IBM 5724 Strategic Management

哈佛管理經營講座系列-策略管理

唐瓔璋 教授

I. COURSE OBJECTIVE

Business enterprises in Taiwan have undergone enormous changes in the last two decades. Technological upheavals and the opening up of different markets around the world have forced companies to confront their impact on their own businesses. New forms of corporate organization have come into prominence in many industries, provoking debate about the efficacy of corporate hierarchies. Amidst all this, recommendations---for example, calls to thrust global branding versus settle into ODM business, to expand corporate organizations to China versus stick to the homeland---have pulled CEO/CTO/CMO in many conflicting directions.

This Strategic Management course is designed to introduce the central strategic challenges enterprise leaders facing. The course examines how companies generate and preserve corporate distinctive and core competency. It is designed to make business executives proficient in tackling three central components of corporate strategy:

a、 diagnosing the roots of corporate advantage;

b、 evaluating the limits to such advantage;

c、 offering prescriptions to sustained advantage by overcoming these limits.

The conceptual foundation of the course rests on a framework that examines the interactions among a firm's business scope, its organizational architecture, the financial and marketing performance and its governance. It seeks to answer the central questions that confront every corporate strategist: In which businesses should the firm compete? Which businesses and activities should be carried out inside the firm and across industries? That is, where should a firm’s boundaries be drawn? How do a firm’s strategic choices influence the way it organizes itself? What resources or capabilities can be implemented and executed?

II. REQUIRED TEXTS AND READINGS

1. R.M. Grant (2018), Contemporary Strategy Analysis: Text and Cases Edition, 10th Edition, Wiley(現代策略管理，劉恆逸譯，2010)

2. Hill, Schilling, and Jones, 2020, Strategic Management Theory: An Integrated Approach, 13th Ed., Cengage Learning (朱文儀等譯，2017)

3. 楊千(2007) 策略管理：理論與實務，華泰文化

4. Harvard Business School Online Cases, Harvard Business Publishing

5. Strategic Management Classics (經典讀選)

III. COURSE FORMAT

The course is taught using a combination of lectures, case analysis, book chapter reading, class discussion, and company visitation. The textbooks will give students a broad picture of what strategic management is all about. To enhance the grasp of various business management problems the business leaders face, Harvard Business School cases are scheduled. All in-class case presentation and case discussion will be conducted by student groups. Eight teams will be formed. Each team will be made up of a number of students, and will work as a unit throughout the semester.

IV. COURSE EVALUATION

1. Team discussion and case summaries (小組書面報告, 12 cases)	60%
2. Individual contribution/team participation (小組討論, 個人課堂發言貢獻)	30%
3. Final Exam (open book, take home case)	10%

A. How to Prepare and Learn from Case Discussions

1. Skim through the case. Pay particular attention to the exhibits, which will help you to gain familiarity with the broad facts of the case. What apparent challenges or opportunities does the company face? What information is provided?

2. Read the case more carefully and make notes, underline, write your analysis, and questions etc. What appears to be important facts? At this stage use the framework, concepts, theories, examples discussed or presented in the class. For each case try to address central questions such as:

a、 What is the firm’s performance?

b、 What is the firm’s general environment look like? What is firm’s specific industry environment comprised of?

c、 What is firm’s mission? Strategy? Goals?

d、 What are the resources involved in the firm’s value chain? How do they compare to competitor’s value chain on cost or differentiation?

e、 What are the sources of cost differences or differentiation in an industry?

f、 Does the firm have a competitive advantage? Why or Why not?

g、 Is the firm’s competitive advantage sustainable?

h、 Is the firm organized sufficiently to exploit its resources?

3. Define major issues. Ask yourself, what are the fundamental issues in the case? Which concepts presented in the class provide insight into those issues? Avoid drawing conclusion before thinking about the crux of the issues involved in a decision. Remember, wrong issues identified will only lead to wrong decisions.

4. Develop and elaborate your analysis of the key issues. Take key issues you have defined in step 3, examine facts that you have noted in step 2, and assess what are the key facts. What does quantitative analysis reveal about the health of the firm and not the causes of poor/good performance. Opinions unsupported by factual evidence and reasoning does not carry weight. Drawing diagrams will help clarify your thinking.

5. Draw conclusion and formulate a set of recommendations. You may feel uncomfortable to draw conclusion because of incomplete information about the case, which is a fact. But it is a hypothetical exercise that needs us to apply concepts and theories that we cover and to learn a process of systematic thinking. In formulating recommendations, you should be clear about priorities and the sequence of actions recommended.

6. Prepare for class discussion. For all the above five steps you should take notes. Bring those notes to the class and lead the discussion like no other. It will prepare you to hold you head up and enjoy the process of self-empowerment. It will be a “Cold Call”, I will direct a question to any student

B. The Use of Data Outside of the Case

Similar to other IBM AMBA capstone courses like Corporate Leadership (領導與溝通), Global Economic Visions (全球經濟視野), and Digital Marketing (IMC/數位行銷), many cases in this course focus on a defining period in a organization's life span. Given the breadth of experience that students bring to class, it would not be surprising if from time to time a student was aware of actions that a firm took, or of industry related decisions that were made after the point in time that the case is set. When this happens, it is important that facts outside the case not be introduced in the class discussion where it may short-circuit the learning of others and interrupt the development of the concepts. However, if students are particularly familiar with a company or industry, and would like to comment on the case from this perspective, it is encouraged to set this up during the group discussion, and then bring it to the class to share.

