Business strategy 3000words

fargm

BBS52BSStudyGuide.docx

Home >Business & Finance homework help >Business strategy 3000words

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN

Bachelor of Business Studies (Singapore)

Business Strategy (BMGT3001S)

STUDY GUIDE

BBS52 PT Singapore

Author: John F. Hulpke (2018)

This manual was prepared for University College Dublin as a comprehensive support for students completing the above mentioned Degree programme.

Module Co-ordinator: John F Hulpke

Email: [email protected]

Mobile: 9827 4070

Contact me via email (best option) or send me text or Whatsapp (not as good as email for me). I will stay after class as long as any student has any question.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

WELCOME MESSAGE 4

1. INTRODUCTION 5

a. Background 6

b. Module Aims 7

c. Programme Goals 8

2. MODULE OUTLINE 9

a. Module Learning Outcomes 9

b. Themes and Topics 9

c. Learning Materials 10

3. MODULE DELIVERY SCHEDULE 12

a. Session Arrangements 12

b. Student Engagement 13

c. Office Hours Arrangements 13

4. ASSESSMENT DETAILS 14

Module Assessment Components 14

i. Continuous Assessment 15

ii. Examination 17

5. GRADING 18

a. University Grading Policy 18

b. Grade Descriptors for Assessment Components 19

6. CONCLUDING COMMENTS 21

APPENDICES 22

WELCOME MESSAGE

Thank you again for choosing UCD Business School, National University of Ireland, Dublin. Most of you have met me already as we learned about cross cultural management together in May and June. As in that course I will do my best to keep the learning environment lively, hopefully making this course relatively less painful than a 100% lecture course. We will again WORK TOGETHER in class, with a lot of team learning activities. It would be to your advantage to look at this study guide carefully. It contains LOTS of useful information. Start studying the text. It is very good. By the way, you will not have to bring the textbook to class. Again, I look forward to meeting in class. Questions? Comments? Please do not hesitate to contact me. I can be reached at any time at [email protected]. I read email often and am always glad to hear from students.

John F Hulpke, Module Coordinator

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

This Study Guide gives you details of this module; the learning outcomes; plus delivery and assessment arrangements. The Study Guide has 6 parts.

Part 1 gives background details to the subject area and the broad aims of the module are described.

Part 2 consists of the module outline. In this part the (a) module learning outcomes, (b) the themes and topics to be explored are explained along with the (c) learning supports to be used.

Part 3 gives details of the module delivery arrangements. It sets out the session arrangements and expectations relating to your prior preparation and student engagement.

Part 4 provides details of the assessment techniques used in this module explaining the assessment components and their rationale.

Part 5 explains the UCD grading policy. Grade descriptors drawing on university documents are given for each assessment component (i) Continuous Assessment and (ii) Examination (closed book).

Part 6 gives concluding comments.

Strategy and Policy: Background

Business Strategy is a capstone course, integrating insights from many of the modules you have already studied in your degree program. While many of your prior modules encourage you to focus on one functional area (e.g. marketing, finance, production/operations, accounting) and to pay attention to issues in that one area, in Business Strategy we look at the entire organisation. We will also show that ALL organizational members of whatever level are involved in implementing strategy and even in crafting strategy. We will look at organisations from across the spectrum – small to large, profit and not-for-profit, domestic and international. We will look at the environments in which they operate, how they acquire essential resources, and how they may establish sustainable competitive advantage. Considerations include the assessment of the organization’s environment, both external and internal, devising strategies to achieve strategic goals, implementing strategies, and evaluating whether the strategies are still appropriate against the changes that are occurring in the organisation’s environment. This module is designed to deepen your interest and expertise in the area of business strategy. While much of the focus is on knowledge acquisition, this module will also enhance and develop your professional and personal skills. Studying business strategy will give you a chance to reflect on what you have learned from other modules and from your own personal and work experiences. We will take an applied approach to the formulation and implementation of strategy. You will tackle strategic issues facing real organizations.

