STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS STUDIES,

MAHATMA GANDHI UNIVERSITY, KOTTAYAM

PREPARED BY

DR. SIBY ZACHARIAS

(FACULTY, SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS STUDIES,

MAHATMA GANDHI UNIVERSITY, KOTTAYAM)

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 JANUARY 2018

SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS STUDIES,

MAHATMA GANDHI UNIVERSITY, KOTTAYAM

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

IV SEMESTER MBA (2019)

COURSE DESCRIPTION : GENERAL (COMPULSORY PAPER)

CREDIT: 4

INSTRUCTOR : PROF. DR. SIBY ZACHARIAS, PROFESSOR, SMBS,

M G UNIVERSITY

1.0 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

This core subject is being provided with the idea of enabling the participant to gain idea on
the different aspects of individual and group behavior of people in an organization aspects
including decision making.
The outcome of the course would be that the participants shall gain sound knowledge on the
different aspects of strategic management and thus get trained as an effective executive thus
being able to lead and motivate employees of an organization of their own.
1.1 Prerequisites: The participants are supposed to have a basic idea of different types of
organizations, organizational environment, strategies for competitive advantage, decision
making and principles of management. This session would integrate theory with planning,
management and strategy.

1.2 Pedagogy: The sessions would be a blend of lectures, discussions, case analysis.
Presentations and all the more live projects. The participants would be provided opportunity
to develop two cases on the concepts based on which the assessment would be conducted.
Sessions: The regular sessions would be of 90 minutes duration and the total session would
number to 34 thus providing ample time of live discussions and activities.

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 MODULES

Module I : Overview Of Strategic Management –Business Policy As A Field Of Study In

Strategic Management – Strategic Management Model – Business Ethics And Strategic
Management.

Module II: Business Vision, Mission, Objectives-Characteristics of Mission Statement Types

of Strategies-Integration Strategies-Intensive Strategies-Diversification Strategies-Michael
Porter Generic Strategies.

Module III: Strategic formulation- environmental analysis-external and industry analysis –

internal analysis , strategic analysis and choice-input stage –matching stage-decision stage-
cultural aspects of strategy choice.

Module IV: Strategy Implementation-The Nature of Strategy Implementation –Resource

Allocation –Strategy and Structure-Creating Supportive Culture-Implementing Strategies in
Functional Areas.

Module v: strategy evaluation-The Nature Of Strategy Evaluation-Review And Control-

Characteristics Of Effective Evaluation Systems –Criteria For Strategy Control –Mechanism
For Strategic Control. Concept of Value Chain; Strategic Profile of a Firm; Framework for
Analyzing Competition; Competitive Advantage of a Firm.

Further Reading:

 Huge Mcmillan, Strategic Management

 Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, Strategic Management
 Budhiraja, S.B and Athereya, MB, Cases in Strategic Management
 John A. Pearce II, Richard B& Robinson, Jr., Strategic Management
 Azhar kazmi, business policy& Strategic Management
 P.S Rao, Business Policy & Strategic Management
 P. Lynch, corporate strategy
 Hamel G and Prahalad C K, competing for the future

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 Recommended Readings/ Guidelines for the subject

Participants are requested to go through the newspapers especially business papers like
Economic Times, Business Line, Business Standard and magazines like business today, Business
world, etc. The students are supposed to read the articles in referred journals and use online
journals like EBSCO, EMERALD, JUSTOR, etc on a regular basis.

PROF. DR . SIBY ZACHARIAS

SL NO ASSIGNMENT TOPIC DATEOF SUBMISSION

1 VISION, MISSION, OBJECTIVES OF COMPANIES IN AN March 22nd 2019

INDUSTRY ( MINIMUM 6 COMPANIES)

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2
INDUSTRIAL PROFILES
1. AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY
2. TYRE INDUSTRY
3. PHARMACEUTICALS March 29th 2019
4. HEALTH DRINKS
5. WHITE GOODS
6. KITCHEN UTENSILS
7. COSMETICS
8. READYMADE APPARELS
9. SHOES
10. BAGS/SUITCASES
11. COMPUTERS
12. CELL PHONES

