportunity to work on developing your team
building, small group leadership skills
7. To give you an opportunity to apply the strategic management tools
and concepts to one rich Harvard Business School case study
8. To vividly demonstrate a key strategy conundrum the requirement to
make timely, key decisions based on sound expected
return/risk/uncertainty tradeoffs in a business world that can appear to
be very chaotic
9. To give you an awareness of the history and evolution of the strategic
management field while also focusing on newer concepts and tools
III.

Themes for MADM 760

As early as eight years ago when I came to LSUS, the themes for my then
Capstone Course were:
This semester some of the case selections and a variety of the readings will
favor recent company situations that have a New Economy feel. This is
new for me in the context of my course design (but not in my client work),
and I will be preparing all of these cases along with you. The reason for this,
in relation to the course deliverable, is to delve into key strategy questions:
a. Is there a real distinction between an old economy and a new
economy?
b. Will the new economics of information change the fundamental
nature of strategy?
c. Will strategists need to alter time tested laws, models, frameworks and
tools?
d. Will strategists need to devise completely new laws, models,
frameworks and tools?
My personal opinion is no, but some strategy experts think differently. This
will be an exciting aspect of this course and part of the ten objectives will be
for each of you to answer these questions for yourselves as you develop
your personal model of strategic management.
Just eight years later in 2015, these themes are old hat. There is no new vs.
old economy. Everything is now clicks and mortar not clicks or mortar.
The old tenants of strategy were not thrown out they were only
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strengthened as many .coms became .gones. and could have used a huge
dose of some of the most basic but time tested strategy concepts and tools.
But we do know the business world is in a dynamic, turbulent state right now.
Is this momentary, or will this condition be the nature of business forever? As
such, current themes designed into the course are:
e. The mandate for newer and bolder profitable growth to grow economic
value (shareholder wealth)
f. The need for almost continuous re-invention or transformation,
innovation and growth
g. The continued collapsing of many industry boundaries, for example
info-tainment out of the former information and entertainment
separate industries. What radical changes in the value chain need to
happen for the US Automobile Industry?
h. The emergence of newer competitive spaces, i.e. bio-tech, space, etc.
i. The mandate for results
IV.

Teaching Approach and Nature of the Syllabus

My approach to this course has evolved over the last twenty-five years. It
now includes an equal weight for lecture material, discussion and an
application case study. I have found this mix is the best mix for me, given my
experience and research, to achieve the course deliverable. All strategy
professors have their own unique mix of the above but we are all committed
to some version of the deliverable for this course.
You all are earning a masters degree. As such, mastering basic knowledge of
strategic management is one key. We will do this primarily via the textbook
and this is where the chapter quizzes will come from to assess your basic
knowledge. But the key aspect differentiating an undergraduate course from
a graduate level course is application of the knowledge. This will be
accomplished via the Playing to Win professional book and the Application
case study. I will lecture on the book chapters using the authors powerpoint
lectures accompanying the book. But I will also supplement these lectures
with my own brief powerpoint lectures for more in depth discussion. These
lectures will not be tested per se directly using quizzes, but will be integral to
you applying the basic knowledge in our discussion threads and the two
Application Case Skill Builders. The discussion threads will be individual in
nature within teams of ten students. The Application skill builders will be
performed in teams of five students.
V.

Class Preparation and Attendance

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Little gain can be accomplished from this course without adequate

preparation. As a rule of thumb, think about five hours of class
preparation for every half week or ten hours per week.
VI.

Class Discussion: Creating a Shared Destiny to Accomplish the

Course Deliverable

We will use class discussion of readings, lectures, and application case to

form a shared destiny to accomplish the course deliverable. The accent will
be on the upbeat as we all try to accomplish the course deliverable together.
You will want to come this online class prepared and ask questions,
draw comparisons, give examples, pose problems, put forth and
defend your positions on issues and to challenge conclusions given
by teams and individuals. No one kind of discussion is favored.
Penetrating questions and sharp critiques are just as valuable as an insightful
problem identification, detailed analyses, or a comprehensive summary
provided:
This active participation aids in the class accomplishing the course
deliverable and aids in your career development!!!!
In sum, quantity and quality of valuable discussion in service for the course
deliverable is required to receive an A on the class discussion portion of your
overall grade.
I view A quality participation as that which:
1. Informs our forum in substantial ways;
2. Is insightful while to the point;
3. Integrates the readings, case and perhaps your business experience
in a way that
brings the ah-ha experience to you and your MBA colleagues;
4. Demonstrates that you are prepared (by doing and reflecting
carefully upon the
readings);
5. Offers original ideas and perspectives on the topic du jour;
6. Relates a given topic to other topics we have discussed previously;
7. Poses good questions to me and your classmates;
8. Indicates willingness to test ideas and offer controversial opinions or
positions;
9. Takes a stand on issues and defends that stance, referring to both
your readings and
experience
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Assessing Participation Grade Opportunities

