Business Strategy and Outline

							STRATEGY COURSE OVERVIEW OF READINGS & ASSIGNMENTS
Fall 2006 Geoff Linton
(to be posted on www.lintons.on.ca)

                        OUTLINE OF TOPICS                                                      KEY PAGES
Wk 1   Sept 5           Class 1-2 "Course Requirements"
                        Introduce context of course, expectations (student, team, instructor)
                        Review course outline, text & BSG manual
                        Dynamic industries & successful companies (& Nike,Reebok vs niche)
                        Strategic business planning process overview & schematic
                        Who are we in business for? Shareholders
                        What are the key financial drivers/variables how companies make profits?

                        Overview of Game for Section 3- How to Play
                        Read Chapter 1 – Basic Concepts of Strategic Management


       Sept 11 & 12     Porter's Generic Strategies*
Wk 2                    Chapter 1 – Basic Concepts of Strategic Management                      p7* & p12*
                        Review actual strategic plans from industry                             Q3 & Q4
                        Lecture – Strategic Planning, an overview
                        8-Step Strategic Decision Making Process**
                        Exercise #1: Generic Strategies of Real shoe companies
                        Lab: Online Registration & Overview Online
                        Market Analysis; (Global, Geo Segment, Addressable Market re size,
                        growth, S&D gap, major competitor, intensity of competition, margins,
                        profitability)
                        Read the entire Business Simulation Game manual
                        Read Chapter 10 - Evaluation and Control

Wk 3   Sept 18 &19      Chapter 10- Evaluation & Control
                        Lecture: Using the Balanced Scorecard Approach
                        Example: Balanced Scorecard and strategy mapping
                        In class exercise # 2 - 8 Step Process Review of BSG
                         In class exercise #3 - Balanced Scorecard for BSG
                        Groupwork Process & Roles
                        Lab: Getting Started & Key Financial Measures for BSG
                        Practice Play the Shoe game (BSG 1 1 round Yr 11 )
                        Read Chapter 3 – Environmental Scanning and Industry Analysis

Wk 4   Sept 25 & 26     Chapter 3 – Environmental Scanning and Industry Analysis                Q2, Q3

                        Lecture – External Scanning Techniques (PEST, Porter, Issues Matrix) p35* & p36*
                         In class exercise #4 - 5 Forces Analysis
                        Develop positioning grids and segment matrices using industry cases
                        (and Shoe game). Write elevator pitches
                        Interpreting company reports & Practice Play the Shoe game (BSG 1
                        1 round Yr 12 & reset)
                        Read Chapter 4 - Internal Scanning: Organizational Analysis



Wk 5   Oct 2 & 3        Chapter 4 - Internal Scanning: Organizational Analysis                Q2* & Q4
                        Lecture – Assessing Internal Resources and sources of competitive advantage
                        Value Chain
                        In class exercise #5 - Analyzing SCA and value chain of BSG
                        Summarize what SCA the Shoe company is trying to build (p42)
                        Lab: Inclass Quiz 1


Wk 6   Oct 9 & 10       Chapter 5: Situational Analysis
                        Lecture - How to develop a SWOT/TOWS which is useful
                        Sample- Chapters and Amazon (and Bookshelf Café)
                        In class exercise #6 - Develop a Tows/SWOT for BSG



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                      Lab: Midterm Lab Review
                      Decision Year 3

Wk 7   Oct 16 &17     Midterm?


                      Read Chapter 5 – Strategy Formulation a: Situational Analysis and Business Strategy

Wk 8   Oct 23 & 24    Chapter 6 – Strategy Formulation a: Situational Analysis and Business Strategy
                      Generic Competitive Strategies                                     Ch 5 p 80
                      Practice: What business are we in? Where do we want to go? How do we get there?
                      In class exercise #7 - BCG Portfolio Matrix

                      Read Chapter 7 - Functional Strategy and Strategic Choice



Wk 9   Oct 30 & 31    Chapter 7 - Functional Strategy and Strategic Choice

                      In class exercise #8 - Ansoff Matrix
                      Quiz 2 Practice Exercise
                      Lab: Quiz 2- outside class


Wk 10 Nov 6 & 7       Chapter 8: Organizing for Action
                      In class exercise #9 - Create a GANTT chart on key milestones achieved and upcoming plans/key decisions


Wk 11 Nov 13 & 14     Chapter 9 - Staffing and Leading
                      In class exercise #9 - MBO SMART objectives

Wk 12 Nov 20 & 21     Chapter 2 - Governance
                      In class exercise #10 - Issues Priority Matrix

Wk 13 Nov 27 & 28     In-class Presentation - Business Case Analysis


Wk 14 Dec 4 & 5       In-class Presentation - Business Case Analysis
                      Final Review


Wk 16 w/o Dec 11      FINAL EXAM -NO EXEMPTIONS



                      Other Items the Instructors will Expect You to Do on Your Own
                      Drawing a Business Model (mindmap, resource flowchart)
                      Outsourcing, push vs pull
                      Decision tree, mind mapping, cost/benefit, root cause, gap analysis,
                      payback, ROI, variance, ratios (p 167)
                      Core competencies
                      PEST
                      Strategic Group Map
                      Experience Curve
                      Writing a business case - exec summary (with in class pres)
                      Variance analysis
                      Scenario Analysis
                      Benchmarking
                      Scorecard Mapping
                      Breakeven




        c3d95cff-ceb2-413f-8178-0a15d2ab36cd.xls        Fall 2006       2                                                   11/30/2010