This course covers the formulation and implementation of strategies by corporations and businesses. The forces and factors that influence the choice of strategies, and their success or failure are examined. Topics include external analysis of opportunities and threats, internal analysis of capabilities and competencies, choice of strategy at functional, business, corporate and global levels, alignment of structures and controls with strategies and evaluation of strategies. The course draws upon case studies to highlight key concepts in strategic decision-making.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Analyse an organisation’s internal and external environments by applying appropriate theories, models, and/or frameworks;
2. Formulate appropriate strategies to gain a competitive advantage at both business and corporate levels;
3. Evaluate competing strategies;
4. Communicate strategies or strategic alternatives both in writing and verbally to facilitate organisational decision-making and problem-solving

Research-Led Teaching

The lectures content will be based on the rigorous scholarly research in the field of strategic management including the lecturer’s own research.

The research report assessment is very much research-led. Students will need to rely on past scholarly research for frameworks to apply, but also employ their own research into analysing quantitative or qualitative data pertaining to the strategy of a firm.

Field Trips

Not relevant

Additional Course Costs

There are no other additional class costs.

Examination Material or equipment

More details will be provided during the lectures, and on the course wattle site.

Required Resources

The following two research articles will be used as 'exemplars' for the research report assessment. The format, content, and structure of these research papers will be discussed in several parts in the tutorials. Kindly see the above class structure (as well as Wattle) for each week's tutorial activity.

Krishnan, Martin, Noorderhaven (2006) When does trust matter to alliance performance? Academy of Management Journal , 49(5) [ https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2006.22798171 ]

Eapen, A and Krishnan, R (2019) Transferring tacit know-how: Do opportunism safeguards matter for firm boundary decisions. Organization Science (forthcoming).

Recommended Resources

The textbook we will use for this course is 'Economics of Strategy' Wiley., 6e (by Besanko, Dranove, Shanley, & Schaefer). This textbook is a recommended, not required, resource. The book should be available for purchase at the uni bookshop. Alternatively, you can purchase a (cheaper) electronic copy from the publisher. The link will be available on Wattle.

A copy of the textbook will be held in the ANU library reserve & short loan collection.

Staff Feedback

• Students will receive written feedback on their literature review and research report assessment items. We may occasionally also provide verbal feedback to the whole class, to groups, or to individual students.

Student Feedback

ANU is committed to the demonstration of educational excellence and regularly seeks feedback from students. Students are encouraged to offer feedback directly to their Course Convener or through their College and Course representatives (if applicable). The feedback given in these surveys is anonymous and provides the Colleges, University Education Committee and Academic Board with opportunities to recognise excellent teaching, and opportunities for improvement. The Surveys and Evaluation website provides more information on student surveys at ANU and reports on the feedback provided on ANU courses.

Class Schedule

Week/Session	Summary of Activities	Assessment
1	Week 1: Strategy - introduction
2	Week 2: Economics and behavioural approaches	Tutorial: Reading: Rumelt, R. (2011) The perils of bad strategy. McKinsey Insight, 1: 30-39 (Available from http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/strategy/the_perils_of_bad_strategy (free registration will give you a pdf version)
3	Week 3: Scope of the Firm –part 1	Tutorial: “Research Question (RQ) workshop” Reading: Krishnan, Martin, Noorderhaven, When Does Trust Matter to Alliance Performance? Academy of Management Journal 49(5): 894-917 (Online copy available from the ANU library)
4	Week 4: Scope of the Firm –part 2 (Horizontal Boundaries)	Tutorial “RQ and lit review workshop” Reading: Re-read the Krishnan et al paper from last week, focussing both on their research question and and literature review: Also, read the introduction and background sections of Eapen and Krishnan 'Integrating contractual and capability theories of the firm: Do opportunism-safeguards matter? Working paper (copy available on Wattle)
5	Week 5: Scope of the Firm –part 3 (Vertical Boundaries)	Literature review section of the research report assessment (1000 words excluding references, tables, and figures) due: Wednesday 27 March, 3pm Tutorial: Reading: Rumelt, R. (2011) The perils of bad strategy. McKinsey Insight, 1: 30-39 (Available from http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/strategy/the_perils_of_bad_strategy (free registration will give you a pdf version) Case: Global Hunger Crisis (will be provided in the tutorial)
6	Week 6: Scope of the Firm –part 3 contd. (Vertical Boundaries)	Tutorial: Case: Microcredit (will be provided in the tutorial)
7	Week 7: Scope of the Firm –part 4 (Geographic Boundaries)	Tutorial: Case: Coffee case (will be provided in the tutorial)
8	Week 8: Strategic Alliances	Tutorial: “Theoretical model workshop” Readings: Krishnan, Martin, Noorderhaven, When Does Trust Matter to Alliance Performance? Academy of Management Journal 49(5): 894-917 (the section on Theory and Hypotheses) Eapen and Krishnan 'Integrating contractual and capability theories of the firm: Do opportunism-safeguards matter? Working paper (Theory and Hypotheses sections)
9	Week 9: Industry and Competitor Analysis	Tutorial: “Empirical evidence workshop” Readings: Same as last week.
10	Week 10: Strategic Positioning	Tutorial: Case: Blackberry (will be provided in the tutorial)
11	Week 11: TBA	Full research report including lit. review (4000 words excluding references, tables, and figures, but including the literature review) due: Wednesday 22 May, 3pm Tutorial: Case: Masters case (will be provided in the tutorial)
12	Week 12: Review

Tutorial Registration

Tutorial registration is via the Wattle site for this course.

