XLRI Jamshedpur

PGDM (BM) – 2019-21

Term III – Jan-Mar 2020

Strategic Management (STM)

(Core course – Strategy area – 3 credits)

Prof Saurabh Pandya (sessions 1 to 10)

(MBA – NMIMS; Fellow/PhD – IIM Bangalore)
Office #9, Gr floor, N Mukherjee Building
Office: 3105 Email: saurabh@xlri.ac.in
Secretary: Ms. Manjula Siby (Ext. 3271)
ABOUT THE COURSE
Course Objectives
• Overview of the domain of strategic management
• Various concepts / frameworks for strategy analysis
• Cross-functional integration
• Holistic / general management perspective
• Methodical analysis of strategic issues under
conditions of incomplete and imperfect information
• Recognize the trade-offs
• Understand why certain firms succeed (profits) and
sustain their profits over long periods of time
Pedagogy
• Mainly discussion and case-based
• Take the position of the case protagonist
• General manager / CEO / consultant
• Will also use a mix of –
• Lectures (PPTs) & conceptual discussions
• Strategy videos
• Group exercises – assignments, case analysis,
presentations
• Class preparation – review of the articles and
cases
• Identify the key management issues
AOL Goals (Assurance of Learning)
• AACSB accreditation for the program – six rubrics
(e.g.)
• Functional learning – identifying and applying
conceptual frameworks
• Stakeholder sensitivity – recognise & respond to
multiple stakeholders, ethical issues
• Decision making
• Visualization of problem
• Analysis of information
• Narrowing on solution
• Decision Making to be assessed through case
analysis, assignments and/or written exam
Course Evaluation
Component Weight (%)

Quizzes (surprise / announced) 15

Case Analysis / Assignments (group) 20

Mid-term exam 15

Total (for Sessions 1 to 10) 50

Course Structure Snapshot
Module Sessions Topics

Part A (Prof Saurabh Pandya)

I 1-2 Introduction & Overview of Strategy
Concept of Strategy, Theory of the Business,
Strategy Processes, Emergent Strategy
II 3-10 Tools of Strategy Analysis & Competitive Strategies
External / Industry Analysis (Porter’s Five Forces),
Internal Analysis (Resource-Based View),
Generic / Business-level Strategies,
Introduction to Strategy Implementation
Part B (Prof Saurav Snehvrat)
11-20 Corporate Strategy
Business Models / Innovation
Emerging Markets
Text and Reference Books
Text Book:
• Strategic Management by Frank T. Rothaermel

Other Reference Books:

• Contemporary Strategy Analysis by Robert M. Grant
• Strategy & the Business Landscape – Pankaj Ghemawat
• Understanding Strategic Management by Anthony
Henry
• Crafting & Executing Strategy: The Quest for
Competitive Advantage 21e, by Thompson, Peteraf,
Gamble, Strickland & Joseph
• Strategic Management by Hitt, Hoskisson, Ireland &
Manikutty
VISION & MISSION
Vision and Mission…
• Vision – a broad-level futuristic statement
• GE (Jack Welch) – no. 1 or 2 in all its
businesses
• Making clear-cut choices about how to
compete, and also where “not” to compete
• Mission statement – defining the business
(Derek Abell, 1980)
1. Customers (who)
2. Their needs (what)
3. Technology (how)
Vision and Mission…
• HUL – earlier HLL – umbrella group is Unilever
• Lever Brothers (1885) –
• Sunlight soap bars – marketing branded FMCGs
• Lifebuoy, Lux, Vim, Pears, Dalda, Vanaspati
• Mission – “reducing the chores of housewives”
• 1930s – Unilever – became the first major MNC
• Today – Project Sunlight – sustainable living – Doing
Well by Doing Good
• Other Examples of Mission statements –
• “high ROI to investors” ?
• “business of joining things together” (3M)
Vision and Mission
• Thus, the mission statement serves to:
• Tell what the firm does (business), what is stands
for (values) and wants to become (vision)
• Help communicate with stakeholders – within and
outside the firm
• Guide the evolution of the firm in the long term
• Help implement strategy
• Strategy – some important elements
• Integration, Coordination, Synergies
• Alignment – “set of activities”
EVOLUTION OF STRATEGIC
MANAGEMENT
Evolution of Strategy…
• Strategos – Greek word, Military origins
• Sun Tzu – The Art of War – all about winning, losing is bad
• Birth of Business Schools
• Wharton (1881) and Harvard (1908)
• Business Policy course at Harvard – 1912
• Organizational economists
• Ronald Coase – The Nature of the Firm (1937)
• Joseph Schumpeter (1942) – more than price-setting
• Planning focus, learning curve
• Functional approach – Chester Barnard – 1940s
• Henry Ford, Alfred Sloan, Alfred Chandler, Peter Drucker
Evolution of Strategy
• Strategy consultants – proliferated in 1960’s & 70’s
• BCG – experience curve, growth-share matrix
• McKinsey & Co – SBU’s (GE – Strategic Business Units)
• Bain & Company
• 1970’s – shift from Business Policy to “Strategic
Management”
• The Concept of Corporate Strategy (Kenneth Andrews),
1971
• Multi-disciplinary:
• Operations Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Financial
Strategy, HR (People) Strategy, IT Strategy
Strategy…
The Concept of Corporate Strategy (Kenneth R. Andrews, 1971)