Strategic management is a process aimed at keeping an organization matched to its environment. The process is interactive and continuous. It is concerned with what affects the long-term direction of the organization. When I first started teaching university business courses, back in the days when famous Harvard Strategy Prof Michael Porter was still a college student, there was no course called business strategy. Strategy was a military term. Business students studied finance, accounting, marketing, management, operations, and then graduated. Somebody at Harvard back in the 1960s and 1970s had a bright idea: we should teach our students how all these things tie together in REAL businesses. So, the idea of a comprehensive “capstone” course was born. It focused on real business cases, and early courses of this type were called ‘Written Case Analysis.” In a “case” you look at and analyse the ENTIRE FIRM, not just from the marketing angle, or not just from the finance angle. In this new course students were asked to look at the WHOLE PACKAGE, the ENTIRE FIRM. Over the years Written Case Analysis became called Business Policy, then more recently Business Strategy. But the idea remains the same as created at Harvard more than 50 years ago. In one course, students should be encouraged to THINK BIG, look at the BIG PICTURE. Now, today, that is what we will do. Look at the assigned cases not from one narrow perspective. Even if you are a marketing major, or HRM major, or whatever, in this course, think about the entire firm!

Why is this “big picture” course important? Managers can face no greater challenge than that of strategic management. Guiding a complex organization through a dynamic and rapidly changing environment requires more than good judgement. Strategic management issues are invariably ambiguous and unstructured, and the way in which management responds determines whether an organization will succeed or fail.

There are a few hundred pages of text (442), but these text pages are designed to help you analyze real firms. Then you will learn about some real firms from 8 cases that we will provide. These 8 cases, you will KNOW! And you will do an important individual study, looking at one industry and at one firm. WELCOME!

Module Aims

This module provides students with an overview of the theory and practice of business strategy. The module combines insights from strategy, international trade and investment theory, human resource management and other areas. This subject provides students with basic knowledge of the issues related to business strategy and methods involved in the practice of strategic management. It provides students with an understanding of what it takes to be effective at managing business strategy and the challenges that the manager has to face, challenges that are substantial, consequential, and time consuming. It also provides students with ways to approach decisions that strategic managers have to make.

Programme Goals

Programme Goal	Programme Learning Outcomes	Learning Outcome Assessed
1)	Programme Goal 1: Informed Thinkers: Our graduates will be knowledgeable on management theory and will be able to apply this theory to business problems (Knowledge).	Programme Learning Outcome 1a: Explain current theoretical underpinnings of business and management of organisations.	Lectures / assignment
		Programme Learning Outcome 1b: Apply appropriate methods, tools and techniques for identifying, analysing and resolving business problems within functional and across functional business areas.	Lectures / assignment
2)	Programme Goal 2: Communication, Analytical and Critical Thinking Skills: Our graduates will have well developed skills of communication, analysis and critical thinking (Skills and Competencies).	Programme Learning Outcome 2a: Prepare a short business presentation (written and/or oral) on a current business issue.
		Programme Learning Outcome 2b: Analyse specific business case studies or problems and formulate a report detailing the issues and recommended actions.	Lectures / in-class exercises / assignment
		Programme Learning Outcome 2c: Conduct secondary research on management-related issues and report findings and draw conclusions.	Assignment
3)	Programme Goal 3: Personal and Professional Development: Our graduates will demonstrate a commitment to personal and professional excellence and development (Skills, Competencies and Attitudes).	Programme Learning Outcome 3a: Develop collaborative learning and team-work skills by engaging in module-related team activities.	Lectures / in-class exercises
		Programme Learning Outcome 3b: Demonstrate capacity for problem solving collaboratively and individually.	Assignment and in-class exercises
4)	Programme Goal 4: Ethical Awareness: Our graduates will demonstrate an awareness of ethical issues in business and their impact on society (Attitudes).	Programme Learning Outcome 4a: Demonstrate an awareness of ethical values and business issues concerning the advancement of the broader societal ‘good’.	Lectures / in-class exercises / assignment
		Programme Learning Outcome 4b: Illustrate understanding of how business decisions might influence society and the wider community at large.	Lectures / in-class exercises

PART 2: MODULE OUTLINE

Module Title: Business Strategy

Module Code: BMGT3001S

No. of ECTS: 10

Learning outcomes

On completing the Business Strategy module, students will be expected to be able to:

· Understand the nature of strategy and the strategic process.

· Be capable of applying a series of fundamental business strategy tools and techniques to the analysis of the internal and external environments of a firm to aid the strategy formulation process.

· Understand the importance of managing business expectations, especially those of stakeholders, as regards strategy.

