Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Faculty
Professor R. Srinivasan (CSP)
Professor Rishikesha Krishnan
Professor Sai Yayavaram
Professor Pranav Garg
Office
C206
B004
E107
D107
Phone
3143
3160
3751
3350
Email
srini
rishi
sai.yayavaram
gargp
Secretary, Phone
Subrina Raj, 3209
KM Ramamani, 3202
Shantha Kumari, 3278
Ahmed Khan, 3028
Course Overview
The basic objectives of the Competition and Strategy course are as follows:
Integrate the skills and knowledge you have acquired in your previous courses, and
Develop a strong understanding of how firms compete by engaging with the important analytical
approaches that underlie the domain of strategic management.
Our perspective in this course will be that of a general manager or a chief executive officer. We believe
this would embed in you a general management perspective i.e., the capacity to view the firm in its
totality and in the context of its environment.
Course Structure and Pedagogy
The course has been structured into six modules. These are:
Module I:
Module II:
Module III:
Module IV:
Module V:
Module VI:
Introduction
Industry Analysis
Competitive Positioning
Resource Based View of the Firm
Competitive Dynamics
Strategic Transformation
We opted to structure the course along the above seemingly discrete dimensions for pedagogical
convenience. However you should be aware that reality is far less ordered. Whats more you may find us
on occasion simulating real life chaos in the classroom!
The objectives of the course dictate the pedagogy. The case method has been found to be the most
suitable pedagogical device in this regard. It enables one to simulate, as closely as is possible, the real
world in the classroom. The simulation is complete and effective only when you come fully prepared to
the class. Thus the onus for deriving maximum value from this course lies as much with you as with the
instructor!
Course Materials
The course packet contains all the cases and the reading material. The text Contemporary Strategy Analysis
(7th edition) by Robert M. Grant, Blackwell Publishing is issued to you. Additionally, several excellent
textbooks on strategy are available in the IIMB library.
Evaluation Scheme
30 marks
30 marks
30 marks
10 marks
Careful prior preparation of cases scheduled for discussion, as well as thoughtful participation and
listening during the case discussions, will help develop your ability to analyse cases and their contexts. It
will enable you to synthesise case data for taking strategic decisions and for planning their
implementationan ability that will be tested in the mid-term and end-term examinations, which will
both be open-book case-based examinations. Please note that there will be no makeup quiz or exam
except on medical grounds, subject to PGP norms.
Attendance policy
We require 75% attendance for this course. The penalty for going below this threshold is a single grade
point drop.
Project Presentations and Report
As part of the C&S course, you are expected to work in groups of five students, and analyse the
competitive strategy of an Indian firm. The purpose of this project is to understand the industry and
external context of the firm, analyse the firms competitive strategy, and identify the firms resources
and capabilities that help it compete in the industry. Choose an Indian company, preferably a firm listed
in any of the Indian stock exchanges, to help you source sufficient data. Also, since much of this course
deals with business level strategy, ideally, you should select single business firms for analysis. If that is not
possible, you should analyse that business of a multi-business firm, which accounts for the largest part of
its revenue. Otherwise, financial analysis will either be difficult or require assumptions that may be
difficult to justify. Please seek the approval of your faculty before deciding on an industry/company for
the project.
Each section will be organised into groups of up to five students each within the first week. Each group
should designate a group co-ordinator who should submit three options (in decreasing order of
preference) to their faculty by email latest by 5 p.m. on September 23, 2013. Each option should state
the industry choice and company choices as shown below. Project will be allocated on a first-come firstserved basis.
1. Industry A Company A1/Company A2
2. Industry B Company B1/Company B2
3. Industry C Company C1/Company C2
You are required to submit the report in two parts an analysis of the industry and an analysis of the firm
on the dates indicated in the next section of this outline.
All the groups must email their presentations to the respective faculty, and submit a hard copy of their
presentation slides to their respective faculty in class on November 22, 2013. Each group will have
maximum of 10 minutes to present and to defend their report. Email (to the respective faculty) and hard
copies of both the reports (Industry Analysis and Firm Analysis) should be submitted to the respective
secretaries of the instructors. The word limit for both the reports is 3000 words each excluding non-text
exhibits. Late submissions will not be accepted.