3 BOOK REVIEW April 10TH 2019

CASE STUDY
4 1. THE STRATEGIC
ASPIRATIONS OF THE
RESERVE BANK OF April 1st 2019
INDIA
April 11th 2019
2. DOORDARSHAN'S
PROBLEMS: IS DD DEAD?
July 3, 2019
3. RASHTRA DEEPIKA LTD
4. SOFT BREADS LTD JULY 10, 2019

5. SOCIAL MEDIA AT August 1, 2019

WORKPLACE

5 QUESTIONS ANWERING MArch 20TH th

–July 29 2019

April 9 th 2019
6 50 JINGLES

7 HISTORY OF ADVERTISEMENT OF ANY COMPANY july 11TH 2019

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 THROUGH YEARS

8. CAPTION BASED STORY July 29 th 2019

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT-TERM PAPER

SL ASSIGNMENT TOPIC DATE OF SUBMISSION

NO

1 MANAGEMENT TERMS July12 th 2019

2 5 MINUTES CHALLENGE July 2 nd 2019 onwards!

Prof. Dr. Siby Zacharias

CASE: 1

THE STRATEGIC ASPIRATIONS OF THE RESERVE BANK OF INDIA

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is India’s central bank or ‘the bank of the bankers. It was established on April
1, 1935 in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1935. The Central Office of the
RBI, initially set up at Kolkata, is at Mumbai. The RBI is fully owned by the Government of India.
The history of RBI is closely aligned with the economic and financial history of India. Most central banks
around the world were established around the beginning of the twentieth century. The Bank was established on
the basis of the Hilton Young Commission. It began its operations by taking over from the Government the
functions so far being performed by the Controller of Currency and from the Imperial Bank of India, the
management of Government accounts and public debt. After independence, RBI gradually strengthened its
institution-building capabilities and evolved in terms of functions from central banking to that of development.
There have been several attempts at reorganisation, restructuring and creation of specialised institutions to cater
to emerging needs.
The Preamble of the RBI describes its basic functions like this: ‘….to regulate the issue of Bank Notes and
keeping of reserves with a view to securing monetary stability in India and generally to operate the currency and
credit system of the country to its advantage.’ The vision states that the RBI ‘…. aims to be a leading central
bank with credible, transparent, proactive and contemporaneous policies and seeks to be a catalyst for the
emergence of a globally competitive financial system that helps deliver a high quality of life to the people in the
country.’ The mission states that ‘RBI seeks to develop a sound and efficient financial system with monetary
stability conductive to balanced and sustained growth of the Indian economy’. The corporate values of
underlining the mission statement include public interest, integrity, excellence, independence of views and
responsiveness and dynamism.
The three areas in which objectives of the RBI can be stated are as below.
1) Monetary policy objectives such as containing inflation and promoting economic growth, management of
foreign exchange reserves and making currency available.
2) Objectives set for managing financial sector developments such as supervision of systems and information
access and assisting banking and financial institutions to become competitive globally.
3) Organisational development objectives such as development of economic research facilities, creating
information system for supporting economic decision-making, financial management and human resource
management.

Strategic actions taken to realise the objectives fall under four categories:
 The thrust area of monetary policy formulation and managing financial sector
 Evolving the legal framework to support the thrust area;
 Customer service for providing support and creation of positive relationship; and
 Organisational support such as structure, systems, human resource development and adoption of
modern technology.

The major functions performed by the RBI are:

 Acting as the monetary authority
 Acting as the regulator and supervisor of the financial system
 Discharging responsibilities as the manager of foreign exchange
 Issue currency
 Play as developmental role
 Related functions such as acting as the banker to the government and scheduled banks
The management of the RBI is the responsibility of the central board of directors headed by the governor
and consisting of deputy governors and other directors, all of whom are appointed by the government. There are
four local boards based at Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi. The day-to-day management of RBI is in
the hands of the executive directors, managers at various levels and the support staff. There are about 22000
employees at RBI, working in 25 departments and training colleges.

