| Syllabus |
| |
|Year |2014/2015 | |Semester |VIII Spring |
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|Course ID |MGT405080 | |Course Name |Strategic Management |
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|Type |core | |ECTS Credits |5 |
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|Language |Georgian/English | |Classroom Number | |
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|Professor |D.Markozashvili | |E-mail |d.markozashvili@freeuni.edu.ge |
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|Consultation by appointment |
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|Course Description |
|The objective of the course is to provide and apply a framework of analysis that will help participants formulate successful business unit/company |
|strategies aimed at establishing profitable and, to the extent possible, sustainable competitive positions. The primary building blocks in this |
|framework are: |
|(I) The internal analysis of a company’s resources and capabilities |
|(II) The external/industry analysis |
|(III) The applied game theory |
|Prerequisites |
|None |
|Purpose of the course |
|The purpose of the course is to further improve and deepen the knowledge of the management and to start thinking about not only how to manage yourself|
|and your company, but also how to manage the competitors and their actions. |
|Results |
|• Understand the effect of market efficiency on strategy formulation |
|• Industry analysis |
|• Perform an in-depth analysis of drivers of market attractiveness |
|• Formulate strategy based on: |
|(1) First mover advantage (pre-emption) |
|(2) Superior resources/capability deployment |
|Content |
|The contents of this class are: strategy formulation principles, first mover advantages, five market forces and their influence in strategy |
|formulation, strategies in mature markets and blue ocean strategies, network effects and their influence in decision making, game theory and its |
|application in real world situations, Judo strategy and its usage |
|Teaching Strategy |
|Class sessions will consist of lectures, case discussions and presentations. The cases and the presentations will illustrate how students will handle |
|to apply those tools in specific strategic situations. |
|The discussion during the classes will be essential part of the course. Preparing well for, regularly attending and fully contributing is important in|
|this course. Students are strongly encouraged to ask questions as we cover the material and to participate in the case discussions. Quality of |
|comments and not just quantity is important. |
|Evaluation |
|Students will be required to present about HK Economic Times Group and Google Inc. cases. Students will need to answer the questions for the |
|presentations that are included in the final section of this handout. |
|Besides that, there will be case discussion about Jet Blue and Ice Fili, in which the participation will be graded. |
|In addition, at the end of the semester the students will do presentations about real life application of Judo Strategy in different companies (free |
|selection). |
|There will be Final Exam and Final Presentations. The topic of final presentations will be distributed in class. |
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|Course grades will be assigned on the following basis: |
|Crown Cork & Seals Presentations 10% |
|Ice-Fili Presentations: 10% |
|HKET Presentations: 10% |
|Google Presentations: 10% |
|Judo Strategy Presentations: 10% |
|Final Presentations: 15% |
|Final Exam: 35% |
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| |Grade |Percentage |Grade points, quality points | |
| |A |91 - 100 |3.39 – 4.0 | |
| |B |81 – 90 |2.78 – 3.38 | |
| |C |71 – 80 |2.17 – 2.77 | |
| |D |61 – 70 |1.56 – 2.16 | |
| |E |51 - 60 |1.0 – 1.55 | |
| |FX |41 – 50 |0 | |
| |F |0 – 40 |0 | |
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|Course Materials |
|The required materials, which are cases, will be distributed in class. |
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|Week Lec/Sem | | Topic |Homework |
|1 |Lecture |The Origins of Strategy | |
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|2 |Lecture |Competitive Markets and Industry Structural Analysis | |
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|3 |Lecture |Five market forces | |
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|4 |Seminar |Case Discussion: Crown Cork & Seal |Group Presentations due |
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|5 |Lecture |Critical Competitive Issues | |
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|6 |Seminar |Case Discussion: Ice-Fili |Group Presentations due |
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|7 |Lecture |Blue Ocean Strategy | |
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|8 |Seminar |Case Discussion: HK Economic Times Group |Group Presentations due |
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|9 |Lecture |Strategy Design with Network Effects | |
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|10 |Seminar | Case Discussion: Google Inc. |Group Presentations due |
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|11 |Lecture |Applied Game Theory | |
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|12 |Lecture |Judo Strategy | |
| | |Game Theory Cases and Examples | |
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|13 |Seminar |Judo Strategy Company Presentations |Group Presentations due |
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|14 |Seminar |Final Presentations |Group Presentations due |
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|15 |Seminar |Final Presentations |Group Presentations due |
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|16 | |Final Exam | |
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|Additional Requirements |
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|CASE ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS |
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|Crown Cork & Seal |
|Please answer all questions for the presentations |
|1. Using the five forces model, analyze the attractiveness of the industry in which CC&S competes |
|2. Describe and evaluate CC&S’ strategy up until 1977. Why has it been so much more successful than the other American can manufacturers? What |
|competitive advantages and/or disadvantages does a firm the size of CC&S have when competing with Continental Can and American Can? |
|3. Based on your analysis, what are the key opportunities and challenges facing competitors in this industry? |
|4. What changes to CC&S’ strategy would you recommend John Connelly in 1977? |
| |
|Ice-Fili |
|Please answer all questions for the presentations |
|1. How structurally attractive is the Russian ice cream market? How is it likely to evolve? 
 |
|2. What are the potential sources of competitive advantage in the Russian ice cream 
market? 
 |
|3. How well positioned is Ice-Fili relative to its competitors? 
 |
|4. What strategic options does Ice-Fili have? What strategy would you recommend to 
Anatolyi Shamonov? 
 |
| |
|Hong Kong Economic Times Group: Diversification and Differentiation |
|Please answer all questions for the presentations |
|1. Briefly explain in a structured manner the external factors that have impacted the profitability of the newspaper industry in general and, |
|specifically in Hong Kong, over the last 20 years. |
|Note: This is basically an introductory question for you to understand the background in which the strategy of HKET took place (i.e. to prepare you |
|for the question 2). You are also allowed to supplement that with your own common sense knowledge about the newspaper industry in general (but no |
|additional research) to answer this question. |
|2. Within this industry environment, HKET generated business growth. To what extent did its strategy follow the key principles /characteristics of a |
|Blue Ocean Strategy (create uncontested markets)? Explain. |
| |
|Google Inc. |
|Please answer all questions for the presentations |
|1. What were the key factors behind Google’s early (before 2004) success? |
|2. Is search a winner-take-all business? |
|3. In addition to enhancing its core search businesses, which options make most sense for Google at the time? Explain why (you must assess all three).|
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|1) building a full-fledged portal like Yahoo!’s; |
|2) targeting Microsoft’s desktop software hegemony thru internet-based applications; |
|and/or |
|3) becoming an ecommerce intermediate like eBay? |
|FINAL PRESENTATIONS |
|At the end of the semester, the students will be required to choose an industry and make a thorough analysis of it based on the frameworks they have |
|covered during the study process. |
|FINAL EXAM |
|The students will write a final exam at the end of the semester, which will check the knowledge the students have acquired during the study process. |
|The students, failing to get at least 17 points in the exam, will be required to write an additional exam. |