• Choosing
the “right
industries”
• Attractive
competitive
positions
• Adoption of
strategies is
constrained
by the level
of resources
• Resource-
based view
(RBV)
Strategy
• 1980’s – External analysis / Industry analysis
• Michael Porter (Five Forces Analysis) – Competitive Strategy &
Competitive Advantage
• 1990’s – Internal view / core competence
• Resource Based View, resources & capabilities
• Penrose (1959) – Theory of the Growth of the Firm
• Barney, Wernerfelt, Peteraf, Collis, Montgomery
• Dynamic capabilities (David Teece, 1997)
• 1990s & beyond – Corporate Governance, International
Business, Bottom of Pyramid (BOP) strategy, Strategic
Change Management, Strategic Leadership, Business
Groups, Ethics, CSR, Sustainability
THE STRATEGY CONCEPT
Classic Definitions/Quotes…
If we wish to increase the yield of grain in a certain
field, and
• on analysis it appears that the soil lacks potash,
• then potash may be said to be the strategic or
limiting factor
Chester Barnard
The term “strategy” … is intended to focus on
• the interdependence of the adversaries’ decisions
• and on their expectations about each others’
behaviour
Thomas Schelling
Classic Definitions/Quotes
Strategy can be defined as
• the determination of the basic long-term goals and
objectives of an enterprise, and
• the adoption of courses of action and
• the allocation of resources necessary for carrying
out those goals
Alfred Chandler
When an industry with a reputation for difficult
economics
• meets a manager with a reputation for excellence,
• it is usually the industry that keeps its reputation
intact
Warren Buffet
‘Wh’ Questions & Linkages to Strategy

• WHAT? – (Content)
• Correlations & Regressions – Attempts to find out
the various factors that can impact a dependent
variable, e.g. Firm Performance (ROI), Innovation
• HOW? – (Process)
• Helps understand the elements & the process
• Looks at the inter-linkages and sequences
• WHY? – (Explanation / Causality)
• More deep-rooted & difficult to address
• Attempts to find out the causal relationships
What is Strategy?
• Marketing – right product at the right price at
the right place with the right message
• Manufacturing – delivering products in the right
quantity of the right quality at the right cost at
the right time
• Using the word “right” the right number of times
• Strategy – being in the right business
1. What business are you in? – (define)
2. Is it an attractive business? – (external analysis)
3. Is it the right business for you? – (internal analysis)
The Strategy Concept
• Strategy Formulation
• External analysis
• Macro environment & Industry analysis
• Internal analysis
• Business-level strategies – cost leadership vs
differentiation, narrow vs broad market segments
• Corporate-level strategies – diversification, vertical
integration, M&As, JVs, etc.
• Strategy Implementation / Execution
• Incentives & Control systems (e.g. DSS, MIS, KM)
• Organizational Structure
 The Strategy Landscape