Assessment Summary

Assessment task	Value	Due Date	Return of assessment	Learning Outcomes
Class participation	10 %	04/03/2019	31/05/2019	1,2,3,4
Literature review	20 %	27/03/2019	19/04/2019	1,2,3,4
Research Report	40 %	22/05/2019	07/06/2019	1,2,3,4
Final exam	30 %	06/06/2019	04/07/2019	1,2,3,4

* If the Due Date and Return of Assessment date are blank, see the Assessment Tab for specific Assessment Task details

Policies

ANU has educational policies, procedures and guidelines, which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University’s academic standards, and implement them. Students are expected to have read the Academic Misconduct Rule before the commencement of their course. Other key policies and guidelines include:

• Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure
• Special Assessment Consideration Policy and General Information
• Student Surveys and Evaluations
• Deferred Examinations
• Student Complaint Resolution Policy and Procedure

Assessment Requirements

The ANU is using Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website Students may choose not to submit assessment items through Turnitin. In this instance you will be required to submit, alongside the assessment item itself, hard copies of all references included in the assessment item.

Moderation of Assessment

Marks that are allocated during Semester are to be considered provisional until formalised by the College examiners meeting at the end of each Semester. If appropriate, some moderation of marks might be applied prior to final results being released.

Participation

Participation is expected in all classes and assessments.

Examination(s)

The final exam assessment will be a closed book one and may consist of a combination of multiple choice and short essay type questions (some of which may be based on a short case study). The exam duration will be 2 hours including reading time, and an introduction to the exam will be provided in one of the last few classes of the semester. The exam will be comprehensive and will cover all topics covered in the course. Questions will require that you to both identify and more particularly demonstrate that you are seeking to apply course materials/models/concepts/frameworks.

Specific details of the exam date will be available closer to the commencement of the examination period at https://exams.anu.edu.au/timetable/  

Assessment Task 1

Class participation

This course is discussion-oriented, which means that each student must be prepared to contribute to class and tutorial discussions by either directly participating in the discussion or bringing interesting issues to the attention of the class, tutorial group, tutor, and lecturer. You can expect to be cold-called at any stage to help in the discussions. The extent to which you contribute to the discussion of cases and articles in tutorials will influence your participation mark.

You will be provided with more information in class on how participation will be graded. But in general, this course values quality more than quantity, so students who provide insightful ways to further tutorial discussion will be rewarded. If you cannot attend a session, please inform the Tutor beforehand.

Assessment Task 2

Literature review

The research report will be your major deliverable in this course. More details on the assessment will be provided in due course, but it essentially involves selecting an interesting question pertaining to a strategy topic, undertaking a review of the academic (and practitioner) literature to see what we know about this topic, synthesizing your findings from the literature review in your own conceptual model, and, finally, offering an empirical application of your model. For example, a key issue when thinking about the horizontal scope of a firm is whether or not diversification into new product markets is a good thing. Some firms like General Electric are very diversified, while others tend to focus predominantly on one or two core businesses. Similarly, some firms choose to diversify across geographic regions, while others are less multinational. Which of these strategies is better? Once you identify an interesting question of this sort, you will then look at the literature to see what we already know about this question. In the case of diversification, for example, you will find that scholars have shown that certain types of diversification (e.g. into related products and markets) help profitability more than unrelated diversification. In the case of geographic expansion, you may find research showing that multinationality does not monotonically increase performance. After a certain point, there are diseconomies of scale, which negatively affects performance. Based on your reading of the literature, you will come up with your own original conceptual model as a potential answer to the question you started off with. And finally, as the final part of your report, you will provide some kind of an empirical application of your model. This could take the form of a case study of a company wherein your see your conceptual model playing out, or, if you are econometrically savvy, you could collect some secondary empirical data and do some quantitative analysis. The results of your analysis could either support or refute your model.

There are two deliverables related to this assessment. Just before mid-semester (in week 5) you will submit a preliminary version of the report. This will be expected to contain details pertaining to your choice of research topic, as well as your literature review. The maximum length for this is 1000 words. You will get feedback on this. You will then need to incorporate this feedback, extend the report to the conceptual model and empirical evidence, and submit the full version as your final report. This will be due in week 11, and should be, at maximum, 4000 words.

More details on this assessment will be provided in class. The marking criteria for both assessments will be available on Wattle.

Both literature review and research report must be submitted on Wattle via Turnitin.