C. Individual Research Paper: Real-time Case Analysis

This is an individual real-time case analysis in which you will research your enterprise’s current status and develop a detailed strategic plan to address the company’s problems. You will turn in a two to five pages insights/summaries/take-away/resolutions of your paper at the end of every fourth class week. By the end of the semester, you will be able to collect your weekly write-ups as a recommended project for your business enterprise. This paper will entail a final written paper (max. 20 pages, font size 12) and an oral presentation. You will make your presentation and submit your completed report on the final exam week. The questions are explained in greater detail in Hill’s textbook (2020; 朱文儀等譯 2017) and will be discussed during the “take-away” of each discussed Harvard case. (The weight for this project, both report and presentation, is a total of 20% of your final grade.)

V. Academic Integrity

The University's Code of Academic Integrity is designed to ensure that the principles of academic honesty and integrity are upheld. All students are expected to adhere to this Code. Violations include: plagiarism* and exam misconduct. The NCTU Management School does not tolerate academic dishonesty. On each assignment you will be asked to write out and sign by all your team members the following pledge. "I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this exam/assignment.

*Note: Make sure not to plagiarize anyone else’s work either intentionally or unintentionally. Plagiarism is defined as using someone else's words or ideas without proper attribution. The proliferation of Web pages and electronic publications makes it easy for plagiarism, accidental or otherwise, to occur. When in doubt, make sure to include a full citation either as a footnote or as a reference at the end of the paper

V. CLASS SCHEDULE (二演, B307, 台北校區)

Date	Chapter Content/Topic	Harvard Case
2/18	Q. What is strategy? Why company needs strategy? Q. What is the evolution of developmental thoughts?	Team formation and “Case Updates” Assignments
2/25	PART I INTRODUCTION 1 1 The Concept of Strategy 3,	“Storrowed”: a GAI exercise (中文)
3/04	PART II THE TOOLS OF STRATEGY ANALYSIS 27 2 Goals, Values, and Performance, DuPont Equality, balanced scorecard, strategy and Real Options 29	Zara Fast Fashion (+Bayesian Epistemology)
3/11	3 Industry Analysis: The Fundamentals, SWOT/TOWS, Five-forces, Value-chain, KSF, strategic patterns, Relativism 54	1. Lego: The Crisis (+2010, 2011, 2017)
3/18	4 Further Topics in Industry and Competitive Analysis, beyond Five-Forces, complement, ecosystem, business models 76 (8. Industry Evolution and strategic change 166)	2. GAFA (+ MS-AdCenter)
3/25	5 Analyzing Resources and Capabilities, dynamic Value Chain, Profit-earning potential and sustainability, VRIN vs. VRIO 97	3. Predicting Consumer Tastes with Big Data at Gap
4/01	6 Organization Structure and Management Systems: Specialization, cooperation, and coordination; Organizational process, motivation, structure, and design 119	4. Google to Alphabet
4/08	PART III BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE QUEST FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE 139 7. Sources and dimensions of competitive advantage, cost advantage, two-sided platform & differentiation strategy 141	5. HTC’s Virtual Reality (+ Metaverse)
4/15	8 Industry Evolution and Strategic Change, process innovations, organizational inertia, ambidexterity, disruptive innovations, digitalization, AI, and knowledge management 201	6. Moderna, the Messenger:
4/22	9. Technology-based Industries and the Management of Innovation & knowledge, platforms & network externalities, S-curve diffusion, tipping point, winner-takes-all Ecosystem 201	7. Booking.com (+AB Test, Culture)
04/29	PART IV CORPORATE STRATEGY 231 10. Vertical Integration and the Scope of the Firm, Specification vs. Integration; Transaction cost analysis (TCA), make-or-buy decision, outsourcing vs. collaboration, 233	8. Ant Finance (+Institutional Voids, Capitalism vs. Socialism)
05/06	11. Global Strategy and the Multinational Corporation, Entering foreign market, digital transformation, CAGE, AAA triangle 251	9. Marriott’s next 90 years
5/13	12 Diversification Strategy, Motives, founding principles & values; economics of scale & scope, parental advantage, the meaning of relatedness in diversification & specialization, 278	10. Intel NBI (+Seeing What’s next)
5/20	13 Corporate Strategy: Managing the Multi-business Firm Growth Strategies: Mergers, Acquisitions, Alliances, and Scaling-up 295	11. Doubling Down: Elon Musk’s Big Bet (+Strategic Rules)
5/27	14 Current Trends in Strategic Management, new directions in strategic thinking, redesigning organization 326	12. AI Wars (+Value Chain)
06/03	Final Take-home Exam (我們這樣改變世界)	Metaverse Wars (+Web3.0)

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