· Be competent individually and in group settings in discussing the major concepts underpinning corporate strategy and applying these in business case settings.

· Understand the need for corporate governance and social responsibility.

· Assess the importance of organising the business for the successful execution of strategy and be able to assess the strategic capability of an organisation.

· Be competent in written presentation of a business case, in particular, identifying strategic issues that need to be addressed, evaluating strategic alternatives, and formulating workable plans of action.

Module Text:

Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D., and Hoskisson, R.E. 2017. Strategic Management: Concepts: Competitiveness and Globalization, 12th Edition, Cengage Learning. ISBN 9781305502208

Themes and Topics

· Strategy Management and Strategic Competitiveness

· Vision and Mission, Stakeholders and Strategy

· Evaluating a Company’s External Environment

· Evaluation a Company’s Resources, Cost Position, and Competitive Strength

· Competitive Strategies

· Strategic Moves, Timing, and Scope of Operations

· Diversification and the Multi-business Company

· Strategies for Competing in International Markets

· Strategy Execution,

· Corporate Governance,

· Strategic Leadership

· Competitive Advantage

· We will have the chance to learn by practice many frameworks and models. Most of these may not sound familiar yet, but YOU WILL KNOW how and WHEN to use them! For example, SWOT, STEEP, RBV, Porter’s Five Forces, cost/differentiation, vision and mission, boards of directors, strategic group map, value chain analysis, Ansoff growth matrix, BCG matrix, international: why and how, making decisions ethically, why so few females. Then we will discuss many interesting companies, including Alibaba, lululemon athletica, IKEA in India, W.L. Gore, Tesla, Hyflux, Bluebird Taxi, HTC

Learning Materials

For this module, please read the assigned chapters and assigned cases in the slide book, and other additional readings.

Other reference sources you may find useful:

Note: Many times students do projects on companies that can be found in business strategy textbooks. The data in those cases may be helpful. Many popular texts are listed here. Most are in our library. Earlier editions can be useful if latest version not readily available. Or if a newer edition has been published, feel free to consult the most recent available book.

· Mary Coulter, Strategic Management in Action, (2012), 6th edition, Pearson Prentice Hall.

· Fred R. David and Forrest David, Strategic Management: Concept and Cases, global edition (2017), 16th edition, Pearson Prentice Hall.

· John E. Gamble, Arthur A. Thompson and Margaret A. Peteraf, Essentials of Strategic Management: The Quest for Competitive Advantage, (2017), 5th edition, McGraw Hill.

· C. Gopinath and Julie I. Siciliano, Strategize! Experiential Exercises in Strategic Management, (2014), 4th edition, Cengage.

· Robert M. Grant, Contemporary Strategy Analysis, (2016), 9th edition, Wiley-Blackwell.

· Charles W. L. Hill, Gareth R. Jones, and Melissa A. Schilling, Strategic Management Theory: An Integrated Approach, (2017), 12th edition, Cengage Learning.

· W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, (2005), Harvard Business School Press.

· Richard Lynch, Strategic Management, (2015), 7th edition, Financial Times Press.

· Alfred A. Marcus and Anne N. Cohen, Management Strategy: Achieving Sustained Competitive Advantage, (2016), 3rd edition, McGraw Hill.

· Henry Mintzberg, Joseph B. Lampel, James Brian Quinn, and Sumantra Ghoshal, The Strategy Process, (2003), 4th edition, Pearson Prentice Hall.

· John A. Parnell, Strategic Management: Theory and Practice, (2014), 4th edition, Sage.

· John Pearce and Richard Robinson, Strategic Management, (2015), 14th edition, McGraw Hill.

· Mike W. Peng, Global Strategy, (2017), 4th edition, Cengage.

Students are expected to participate in session discussions and activities and be familiar with recent developments. To facilitate this, the following source material is useful:

· The Economist

· The Wall Street Journal and/or Asian Wall Street Journal

· The South China Morning Post

· The Straits Times

· The Financial Times

· China Daily

· Bloomberg Business Week, in print and TV

· Fortune

· Harvard Business Review

· CNBC Asia

· Channel News Asia

PART 3: MODULE DELIVERY SCHEDULE

This module requires a lot of learning OUTSIDE the classroom, with an important individual assignment. Everything is tied together in CLASSROOM sessions. This is NOT only “on-line learning” but CLASS time as well. In this particular course there are FIVE blocks of four hours each. Based on past experience, those who did not participate in ALL FIVE blocks sometimes failed to learn, thus failed the course. BUT do not worry, past student feedback tells us that the class sessions move along fast and are great learning opportunities. For specific times and dates of each of your five sessions see your own class schedule.

