The University of Texas at Dallas

School of Management

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Course Syllabus

Course Information
Course Number/Section BA 4305 – 5U2
Course Title Strategic Management
Term Summer 2011
Days & Times Wednesdays 6:00pm – 10:00pm
Location SOM 2.801

Professor Contact Information

Professor Craig D. Macaulay
Office Phone 972-883-4829
Email Address eLearning email is preferred, cdm081000@utdallas.edu otherwise.
Office Location SOM 4.207
Office Hours Tuesday 4:30-6:00 pm. If office hours are incompatible with your
schedule, please e-mail me concerning your desire for an
alternative meeting time.
Other Information The quickest and easiest way to contact me is through email, I will
be responsive. Please use eLearning email. If you would like to
schedule a phone conversation, we can do so via email.

Course Co-Requisite and Pre-requisites:

Co-requisite: BA 4371;
Pre-requisite: BA3341, 3351, BA3352, BA3361, and BA3365 – no exceptions made

Course Description
This is a capstone-level course requiring integration of all fields of business. Students will draw
on their broadened awareness of various environmental influences (social and political) to solve
business problems. Management alternatives will be examined with an ethical perspective
relating policy trends to strategic planning methodologies.

The Strategic Management course has been designated a capstone course in business at the
University of Texas at Dallas. The purpose of a capstone course is to integrate the learning
achieved in individual business courses taken to earn a business degree. The knowledge acquired
in finance, accounting, operations, MIS, marketing, and organizational behavior classes will be
utilized to study the strategic management of the firm as well as the responsibilities of the
general manager.
The approach of the class is practical and problem oriented. The major part of the course will
involve applying concepts, analytic frameworks, and intuition to the strategic issues that real-

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world companies face. These issues will be presented in case studies. For the class to work well
– and for you to benefit from it – attendance and preparation for each class meeting is essential.
This is an extremely intense course, which requires a substantial time commitment.

Student Learning Objectives/Outcomes

By the end of this course, students must be able to do the following:
1) To complete an external analysis of a firm, including a detailed analysis of the
competitive environment of the firm.
2) To complete an internal analysis of a firm, including the identification of the (sustainable)
competitive advantages of the firm and the resources and capabilities that lead to these
advantages.
3) To complete an assessment of the firm’s current strategy, including the ability to identify
the strategic problems of a firm and to develop solutions to a firm’s strategic issues.
4) To integrate skills acquired in finance, accounting, marketing, and MIS courses to create
a successful generic strategy to a firm.

Course Requirements
This course requires extensive readings, active discussions, and diligent attention to the
exercises. Each student will be expected to spend at least 8–10 hours a week on this course
in addition to class time. This is particularly true during the first weeks of the class.
 If a student cannot commit this amount of time and effort on this course, he or she must
realize that it may be very difficult to earn a good grade.
 Failure to fully prepare for class is also a detriment to one’s fellow students. It is the
student’s responsibility to thoroughly read the syllabus, fully understand all the
requirements, and keep track of all important dates in order to be successful.

Required Textbook
 The required text for this course is: Gregory G. Dess, G.T. Lumpkin, and Alan B.
Eisner: Strategic Management. Text and Cases (5th edition). McGraw-Hill Irwin.
ISBN: 978-0-07-353041-3

ELearning and Communication:

You will need to have access to eLearning for use during this class. Class notes, the syllabus,
weekly information on upcoming cases, and other relevant course-related materials will be
posted on eLearning. You may download this material from the website. In addition, you are
advised to check eLearning frequently, and prior to each class session. This will be the main
way of disseminating any messages or instructions relating to the course. A university policy
to protect student privacy directs that faculty are not required to answer student emails unless
they are from a UTD account.

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Grading Policy
Exam I 20%
Exam II 20%
Company Analysis Project 40%
1-Page Written Case Discussions 10%
Class Participation 10%

Grading Scale
97 and up A+ 87 to 89 B+ 77 to 79 C+ 67 to 69 D+ 59 and below F
94 to 96 A 84 to 86 B 74 to 76 C 64 to 66 D
90 to 93 A- 80 to 83 B- 70 to 73 C- 60 to 63 D-

2 Exams (40%)
There will be two non-cumulative exams. Exam I covers materials for the first half of the course
and the exam II covers the second half of the course. Exam questions stem from the textbook,
lecture materials, assigned readings, class discussions, and videos shown in the class. Exam format
will be multiple-choice and/or short answer questions.

