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Instructor: Jerry McCarthy
Office & Voice-mail: (847) 948-9047
Email: mccgrp@msn.com
Home: (847) 948-9035
Class meets: Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 3:30 – 4:20 PM
Office hours: I will be on campus from 8:30 AM through 4:30 PM on most Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Please fell free to make an appointment to meet with me with any questions you might have regarding course material. I will be using a shared office in Fine Arts and would be happy to meet with you at a mutually convenient time.
Required Materials:
(1) Thomas L. Wheelen and J. David Hunger, Strategic Management and Business Policy. 9th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004
(2) Jerald R. Smith and Peggy A. Golden, Corporation, A Global Business Simulation. 4th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2003
Corporation
requires a student subscription access code that is available with new
textbooks only. If you purchase a textbook from another source, you will need
to purchase an access code separately through the Dominican University bookstore.
This course will introduce you to strategic management, a field that focuses on the organization as a whole and its interactions with its environment. It is an exciting “capstone” course that gives you an opportunity to use all of the material you have learned in your functional business course curriculum these past few years. The material that will be covered involves all of the functional areas of a company such as, governance, management, marketing, operations, accounting, finance, information technology, law and human resources. The course is demanding in that it requires a good deal of reading, analysis and written work on a weekly basis, work that will require a great deal more out of class effort and time than has been the case in most of your earlier course work.
Through the combination of a business game simulation, case studies, relevant article analysis, and the material covered in the Wheelen text, students will analyze and evaluate a firm’s current strategic position. You will then determine whether strategic changes are required to assure future business success for the firm. If so, you will choose the policies, programs and organizational changes that should be implemented to achieve long-term goals and objectives for the firm.
We begin with basic concepts of strategic management and move to the issues of corporate governance, and social responsibility. We move on to environmental scanning and industry analysis, and internal scanning and organizational analysis. Next, we examine strategy formulation, and finally review strategy implementation and control. We will also cover strategic issues in entrepreneurial ventures as well as in managing technology and innovation
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Course Objectives:
· To develop an understanding of the role of corporate governance in strategic management.
Team computer game simulation 20
Class participation 15
Case assignments 12.5
Chapter / article assignments 10
Major field exam assignments 10
Major field exam 02.5
Group presentation 10
Mid-term exam 10
Final Exam 10 Total 100
Grading:
A 94-100
A- 90-93
B 84-89
B- 80-83
C 74-79
C- 70-73
D 60-69
F Below 60
With a grade component of 20 points, the simulation game, Corporation, is the largest factor in the overall grading formula for this course. We will spend two class periods reviewing the parameters of the game and the methods for inputting decision sets at each event during the course. Two 4 person and two 3 person teams will be assigned during the first week of class. After developing a strategic plan, each team will be required to submit eight quarterly decisions during the semester. Team scores will be based on a formula that I will review in class. The formula will weight the factors listed below in determining scores for each team. The team with the highest score will earn 20 points. The scores of all other teams will be based on performance relative to the top team.
Simulation factors:
· Return on sales
· Return on assets
Case assignments:
Case assignments
will be made in class. Most are in the
Wheelen text but there will be another case or two that will be handed out in
class on the Friday of the week prior to their due date. Eight cases will be assigned and I will count your
five best scores in assigning an appropriate level of the 10-point grade
component of your overall grade for this activity. Case papers should be no
more than two pages in length, typed of course, and submitted on or before the
due date.
Article/ chapter assignments:
Eight articles or chapter questions will be assigned and once again, I will count your five best scores in assigning an appropriate level of the 10-point grade component of your overall grade represented by this activity. Your comments, analysis and recommendation regarding the topic at issue in the article/chapter question assigned should be submitted as a one page, typed of course, commentary on the subject or issue presented. Once again the paper must be submitted on or before the due date. Articles will be available either on line through the Library, in published form at the Library or will be handed out in class prior to the assigned due date.
Two of our class sessions this semester will be used to administer a standardized exam for business majors. No formal preparation is necessary. Dominican University has voluntarily elected to administer the exam to assess the strength of our curriculum relative to other business
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schools. The exam will be given on Friday, April 16 and on Monday, April 19. Your grade on this exam will have no bearing on your grade in this course. You will however, receive a 02.5 component towards your overall course grade for taking the exam on both assigned dates.
Major Field Exam review assignments:
You will be given a
series of 10 assignments that are designed to test your knowledge and
understanding of key issues, principles, formulas, terminology, processes and
theories that were important parts of the subject matter that was likely
covered in your study during numerous functional courses you have taken in your
Dominican School of Business curriculum. These assignments are intended to
enable you to review prior subject matter that will benefit you educationally
once again while giving you the opportunity to apply those lessons in the Major
Field Exam. More importantly, those
lessons should better equip you and your teammates to analyze, evaluate and
make decisions in the game simulation as well as in other activities in
this “capstone” course such as, your
case and article and chapter assignments. These assignments have not been
designed specifically as a review for the major field exam but more so, to
familiarize yourself once again with prior course work that might be helpful.