Session Arrangements

Each student is expected to attend and be prepared for all sessions. See table 1 below:

Table 1: Module Delivery Schedule – themes, readings, cases

No	Theme /Topic title	Text chapters	Activities
1 Introduction to Strategic Management& Business Policy	Module Introduction What is strategy? Vision, Mission and Stakeholders	Chapters 1, 10	Videos: Porter: Why strategy? Yahoo new CEO *Alibaba minicase*

2 Scanning the Environment	The Environment: Environmental scanning and Industry Analysis Internal Scanning	Chapters 2, 3	Videos: lululemon, Southwest Airlines, Zara *lululemon athletica case*

3 Which way to go? Long range thinking	Strategy Formulation: Generic Competitive Strategies Strategic Moves, Dynamics, and Timing	Chapters 4, 5	*HTC minicase* *Bluebird Taxi minicase*

4 Fitting the pieces together	Diversification and International Strategies	Chapters 6, 8	Video: Ikea *IKEA in India case*

5 Without controls, nothing matters	Leadership, Cooperative Strategies Module Review and Exam Preparation	Chapters 9 and 12	Video: W. L. Gore, Tesla *W.L. Gore- case* *Tesla minicase,* *Hyflux minicase*

Note: The timing of topics will change depending on speed on each topic in different classes.

Preparation Required in Advance of Sessions / Seminars

You are expected to have read the relevant book chapters and CASES in advance of the in-class seminars. Cases are an important learning source and supplement the session and text materials. The cases, all eight, are MUST reading. Cases and mini-cases (included in the slide book): Alibaba, lululemon athletica, IKEA in India, W.L. Gore, Tesla, Hyflux, Bluebird, HTC

Student Engagement

During the sessions, students are expected to be able to discuss issues from the chapters and case readings for the topics as scheduled above. Participation is a vital element in the design of this module. All students are expected to engage in class discussion and debate. To support your learning, Power-Point slides will be provided but will be upgraded/ modified during or following the sessions depending on issues raised.

Office Hours Arrangements

I will be available after each class to discuss any topic as long as any student has any questions. Or email: [email protected]. My mobile phone is 9827 4070 but email is better than calling or texting or WhatsApp.

Class Sessions

Students are asked to be aware that lecturers provide suitable class material to support student learning. We are aware that some students on occasion may like to record class sessions. Where this is the case, permission must be sought to record the session. This is to make not only the lecturer aware and ask their permission out of courtesy but to ensure classmates are also happy to be recorded. We are grateful for your full support in this regard.

PART 4: ASSESSMENT DETAILS

This module has two assessment components with specific weightings and marks awarded totalling 100[footnoteRef:1]. The purpose of each assessment is as follows: [1: As the Overseas Programme modules are worth 10 ECTS they should be graded out of 200 marks.]

· Continuous Assessment (Assignment) aims to introduce you to the importance of understanding business strategy. It is also designed to focus your learning in preparation for the face to face sessions and the course exam.

· The Examination is the formal examination which aims to get insights on your understanding of issues (theory and practice) addressed in the module.

Students are expected to submit assignments by the specified date. All submissions must be typed, be well laid out, interesting, and must be accompanied with a signed plagiarism certificate. You can include the plagiarism certification in your cover sheet or anywhere, no necessary to submit more than one. The key is not the certificate. The key is to insure you know what plagiarism is and to help insure zero-plagiarism. Please ensure that all submissions are entirely your own work – for UCD’s policy on plagiarism click on the link below (please see Appendix 1 for further information on Plagiarism and the policy on the Late Submission of Coursework): https://sisweb.ucd.ie/usis/plagiarism_policy

The weighting assigned for each component is shown in Table 2 below. (I = Individual)

Table 2: Assessment Components

Assessment components Weighting Individual (I) / Group (G)

1. Continuous Assessment* 40% I

2. Examination closed book essay (6 October) 60% I

*With regards to Continuous Assessments, students are asked to expect one final grade for this assessment component. All graded elements will be taken into consideration and calculated to create one final grade

Module Assessment Components

In the following pages, further details of each assessment component are presented along with expectations in relation to prior preparation and completion.

