Strategic Management

Instructor : Prof. Mohammad Ahsan Durrani

Address : adurrani@iqra.edu.pk
Pre-requisite : Marketing Management, Human Resource Management, Organization Behavior, Financial accounting, and
Financial Management
Introduction: Strategic management is a capstone, integrative course for graduating business students. This is an exciting
challenging course that focuses on how firms formulate, implement, and evaluate strategies. Strategic
management concepts and techniques are studied. Students use all the knowledge acquired from prior
business courses, coupled with new strategic-management techniques learned, to chart the future direction of
different organizations. The major responsibility of students in this course is to make objective strategic
decisions and to justify them through oral and written communication.
I have attempted to design this course taking the following consideration
Discuss a reasonable comprehensive description of various strategic management concepts, tools and
techniques that are useful in understanding Strategic Management
Through experiential exercises and case analysis apply the strategic management techniques in making
objective strategic decisions.
.
Overall Course Objectives:
Strategic Management focuses on organization as a whole and its transactions with its environment. This
course being a capstone course integrates functional courses in marketing, accounting, finance,
management, production/ operations management, information system and economics. The overall goals
are:
To develop a framework of analysis to enable students to identify central issues and problem in complex,
comprehensive case; to suggest alternative course of action; and present well supported recommendations
for future action
To develop conceptual skills so that students are able to integrate previously learned aspects of corporations.
To develop skills to analyze and evaluate, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the performance of people
responsible for strategic decisions
To bridge the gap between theory and practice by developing an understanding of when and how to apply the
concepts and techniques learned in earlier courses in marketing, accounting, finance, management,
production and information systems
To develop a better understanding of the present and future environments in which corporations must function
To develop analytical and decision making skills for dealing with complex conceptual problems in an ethical
manner

Expected outcomes of the Course:

At the end of the course, the students will be able to:

Scan the external environment of any organization and identify the key aspects environmental factors having
an impact on the performance of the overall industry and the company being analyzed
Using Michael Porter’s Framework evaluate the overall attractiveness of the industry
Identify the various strategic groups operating within the industry
Identify the drivers of change for the industry
Identify the key success factors for a given industry and evaluate the performance of the major players in the
industry on these factors
Identify the opportunities and threats posed by the environment for a given company
Using external factor analysis matrix (EFE) evaluate a company for being responsive to these environmental
factors
Evaluate The value chain process of any company and identify the strengths or weaknesses of each activity
Using internal factor analysis matrix identify evaluate the overall standing of the company in terms of strength
or weakness
Using the Strategic Position and Action Evaluation (SPACE) matrix, Boston consulting Group (BCG) Growth
share matrix, and GE Business Screen Matrix identify the portfolio structuring of a given multi-business
corporation
Able to identify key strategic issues faced by a given company
Recommend and defend a course of action for the company to pursue that would achieve the desired objectives
Pedagogy:
As mentioned above, the course pedagogy is a blend of learning and applying theory to the analysis of
encapsulated situation (case studies and project).
The theory will be learned through assigned readings from the course text and supplementary texts. The
concepts learned will be clarified through class discussion of these concepts and applying them to assigned case
studies. The class discussion are not intended to be one way transmission of information through lectures. I
expect you come to the class having read the assigned readings. There will be three comprehensive tests to be
covered in extra sessions.
Responsibility for learning:
The responsibility for learning lies with the student. Moreover, we will conduct the class in a collaborative
learning style, where we can also learn from each other, from the issues and problems we identify and how can
we solve them. The instructor’s role is that of a coach, guiding the learning experience: The student is expected:
Have read the assigned readings before coming to class. I will try to minimize my lectures times to
introducing concepts not presented in the assigned readings. During the class I will ask students to explain
some of the concepts, discuss questions related to the concepts and apply them to textbook situations to
clarify their understanding.
Have read the assigned cases and come prepared to discuss them in the class. These cases would cover the
text that has been covered in the previous week. A team of two students will submit these cases. The cases
require you to identify key issues, identify theories and concepts relevant to the case, and recommend ideas
addressing the issue. You will be handling two types of cases in this course
bi) Minor cases: These are cases pertaining to the specific chapter we have covered. In analyzing these
cases you will be required to identify what concepts from the chapter are being applied or are missing and
what issues are there that could be resolved by application of these concepts.
bii) Major cases: These are more complex and may contain issues pertaining to many areas. Case analysis
methodology handout will be provided to you for analyzing these cases.
Comprehensive Tests: It would be of three hour duration. It will be divided into two parts. First part will
comprise of theoretical questions and the second part will be conceptual questions covering the portion of
the text as indicated in the course outline.
Please note that in order for your group assignments to be included in tabulation of results
you must have obtained at-least 60% marks on your theory content that comprise of
quizzes, comprehensive test and final examination. Any student who fails in theory
component of the course will be considered to have failed the course

Text Book: Strategic Management, Concepts and cases,

15th edition by Arthur A. Thompson, Jr. and A. J. Strickland III
 Reference Books: Strategic Management and Business Policy
Thomas L. Wheelen and J. David Hunger, Eighth Edition, Prentice Hall
Strategic Management
7th edition by Fred R. David ( This book is a must for understanding strategic tools.)

