LUCIO CASSIA Professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship Director of CYFE Research Center for Young and Family Enterprise University of Bergamo STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Project Work Assignments Course Number 37033 Fall 2013 / Spring 2014
Overview Different Project Works (PW) on different topics are listed The 12 credits assigned to the Strategic Management course are divided as following: 4 credit for the Theory part (35%) 8 credit for the Practice part (65%), so each PW will require a work sized to fit the 8 credits and the four members team (total 32 credits equivalent) Some PWs will fit topics of thesis proposals and/or that will be also discussed in the eligible course of International Business and Global Management. 2
Contents You are required to apply tools and knowledge of strategy covered in this course to analyze one or more of the following topics: an industry a company or a set of companies a strategic initiative undertaken (e.g., a merger or an acquisition) a strategic situation faced by a company or industry (e.g., a change in market demand or technology) a global trend (e.g., a competition shift) 3
Output The project consists of a written report and an in-class presentation. Innovative ways of presentation, presentation skills, original ideas, clarity, focus onto the topic will be appreciated. Written report (English or Italian) An extended (40-50 slides) and a short (10-20 slides) Power Point presentation, if possible assisted by lecture notes. 30' will be available for the in-class presentation Suggested readings list (institutional and private reports, scientific papers, magazines, interviews, etc.) A well ordered digital package including report, presentations, sources, references, papers and other material Documents in Word, Power Point, Acrobat format, multimedia clips, etc. 4
Exam rules PWs will be assigned to each group by the faculty, however each group can e-mail 1 to 3 more preferences to your course assistant, Ing. Paolo Pressiani (paolo.pressiani@unibg.it) The PW is a masterpiece of the entire team, not a mere assembly of four subreports. Every member should be able to bear the whole presentation in an effective way. The presenter will be chosen by the faculty among the members of the team. Don't send heavy emails with the project work package. You are encouraged to use cloud services like Dropbox, WeTransfer, etc. The PW digital package must be sent to the faculty one week before the discussion. Project work and theory exams will be separately kept valid only for the first three sessions (Jun to Sep). For the next exam sessions both parts of the exam must be passed within the same session. 5
Methodological notes : key steps Information search : start with a bibliographic research on the topic assigned scientific papers institution and company reports books, newspapers, magazines, interviews mind the reputation and the sources Contents : write an index of contents develop content, step by step identify your unique contribution Report : write the formal report mention all the sources: copying and plagiarism imply a heavy failed exam Presentation : prepare the formal extended presentation (40-50 slides) derive a fancy short in-class presentation (10-20 slides / 30 ) Test your speech for contents and duration Digital package : assemble and send the digital package through cloud services 6
2013-2014 Project Works list 1 2 3 The enterprise digital transformation: new growth strategies Although the impact of digitization is not new, the digital economy is entering a new stage that presents unprecedented opportunities with big data, social media, mobility, cloud computing. Which are the main growth strategies beyond the strategic approaches of the analog economy? (T) Surviving strategies for the newspapers in the digital age of communication Currently, the industry is struggling to survive and some critics predict its complete demise. How newspaper companies need to reinvent themselves to thrive in the digital age? Which new strategies to be implemented? The "strange cases" of the Washington Post, the Boston Globe and others. (T) The impact of the Internet on the global growth and recovery How Internet can drive the economic growth, boost recovery and create new jobs? Exploring the relation between technology and growth within a global strategic view. (T, G) (T) : PW fits a topic of thesis proposals (G) : PW topic discussed in the eligible course of International Business and Global Management 7
2013-2014 Project Works list 4 5 6 Strategies for a growing complex and uncertain global economic outlook We live in a time of increasing volatility and extraordinary changes, driven by new uncertainties and ambiguous value systems. How to face the unpredictability coming from a so deeply interconnected world? New emerging approach to strategy. Theory and cases.(t) Reshoring initiatives and backsourcing strategy They are efficient ways to reduce imports, increase exports and regain manufacturing jobs in the Western countries. Trend and recent American and European cases. (T, G) The shale gas and the new global energy scenario The global energy scenario is changing rapidly (shale gas, renewable, decreasing demand from Western countries and increasing demand from the emerging ones). Which are the economic, strategic and geopolitics trends? (G) (T) : PW fits a topic of thesis proposals (G) : PW topic discussed in the eligible course of International Business and Global Management 8
2013-2014 Project Works list 7 8 3D printing technology in "personal mass" production manufacturing What would Porter say? Is it time to change the old-fashioned Porter's theory and model on cost leadership and differentiation leadership? Theory and cases. 3D printing in "impossible" applications New 3D printing based industries suddenly appears in the middle of nothing. A collection of sustainable recent cases with facts and figures. 9 The global "civil" market for the drones' industry. Trends, facts and figures both as a totally new industry and as Porter's new entrant. 10 Twitter is now listed. A case study of the company and the social network scenario. Are the social network companies competitors, new entrants or substitutes "à la Porter"? Making the 5-forces model obsolete? 11 From Edison Phonograph cylinder to Spotify: growth perspective for the music entertainment industry. How changed the value chain fostered by the technology? Past and present. Facts and figures. 9
Faculty prof. Lucio Cassia Professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship Director CYFE - Research Center for Young and Family Enterprise University of Bergamo Via Salvecchio 19, 24129 Bergamo BG Italy web www.unibg.it/pers/?lucio.cassia e-mail lucio.cassia@unibg.it Linkedin luciocassia skype lucio.cassia twitter @LucioCassia 10