RYERSON UNIVERSITY Ted Rogers School of Business Management

RYERSON UNIVERSITY Ted Rogers School of Business Management Strategic Management (an integrative course) BUS 800 Winter 2010 Course Description and Overview: BUS 800 is about strategic management and related concepts. This course recognizes that organizations exist and compete in evolving dynamic environments. In order to survive and succeed in such an environment, businesses require precise strategies. This course is intended to provide students with a range of frameworks, concepts, and tools that can assist students in their efforts to analyze complex business situations, reach conclusions, develop and evaluate alternatives, and recommend specific courses of action to respond to such situations. The strategic emphasis is on the kinds of problems and issues that affect the entire organization, usually as observed from a manager s point of view. BUS 800 takes the perspective that all managers within a firm contribute to the formulation and implementation of successful strategies. Prerequisite: FIN 401. FIN 401 and BUS 800 may not be taken concurrently. Course Objectives: 1. To develop an understanding of strategic management concepts, research, tools and theories. 2. To develop a framework of analysis that will form the basis of strategic thinking and developing strategy in organizations. 3. To develop a deeper understanding of the strategic business environment in Canada, the U.S., and the rest of the world. 4. To integrate knowledge learned in the previous three years. 5. To develop an understanding of the language of business strategy. Text BUS 800 Strategic Management. Custom publication for Ryerson University (only available in the Ryerson Bookstore). How to Read Financial Statements - (only available in the Ryerson Bookstore). 1

Evaluation 1. Group case analysis 20% 2. Individual case analysis 25% 3. Take home exam, individual project 30% 4. 3 page strategy write-up 10% 5. 3, 1-page article write-ups 6% 6. Participation 9% General Class Procedures Due to the nature of the course, students are expected to attend all classes. Students will not gain admission to the course after the second class, the week of January 13, 2010, even if they are registered. Only assignments submitted by the student during the regularly scheduled class will be graded; electronic versions and those submitted to the professor's mailbox will be listed as having not been submitted Students who miss three scheduled classes will be unable to complete the course and will receive a failure in the course. Strategic Management will be taught in a three-hour format. The first 30 minutes will be taken up with discussion of business articles, which each student brings to class. The reasons for this are: 1. To acquaint the student with the wealth of information available around us; 2. To bring the reality of the day to day ever changing Canadian business environment into the class for discussion and analysis; 3. To broaden as well as deepen the student s business experience. During the next 45 minutes, selected text and readings will be discussed in order to clarify some of the more difficult sections and develop opinions on the validity and usefulness of these theories. The class will break here for 10-15 minutes. The remaining time (approximately 90 minutes) will be used to discuss, analyze and develop recommendations and implementation procedures for an assigned case. This will start with a preliminary analysis in which the students will be asked to present a detailed industry and competitive analysis, a financial analysis and a company situation analysis. This should lead to the development of the issues that the company needs to address. The students will then be called on to give an analysis of these issues. After this, the entire class will get into the discussion to agree, disagree and/or present alternatives. As part of your class participation grade, you will be graded on your contribution to these case analysis discussions. At the end, the professor will do a wrap-up indicating points of general interest and areas to watch for in the future. Course Workload BUS 800 is a course that requires a time commitment every week. The management of time becomes an important aspect of the course. The course involves a lot of reading, and a number of assignments. Students should make sure that they have sufficient time in their schedules to accommodate the BUS 800 workload. 2

Case Assignments (20% 1 st case, 25% 2 nd case) Two cases are designated, one as a group case and one as an individual case. Written cases should be a maximum length of 8 pages (3 pages double-spaced for strategy write-up and 5 pages single-spaced appendix, 12 pt. font). Students are expected to develop and present a complete analysis of each assigned case. They must substantiate their recommendations using persuasive arguments and appropriate methods. Assumptions and or inferences should be stated explicitly. The first case to be handed in (Google) is a group case. Students should form groups of 3-4 persons. This assignment may not be done by an individual or by a 2-person group. When the case is handed in, it must be accompanied by a completed Peer Group Evaluation Form, signed by each member of the group (the form is posted on Blackboard). Failure to hand in this form with the case will result in an F in the assignment. Cases that are handed in late will receive a zero grade (late is defined as one minute after the deadline). Cases are due by the end of your class on the date specified in the course outline. E-mailed or faxed cases will not be accepted. For specific details, follow the case template solution posted on Blackboard. Cases must be submitted to turnitin.com and a receipt attached to the case. Failure will result if receipt is not attached to the case. Individual Final Project (take home exam) 30% The project is an analysis of the environment and the strategy of a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange, based on secondary research only. You will prepare a written report that is due on April 16, 2010, before 4 pm. The report should be no longer than 10 pages (not including the front page and the bibliography). More details on the report will be handed out in class and posted on Blackboard. You are free to choose any company, as long as it has not been selected by someone else in the class. Please note that companies will be assigned on a first come, first served basis. The project must be submitted to turnitin.com and a receipt attached to the project. Failure will result if receipt is not attached to project. 3