1. Continuous Assessment: Individual Assignment (40%) due 6 September 2018

How should real firms make real strategic decisions? The end result will be an essay of about 10 pages in lengh total. Three parts: First, you need to choose a firm which is BASED IN ASIA, has its HEADQUARTERS IN ASIA. Nestle? Sorry. McDonalds? Nope. Apple? No. Tesla? Not for this assignment. Samsung? Xiaomi? BYD? Alibaba? Breadtalk? ShangriLa? AirAsia? Razer? Grab? And a million others, small or large? These would be OK!

Once you have chosen your firm, you will look at the INDUSTRY of your firm and analyze that industry. There are an unlimited number of ways to analyze an industry and even an unlimited number of ways to DEFINE and industry. But you will have to decide. YOUR CHOICE. Are you going to look at the AIRLINE industry or the LOW COST CARRIER airline industry? Are you going to look at the ELECTRONICS industry or the MOBILE PHONE industry (Samsung could be analyzed at the “corporate level” or some individual part of Samsung at the “business level.”) After about two pages briefly describing/analyzing your industry, you will spend no more than two pages describing your firm. You will have to write carefully, concisely, to keep what could be written in BOOKS down to two pages, so plan ahead. Then you will make suggestions for the management of your selected firm, using perhaps 6 pages for your SUGGESTION or SUGGESTIONS to the CEO or Board of Directors of Company X. The LARGEST part of your paper will be your recommendations. Your essay will include one or more recommendations to your firm as it looks long range, strategically. Specific recommendations will be more helpful. It might be useful for you to use one of the models or frameworks if appropriate. Be careful to use SWOT or RBV only for a BUSINESS level recommendation for example. SWOT or STEEP would not be appropriate for Alibaba (corporate llevel) but might be for Alipay (business level). You could use the BCG Matrix only if analyzing a firm with many components about which you will make recommendations, or example Breadtalk (corporate level). You could use Porter’s Five forces to help you assess the attractiveness of an industry you are recommending your firm enter. The key, use only a framework or tool that is relevant to the recommendation or recommendations you make.

For any material from the web or any other source be sure to cite sources. It is very important that you tell the reader where you took ideas. Any QUOTE must be cited and exact source shown. Any time you cut and paste 7 or more words from the web, expect SafeAssign in BlackBoard to zap you.

As with all UCD assignments, please use 12 point font, use 1 inch margins, and use double spacing or 1.5 spacing. Start doing this assignment soon as it will help you focus. The assignment will also help you prepare for the exam. Exact due date, hard copy and soft copy to Safe Assign, is 9 September. On the hard copy, no plastic covers needed, they just make the stack of papers harder to handle. You will not need a table of contents or a section labelled introduction or a section labelled conclusions. Although it is not important for this assignment, you may want to do a word count and show the number of words at the end of your assignment. This will be a good habit to get into as a UCD student. For grading information for the assignments see the appendices.

Continuous Assessment: Individual Assignment must be submitted in hard copy and via Blackboard on the date assigned. Please read the Grade Descriptors in Assignment Grade Descriptor table.

Table 2B – Assignment Deadline Summary

Assessment	Date
Individual Assignment	9 September 2018
Examination	6 October 2018

2. Examination

The examination (3 hours) will focus on module themes and the material covered in the text, cases, assigned readings, and class discussions. For this, students are expected to demonstrate their understanding of theory and practice addressed throughout the module. The examination question format will be designed to allow you show your understanding of the topics discussed and also reveal your learning (new and prior). More specific guidelines regarding the examination paper format and questions will be provided during the final session.

The examination will consist of three out of six or possibly seven essay type questions. Students will have to answer three questions in the 3 hours allotted. Answers should be essay type answers.

Students are expected to fully answer four questions. Answers are expected to be analytical rather than descriptive, illustrated with appropriate examples taken from the classes, from your own experience or from the literature. Tie in relevant theories, frameworks, and or models. Question topics will be based on material covered during the lectures. No two questions will cover the same material and you should try not to use any one company as an example in more than one question.