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The RBI identified its strengths and weaknesses as under.
Strengths : A large body of competent officers and staff; access to key data on the economy; wide
organisational network with 22 regional offices; established infrastructure; ability to attract talent;
and financial self sufficiency.
Weaknesses: Structural rigidity, lack of accountability and slow decision-making; eroded specialist
know-how; strong employee unions with rigid industrial relations stance; surplus staff; and weak
market intelligence.
Over the years, the RBI has evolved in terms of structure and functions, in response to the role assigned to it.
There have been sweeping changes in the economic, social and political environment. The RBI has had to
respond to it even in the absence of a systematic strategic plan. In 1992, the RBI, with the assistance of a private
consultancy firm, embarked on a massive strategic planning exercise. The objective was to establish a roadmap
to redefine RBI’s role and to review internal organisational and managerial efficacy, address the changing
expectations from external stakeholders and reposition the bank in the global context. The strategic planning
exercise was buttressed by departmental position papers and documents on various subjects such as technology,
human resources and environmental trends. The strategic plan of the RBI emerged with four sections dealing
with the statement of mission, objectives and policy, a review of RBI’s strengths and weaknesses and strategic
actions required with an implementation plan. The strategic plan reiterates anticipation of evolving external
environment in the medium-term; revisiting strengths and weaknesses (evaluation of capabilities); and doing
away with the outdated mandates for enhancing efficiency in operations in furtherance of best public interests.
The results of these efforts are likely to manifest in attaining a visible focus, reinforced proficiency, realisation
of shared sense of purpose, optimising resource use and build-up of momentum to achieve goals.
Historically, the RBI adopted the time-tested technique of responding to external environment in a
pragmatic manner and making piecemeal changes. The dilemma in adoption of a comprehensive strategic plan
was the risk of trading off the flexibility of the pragmatic approach to creating rigidity imposed by a set model
of planning.

Questions:

1) Consider the vision and mission statements of the Reserve Bank of India. Comment on the quality of
both these statements.

2) Should the RBI go for a systematic and comprehensive strategic plan in place of its earlier pragmatic
approach of responding to environmental events as and when they occur? Why?

CASE: 2
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 Doordarshan's Problems: Is DD Dead?
DD is the India’s premier public service broadcaster with more than 1,000 transmitters covering 90% of the country’s
population across on estimated 70 million homes. It has more than 20,000 employees managing its metro and regional
channels. Recent years have seen growing competition from many private channels numbering more than 65, and the
cable and satellite operators (C & S). The C & S network reaches nearly 30 million homes and is growing at a very fast
rate. DD’s business model is based on selling half – hour slots of commercial time to the programme producers and
charging them a minimum guarantee. For instance, the present tariff for the first 20 episodes of a programme is Rs.30
lakhs plus the cost of production of the programme. In exchange the procedures get 780 seconds of commercial time
that he can sell to advertisers and can generate revenue. Break-even point for procedures, at the present rates, thus is
Rs.75, 000 for a 10 second advertising spot. Beyond 20 episodes, the minimum guarantee is Rs.65 lakhs for which the
procedures has to charge Rs.1,15,000 for a 10 second spot in order to break-even. It is at this point the advertisers face a
problem – the competitive rates for a 10 second spot is Rs.50, 000. Procedures are possessive about buying commercial
time on DD. As a result the DD’s projected growth of revenue is only commercial time on DD. As a result the DD’s
projected growth of revenue is only 6-10% as against 50-60% for the private sector channels. Software suppliers,
advertisers and audiences are deserting DD owing to its unrealistic pricing policy. DD has options before it. First, it should
privatize, second it should remain purely public service broadcaster and third, a middle path. The challenge seems to be
exploiting DD’s immense potential and emerge as a formidable player in the mass media.

Questions

i. What is the best option, in your view, for DD?

ii. Analyze the SWOT factors the DD has.

iii. Why do you think that the proposed alternative is the best?