Your report should include an analysis of the companys strategies and link them to the performance of
the company. You should point out why the company has been a leader/challenger and whether its
current strategies will be adequate to sustain/improve its position. Your recommendations should focus
on how the company can retain its leadership position or improve its competitive situation (as
appropriate for your choice of company).
You may find it useful to assume that you are a consulting firm and that you have been hired by the
company to make recommendations for their strategy in the future. Elements of a typical report include,
but are not limited to, the following:
Introduction: A clear and concise statement of the problem(s) facing the firm you have selected.
Key recommendations: Your intended audience, senior managers, have only a limited time for perusing
the report. The report, therefore, must be short, attractive, and to-the-point.
Elaboration: State the major assumptions and the important reasons underlying the recommendations.
Also state the criteria for evaluating a strategy and show how your recommendations meet them.
How will the company benefit if it accepts your recommendations? Use appendices to provide
supporting material if elaborate analysis or models back your recommendations.
Alternatives considered: Possible objections to your recommendations and your responses to them.
Thus, after making your recommendations, you must list all the important possible alternatives that
you do not recommend. Provide brief reasons for not recommending the alternatives. Much of your
analysis and most of the models will probably go here. Use appendices to provide the support for
your arguments.
Plan for implementation: State the key action steps required for implementing the recommendations.
State, for each functional area, the functional level strategies, plans, and goals that will help in
implementation. These functional level strategies must be consistent with each other as well as with
the overall (business level) strategy of the firm, as well as with the strengths. (If the firm does not
have the required strengths, point out how it will acquire them).
Structure and systems: If necessary, suggest changes in organisation structure, reward and compensation
schemes, and information and control systems. Identify the key performance indicators that the
managers may use to assess the success of implementation.
Budget and financial projections: List the resources required (funds, personnel, equipment, and the like).
Show clearly how the firm will benefit from your suggestions. Does the company have the money to
implement your recommendations? (Simple financial projections will do, we will not insist on
proforma balance sheets, profit and loss accounts, cash flow projections, or IRR calculations).
Contingency: Earlier you had stated some assumptions (relating to the environmental conditions in the
future). What if they prove to be incorrect? Contingency plans may help a firm achieve some or
most of its objectives irrespective of changes in the environment
Please acknowledge sources of all data/information used and provide a complete list of references. If you
refer to any other material (article, website, blog, egroup, etc.) in writing your project reports, this must be
explicitly acknowledged with full citations. Failure to acknowledge material sourced from elsewhere will
be considered as plagiarism and subject to PGP disciplinary rules. Grading will be based on the quality of
analysis, rather than simple collection, collation, and presentation of data. Each group is also required to
make a brief presentation on the project. Faculty will be available for consultation on the project for the
duration of the term.
Important Dates
The timeline for the course is given below:
1
2
3
4
5
6
Submission
Choice of industry/firm for Group Project
Project Submission (Part 1-Industry Analysis)
Mid-term Examination
Project Presentations
Project Submission (Part 2- Firm Analysis)
End-term Examination
Due on
September 23, 2013, by 5 pm
October 14, 2013 by 5 pm
October 19 to 23, 2013
November 22 and 23, 2013
December 5, 2013 by 5 pm
December 5 to 9, 2013
Module Readings:
Module Readings:
Session 04
Case:
Reading:
Questions:
Module Readings:
Session 06
Case:
Questions:
Session 07
Case:
Questions:
Session 08
Case:
Reading
Questions:
Session 09
Guest lecture
Thursday
Module Readings:
Session 11
Case:
Questions:
Session 12
Case:
Questions:
Session 13
Case:
Questions:
Module Readings
November 1, 2013
Friday
Bitter Competition: Holland Sweetener Company versus NutraSweet (A)
How should Vermijs expect Nutrasweet to respond to Holland Sweetener
Companys entry into the European and Canadian aspartames markets? What
are the chances of normal competition or price wars?
Session 15
Case:
Questions:
Session 16
Case:
Readings:
Questions:
Sessions 17 and 18
Presentations
Module Readings