Preparing for an exam is an important part of the learning process – it takes weeks of preparations,
not days or hours. Keeping up with readings, attending classes and working hard on the
assignments are the best preparation for the exams. Plan to spend at least 8–10 hours a week on
this course in addition to class time.

Policy regarding make-up exams

If you have a conflict and need to reschedule an exam for a different time, please discuss it with
me before the scheduled exam time. If you wait to talk to me after the exam has taken place, you
will not be able to make up the exam. Make-up exams are allowed for excused absences only.
Excused absences include, but are not limited to, sickness, a death in the family, and
personal/family injuries. You get only ONE chance to make up the exam. If you do not show up at
the scheduled time of your make-up exam, you will receive 0 points.

PLEASE NOTE: I will be highlighting information from the text as well as explaining some
information that may need clarification or elaboration. I will NOT repeat everything in all
chapters. HOWEVER, test questions can come from information in the text that we did not cover
in class. If you do not understand something in your textbook, please ask questions about it so I
can clarify for you.

Company Analysis Project (40%)

A strategic analysis of a company is a major component of this course. It is where you will apply
what you have learned to analyze a selected company. Your position is that of a business
consultant to the chief executive officer of the company. You have been hired to do a strategic

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analysis of the company. The goal is to determine what direction the company should take and
make specific recommendations about what the company should do next and why.

You will individually write a thorough company analysis, which includes three parts.

Part 1: External Analysis

Part 2: Internal Analysis
Part 3: Recommendations

Detailed requirements and expectations for each part will be discussed in class and posted in
eLearning.

In the beginning of the semester, I will provide you a list of companies from which you choose
the one for your project. You will submit the first and the second part before the mid-term and
submit the final project, which includes all three parts, before the final.

This project accounts for 40% of your total grade. It is broken down as follows:
Part 1: 10%
Part 2: 10%
Final Project: 20%
Total: 40%

Stylistic requirements for the project are:

Double spaced, font size 12, 1-inch standard margin on four sides of the paper.
Sub-headings and a logical organization is a plus.
For each part, there should be a minimum of 3 pages and maximum of 5 pages excluding
the title page and any attachments, such as figures, tables, references and appendix.
For the final project, minimum of 10 pages and maximum of 15 pages of text excluding
the title page and any attachments, such as figures, tables, references and appendix.
Please follow the APA style for the citation format, as illustrated in the following
website: http://www2.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citation.htm

Other requirements are:

I take plagiarism very seriously. If you plagiarize others’ work in any way, you will
be reported to the Office of Judicial Affairs zero of your paper. Use the website
http://www.umuc.edu/ewc/tutorial/start.shtml to complete your plagiarism tutorial and
quiz. Review the tutorial and retake the quiz as many times as is necessary to earn a grade
of 100% correct on the quiz. Understanding this is potentially vital to your success.
You must submit a hard copy of each paper AND upload it to the turnitin link in
eLearning. I will not grade your paper if it is not uploaded to turnitin.

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 While you may form study groups to discuss your company, the paper should be written
on an individual basis.
Extensive library research is required. The internet may be used but only along with other
sources. If your paper has only internet sources, such as Wikipedia, but without library
sources, you will not receive points for references.
Each part should include at least two references. The final project should include at least
six references.
Late submission will not be accepted.

Strengthening aspects in your papers:

Evidence of thorough company study.
Judgments supported by evidence from the sources.
Clear articulation of the issues you are addressing.
Use of professional tools and concepts from the text and lectures.
Justification for the recommendation that is consistent with company strategy and its
resources.

Detrimental aspects in your papers:

1. Failure to ANALYZE. Don’t just give facts, do ANALYSIS!
2. Failure to support opinions by evidence or logical explanation.
3. Lack of adequate outside research, such as relying on Google or Wikipedia for
information versus the library’s databases.
4. Poorly edited or organized or presented clearly (i.e. Failure to proofread ANY written
material and correct obvious misspellings, errors, and sloppy grammar).
5. Exhibits that are extraneous to the analysis. The reader or viewer is left to draw his/her
own conclusions and wonder why the exhibit is there.