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 CASE: 4

SOFT BREADS LTD

Soft Breads Ltd, a bread manufacturer from south, entered into the business of bread manufacturing in the
northern India in the year 1995 by acquiring brand name ‘Delicious’ from a local baker ‘Kuldeep Sodhi’ in
Chandigarh known for his quality breads. The baker kept on preparing and selling breads, however, now with a
different name‘healthy’ in changed package.101Soft Breads Ltd invested heavily in the machinery and
equipment. In fact, it invested a sum of rupees thirty five crores over a period of five years. It got immediate
acceptance from the market as Delicious, a household name, was well known for its quality. Gradually, it
captured major markets in adjoining cities of Haryana and Punjab. In the year 2005 its total turnover was 10
crores per annum with 50% market share in Chandigarh.Meantime, ‘Healthy’ also got some recognition and was
able to grow. Some of his loyal customers also shifted back to him realising that the baker has changed the
name of the product. Its market share, in 2005 stood at 15% in Chandigarh city. Inspired by the success of
‘Delicious’, the baker joined with his two rich friends to form a partnership by the name of ‘Healthy Foods’ in
the year 2006. They acquired an automatic modern plant to manufacture breads. The plant was better than
that of Soft Breads Ltd. They were able to reduce their costs and started selling breads at one rupee cheaper than
the competitors. They also introduced new products such as whole wheat bread, breads enriched with vitamins,
bread for kids in chocolate flavor within one year their market share grew to 35% in Chandigarh. In the year
2007 their turnover was 12 crores against 20 crores of Soft Breads Ltd. Now they plan to enter into business of
cakes and biscuits on a large scale.

Read the above case and answer the following questions:

a) Discuss the strategy of Soft Breads Ltd.

b) Discuss the strategy of Healthy Foods.
c) Perform a SWOT analysis for Soft Breads Ltd.
d) Do you think that Soft Breads Ltd has missed something while acquiring the brand name?
e) What are the alternatives before the Soft Breads Ltd?

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 BOOK REVIEW

NO NAME AUTHOR
1 THE WORLD IS FLAT THOMAS L FRIEDMAN
2 WHEN GIANTS LEARN TO DANCE ROSABETH MOSS CANTER
3 RICH DAD, POOR DAD ROBERT T KIYOSAKI
4 THE TOYOTA WAY : 14 MANAGEMENT JEFFREY K LIKER

PRINCIPLES FROM THE WORLD’S GREATEST

MANUFACTURER
5 COMPETING FOR THE FUTURE HAMEL G. AND PRAHLAD C

K
6 BUILD TO LAST: SUCCESSFUL HABITS OF JIM COLLINS AND JERRY

VISIONARY COMPANIES PORRAS

7 LEADING CHANGE JOHN KOTTER
8 THE TIPPING POINT: HOW LITTLE THINGS CAN MALCOLIN GLADWELL

MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

9 BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY W CHAN KIM
10 CAPITALISM AT CROSSROADS STUART L HART

 Each Team has to review at least Six Books

QUESTIONS

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT QUESTIONS

Module I (Date 0f Submission: 20-03-2013)

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1. Explain the concept of strategic management and their characteristics in detail?
2. What do you mean by ‘Strategic Myopia’?
3. Define Strategy. Explain the factors to be considered for selecting the best strategy
4. Explain the detail components of strategic management process
5. What are strategic alliances? Explain their advantages and disadvantages. How to make strategic
alliances work successfully?
6. Is corporate social responsibility with business sense justified? Explain the issues in the emerging
competitive markets
7. Explain the information needed for proper formulation of strategy?
8. “It is very difficult to implement Corporate Governance in Indian Business Environment”. Discuss.
9. Enumerate the different stages of Organizational lifecycle and highlight the suitable strategies in each
stage.
10. What do you understand by strategic business models? Explain?
11. Why strategic decisions are differ from other decisions?
12. What are the typical industry’s dominant economic features that drive business strategy
Module II (Date 0f Submission: (27-03-2019)
1. Select any one of the following 3 organizations
 Reliance
 Telco
 Wipro