The research report and literature review, which accounts for 60% of the mark for this course, addresses the following Program Learning Outcomes in the Bachelor of Business Administration:

Program Learning outcome 2. Apply theoretical and technical business knowledge, skills and research techniques relevant to the major(s) studied.

Program Learning outcome 3. Exercise critical thinking and reasoning in the analysis of business problems within the purview of the major(s) studied.

Feedback on this assessment will be returned before 50% of teaching period has elapsed.

Assessment Task 3

Research Report

Please see description of assessment task 2.

Assessment Task 4

Final exam

The final exam assessment will be a closed book one and may consist of a combination of multiple choice and short essay type questions (some of which may be based on a short case study). The exam duration will be 2 hours including reading time, and an introduction to the exam will be provided in one of the last few classes of the semester. The exam will be comprehensive and will cover all topics covered in the course. Questions will require that you to both identify and more particularly demonstrate that you are seeking to apply course materials/models/concepts/frameworks.

Refer to the ANU Examinations website for further information.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a core part of our culture as a community of scholars. At its heart, academic integrity is about behaving ethically. This means that all members of the community commit to honest and responsible scholarly practice and to upholding these values with respect and fairness. The Australian National University commits to embedding the values of academic integrity in our teaching and learning. We ensure that all members of our community understand how to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support academic integrity. The ANU expects staff and students to uphold high standards of academic integrity and act ethically and honestly, to ensure the quality and value of the qualification that you will graduate with. The University has policies and procedures in place to promote academic integrity and manage academic misconduct. Visit the following Academic honesty & plagiarism website for more information about academic integrity and what the ANU considers academic misconduct. The ANU offers a number of services to assist students with their assignments, examinations, and other learning activities. The Academic Skills and Learning Centre offers a number of workshops and seminars that you may find useful for your studies.

Online Submission

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. Please submit your literature review and research report assessments through Turnitin on the course Wattle site.

Hardcopy Submission

This course will not require submissions of hard copies. Online submission via Turnitin will suffice.

Late Submission

No submission of assessment tasks without an extension after the due date will be permitted. If an assessment task is not submitted by the due date, a mark of 0 will be awarded. .

Referencing Requirements

Accepted academic practice for referencing sources that you use in presentations can be found via the links on the Wattle site, under the file named “ANU and College Policies, Program Information, Student Support Services and Assessment”. Alternatively, you can seek help through the Students Learning Development website.

Returning Assignments

All assignments will be marked and where appropriate feedback will be provided either:

in class, or in person by appointment with the course lecturer, or via the course Wattle site.

Extensions and Penalties

Extensions and late submission of assessment pieces are covered by the Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure The Course Convener may grant extensions for assessment pieces that are not examinations or take-home examinations. If you need an extension, you must request an extension in writing on or before the due date. If you have documented and appropriate medical evidence that demonstrates you were not able to request an extension on or before the due date, you may be able to request it after the due date.

Resubmission of Assignments

You are allowed to resubmit your assignments before the specific deadlines. Any submission done after the deadline will be considered as a late submission and not be marked.

Privacy Notice

The ANU has made a number of third party, online, databases available for students to use. Use of each online database is conditional on student end users first agreeing to the database licensor’s terms of service and/or privacy policy. Students should read these carefully. In some cases student end users will be required to register an account with the database licensor and submit personal information, including their: first name; last name; ANU email address; and other information. In cases where student end users are asked to submit ‘content’ to a database, such as an assignment or short answers, the database licensor may only use the student’s ‘content’ in accordance with the terms of service — including any (copyright) licence the student grants to the database licensor. Any personal information or content a student submits may be stored by the licensor, potentially offshore, and will be used to process the database service in accordance with the licensors terms of service and/or privacy policy. If any student chooses not to agree to the database licensor’s terms of service or privacy policy, the student will not be able to access and use the database. In these circumstances students should contact their lecturer to enquire about alternative arrangements that are available.

Distribution of grades policy

Academic Quality Assurance Committee monitors the performance of students, including attrition, further study and employment rates and grade distribution, and College reports on quality assurance processes for assessment activities, including alignment with national and international disciplinary and interdisciplinary standards, as well as qualification type learning outcomes. Since first semester 1994, ANU uses a grading scale for all courses. This grading scale is used by all academic areas of the University.

Support for students

The University offers students support through several different services. You may contact the services listed below directly or seek advice from your Course Convener, Student Administrators, or your College and Course representatives (if applicable).

• ANU Health, safety & wellbeing for medical services, counselling, mental health and spiritual support
• ANU Diversity and inclusion for students with a disability or ongoing or chronic illness
• ANU Dean of Students for confidential, impartial advice and help to resolve problems between students and the academic or administrative areas of the University
• ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre supports you make your own decisions about how you learn and manage your workload.
• ANU Counselling Centre promotes, supports and enhances mental health and wellbeing within the University student community.
• ANUSA supports and represents undergraduate and ANU College students
• PARSA supports and represents postgraduate and research students