A recent past examination paper is included in Appendix 3 of this Study Guide. Please be prepared for a different style of question. The exam is scheduled to be on 6 October, 2018

PART 5: GRADING

This section of the Study Guide provides students with details of the UCD grading system and also explains criterion referenced grading (UCD Policy) (see Table 3). Under criterion referenced grading, students are graded on the quality of their work without reference to other students (norm referenced). For instance, the submission that meets the required guidelines in terms of writing style, analysis, description and / or summary will be awarded according to the standards set out. All students’ work is graded to indicate the standard attained using the criterion referenced approach.

Table 3: UCD Grading System

Grade	Description	Grade Point
A + A A-	Excellent	4.2 4.0 3.8
B+ B B-	Very good	3.6 3.4 3.2
C+ C C-	Good	3.0 2.8 2.6
D+ D D-	Acceptable	2.4 2.2 2.0
E	Unacceptable	1.6
F	Fail (unacceptable, no compensation)	1.0
G	Fail (Wholly unacceptable; no compensation)	0.4
NG	Fail (Wholly unacceptable; no relevant attempt)	0.0

More specific grade descriptors are set out for your assessment components in the following pages. Tables 4 and 5 below provide descriptors for Continuous Assessment and the Examination, respectively. Please read them prior to submitting your work.

Table 4: Grade Descriptors – Continuous Assessment: Individual Assignment

Grade	Criteria
A[footnoteRef:2] [2: *While the criteria detailed above refer to A – D grades (inclusive) only, please note that all bands will be used (A+, A and A-; B+, B and B- etc) for grading assignments and examinations. ]	Excellent - a comprehensive, highly-structured, focused and concise response to the assessment task.
B	Very good - a thorough and well-organised response to the assessment task.
C	Good - an adequate and competent response to the assessment task.
D	Satisfactory - an acceptable response to the assessment task.
E	Unacceptable – an unacceptable response to the assessment task which fails to meet the minimum acceptable standards.
F	Unacceptable - a response to the assessment task that is unacceptable.
G	Wholly unacceptable – a response to the assessment task that completely failed to address the question resulting in an entirely irrelevant answer.
NG	No Grade - no work was submitted by the student, or the work submitted did not merit a grade.

Table 5: Grade Descriptors – Closed Book Essay Examination

Grade

Characteristics

An outstanding answer with evidence that:

· Shows wide appropriate knowledge with imaginative insights or interpretations of subject matter, or originality of thought or application.

· Shows excellent insight into the subject matter indicating appropriate evidence of wide independent reading and thinking about it.

· Provides a concise analysis and evaluation of relevant content with supporting evidence, plus an indication of the synthesis of information for a variety of sources.

· Shows a clear understanding of the concepts and information relevant to the topic is technically well written (well introduced, reasoned and concluded) and provides appropriate examples and references.

A comprehensive answer with evidence that:

· Shows a clear understanding of the concepts and material relevant to the topic, demonstrated by an ability to handle ideas as if they are one’s own rather than a recital of what the texts and lectures say.

· Shows accurate and detailed reporting of the material and concepts relevant to the topic, presented in a logically reasoned, coherent and evaluative/critical manner.

· Shows evidence of wider reading beyond a level limited to basic data from lectures and a standard text.

· Shows conciseness and relevancy with little irrelevancy.

An answer that is accurate and fairly detailed reporting of what the texts and

lectures say, that:

· Shows some evidence of wider reading beyond that limited to basic data from lectures and a standard text.

· Shows accurate and detailed reporting of the material and concepts relevant to the topic presented in a logically reasoned and coherent manner.

· Shows conciseness and relevancy with little irrelevancy.

An answer that shows basic knowledge and understanding of the concepts and

material relevant to the topic, that:

· Contains factual information that is accurate and relevant, but at a level limited to basic data from lectures and a standard text and with some omissions of essential information.

· Has evidence of some knowledge relevant to the topic but has several omissions of information, may be illogical in parts and/or poorly presented.

An unacceptable answer that shows some understanding and knowledge of relevant materials but there are serious deficiencies, that:

· Shows lack of detail or significant errors, omissions and misunderstandings.

· Shows that grasp of critical and interpretative points is poor and the answer may be badly organized and difficult to follow in places.

· Ability to apply scientific principles to the solution of problems is limited.

An answers that shows very little knowledge of the relevant material, that:

· Shows that what is known may be seriously misunderstood or misapplied.

