Week 1
Select any two of the main questions and address all of their bullet points:
Question 1:
You have learned that stakeholders have profound impact on the direction and the success of a company. Based on your readings and learning, complete the following tasks:
● Define the various classifications of stakeholders in a company and their role in strategic management decisions.
● Explain the connection between stakeholders and competitive advantage.
Question 2:
You learned that strategic intent is an extension of a company’s organizational culture and the cornerstone of the firm. Based on your readings and learning, complete the following tasks:
● Discuss the importance of strategic intent and its impact on organizational success.
● Discuss why it is important and how an organization can move from intent to implementation.
Week 2
Select any two of the main questions and address all of their bullet points:
Question 1:
Discuss the following questions in relation to strategic management:
● What factors make up this process?
● How important is it to change, and what criteria determine the changes in a strategic management plan?
Question 2:
Discuss the following questions in relation to strategic competitiveness:
● How would you describe the twenty-first century competitive landscape and the various challenges it brings to businesses?
● Why will a traditional mindset not lead a company to strategic competitiveness and what values must managers adopt to overcome these challenges?
Week 3
Select one of the main questions and address all of its bullet points:
Question 1
Based on your research and reading, complete the following tasks:
● Define liability of foreignness and regionalism. Discuss how it relates to and how it impacts international strategies.
● Describe corporate strategic alliance and discuss why a company would want to develop one. Are strategic alliances necessary for a company to expand internationally?
● Describe the primary reasons for failure of an international strategic alliance. Identify at least four fundamental issues that affect trust between partners, and explain when an acquisition is more favorable than a strategic alliance.
Week 4
Corporate Governance
Governance mechanisms are considered to be effective if they meet the needs of all stakeholders, including shareholders. Governance mechanisms are also an important way to ensure that strategic decisions are made effectively. As a potential employee, how would you go about investigating a firm’s governance structure? Would that investigation weigh in your decision to become an employee?
First, address the following item:
Identify a firm that you would like to join or one that you just find interesting. Complete the following research on your target firm:
● Find a copy of the company’s most recent proxy statement and 10-K. Proxy statements are mailed to shareholders prior to each year’s annual meeting and contain detailed information about the company’s governance and present issues on which a shareholder vote might be held. Proxy statements are typically available from a firm’s website (look for an “Investors” submenu). You can also access proxy statements and other government filings such as the 10-K from the SEC’s EDGAR database.
Click on the weblink U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to access SEC’s EDGAR database.
Alongside the proxy, you should also be able to access the firm’s annual 10-K. Here you will find information on performance, governance, and the firm’s outlook, among other things.
● Identify one of the company’s main competitors for comparison purposes. You can find this information using company analysis tools such as Datamonitor.
Second, address any five of the following topics:
● Compensation plans (for both the CEO and board members; be sure to look for any difference between fixed and incentive compensation)
● Board composition (for example, board size, insiders and outsiders, interlocking directorates, functional experience, how many active CEOs, how many retired CEOs, what is the demographic makeup, age diversity, and so on)
● Committees (how many, composition, compensation)
● Stock ownership by officers and directors—identify beneficial ownership from stock owned (you will need to look through the notes sections of the ownership tables to comprehend this)
● Ownership concentration—evaluate the firm’s outstanding stock owned by institutions, individuals, and insiders and identify the no. of large-block shareholders (owners of five percent or more of stock) ● Does the firm utilize a duality structure for the CEO?
● Is there a lead director who is not an officer of the company?
● What are the activities by activist shareholders regarding corporate governance issues of concern?
● Are there any managerial defense tactics employed by the firm? For example, what does it take for a shareholder proposal to come to a vote and be adopted?
● What is the firm’s code of conduct? List them.
● Summarize what you consider to be the key aspects of the firm’s governance mechanisms.
● Highlight key differences between your target firm and its competitor.
● Attach a graph to your post that covers the last 10-year historical stock performance for both companies. If applicable, compare both using a representative index such as the Standard & Poor’s (S&P), National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ), or other applicable industry index.
Finally, based on your review of the firm’s governance, discuss any change in your opinion of the firm’s desirability as an employer.
Start reviewing and responding to the postings of your classmates as early in the week as possible. Respond to at least two of your classmates. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between two or more lines of reasoning in the discussion. Complete your participation for this assignment by the end of the week.
Week 5
Organizational Structure and Strategic Leadership
The business firm is no longer just a place where people come to work. For most of the employees, the firm confers on them that sense of belonging and identity—the firm has become their “village”, their community. The business firm of the twenty-first century is not just a hierarchy, which ensures maximum efficiency and profit; it is also the community where people belong to and grow together—where their affective and innovative needs are met (Lim, Griffiths, & Sambrook, 2010).
Reference:
Lim, M., Griffiths G., & Sambrook, S. (2010). Organizational structure. Mind Map Route.
Retrieved from http://www.mindmap.0rg.pl/?mindmap= Organizational_structure
Select any two of the bullet points for your response.
● How important it is to be able to identify and distinguish between the organizational structures used to implement business-level, corporate-level, and international strategies? Give examples of various organizational structures and how they are used to develop strategies.
● What is the relationship between organizational structure and organizational controls? Are they always interrelated? What will happen to a company’s competitive advantage if one or the other isn’t in place?
● What are the attributes of an effective strategic leader? Discuss the value that an effective leader brings to the strategic management process.
● What is the relationship between organizational culture, leadership, strategy, and structure?
Start reviewing and responding to the postings of your classmates as early in the week as possible. Respond to at least two of your classmates. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between two or more lines of reasoning in the discussion. Complete your participation for this assignment by the end of the week.
