Course Design Guide 1

STR/581 Version 4

Syllabus
School of Business
STR/581 Version 4
Strategic Planning & Implementation
Copyright © 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved.

Course Description

This capstone course integrates concepts from all prior courses in the program. Students apply the concepts of
strategic planning and implementation to create sustainable, competitive advantage for an organization. Other
topics include environmental scanning, strategic analysis, corporate social responsibility, implementation and
evaluation, and risk management.

Policies

Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained
within the following two documents:

• University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document.
• Instructor policies: This document is posted in the Course Materials forum.

University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies
may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have recently changed
modalities, read the policies governing your current class modality.

Course Materials

Barney, J. B. (2007). Gaining and sustaining competitive advantage (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Prentice Hall.

Mintzberg, H., Ghoshal, S., Lampel, J., & Quinn, J. B. (2003). The strategy process: Concepts, contexts, cases
(4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Pearce, J. A., II, & Robinson, R. B. (2011). Strategic management: Formulation, implementation, and control
(12th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

All electronic materials are available on the student website.

Week One: Mission, Vision, and Values

Details Due Points

Objectives 1.1 Identify major components of a strategic management process.

1.2 Evaluate the organization’s motivation, innovation strategy, and
people strategy.
1.3 Explain the role of ethics and corporate social responsibility in
strategic planning.

Readings Read The Strategic Management Process to Emergent Strategies in

Ch. 1 of Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage.
Read Ch. 1–3 & 14 of Strategic Management.
Read Five Ps For Strategy to Strategies for Change in Ch. 1 of The
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Strategy Process.
Read What Is Strategy? to Reflecting On The Strategy Process in
Ch. 1 of The Strategy Process.
Read Ch. 12 of The Strategy Process
Read this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings.

Participation Participate in class discussion. 2

Discussion Respond to weekly discussion questions. 2

Questions

Assessed What are the major components of a strategic management 2

Discussion process? Which component is most difficult for managers to
Question perform? Explain your answer.

Nongraded Choose an organization as the focus for the Strategic Plan, due in
Activities and Week Six. The organization can be an existing company, nonprofit
Preparation organization, religious organization, or governmental agency. Avoid
an organization that is so large that historical data would be difficult
to apply. Firms in the Russell 2000® index may fit well, whereas
firms in the Dow 30 Industrial index probably do not.

The organization can be a start-up that you or a significant other

may create in the future. For a start-up, focus on an entrepreneurial
idea that is of substantive interest, so this project leaves you with a
product you may leverage in the future.

Write a paragraph to justify selecting this organization. Include the

following:

• The organization’s name

• The purpose for this organization’s existence
• Why this organization is of interest to you
• Availability of organizational data: Avoid selecting an
existing organization for which there is no publicly available
historical data.

Your facilitator will formally approve this choice, or recommend

reconsideration, prior to your Research Proposal assignment.

Final Examination The final exam in this course is a comprehensive exam that covers
Preparation content from the core courses in the MBA program. The Sample
Exam in this week should prepare you for the final exam that you will
take in Week Six. You are encouraged to complete this exam as
practice prior to completing the final exam.

Individual Use the Ethics Awareness Inventory and Ethical Choices in the 6
Ethics Reflection Workplace assessments to revisit your values.
Paper Write a paper of no more than 700 words in which you do the
following:

• Explain the role of ethics and social responsibility in

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developing a strategic plan, considering stakeholder needs.

• Explain how your ethical perspective has evolved
throughout the program.

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

Week Two: External Environmental Scanning

Details Due Points

Objectives 2.1 Analyze an organization’s remote environment.

2.2 Analyze an organization’s industry environment.
2.3 Analyze an organization’s external operating environment.

Readings Read Ch. 3 & 4 of Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage.

Read Ch. 4 & 5 of Strategic Management.
Read Ch. 9 of The Strategy Process.

Participation Participate in class discussion. 2

Discussion Respond to weekly discussion questions. 2

Questions

Nongraded Begin to perform an external environmental scan for your

Activities and organization. You will complete this work for your External and
Preparation Internal Environmental Analysis assignment.