· Shows that if there is any attempt at critical or interpretative discussion it will be inappropriate or badly confused.

· The student may be unable to apply scientific principles to the solution of problems.

An answers that shows very serious weakness, that:

· Shows very little grasp of the relevant material, with serious omissions, misunderstandings and errors.

· Shows that answers are badly organized and difficult to follow.

· No attempt at critical or interpretative discussion.

An answer that shows that response to the task fails to meet the requirements in relation to those expected at the given level of study within the discipline, that:

· Shows work which shows little or no real understanding of the question and which displays little or no evidence of learning.

· Shows work which fails on all criteria or work with absolutely no relevance to the question.

· Shows that it is the mark for a very short and incomplete work.

PART 6: CONCLUDING COMMENTS

This Study Guide will guide your learning for this module. It is a good idea to read it regularly and do so in conjunction with the text, the eight cases, and session materials. Need clarification? Chat with me, or email: [email protected] . I read email often! I hope you enjoy the module and wish you good luck with the rest of your study and for the future.

John F. Hulpke, June 2018

APPENDIX 1

You are advised to read the following important documents before you begin this module:

1. Guidelines for the Late Submission of Coursework

This document provides a detailed outline of the rules and regulations surrounding the presentation, submission and marking of assignments. The guidelines provided must be adhered at all times to avoid an unnecessary loss of marks. Further details on

https://sisweb.ucd.ie/usis/latesubmission

2. A Briefing Document for Students on Academic Integrity and Plagiarism.

The University understands plagiarism to be the inclusion of another person’s writings or ideas or works, in any formally presented work (including essays, theses, examinations, projects, laboratory reports, oral, poster or slide presentations) which form part of the assessment requirements for a module or programme of study, without due acknowledgement either wholly or in part of the original source of the material through appropriate citation. Further details please go to

https://sisweb.ucd.ie/usis/plagiarism_policy

Plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty. In any assignment, plagiarism means that you have presented information or ideas belonging to someone else falsely as being your own original thoughts on a subject.

All assessments/projects submitted must be the result of your own work.

The following statement must be included somewhere (perhaps on cover page) of all assignments submitted:

I declare that all materials included in this essay/report/project/dissertation is the end result of my own work and that due acknowledgement have been given in the bibliography and references to ALL sources be they printed, electronic or personal.

Signed: Student name, student number

Date:

APPENDIX 2: PAST EXAM PAPER

Note to Students: Providing a copy of this paper does not signify that future papers will follow the same format.

Answer any THREE (3) questions.

All questions carry equal marks. All questions are graded as a whole, no specific amount of points for various parts of any question.

Instructions for Invigilators

Closed book exam. No electronics please (no laptops, no iPads and no phones).

Read all the questions before choosing THREE (3) to answer. In Questions 1, 2 and 5 please use examples from the specific case as indicated. Otherwise, you may use examples from the text, from experience, from cases and videos used in class, or from anywhere.

1. The resource-based view (RBV) holds that sustained competitive advantage can be achieved more easily by exploiting internal rather than external factors as compared to industrial organization (I/O) view. Critically review the strengths and weaknesses of these two frameworks by drawing from the information you learned about lululemon athletica.

2. Globalization is one of the major challenges in the 21st century. Drawing from IKEA’s case, discuss the motives behind IKEA’s expansion into India and evaluate its competitive strategies. In your essay, also include IKEA’s choice of entry mode into the Indian market in comparison to other possible entry modes.

3. In class, we studied examples of successful and failing companies in managing their stakeholders. Drawing from your team project, briefly outline the background of your chosen company, explain its key stakeholders and discuss how effective the company was in managing stakeholder relationships. Make suggestions as to how that company could better relate to at least two stakeholders.

4. Porter suggests that a company can follow either a cost leadership or a differentiation strategy. Firms might use a focus approach with either cost or differentiation. Use real life examples to show how these generic competitive strategies work in practice. Can a company follow both strategies simultaneously? Why or why not? Discuss.

5. Research has shown that strategic leadership plays a leading role in influencing the strategy management process. What is strategic leadership? Using W.L. Gore case, discuss to what extent the company’s success can be explained at least in part by effective strategic leadership.

END OF EXAMINATION PAPER

oOo

UCD crest