MGMT643-20S1 (C) Semester One 2020

Advanced Strategic Management

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 17 February 2020
End Date: Sunday, 21 June 2020
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 28 February 2020
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 29 May 2020

Description

The course prepares students to undertake strategy activity as reflective practitioners and provides the conceptual background needed for research in the strategy field.

The course involves students in debating multiple perspectives on each of the major strategy issues faced by managers. The debate draws on papers by leading strategic thinkers, and applies their ideas to contemporary business cases. The cases are international in scope, reflecting contemporary global business connectedness. The course covers strategy process, content, context and purpose.

This is one of the courses for the M.Com in Management. It can also be taken as an elective in other M.Com programmes such as Marketing. Undergraduate study of strategic management (MGMT344 & 345) is helpful but not essential for this course.

Workload
The course represents 150 hours of learning, of which the timetabled classes are but one component. Students will also need to prepare for their class presentations, undertake their research assignment, and complete the weekly course readings.

Learning Outcomes

The course has the dual objectives of preparing students to undertake strategy activity as reflective practitioners and providing the conceptual background needed for research in the strategy field.

M.Com Learning Goals
Goal 1: Graduates can demonstrate in-depth knowledge and understanding of current theoretical concepts and frameworks within their major discipline.
The course develops theoretical and applied understanding of key concepts and frameworks in strategic management.
Goal 2: Graduates are able to think logically, analytically and critically with respect to the academic literature in their major discipline.
The course develops these skills through dialectical debate of paradoxes in respect of each topic within the discipline.
Goal 3: Graduates can plan and carry out a supervised programme of academic research that shows a sound understanding of ethical practice.
The course does not specifically address this goal, but it can be pursued through thesis projects in the discipline area.
Goal 4: Graduates are able to synthesise academic or professional literature and effectively communicate research orally and in written form.
The course develops these skills through the dialectic and case presentations in each class, and further through the research assignment.

Prerequisites

Subject to approval of the Head of Department

Equivalent Courses

MGMT443

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

Paul Knott

Office hours: Please refer to Learn site for details.

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Dialectic Presentation 25% Dialectic Presentation
Case Presentation 25% Case Presentation
Research Assignment 1 20 Apr 2020 25% Research Assignment 1 Hand-in 9am Monday 20 April
Research Assignment 2 08 Jun 2020 25% Research Assignment 2


Presentations
Each student is to make two presentations during the course: a ‘case presentation’ and a ‘dialectic presentation’ as detailed below. Please seek guidance and feedback as you prepare the presentations.

Each presentation (case or dialectic) should last 20-25 minutes in total across the three specified components. Additional time will be spent on questions and discussion following each section.

Presenters are to post their presentation slides and a brief but well-structured report via the link 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. The submissions will go through Turnitin: please be careful that your report follows in full UC policies on source attribution and referencing.

The presentation and report are assessed with equal weighting. Each of the three components (1) to (3) will be assessed according to:
o Quality and originality of the content
o Clarity and delivery of the content in the presentation and report
o Handling of questions and discussion
o Hygiene factors including timing of the presentation and refinement of the report.

Dialectic presentation
Refer to the notes on the dialectical approach in DW p.14-16. Present the following three components, each of which should be designed to lead into class questions and discussion:
1) Your interpretation of the salient features of the ‘thesis’ arguments, drawing on the relevant chapter and readings.
2) Your interpretation of the salient features of the ‘antithesis’ arguments, drawing on the relevant chapter and readings.
3) Your own innovative ways of transcending the paradox.

In each part, enrich the presentation using illustrative cases (excluding that assigned for the case presentation). Assume audience familiarity with the basic topic introduction in the chapter, and hence focus directly on the arguments made within each stream of literature.

Case presentation
Refer to the notes on dealing with paradoxes in DW&M p.16-18. Present the following three components, each of which should be designed to lead into class questions and discussion:
1) Your analysis of the case, including potential actions, based on the assumptions and methods of the ‘thesis’ viewpoint.
2) Your analysis of the case, including potential actions, based on the assumptions and methods of the ‘antithesis’ viewpoint.
3) Your proposals as to how participants could adopt an innovative solution that moves ‘beyond the trade-off line’ as shown in Figure 1.7.

The text presents cases at a point in time and with a view to illustrating the dialectic themes. Presentations should extend the analysis to cover additional, updated material, still through the lens of the dialectic themes. They should avoid descriptive reporting of results and strategies.

Research assignments
For each assignment, choose a topic from the list provided on Learn. Find and synthesise scholarly literature representing contemporary advances and debate in your chosen topic, illustrating your arguments with specific, contemporary organisational examples.

Regardless of the topic, you must carry out your own original review of academic literature on the topic and move towards your own synthesis of this literature that addresses the question posed. Although the topics relate broadly to subject areas covered in the textbook and classes, you must address them more specifically and not refer extensively to dialectic discussions from class.

You should write each assignment as a discursive, scholarly essay rather than as a business report. You should use the available word count for the core material of the assignment (answering the question!). Please do not include contents pages, glossaries, separate abstracts or summaries, appendices or other peripheral sections.

Assignments will be graded using the following four equally weighted criteria:
• Use of scholarly literature
o Does the assignment show evidence of thorough and well-conducted academic literature review?
• Conceptual merits
o Does the assignment demonstrate adequate conceptual understanding of the subject matter at the requisite academic level?
• Originality
o Does the assignment make a distinctive and original contribution that is non-trivial and avoids drawing excessively on an individual source?
• Structure, writing and argumentation
o Is the assignment well written in clear scholarly English with consistent flow of logic and coherent argumentation?

Maximum length: 3500 words for each assignment, including everything except the reference list. Please state the word count for each assignment.

Please submit both printed copy, and electronic copy via the link on Learn, by the due date (printed copy to Meremere Level 2 Reception). The electronic and printed copies must be identical. You must use the standard cover sheet for the printed copies. These are available on the course  Learn site.

The Learn system will automatically submit the electronic version of the report through Turnitin. All sources used must be properly referenced (including in-text attribution) as specified in UC 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; Strategy :an international perspective ; Sixth edition; Cengage Learning, 2017.

The course also draws on a series of Essential Readings posted or linked from Learn.

Notes

Class Representative
A class representative may be asked to volunteer in the first few weeks of class. Any problems with the course can be raised with the class rep. Their email can be found at UCSA. The class representative will take up any issues raised by class members with the lecturer concerned as they occur.

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.

Citations and referencing

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $982.00

* 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.

For further information see Management, Marketing and Tourism .

All MGMT643 Occurrences

  • MGMT643-20S1 (C) Semester One 2020