1-Page Written Case Discussions (10%)

We will discuss a number of cases in class throughout the semester. You are expected to write a
brief (around 1 page) case analysis for every case we will discuss in class. Your case analysis
should address the questions that I will provide to you. These written case analyses will help you
prepare for the class discussions. I will collect them for grading at the end of the class. No
handwritten case analysis will be accepted!

Participation/Attendance (10%)
Participation is expected and is essential to the learning process, and it is a very important part of
your grade. Lack of attendance hinders a student’s understanding of the course material and
requirements on assignments. It also hurts a student’s performance, since I constantly emphasize
the relevant information on the exams in class. There will be a sign-in sheet for each class

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period. Please let me know if you have to miss certain class. Otherwise, your participation grade
will be adversely affected.
 Quality of class contributions will be weighted more heavily than quantity. Frequent
and valuable participants are those who attend all of the lectures, and participate
regularly.
 Class Discussion and Exercise: Your participation grade will reflect the degree to
which you contribute to the class, rather than simply whether you are physically
present. Here are some guidelines in participation grades. The instructor has the sole
authority in assigning participation grade.
 To help me learn each student’s name, and grade “participation and contribution” as
fairly as possible, you will prepare and bring a nameplate to each class.

Course Schedule and Readings:

The following course schedule provides a detailed checklist of topics and assignments by week.
This course outline provides a general plan. I reserve the right to make periodic changes to
content, requirements, and schedule. All changes will be announced in class. You are responsible
for all information given in class. This includes any changes to the syllabus, content and format
of exams, and details given regarding assignments.

To get the most out of the class, you need to read related chapters and be well prepared before
coming to class. If you have to miss a class, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to acquire missed
lectures notes, assignments, handouts, and announcements from a classmate.

READINGS
[COMPLETED TOPIC FOR LECTURE & CASE PROJECT
WEEK DATE
BEFORE CLASS DISCUSSION BRIEF DUE DUE
LECTURE]
Wed. Syllabus, Course Overview
1 Chapter 1
25-May Introduction to SM
Case 31:
Wed. A Horror
2 Chapter 2 External Environment of the Firm
1-Jun Show at the
Cinemaplex?
Wed. Case 24:
3 Chapter 3 Internal Environment of the Firm
8-Jun Jamba Juice

Wed. Intellectual Assets / Business-Level Case 14:

4 Chapters 4 & 5 Part 1 Due
15-Jun Strategy McDonald’s

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 Case 18:
Wed. Business-Level Strategy / Corporate
5 Chapters 5 & 6 Johnson & Part 2 Due
22-Jun Level Strategy
Johnson

Wed.
6 Review / EXAM I (CH 1-6)
29-Jun

Case 25:
Wed.
7 Chapter 7 International Strategy China’s Geely
6-Jul
Automotive

Case 19:
Wed. Entrepreneurial Strategy / Managing
8 Chapters 8 & 12 Samsung
13-Jul Innovation
Electronics

Wed. Strategic Control & Corporate Case 37:

9 Chapters 9 & 11
20-Jul Governance / Strategic Leadership AIG

Wed. Effective Organizational Designs Final Project

10 Chapter 10
27-Jul Final Review Due
Wed.
11 EXAM II (CH 6-12)
3-Aug
* This schedule is flexible and is subject to change as necessary.

Policies and Procedures for Students

The University of Texas at Dallas provides a number of policies and procedures designed to
provide students with a safe and supportive learning environment. Brief summaries of the
policies and procedures are provided for you at
http://provost.utdallas.edu/home/index.php/syllabus-policies-and-procedures-text and include
information about technical support, field trip policies, off-campus activities, student conduct
and discipline, academic integrity, copyright infringement, email use, withdrawal from class,
student grievance procedures, incomplete grades, access to Disability Services, and religious
holy days. You may also seek further information at these websites:
http://www.utdallas.edu/BusinessAffairs/Travel_Risk_Activities.htm
http://www.utdallas.edu/judicialaffairs/UTDJudicialAffairs-HOPV.html
http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/copypol2.htm
http://www.utdallas.edu/disability/documentation/index.html

These descriptions and timelines are subject to change at the

discretion of the Professor.

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