Procedure for Submitting Assignments: All assignments not handed directly to the instructor must be signed by a faculty or staff member, including the time and date. Class Participation 15% (6% hand-ins, 9% class participation) Participation is made up of the following components: (A) 3 completed written summaries of a current media article or case practice hand in prepared in accordance to FORMAT FOR ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS outlined in the Submissions Guidelines section of the outline. 1 page each. (B) Participation in class discussions. Participation: Your participation is an important factor in determining the success of this class. We prefer to talk with the class rather than to the class. As a capstone course, students should approach the course as a group/team learning environment and be prepared to contribute. Therefore, we will be relying on you to help develop an environment that is conducive to mutual learning and to behave in a manner that is respectful to your fellow classmates and the instructor. As part of being respectful to your fellow classmates and to the conduciveness of a good learning environment, we expect you to arrive on time and be prepared. Most importantly, we expect you to take an active role in the discussion by asking good questions (quality, not quantity), raising interesting points, and taking seriously your role in individual and team assignments. There are 9 participation points possible that are not directly related to submitted work for a grade. However, the 9 marks are related to your ability to consistently hand in your assignments and on time. You start the semester with a 0. You build points by demonstrating consistent patterns of behaviour. Thus, being unprepared for or missing a single class will not affect your participation grade; however, arriving late or leaving early, or showing a pattern of poor preparation will adversely affect your participation grade. Remember you can actively take steps to improve your participation! If you tend to be a nonparticipant, we encourage you to try and find your voice. Prepare questions or jot down a few key points before class and make an effort to speak up in class. Finding your voice and contributing to conversations in other classes and on the job is a critical skill: the ability to share an idea or ask a good question improves the quality of ideas, facilitates career growth, and ultimately helps the performance of your company. If you tend to dominate discussions learn to let other people contribute. Pick your spots to really add value to the discussion. People will better appreciate your contributions. We will be glad to provide constructive feedback on your participation at any point during the semester. Just come during office hours or set up an appointment. 3 Page Strategy Write up of Practice Case 10%: The 3-page write up is your opportunity to write up a strategy (only) for the practice case, Whole Foods (case #1). This is an individual assignment. We will have done the external/internal analysis in class; based on this analysis you are to write up the strategy for Whole Foods for the next 2-3 years. Your audience is the President of Whole Foods. Set out your strategy, along with the reasons for it, and provide the action that you recommend be taken. 4

Academic Misconduct please note the updated policies on Blackboard The penalty for Academic Misconduct in BUS 800 may range from failure in the assignment to expulsion from the University. All submitted assignments must be the original product of group or individual work. Any student submitting an assignment that is not original work is guilty of academic misconduct and subject to the penalties defined in Ryerson s Code of Student Conduct. Conduct that violates the ethical or legal standards of the Ryerson community is a serious matter. Any breach of academic honesty is a most serious offence and requires any faculty member to treat a breach of academic honesty, no matter how small the breach may appear, as a most serious matter requiring thorough investigation. For an extensive review of academic misconduct, see Blackboard. Information on Academic Integrity can also be found at www.ryerson.ca/academicintegrity/student.html and on page 80 of the 09/10 Calendar. NOTE: Contributing to Academic Misconduct knowingly assisting someone to commit any form of academic misconduct is itself academic misconduct. 5