Strategy
Strategy Strategy
Formulation Implementation

External Internal Incentive & Organizationa

Analysis Analysis Control Systems l Structure

Industry Business Corporate

Competitive Level Level
Analysis
Dynamics
Vertical
Competitive Generic
Integratio Diversification
Positioning Strategies
n
Building
Industry Competitive
Evolution Advantage
Sustaining
Competitive
Advantage
Core Concepts in Strategy
• Values, Purpose, Vision, Mission, Goals, Objectives
• SWOT analysis (SW – internal; OT – external)
• Macro environment scanning – PESTEL analysis
• External / Industry Analysis – 5 forces
• Core competencies
• Internal / Firm Analysis – resources & capabilities –
• Resource Based View (RBV)
• Dynamic capabilities
• Generic strategies – Value creation & value capture
• Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantage
• Corporate Strategy
• Implementation (Execution) and Control
STRATEGY FORMULATION &
THEORY OF THE BUSINESS
What is Strategy?*
• Creation of a unique and valuable position, involving
a different set of activities
• Making trade-offs in competing – choosing what
“not” to do
• Creating “fit” among a company’s activities
• The success of a strategy depends on doing many
things well – not just a few – and integrating among
them

The above definitions are incremental / sequential in

nature
*Porter (1996) – Harvard Business Review
Strategy Formulation*
Three key questions:
1. What is the business doing now?
• Current strategy and implied assumptions
2. What is happening in the environment?
• Macro, industry and competitor analysis
3. What should the business be doing?
• Tests of assumptions and consistency

*Competitive Strategy by Michael E. Porter (1980) &

Competitive Advantage by Michael E. Porter (1985)
Competitive Strategy – Formulation....
1. What is the business doing now?
• Identification of current strategy
• implicit/explicit
• Implied Assumptions for the current strategy*
• about the company’s relative position,
• strengths & weaknesses,
• competitors and industry trends

*Link this to the discussion on Assumptions

under the Theory of the Business (TOB)
Competitive Strategy – Formulation....
2. What is happening in the environment?
(external)
• Industry analysis
• key factors for competitive success
• Competitor analysis
• capabilities & limitations, and possible future
moves – of existing and potential competitors
• Societal analysis
• governmental, social & political
• Strengths and weaknesses
• relative to present & future competitors
Competitive Strategy – Formulation
3. What should the business be doing? (internal)
• Tests of assumptions and strategy – meeting the
Tests of Consistency**
• Internal consistency
• Environmental fit
• Resource fit
• Communication and implementation
• Strategic alternatives – check feasible alternatives
(including current strategy)
• Strategic choice – best fit

**The Concept of Corporate Strategy by Kenneth R. Andrews (1971)

How Assumptions are related to Strategy
• Premise – managers honestly try to optimize the
performance of their businesses
• Current strategy must reflect management’s
assumptions about the industry & the company’s
relative position
• Understanding these assumptions – crucial to
giving strategic advice
• Convincing data and support – to change
assumptions – lot of attention needs to be focused
• Any strategic decision: Logic of strategic choice +
management’s assumptions
The Theory of the Business…*
Three Key Assumptions (about):
• The environment of the organization: society,
market, customer, technology
• The specific mission of the organization
• The core competencies required to achieve that

These assumptions define:

• What an organization is paid for
• What an organization considers to be meaningful
results – impact on economy and society
• Where an organization must excel
*The Theory of the Business by Peter F. Drucker (HBR, Sept-Oct 1994)
The Theory of the Business…
Specifications of the Theory of the Business (TOB):
1. The various assumptions must fit reality
2. The assumptions must fit one another
3. The TOB must be known and understood
throughout the organization
• Do not stop thinking and questioning
• answers vs questions; “culture” vs discipline
4. The TOB is a hypothesis – it should be tested
constantly and have the ability to change
The Theory of the Business
• Preventive Care
• Abandonment – re-assess the TOB every 3 years – “if
we were not in this business, would we be going into it
now?” – test the assumptions
• Study Non-customers – early signs of fundamental
change and TOB obsolescence
• Early Diagnosis
• Attaining its original objectives
• Rapid growth
• Unexpected success or failure – own or competitor’s
• Cure – role of leaders (CEOs/top management)
Books for General Reading
• GOAL – Eliyahu Goldratt
• The Theory of Constraints (TOC)
• It’s Not Luck – Eliyahu Goldratt
• In Search of Excellence – Tom Peters & Robert
Waterman
• Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done –
Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan
• The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the
Leadership Powered Company – Ram Charan et al.
• Who Moved My Cheese? – Dr. Spencer Johnson
Thank You!