Advanced Strategic Management

Subject to approval of the Head of Department

MGMT443

MGMT443

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

Paul Knott

Lecturer

David Stiles

Office hours: Please refer to Learn site for details.

Assessment

Presentations
Each student is to make two presentations during the course: a ‘case presentation’ and a ‘dialectic presentation’ as detailed below. Guidance on these presentations will be given when required.

Each presentation (case or dialectic) should last around 20 minutes. Additional time will be spent on questions and discussion. The presenter is to post a brief but well-structured report on
Learn by the morning after the presentation. The report must be in MS Word format (or pdf equivalent) and provide a written version of the presentation that includes illustrations where appropriate. Full referencing must be included so that sources may be followed up.

Assessment criteria:
o Credibility of content
o Clarity and delivery
o Timing
o Handling of questions
o Quality of Learn submission

Dialectic presentation
Refer to the notes on the dialectical approach in DW&M p.18-19. The objective is to present what you believe are the salient features of the thesis and antithesis of the specified dialectic, drawing on the relevant chapter and readings, leading to your suggestions to achieve synthesis. Presentations should assume audience familiarity with the basic topic introduction in the chapter. It will help to use illustrative cases so that the presentation does not become too dry.

Case presentation
Refer to the notes on using the cases in DW&M p.19. The objective is to analyse the case from the opposing viewpoints in the chapter, then to present an innovative solution that moves ‘beyond the trade-off line’ as shown in Figure 1.8. The text presents cases at a point in time and with a view to illustrating the dialectic themes. The presentations should extend the analysis of the dialectic themes to cover additional, updated material. They should avoid descriptive reporting of results and strategies.

Strategy project - Fonterra: to keep creaming the profits in dairy?

Using the Fonterra case in De Wit and Meyer (Chapter 11) as a starting point and drawing on your own research on the business (Please do not contact Fonterra directly):

1) Analyse the strategic situation facing the business, demonstrating the use of generative reasoning and rational reasoning in your process and explaining where and why you are adopting each of these approaches.
2) Develop and justify your own detailed strategies for key businesses within Fonterra based on your strategic analysis, making it clear how you derive those strategies in terms of an inside-out and/or or outside-in view.
3) Given your knowledge about the international context, show how you would solve the paradox of globalisation versus localisation as it applies to the strategies you develop for Fonterra.
4) Write a new organisational mission for Fonterra using an appropriate framework, demonstrating how the mission addresses the paradox of pursuing economic profitability and responding to demands for social responsibility. Your new mission must be consistent with the strategies you develop for parts (1) – (3).

Be sure to present your own independent critical analysis for all four aspects of the report. In part, you will have to draw on views expressed by managers, analysts, and journalists but it is essential to recognise them as opinions only, and potentially politically motivated.

Maximum length: 7000 words for the whole submission including appendices (reference list can be extra). Please state the word count at the beginning of the report.

Each question will be marked with reference to:

• Conceptual merits, including effective use of the dialectical approach and evidence of understanding of the relevant academic literature.
• Practical merits, including effective analysis of the strategic situation, insightful application of theory, and sound and implementable recommendations.
• Clarity, structure, flow of argument, and readability.

All sources used in the assignment must be properly referenced (including in-text attribution) as specified in the Department and University policies. When you take an idea from another source, cite the source in the text. If you choose to use the exact words of another source, put them in quotation marks and cite the source next to the quotation.

Textbooks / Resources

Required Texts

Wit, Bob de. , Meyer, Ron; Strategy synthesis : resolving strategy paradoxes to create competitive advantage ; 3rd ed; Cengage Learning, 2010.

There is also a Learn page for the course.

Course links

LEARN
MGMT643S1 Course Outline

Notes

Departmental Academic Policies The Department assumes that you have read this document.

You should also read the General Course and Examination Regulations

Dishonest Practice
The University of Canterbury considers cheating and plagiarism to be serious acts of dishonesty.  All assessed work must be your own individual work unless specifically stated otherwise in the assessment guidelines. Material quoted from any other source must be clearly acknowledged. You must not copy the work of another person (student or published work) in any assessment including examinations, tests and assignments. Any person, who is found to have copied someone else's work, or to have allowed their work to be copied, will receive a fail grade for that piece of assessment and may face disciplinary action which may lead to a fine, community service or exclusion from the university.

IMPORTANT: Where there are concerns regarding the authorship of written course work, a student can be required to provide a formal, oral explanation of the content of their work.

Indicative Fees

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.