Discussion Forum Rubric
You are required to participate in Moodle discussion forums! Participation will
be measured in terms of thoughtfulness of response, accuracy of response,
and quality of writing. Asynchronous communication forums have many
advantages, including the discussion of multiple perspectives. You may be
more confident to "speak up", less distracted than in a typical classroom, and
you can enhance your higher order thinking via exposure to multiple opinions
and perspectives.
The discussion forums will be in Part B of the course and will be worth 20
points each. But only for high-quality initial responses (and for
substantive feedback to your classmates) will you receive all the points
possible. Substantive responses show depth of understanding, demonstrate
insight into the material, and are free from spelling and grammar mistakes.
Heres a rubric that shows the breakdown of points for discussion posts
(points are an approximation):
o
o
o

Zero points = failure to post

1-5 points response is not relevant to the course material. No intext citations or references.
6-10 points response is related to course material but lacks
substantive content. Example: "The book says that information never
speaks for itself.... I agree. In-text citations and references are
correctly cited in APA style.
11-15 points one-dimensional creative response related to the
course material. Example: "The book says that information never
speaks for itself .... I agree. My own experience taught me that Intext citations and references are correctly cited in APA style.
16-20 points response goes beyond creative response related to
the course material and, for example, shows the relationship between
the concepts discussed in the books and the theoretical approach
explained in the lectures and applies and evaluates that relationship
in light of the assigned case study; or response includes web page or
other source, demonstrating how its content relates to the course
material and how the course material can be evaluated based on the
external sources. In-text citation and references are correctly cited in
APA style.

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Note: Points will also be assigned for responses to your classmates. You
cannot get full credit unless you respond to your class mates initial replies to
the forum questions with at least one reply, in addition to your initial post.
VII.

A Word About the Readings

To emphasize a previous statement: MADM 760 is designed to lay out the

basic foundations of strategic management that will prove useful in your
careers. Today there is no one universally accepted strategy paradigm.
Instead there is an array of various models, some complementary and some
conflicting. Thus as a capstone course, MADM 760 is designed to expose you
to a broad range of models of strategy.
As I have stressed, your personal challenge is to begin to integrate the
material to form your personal framework and model for strategic
management that will serve you well over your business career.
VIII. A Word About the Application Case
In most professors opinion, the Harvard Business School produces and
publishes the finest strategy and business case studies in the world. Those
cases they allow in the inventory from other schools go through a rigorous
quality test. Each class in MADM 760 will work on a different Harvard Case
study. Many of the cases are exciting pieces of literature to read and some
others are somewhat dry but they all are chosen to be comprehensive in
study one firm as an entire enterprise.
So, you will find I approach the application case as learning opportunity and
in a strategy case there is typically no one correct answer. There are better
and more useful answers, but we know there are at least a few paths to
success in almost any situation.

IX.

An Important Word on Team Management

You will find that different processes and practices are used to manage
student teams from class to class in the MBA program. In MADM 760 you will
be placed as a member on a permanent five member team for the duration
of the semester for the Application Case. It is up to you to cooperate, do your
fair share of the work, and contribute as a key team player to the joint team
effort in such a way as to maximize your team project efforts. Members will
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not be removed, interchanged, or fired from a team once the teams have
been finalized. Skills developed in the team project settings encountered
throughout the MBA program will be critical to your success in the
organizational world. So seize these opportunities to build an effective set of
interpersonal skills they will take you far trust me on this one.
There will be a peer review at the end of the term. While the points
awarded will not be directly part of the percentages of your overall grade,
scores for a team member that are unanimously low will result in an
investigation by this professor and that team members grade possibly
lowered on the team portion of your overall grade.
V.

Grading Summary

Final course grade will be a weighted average of the following:

Course Activity
Weight
14 Quizzes
Class Participation Posts via the Discussion Forums
First Application Case Skill Builder
Second Application Case Skill Builder
Total

30%
20%
25%
25%
100%

The percentages above will be turned into points The summed total points
out of 100 will determine your semester grade according to:
A = Total points 90 B = Total points 80 C = Total points 70 D = Total
points 60
F = Total points < 60
V. Other Ground Rules
A. Cheating will not be tolerated in any shape or form. A pledge will be
expected to be given for the midterm exam.
B. If you require accommodations for any disability, please contact the
Coordinator for Students with Disabilities
C. With all of this said, lets really enjoy the semester together. WRB

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