Individual Write a proposal of no more than 750 words, outlining the research 2
Research Proposal approach you will use for the Strategic Plan, due in Week Six.
Include the following:

• How you intend to validate the organizational vision,

mission, and values statements
• Sources you expect to use to perform an external
environmental analysis
• Sources you expect to use to perform an internal
environmental analysis

Learning Team Write a paper of no more than 1,050 words that describes and 10
Innovation Strategy evaluates an organization’s innovation strategy.
Paper
Use publicly available information, including Securities and
Exchanges Commission filings. Be sure to choose an organization
that isintroducing new products or services.

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

Week Three: Internal Capabilities and Resources

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STR/581 Version 4

Details Due Points

Objectives 3.1 Analyze an organization’s internal environment.

3.2 Assess an organization’s competitive position and possibilities.

Readings Read Ch. 5 of Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage.

Read Ch. 6 of Strategic Management.

Participation Participate in class discussion. 2

Discussion Respond to weekly discussion questions. 2

Questions

Individual Complete the external environmental scan for your organization. 10

External and Perform an internal, competitive environmental scan for your
Internal organization.
Environmental Write a summary of no more than 1,400 words that does the
Analysis following:

• Identifies and analyzes the most important external

environmental factor in the remote, industry, and external
operating environments

• Identifies and analyzes the most important internal strengths

and weaknesses of your organization: Include an assessment of
the organization’s resources.

• Assesses the organization’s competitive position and

possibilities

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

Week Four: Strategic Choice and Evaluation

Details Due Points

Objectives 4.1 Evaluate potential generic strategies for an organization.

4.2 Evaluate potential value disciplines for an organization.
4.3 Evaluate potential grand strategies for an organization.
4.4 Evaluate potential multibusiness strategies for an organization

Readings Read Ch. 6, 7, & 11 of Gaining and Sustaining Competitive

Advantage.
Read Ch. 7–9 of Strategic Management.

Participation Participate in class discussion. 2

Discussion Respond to weekly discussion questions. 2

Questions
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Individual Write a paper of no more than 1,400 words that evaluates 8

Strategic Choice alternatives your organization must consider to realize growth.
and Evaluation Identify the best value discipline, generic strategy, and grand
Paper strategy for your organization.
Recommend a strategy or combination of strategies the
organization should implement.
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

Week Five: Implementation, Strategic Controls, and Contingency Plans

Details Due Points

Objectives 5.1 Create an implementation plan.

5.2 Develop organizational change management strategies.
5.3 Analyze the key external environmental assumptions and
internal metrics that must be monitored when implementing a
business plan.
5.4 Create a risk management plan.

Readings Read Ch. 8 of Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage.

Read Ch. 10 & 13 of Strategic Management.
Read Ch. 6 & 8 of The Strategy Process.

Participation Participate in class discussion. 2

Discussion Respond to weekly discussion questions. 2

Questions

Individual Write a draft of no more than 1,800 words of the strategic plan for 8
Implementation, your organization, including the following:
Strategic Controls,
and Contingency • Implementation plan
Plans
o Objectives
o Functional tactics
o Action items
o Milestones and a deadline
o Tasks and task ownership
o Resource allocation

• Any required organizational change management strategies

that would enhance successful implementation
• Key success factors, budget, and forecasted financials,
including a break-even chart
• Risk management plan, including contingency plans for
identified risks

Format your plan consistent with APA guidelines.

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Week Six: Create and Sell Your Business Plan

Details Due Points

Objectives 6.1 Construct a strategic plan for an organization.

6.2 Communicate a strategic plan effectively to stakeholders.

Readings Read this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings.

Participation Participate in class discussion.

Discussion Respond to weekly discussion questions.

Questions

Individual Resource: Implementation, Strategic Controls, and Contingency 19

Strategic Plan and Plans assignment with facilitator feedback
Presentation
Complete a 2,800- to 3,500-word strategic plan for your
organization.