On the basis of annual Reports for the last five years, chart out

 Vision, mission and value statement

 Corporate objectives
 Business objectives
2. Define functional strategy. Explain various functional strategies in an organization.
3. A) What are the 3 forms of diversification? State the means and mode of diversification
b) Give any two examples of Conglomerate Diversification
4. Define Directional Strategy and explain the dimensions of Directional Strategy.
5. Explain the four generic building blocks of competitive advantage. How to achieve this competitive
advantage and make it durable?
6. Briefly discuss the five generic business level strategies.
7. What are Grand Strategies? Explain the various retrenchment strategies a firm may follow?
8. What are some ways to implement a retrenchment strategy without creating a lot of resentment and
conflict with labor unions?
9. Define Functional Strategy. Discuss the different phases in functional strategy
10. Briefly discuss three key activities in strategic management process? Why is it important for managers
to recognize the independent nature of these activities?
11. Differentiate between integration strategies and intensive strategies
12. “An organization cannot exist if it does not define vision, mission, purpose, objectives and goals of
business” Do you agree with the statement. justify your answer
Module III (10-07-2019)
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1. Define industry. State the difference of industry with sector and market segments?
2. Competitive advantage leads to superior profitability, justify.
3. What do you mean by internal analysis? Discuss the role of internal analysis in strategy formulation.
4. Analyse the following trends and asses their impact on strategy formulation within companies
 Rising income levels of IT professional
 Growing no. of aged people
 The spread of consumerism
 Poor infrastructure facilities
5. Discuss how a development in a corporation’s societal environment can affect the corporations through
its task environment.
6. How can a decision maker identify strategic factors in the Corporation’s External and International
Environment?
7. Explain the Porter’s Five Forces Model to analyze competitive forces in an industry environment
8. A) What are the possible strengths of an organization identified as part of the SWOT analysis?
B) Compare and contrast SWOT analysis and portfolio analysis
9. What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a first mover in an industry? Give some examples
of first mover and later mover firms. Were they successful?
10. Give an example of how political legal forces have presented an opportunity or a threat to a particular
industry/organization
11. What are the benefits derived by understanding strategic profile of a firm?
12. Differentiate clearly between external and internal component of an environment
Module IV (17-07-2019)
1. What do you mean by ‘Strategic Implementation?’
2. What is the role of organizational structure on strategy implementation? Explain the two types of
organizational design concepts that decide how a structure will work
3. What is strategy-culture compatibility? What are the different types of strategy supportive cultures
4. Elaborate various issues an organization encounters while implementing the strategy
5. Why is an understanding of national cultures important in strategic management
6. what is relevance of the resource based view of the firm to strategic management in a global
environment
7. What is the role of leadership in strategic management? Illustrate your answer taking a few
contemporary examples.
8. Why is it important to integrate R&D into corporate strategy? Briefly discuss the factors which should
be taken into consideration if the innovation process is to be managed successfully. Explain giving
examples
9. Successful implementation strategy is possible only when the strategy is backed by an appropriate
organizational structure and control system. Discuss
10. What are the disadvantages that come from large size? Explain with examples
11. What do you mean by strategic business units? Illustrate
12. What is the difference between strategic planning and implementation?

Module V (05-08-2019)
1. Explain the salient techniques of strategic evaluation and control
2. Discuss the most appropriate methodology for evaluation of strategy.

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3. Discuss the steps involved in process of strategic control and Discuss successful maintenance of
strategic control
4. What is value chain analysis? Discuss its importance for business and functional level strategies and
explain how is it different
5. write a note on
 Internet Strategies For Traditional Businesses
 Organizational Capability Profile
 Synergy
6 Look up your university what are some of its key value creating activities that provide competitive
advantage why?
7 What is Organizational Conflict? What are its sources? Explain its process. Suggest strategies to resolve
it
8 Explain the importance of mergers and acquisitions in sustaining competitive advantage
9 How can downsizing be used to sustain competitive advantage?
10 (a)Explain BCG matrix, and list out its advantages and disadvantages.
(b) Briefly explain criteria for evaluating strategic alternatives
11 What are strategic alliances? Explain their advantages and disadvantages. How to make strategic
alliances work successfully
12 Why is organizational structure important and how does structure itself become a source of competitive
advantage?

******

Dr. Siby Zacharias, Faculty –in –charge

14-03-2019

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