These 10 assignments will represent another 10-point component of your overall
course grade.
Group Presentation:
Just prior to March
vacation, I will assign three, 5-person groups for your group presentations.
They will be given just prior to the Easter vacation in early April. The
presentations will consist of a 30-minute delivery followed by a 15-minute
question and answer period. All group
members are expected to make roughly equal contributions to the
presentation. All presentations should
incorporate power point slides and/or other multimedia applications. I will
meet with each group to discuss your selection of a company and the nature of
your presentation during the week of March 15th. Your grade on the presentation will be based
upon a number of factors; (1) The thoroughness with which you identify the
problems facing the company your team selects and the issues management needs
to address. (2) The caliber of your
analysis and of the company’s situation and evaluation of alternatives. (3) Your ability to use the tools of
strategic analysis in a competent fashion.
(4) The practicality of your recommendations. (5) The quality and conciseness of your power point slides. (6)The delivery and persuasiveness of group
members. (7) The groups’ ability to
defend its position in the Q & A period.
Class Participation
and expectations:
You are expected to
attend class and role will be taken periodically. You are also expected to be in the classroom promptly at 3:30
PM. Latecomers are a distraction to
both the instructor and fellow students.
Since many of you will soon enter the business world, learn now that absence and tardiness are just not tolerated. Class will begin
promptly at 3:30 PM.
Each student is
expected to contribute to discussions in each class. 12.5 grade points of your overall grade will depend upon
it. Prior reading and completion of assigned work enables you to speak up
and earn the full component! Your
class participation grade will reflect the quality and frequency of your
contributions. Attendance alone does
not represent participation. Frequent
unexcused absences will substantially lower your participation grade. Make up exams will not be given and all
written assignments for cases /articles /chapter questions and major field exam
assignments that are not handed in on or before the assigned due date will be
graded “F”.
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Course Calendar:
Jan 16 F Introductions and syllabus
Jan 19 M Read pages 1-41 in the Corporation manual
Jan 21 W Corporation discussion continued.
Jan 23 F Read Chapter 14, MFE asst 1 due
Jan 26 M Read Chapter 1
Jan 28 W Chapter 1 continued
Jan 30 F Read Chapter 2, MFE asst 2 due
Feb 2 M Chapter 2 continued, Case 1 asst due, Game decision 1 due
Feb 4 W Read Chapter 3, Article/ Chapter asst 1 due
Feb 6 F Chapter 3 continued, MFE asst 3 due
Feb 9 M Chapter 3 continued, Case 2 asst due, Game decision 2 due
Feb 11 W Read Chapter 4, Article/Chapter asst 2 due
Feb 13 F Chapter 4 continued, MFE asst 4 due
Feb 16 M Chapter 4 continued, Case 3 asst due, Game decision 3 due
Feb 18 W Read Chapter 5, Article/Chapter asst 3 due
Feb 20 F Chapter 5 continued, MFE asst 5 due
Feb 23 M Read Chapter 6, Case 4 asst due, Game decision 4 due
Feb 25 W Chapter 6 continued, Article/Chapter asst 4 due
Feb 27 F Read Chapter 7, MFE asst 6 due
Mar 1 M Chapter 7 continued
Mar 5,8,10,12 Mid-semester vacation
Mar 15 M Read Chapter 8, Case asst 5 due, Game decision 5 due
Mar 17 W Chapter 8 continued, Article/Chapter asst 5 due
Mar 19 F Read Chapter 9, MFE asst 7 due
Mar 22 M Chapter 9 continued, Case asst 6 due, Game decision 6 due
Mar 24 W Chapter 9 continued, Article/Chapter asst 6 due
Mar 26 F Read Chapter 10, MFE asst 8 due
Mar 29 M Chapter 10 continued, Case asst 7 due, Game decision 7 due
Mar 31 W Chapter 10 continued, Article/Chapter asst 7 due
A pr 2 F Group A presentation, MFE asst 9 due
Apr 5 M Group B presentation
Apr 7 W Group C presentation, MFE asst 10 due
Apr 9,12,14 Easter Vacation
Apr 16 F Major field Exam
Apr 19 M Major Field Exam
Apr 21 W Read Chapter 11, Case asst 8 due, Game decision 8 due
Apr 23 F Chapter 11 continued, Article/Chapter asst 8 due
Apr 26 M Read chapter 12
Apr 28 W Chapter 12 continued
Apr 30 F Read Chapter 13
May 3 M Final Exam covering Chapters 8 thru
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