424: AEM Management Strategy Spring 2009
Professor: Daniel Simon Office: 354 Warren Hall; Phone #: [phone]; email: [e-mail] Administrative Assistant: Gail Keenan Office: 104 Warren Hall; phone #: [phone]; email: [e-mail] Office Hours: 1:00-3:00 on Thursday, and by appointment (email Gail) Teaching Assistants: Qinwen Tan (qt28) and Sivalai Vararuth (sv223); Friday 1-2:30 and Monday 34:30 Course Website: http://blackboard.cornell.edu. I will post assignments and announcements on the course website. In addition, I will post lecture slides on the course website, generally the evening before class. I encourage you to print out these slides (3, 4, or 6 to a page), bring them to class, and take notes on them. All students must register on the website in order to access the materials posted there. Moreover, all students must be registered on the course website to receive grades for assignments. Students will not receive credit for completed assignments if they have not registered on the course site. Required Course Packets: Two course packets are available for purchase from the bookstore. The first includes readings and cases that we will discuss in class. The second is a case study that will provide the basis for your group project. Course Overview: The purpose of this course is to expose students to the issues surrounding management of a large corporation. The course will integrate elements of other functional areas including marketing, finance, accounting, human resource management, decision-making, etc. It will draw on many ideas from microeconomics. Course Objectives: AEM has adopted learning goals that we hope each student achieves while getting a degree from our program. Each individual course will not cover all learning goals; however, through your program of study you should be able to improve your knowledge and skills across all learning goals. AEM Learning Goals Develop effective communication skills Attain analytical and functional competency in basic business and economic skills Demonstrate ability to solve practical business and economic problems and make an impact in real world and society Develop skills to be critical consumers of business and economic information and research This course contributes to the following AEM learning goals: X X X X
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY This course is governed by the Cornell Academic Integrity Code, which is available at: http:/www.cornell.edu/Academic/AIC.html. Please familiarize yourself with this code if you have not
1
already done so. All work assigned in this class is considered an individual assignment unless otherwise specifically stated. While you may study together with others in preparing the assignments, you must turn in your own assignments, written in your own words, and not copied from another student or any other source. Similarly, everything you write on exams must be in your own words and not copied from another student or any other source. Any violations of these rules will result in serious penalties. SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS All necessary coursework accommodations will be provided to students with documented disabilities. For guidelines, please see the website for Center for Learning and Teaching at: http://www.clt.cornell.edu/campus/sds/index.html. Grading: Item 1st Exam 2nd Exam Group Project Homework Total Points 25% 25% 20% 30% 100%
Exams: There will be two exams: Tuesday, March 10, from 7:30-10 pm, and Monday, May 11, from 7:00-9:30 pm. The exams will cover material presented in class as well as any material in the assigned readings and cases. Note: material not discussed in class, but covered in the readings is fair game for exams, as are materials that I hand out in class or post on the course Website. However, the material I emphasize in class is likely what I think is most important. If you should need extra time or special accommodations for taking exams for any University approved reason, please let me know, at least two weeks in advance, either in person, or by email or phone, and provide documentation so that I can make the necessary arrangements. Make-up exams will be given only with a documented excuse. These include illness, family emergencies, as well as academic, religious, athletic, or employment conflicts. Illnesses must be officially documented by a physician or nurse. In case of a family emergency, a note to the Dean of your college will inform all your instructors of your absence. Students who must miss an exam because of participation in University sponsored off-campus activities, or one of the other conflicts described above, must inform the instructor well ahead of time. Note: If you have another exam at the same time as this exam, please notify your TA immediately to schedule a make up. Only students who miss an exam because of an approved absence will be eligible to take a make-up exam. Any student who misses an exam for an unauthorized absence will receive a zero. Please, take your exams at the scheduled times, and avoid a big hassle. Regrades. Any questions regarding grading on assignments or exams must be submitted in writing to the instructor no earlier than 24 hours after the assignment or exam has been returned, and no later than a week after the assignment or exam has been returned. Group Case Project & Competition: Students will do a group case project, and participate in a case competition. The class will be divided into groups of about five students. Each group will prepare a written
2
analysis of the case, which may be purchased at the bookstore. This write-up will be in the neighborhood of 15-25 pages. These case analyses will be due on Friday, May 1. Each group will present their analysis to me, and perhaps to one or two other judges. The groups from each class that provide the best analyses will present their analyses to a panel of judges from Accenture. Winning groups will receive cash prizes. There will be more many details provided later in the semester. Note: because of the difficulties of grading individual contributions to group projects, there will be periodic peer evaluations, which I will use to adjust individual members grades, either up or down. Note: Please inform me before Tuesday, Feb 3 if you plan to drop the course. This will avoid me placing students that plan on dropping the course into groups. Homework: There will be several homework assignments, including a homework assignment associated with each case that we cover in class. All assignments will be posted on the website. Homeworks are due at the start of class. The intent of these assignments is to help you focus carefully on the issues in the case. Experience tells me that the discussion is best when at least some people have read and pondered the cases thoroughly in advance. Therefore, these assignments cannot be submitted late; they will receive a zero. Do not email your homeworks to me or to the TAs - they must be handed in to one of us or sent in to the course Dropbox on Blackboard prior to the beginning of class. Assignments will be graded on a simple scale: check plus, check, check minus. I will drop your worst two grades.