Session # 1
Class Work: Basic Concepts and techniques for crafting and executing strategy ( chapter 1), and The managerial
process of crafting and executing strategy ( chapter 2)
Home assignment: Analyzing a company’s external environment ( chapter 3)
Session # 2
Class Work: Quiz #1, discussion chapter 3
Home assignment: Minor case # 1, To be provided in 2nd session
What are the industry’s dominant traits?
Based on Porter’s five forces model how attractive is the industry?
What are the strategic groups present in the industry?
Briefly describe the industry dynamics within the dominant strategic group(s) ( Porter’s Five Forces Model)
What are the drivers of change in the industry and what impact they have on the industry
What are the key success factors for the industry ( It should be for the strategic group being analyzed)
Develop a competitive profile matrix

Session # 3:

Class work: Group Presentation of Minor case # 1

Home Assignment: Analyzing a company’s resources and competitive position ( chapter 4) and
Session # 4:
Class Work: Quiz # 2, Discussion chapter 4
Home assignment: The five generic competitive strategies which one to employ (chapter 5) and Beyond competitive
Strategy: Other important strategy choices (chapter 6)
Session # 5
Class work:: quiz # 3, Discussion chapters 5 and 6
Home assignment: Minor case 2: To be provided in session 4

Complete the industry analysis using the same questions for case# 1, as guideline and then proceed to answer the
following questions:
What basic type of industry environment does the company face ( emerging, rapid growth, mature, fragmented,
decline) give reasons to justify your answers.
What is the present strategy of the company? Does it match with the environment
What are the threats/ opportunities faced by the company
Develop EFE matrix
Analyze each value chain activity of the company and identify its strength and weakness of each activity
Identify the financial health of the company.
Develop IFE matrix
Develop SPACE Matrix
Develop TOWS Matrix
What are the issue(s) faced by the company
Develop minimum of three alternative strategies to resolve the issues. Give cost benefit of each.
Recommend the alternative(s) you think company should adapt. Please make sure your recommended alternative should
take into consider
ion the following:
What kind of competitive edge can company realistically achieve and whether the company can execute the
strategic moves/ approaches to secure this edge
 Does the company have capabilities and resources to succeed in these moves and approaches to secure this edge. If
not can they be acquired?
Once built, how can competitive advantage be protected? What defensive strategies need to be employed? Will
rivals counter attack? What will it take to blunt their efforts?
Are any rivals particularly vulnerable? Should the firm mount an offensive to capitalize on these
vulnerabilities? What offensive moves needs to be employed

Session # 6
Class work: Group Presentation minor case #2.
Home assignment: Tailoring Strategy specific industry and company situations (chapter 8)
Session # 7
Class work: quiz # 4, discussion chapter 8
Home assignment: Diversification strategies for managing a group of businesses (chapter 9)
Session # 8: Quiz # 5, discussion chapter 9
Home assignment: Minor case # 3:
Determine the present strategy (related or unrelated diversification; scope domestic or global for each division; what moves
have been made recently to add new business; rationale underlying recent divestures; the nature of any efforts to capture
strategic fits and create competitive advantage based on economies of scope and other resource transfer
Determine the key success factors for each business the company is in
Develop competitive profile matrix for each division of the company
Evaluate the long-term effectiveness of each industry the company is in
evaluate the relative competitive position and business strength of each company company’s business unit
Develop GE and Boston Group business portfolio matrices
Determine the competitive advantage potential of any value chain relationships and strategic fits among existing
business
Determine whether the firm resource strengths match the resource requirements of its present business lineup.
Rank the business units in terms of priority for resource allocation and decide whether strategic posture of each
business unit should follow aggressive expansion, fortify or defend, overhaul and reposition or harvest
Session # 8
Class work: Group presentation Minor case # 3
Home assignment: Building Resource Strengths and Organizational Capabilities ( chapter11) and Managing
Internal Operations: Actions that promote Strategy execution (chapter 12)
Session # 9
Class work: quiz # 5, discussion chapter and 11and 12
Home assignment Corporate Culture and leadership: Keys to Good Strategy execution Chapter (13)
Session # 10
Class Work: Quiz # 6, discussion chapters 12 and 13
Home Assignment : Major case 1. Methodology for solving major case will be provided in the class
Prepare for Comprehensive Test: Test will cover all chapters . Extra Class time
and date will be mutually decided
Session #11:
Class work: Major case presentation
Home assignment: Prepare Major case 2:
Session 12:
Class Work: Presentation Major case 2
Home assignment: Major Case 3
Session 13:
Class work: Presentation major case 3