Changes Please note every effort will be made to manage the course as stated. However, adjustments may be necessary at the discretion of the instructor. If so, such alterations will be announced prior to their implementation. Professors Knud Jensen Steve Gedeon Tony Power Ian Sakinofsky Ron Smith Steve Tissenbaum Phil Walsh kjensen@ryerson.ca Office TRS 1-044, Tel. Ext 6756 sgedeon@ryerson.ca Office TRS 2-073, Tel. Ext 7925 apower@ryerson.ca Office TRS 3-039, Tel. Ext. 2471 isakinof@ryerson.ca Office TRS 1-046, Tel. Ext 7562 rdsmith@ryerson.ca Office TRS 3-039, Tel. Ext 2470 stissenb@ryerson.ca Office TRS 2-103, Tel. Ext 4506 prwalsh@ryerson.ca Office TRS 1-133, Tel Ext 2553 Please note the revised policies regarding communication using Ryerson email as posted on Blackboard. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Format for Article Submissions As noted in the course outline you will be required to submit 3 individually prepared article assignments. The article submission will consist of 1 page, single-spaced, using a 12 pt. font. DO NOT include a cover page. Your name, date, course and section number should appear clearly in the upper right hand corner of the document. Do not include student number. Following are the requirements for the submission. Prepare an analysis of a current business issue, based on a recent article from the business press which appeared after January 1, 2010. In the first section, provide an accurate description of the issue. In the second section, interpret or explain the issue in the context of any concept taken from BUS800. In the third section, provide your own opinion about the issue. For example, what are the implications of the issue for a particular firm, for an industry, for competition, or for a person who is learning about competitive strategy? Provide full bibliographic details for the article (author, title, place and date of publication). The article itself should not be submitted. 6

Be prepared to discuss your current business issue in class. 7

RYERSON UNIVERSITY Ted Rogers School of Business Management Course Outline Winter 2010 (Please note that the week is from Wednesday Tuesday) BUS 800 WEEK OF Jan. 6 Introduction to BUS 800 Review course outline Case method and formal reports What Is Strategy and Why Is It Important? (Read Ch. 1) o Dimensions? o Concepts? o The model of Strategic Management o Examples of strategies Think about forming groups Jan. 13 The Business Vision and Mission (Read Ch.1, 2) The Practice Case: Whole Foods (case #1, cases are at the back of the text). Read and prepare and identify vision and mission.. Jan. 20 The External Assessment (Read Ch. 3) Prepare an external assessment for the Whole Foods case for class discussion. Individual Assignment - Written summary of a current media article. Follow the FORMAT FOR ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS guidelines. Jan. 27 Continue discussion of external assessment based on Ch. 3 Feb. 3 The Internal Assessment (Read Ch. 4) Prepare an internal assessment for Whole Foods for class discussion. Individual Assignment - Written summary of a current media article. Follow the FORMAT FOR ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS guidelines. Feb. 10 Strategies in Action and Strategy Analysis and Choice (Read Ch. 5, 6) Prepare a strategy for Whole Foods for class discussion. Hand in a 3 page assignment outlining your strategy for Whole Foods (this is an individual assignment worth 10% of your final grade). Feb. 17 Feb. 24 READING WEEK No Classes Continue discussion of developing business strategy. Whole Foods strategy assignment returned and discussed. Mar. 3 Implementing Strategies (Read Ch. 10) 8

Hand in Google case #14 in text. This is a group assignment worth 20% of your final grade, 8 pages maximum (to be submitted to turnitin.com and the turnitin.com receipt to be attached to the hard copy, together with the peer group evaluation form.) Discuss Robin Hood case #20. Mar. 10 Implementing Strategies continued. Read Ch. 11. Discuss Google case. Mar. 17 Implementing Strategies continued. Read Ch. 12 Individual Assignment - Written summary of a current media article. Follow the FORMAT FOR ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS guidelines. Mar. 24 Mar. 31 Apr. 16 Strategy Review and Ethics. Hand in Panera Bread case #8. This is an individual assignment worth 25% of your final grade, 8 pages maximum (to be submitted to turnitin.com and the turnitin.com receipt to be attached to the hard copy). Panera Bread case to be returned and discussed in class. Course Review. Take Home Exam discussed. Hand in take home exam by 4pm. This is an individual assignment, 10 pages maximum, value 30% (all classes hand in on Apr. 16, 2010, before 4 pm). Submit to turnitin.com and attach the turnitin.com receipt to the hard copy. 9