Note: your grades will be posted to blackboard throughout the semester. You cannot access your grades if you have not registered at the course site. Moreover, your work will NOT be graded if you have not registered at the course site. To access your grades, click on the My Blackboard tab, and then go to See Grades in the Tools menu.
Attendance and Participation is an essential aspect of this course. Evidence shows that you learn and retain more from those activities in which you actively participate (i.e. speak up). To make this a useful class, you need to come to class prepared: having read the assigned materials. I often cold call. Please do not fear this. My intent is to help engage everyone in the discussion, not put you on the spot. Accordingly, you should not be concerned if you dont have the perfect answer. In addition, I understand that there are times when, despite best intentions, personal circumstances outside of class will prevent you from being prepared. If you have not read a case and I cold call you, I would prefer that you simply say you havent read the material. Other General Notes: Arriving/leaving early/late, and missing class I realize that you may arrive late or need to leave early on occasion because of scheduling conflicts, job interviews, and so on. Please do your best to arrive on time and enter quietly if you are late. This will minimize disruption to your fellow students. Additionally, you do not need to tell me why you will not be in class. However, it is your responsibility to obtain from fellow students the material you missed and any administrative announcements I made. Changes to schedule The schedule may change. However, I will try not to make any last minute changes. I will post any changes to the schedule on the course website. Providing feedback
3
At all times, I strongly encourage you to provide feedback on the class, bad or good. You are welcome to do so anonymously, if you prefer, by leaving a note in my box in the first floor Warren Hall mailroom (107). But, I will not hold criticism against you if you tell me/email me directly. Office hours I have scheduled office hours on Thursday afternoons (1-3). I want to emphasize, however, that I am happy to meet with you just about any time. Please contact Gail (gpk9) to set up an appointment.
4
Tentative Course Schedule
Day Tues Thurs Tues Thurs Tues Date 20-Jan 22-Jan 27-Jan 29-Jan 3-Feb Topic Intro Strategy: Decision making with uncertainty Basic strategy decisions: price and quantity Sequential games: value of commitment Simultaneous games: Bertrand and Cournot competition Escaping the Bertrand trap: differentiation, capacity, firm heterogeneity Business-Level Strategy: Creating Competitive Advantage Business-Level Strategy: Creating Competitive Advantage Industry Analysis Competitive Forces (See Website for download info) Homework #2 due Dixit & Nalebuff: Chapter 2 (31-53) (packet) Dixit & Nalebuff: Chapter 3 (56-80) (packet) The right game: use game theory to shape strategy (packet) Creating Competitive Advantage (packet) BDS: 383-408 (packet) Homework #1 due Group Lists due (signup at my office) Reading (location) What is Strategy? Decision Analysis (packet) Assignment Due Today
Thurs
5-Feb
Tues
10-Feb
Thurs Tues
12-Feb 17-Feb
Thurs Tues
19-Feb 24-Feb
Industry Analysis Business-Level Strategy: Sustaining Competitive Advantage Case: The Aluminum industry Case: Aluminum Smelting in South Africa Case: Coke & Pepsi Internal Incentives Brickley: 388-411 (packet) BDS: 429-446 (packet)
Thurs
26-Feb
Homework #3 due
Tues Thurs
3-Mar 5-Mar
Homework #4 due Group Project: Summary of Key Issues due Homework #5 due
Tues
10-Mar
Case: Nucor
Evening Exam
Thurs
12-Mar
Win As Much As You Can SPRING BREAK
Tues Thurs Tues Thurs Tues Thurs Tues Thurs
24-Mar 26-Mar 31-Mar 2-Apr 7-Apr 9-Apr 14-Apr 16-Apr
Corp. Level Strategy/Acquisition & Diversification Case: Walt Disney Corporation Corp. Level Strategy/Acquisition & Diversification Case: Consolidated Rail Corporation (A&B) International Diversification Case: Novo Industri Organizational Structure Vertical Integration/Cooperation
Barney: 404-431 (packet) Homework #6 due Barney: 483-504 (packet) Course Packet Homework #7 due Group Project: Short Version of Paper due Homework #8 due
TBA Course Packet TBA Sustaining Superior Profits: Customer and Supplier Relationships (packet)
Tues Thurs Tues Thurs
21-Apr 23-Apr 28-Apr 30-Apr
Presentations (No class) Group work (No class) Review Course Wrap-Up Group Project due Friday, May 1 3:00 pm*
Note: this schedule is tentative, and is subject to change. It is the students responsibility to stay up-to-date on any changes.
6