Lahore University of Management Sciences

MGMT 400 - Strategic Business Management

Spring Semester 2023

Instructor Salma Zaman

Room No. Room -5, 4th floor, SDSB Building
Office Hours By Appointment
Email [email protected]
Telephone 8038
Secretary Abdul Basit
TA Office Hours TBA
Course URL (if any) suraj.lums.edu.pk

COURSE BASICS
Credit Hours 3
Lecture(s) Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week 2 Duration 75 mins each

COURSE DISTRIBUTION
Core Yes
Elective -
Open for Student Category
Close for Student Category

COURSE DESCRIPTION
Strategic Business Management is a senior-level management course about how firms create and sustain competitive advantage.
Formulating an implementing superior strategies is more critical now than ever because no firm or organization can take its
competitive advantage for granted in this fast paced, global business environment.

In this course, we will adopt a general management point of view and analyze decisions and strategies in light of the total
enterprise. We will also touch upon corporate strategy topics such as how business create value when operating multiple
business units, as well as touching on mergers and acquisitions. These theories and concepts will provide you with a language for
discussing strategy and the tools necessary to conceptualize a firm’s competitive environment and resources.

COURSE PREREQUISITE(S)

None

COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

The objective of the course is to ensure that students to develop a strategic mindset with an understanding of
strategy formulation, strategy implementation and evaluation & control of a business unit.

The course has the following objectives:

1. Business Knowledge: Develop an understanding of strategic management concepts, research, and

theories. Develop framework of analysis to enable students to identify central issues and problems in
complex situations to suggest alternative courses of action; recommendations for future actions. Develop
conceptual skills to articulate a new strategy for a business situation
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2. Ethical Judgement: Students will develop the ability to critically evaluate unstructured strategic business
issues and decisions to develop innovative and ethical decisions.
3. Effective Communication: Students who complete this course will enhance their ability to construct and
deliver clear, concise and convincing oral and written business communication.

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM LEARNING GOALS & OBJECTIVES

General Learning Goals & Objectives
Goal 1 –Effective Written and Oral Communication
Objective: Students will demonstrate effective writing and oral communication skills
Goal 2 –Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
Objective: Students will demonstrate that they are able to identify and address ethical issues in an
organizational context.
Goal 3 – Analytical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills
Objective: Students will demonstrate that they are able to identify key problems and generate viable solutions.
Goal 4 – Application of Information Technology
Objective: Students will demonstrate that they are able to use current technologies in business and
management context.
Goal 5 – Teamwork in Diverse and Multicultural Environments
Objective: Students will demonstrate that they are able to work effectively in diverse environments.
Goal 6 – Understanding Organizational Ecosystems
Objective: Students will demonstrate that they have an understanding of Economic, Political, Regulatory, Legal,
Technological, and Social environment of organizations.

Major Specific Learning Goals & Objectives

Goal 7 (a) – Discipline Specific Knowledge and Understanding
Objective: Students will demonstrate knowledge of key business disciplines and how they interact including
application to real world situations (Including subject knowledge).
Goal 7 (b) – Understanding the “science” behind the decision-making process (for MGS Majors)
Objective: Students will demonstrate ability to analyze a business problem, design and apply appropriate
decision-support tools, interpret results and make meaningful recommendations to support the decision-maker

Indicate below how the course learning objectives specifically relate to any program learning goals and objectives.

PROGRAM LEARNING GOALS COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES COURSE ASSESSMENT ITEM

AND OBJECTIVES (OUTCOMES)
Goal 1 –Effective Written and Oral Yes. Class participation in classes.
Communication Course project presentations.
Quizzes and Exams.
Goal 2 –Ethical Understanding and Yes. All grading components.
Reasoning
Goal 3 – Analytical Thinking and Yes. Mini cases.
Problem Solving Skills Course project.
Class participation.
Goal 4 – Application of Information
Technology
Goal 5 – Teamwork in Diverse and Yes Course project
Multicultural Environments
Goal 6 – Understanding Yes Course project
Organizational Ecosystems Mini cases
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Goal 7 (a) – Program Specific Yes. All grading components
Knowledge and Understanding
Goal 7 (b) – Understanding the Yes. Mini cases.
“science” behind the decision- Course Project.
making process

GRADING BREAKUP AND POLICY

Class Participation: 15%
Attendance: 5%
Quizzes: 20%
Project: 15%
Case Write-Up (2): 15%
Final Examination: 30%

Course Project
The course project requires students to work with a group of their colleagues to submit a strategic plan for any real life
organization.
They are to act like a group of consultants advising the company on their strategic plans.
This project will allow students to:
 Develop skills for analyzing and interpreting company internal and external environments.
 Apply in class theory to practical complex organizational contexts.
 Achieve confidence in making key strategic decisions.
 Improve skills for working as part of a team and develop personal and team organizational skills.
This project consists of two parts:
Part 1: Analysis:
Students are required to do a complete analysis of the history of the company and its external environment which includes an
industry analysis and analysis of the competitive environment.
Students are also required to demonstrate knowledge of the organization’s mission, vision and organizational goals.
Students are not required to engage with the firm itself, but secondary sources such as newspaper articles can be used to find
additional information about the company itself.
Part 2 Analysis of a strategic decision:
In the second part, students are required to analyze any strategic decision the firm has taken recently. This can be a decision
regarding a merger, acquisition, introducing a new brand, increasing number of franchises, etc. Students have to analyze how this
decision corresponded to the organization’s vision and mission and have to decide whether the decision was a correct one or not.
The decision should be analyzed on the basis of ethics as well.
A comment on free-riding: If any team has any serious problems with free-riders or slackers:
First try to manage and discuss your concerns with the slacking individual directly.
Only if that doesn’t work, talk to me, well before the final submission is due.
Remember team management skills are part of the learning goals in this exercise, so try and manage teams as best as you can.
In extreme cases, non-performing team members may, at my discretion, fail the course or be severely penalized.