Update your plan to incorporate facilitator feedback from the draft

versions submitted in previous weeks. Include the following:

• Table of contents

• Executive summary, with a 2-page maximum

• Company background, organizational mission, vision, and

value statements

• Note. For a start-up, this should focus on the backgrounds

and accomplishments of key anticipated management
personnel. The goal is to convince the investor that these
individuals are trustworthy and successful.

• Environmental scan

• Review of Week Four strategies and a recommendation for

the best strategy for your organization

• Implementation plan: Include objectives, functional tactics,

action items, milestones, tasks, resource allocation, and a
deadline. In addition, analyze key success factors. Include a
budget and forecasted financials, including a break-even chart.

• Risk management plan, including contingency plans for

identified risks

Prepare a 6- to 10-slide Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation with

speaker notes. Your audience will play the board of directors or a
venture capital firm. The focus is to sell your recommendations to
the board or venture capital firm, and obtain approval for funding
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your plan.

Format your plan and presentation consistent with APA guidelines.

Individual Resource: Assigned weekly readings 15

Final Examination Click the link to the Final Examination on your student website
available from the end of Week Five through the end of Week Six.
Complete the Final Examination. You are allowed one attempt to
complete the exam, which is timed and must be completed in 3
hours. Results are auto graded and sent to your instructor.

Optional Discussion Questions

Week One Discussion Questions

• What is the difference between a vision and a mission? Where have you seen misleading
organizational mission, vision, and values statements? How did that affect the organization?

• Go to a public corporation’s website and read their statements on corporate social responsibility. What
aspects of their ethics do you agree or disagree with? Why?

• Why is a people strategy strategic? Provide an example to validate your answer.

Week Two Discussion Questions

• Locate an organization in the news. Is the organization validating its values by its actions? Use the
organization’s website or other published information to define the values and explain your answer.

• Locate an organization in the news. How is this organization trying to create value and competitive
advantage in its sector?

• When evaluating an organization, what political and ethical factors must be taken into account? Why?

• Consider the restaurant industry and explain how recent, current, and forecasted economic trends have
affected the industry’s attractiveness. What firms have exited the industry? What firms have entered or
increased investment in the industry?

• Consider a specific sector of the transportation industry—airlines, railroads, trucking, shipping, or

multimodal. How have external operating environment factors affected the sector’s performance?

Week Three Discussion Questions

• How might an organizational evaluation be beneficial? How might it be detrimental?

• How might a resource-based view of internal capabilities complement a strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis? Provide an example.

• How might the value, rarity, imitability, and organization analysis of internal capabilities complement a
SWOT analysis? Provide an example.

Week Four Discussion Questions

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• Identify an existing organization that established sustained market leadership by successfully

leveraging a generic strategy. How did the organization successfully leverage this strategy?

• Identify an existing organization that established sustained market leadership by successfully

leveraging a value discipline. How did the organization successfully leverage this discipline?

• Identify an existing organization that established sustained market leadership by successfully

leveraging a grand strategy. How did the organization successfully leverage this strategy?

• What are the challenges in managing a portfolio of companies? Identify an organization that has been
consistently successful. What critical success factors have they emphasized?

Week Five Discussion Questions

• Although objectives, functional tactics, and action items are included in many implementation plans,
why do some organizations have a difficult time reflecting the plans they create?

• What problems have you faced when creating your implementation plan?

• In your experience, where do risk management plans fall short?

• Consider an organization you have worked for or are familiar with. What are the most important metrics
used in the strategic control process? Why?

Week Six Discussion Questions

• Do you think the Nichepreneur strategy might work for your future career plans? Explain why.

• Provide an example of an industry experiencing a red ocean. In your opinion, how might the industry be
converted into a blue ocean?

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Copyright © 2010 University of Phoenix. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2010 McGraw-Hill/Irwin. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2010 Prentice Hall. All rights reserved.

Edited in accordance with University of Phoenix® editorial standards and practices.