Students will be required to work on this project throughout the semester. They will be asked to periodically present their
findings in class. They will be also asked to submit a written project at the end of the semester.

Class Participation
Class participation should reflect that you have read the assigned material for the class. It should add value to the class discussion.
If a question is well thought out and shows understanding, it will also count as participation in the course. In effect, if anyone is
adding value to the class they will get points for it.
However my class is a technology free zone. No laptops (unless we have presentations scheduled for that day) and no cell phones.
If a cell phone rings during the class, the owner will get zero participation for the day. If someone is caught texting in the class,
they will also get zero class participation for it. Cell phones and laptops are not allowed for note taking purposes either.
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Attendance Policy
Students are required to attend classes. By missing a class they forfeit an opportunity to participate in class activities. Maximum
Four (4) absences (including petitions) are tolerated. Any further absences shall in grade deduction. Any student who exceeds
eight (8) absences shall automatically fail the course. Petitions should be submitted along with proper documentation (e.g. a
medical certificate certifying illnesses or OSA certifying participation in OSA activity) and shall be approved on case by case basis.

Late arrivals will not be tolerated in this class.

If a student is more than 5 minutes late for a class, they will be marked as absent and will subsequently get a zero in class
participation. If a student is late, but is less than 5 minutes late, they will be awarded half marks for attendance that day.

Quizzes:
Quizzes may be announced or unannounced.

The instructor reserves the right to make changes to the grading system and the syllabus as appropriate during the semester.

EXAMINATION DETAIL

Midterm Exam Yes/No: No

Yes/No: Yes
Final Exam Combine Separate:
Duration: 120 mins (Tentatively)
Exam Specifications: Closed books/Closed notes.

COURSE OVERVIEW – Tentative

Week/Lecture/ Topics Assigned readings
Module
Analysis
Lecture 1 Course Introduction and Overview Course Syllabus
Lecture 2 What is Strategy? What is Strategy? By Michael E.
Porter
The Strategy Concept I: Five Ps For
Strategy – Henry
Mintzberg
Rothaermel – Chapter 1: What is
Strategy? (page 5 -11)
Lecture 3 The Evolution of Strategy Some supplementary readings
Strategic leadership uploaded on LMS
Chapter 2 (Rothaermel)
Lecture 4 External Analysis Chapter 3 (Rothaermel)
Lecture 5 External Analysis Chapter 3 (Rothaermel)
Lecture 6 Case Study Southwest Airlines
Lecture 7 Case Study Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi
in 2010
Lecture 8 18 Fev Internal Analysis: Resources, Capabilities and Core Competencies Chapter 4 (Rothaermel)
Lecture 9 20 Feb Competitive Advantage: Firm Performance and Business Models Chapter 5 (Rothaermel)
Lecture 10 25 Feb Case Study Apple Inc.
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Lecture 11 27 Feb Case Study Trader Joe’s
Lecture 12 3 Mar Case Study Amazon.com, 2019
Formulation
Lecture 13 5 Mar Business Strategy 1: Differentiation, Cost Leadership and Blue Chapter 6 (Rothaermel)
Ocean
Lecture 14 10 Mar Business Strategy 2: Innovation and Entrepreneurship Chapter 7 (Rothaermel)
Lecture 15 12 Mar Case Study The Marvel Way: Restoring a Blue
Ocean
Lecture 16 24 Mar Case Study The Rise and Fall of Blackberry
Lecture 17 26 Mar Corporate Strategy 1: Vertical Integration and Diversification Chapter 8 (Rothaermel)
Lecture 18 31 Mar Corporate strategy 2: Alliances and Mergers and Acquisitions Chapter 9 (Rothaermel)
Lecture 19 2 Apr Case Study The De Beers Group: Exploring the
Diamond Reselling Opportunity
Lecture 20 7 Apr Case Study Hp Compaq: The Merger Decision
Lecture 21-22 9 Apr Global Strategy: Competing Around the World Chapter 10 (Rothaermel)
Lecture 23 14 Apr Case Study Walmart around the World
Lecture 24 16 Apr Case Study LG Electronics: Global Strategy in
Emerging Markets
Implementation
Lecture 25 21 Case Study Uber vs. Didi: The Race for China’s
Ride-hailing Market
Lecture 26 23 Case Study Building a “Backdoor” to the
iPhone: An Ethical Dilemma
Lecture 27 28 Presentations
Lecture 28 30 Presentations

TEXTBOOK(S)/SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS
Required Textbook:
Frank T. Rothaermel – Strategic Management (3rd Edition)

Supplementary readings will be uploaded from time to time.

I will upload cases to LMS one week before they are to be discussed in class.