Office Location: Room 36, 10 Pulteney Street
Telephone: 8313 4653
Email: georges.baume@adelaide.edu.au

Dr Georges Baume joined the Adelaide Graduate School of Business in 2000. He has a wealth of international experience in graduate management education. An Oxford and Adelaide graduate, Georges has extensive consulting and executive education experience with which he enriches his MBA teachings. He travels extensively and lectures internationally (Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Finland, France, and Canada). He is highly sought after as an accomplished and successful strategy lecturer, and his courses are among the most popular in the Adelaide MBA program.

Georges' passion is teaching. His enthusiasm, interest, and energies are focused on creating a wonderfully rich and stimulating learning environment. Georges' primary concern is to address his students' needs and to challenge them to reach beyond their own expectations. Dr Baume has been nominated for and won the Adelaide University Postgraduate Students Association Lecturer of the Year Award on three separate occasions. In 2009, he was awarded an Australian Award for University Teaching - the ALTC Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Post Graduate Teaching and Student Learning - “For sustained commitment to excellence in the delivery of MBA courses to transnational postgraduate students, resulting in students’ growth as confident, critical thinkers and decision makers”. In 2009 he was also the recipient of the prestigious Stephen Cole the Elder prize for excellence in teaching at the University of Adelaide and was nominated for the Pearson Education ANZAM Management Educator of the Year Award. In both 2010 and 2011, he was nominated for an all Australian Learning and Teaching Contribution award. Dr Baume is widely recognised by both his students and his peers as an outstanding and successful educator with an unquestionable dedication to the profession.

Dr Baume has a wide range of business experience, with skills in managing, consulting, teaching and research. He has an excellent practical knowledge of corporate and strategic management. His main area of management and research interests lies with the service sector, with a focus on the development and application of strategic principles and key success factors that can enable firms to perform, compete, and succeed in the new economy.

Georges’ qualifications include a Ph.D, and an MBA from Adelaide University, an M.Sc. from Oxford University, a Dip. Ed., and a Bachelor of Arts from Flinders University. Georges is a Chartered Member of the Australian Human Resource Institute and a Fellow of the Australian Management Institute

Knowledge and Understanding

This course is designed to give students the skills to

· analyse strategic macro environmental issues;

· analyse industry factors, and identify their impact on profitability and strategic positioning;

· assess organisational performance;

· identify strategic capabilities and gaps;

· assess and evaluate SBU strategies; and

· analyse and implement strategy at the single business unit level.

The text book for this course is:

Thompson, A., Strickland, A., Peteraf. M., and Gamble, J.E. (2014) Crafting and Executing Strategy:The Quest for Competitive Advantage, Concepts and Cases, (19th edition) McGraw Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-802950-9

There are many business strategy texts that students can use as references. Useful references include:

Angwin D., Cummings S., & Smith C. (2011), The Strategy Pathfinder, Core Concepts and Micro-Cases, 2nd Ed, Blackwell Pub.
Colls, D., and Montgomery, C. (2005), Corporate Strategy: A Resource-Based Approach. (2nd edition) McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Johnson, G., Scholes, K., and Whittington, R. (2005), Exploring Corporate Strategy. (7th edition) FT Prentice Hall.
McGee J., Thomas H., Wilson D. (2005), Strategy Analysis and Practice, McGraw Hill Pub.
Pearce J.A., and Robinson R.B. Jr (2003), Strategic Management, Formulation, Implementation, and Control, (8th Ed), McGraw Hill Pub

Other useful (Australian) references on business strategy include:

Davis, J., and Devinney, T. (1997) The Essence of Corporate Strategy. Allen & Unwin.
Hubbard, G., Rice J. and Beamish P (2007), Strategic Management: Thinking, Analysis and Action. (3rd ed) Pearson Education Australia.
Twite, G. and O’Keeffe, M. (eds) (2000) New Directions in Corporate Strategy. Allen & Unwin.
Viljoen, J. and Dann, S. (2003), Strategic Management. (4th ed) Prentice Hall.

Important messages, topic notes, power point slides, case studies and other materials relating to the course will be placed on MyUni throughout the course. MyUni can be found at (www.myuni.adelaide.edu.au)

Topics, Associated Readings, and Case Studies are:

Session 1:
Introduction: A Framework for Strategic Analysis and what is ‘Business Strategy’?

Readings:
Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, Chapters 1 & 2
“Fundamental issues in strategies” Rumelt R, Schendel D, & Teece D (eds), 1994, Chpt 1, Fundamental Issues in Strategies, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, pp.9-47

Case Study: Costco wholesale in 2012: mission, business model, and strategy


Sessions 2:
Business Strategy Analysis and External Industry Analysis.

Readings:
Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, Chapter 3
“Commitment: The persistence of strategies”, Ghemawat P.,1991, Commitment: the dynamic of strategy, The Free Press, New York, pp.13-31

Case Study: Panera bread company in 2012 – pursuing growth in a weak economy


Session 3:
External Industry Analysis and Measuring Organisational Performance

Readings:
Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, Chapter 4
“The Five Competitive Forces that shape Strategy”, Porter M., HBR, January, 2008
“Industry segmentation & competitive advantage” Porter M., 1985, Competitive Advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance, The Free Press, New York, pp.231-272

Case Study: Tiffany’s little blue box: does it have any strategic significance?


Session 4:
Measuring Organisational Performance and Capability Analysis.

Readings:
Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, Chapter 5
“Capitalising on Capabilities”, Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood, HBR, June 2004, Jun2004, Vol. 82 Issue 6, p119-127
“Strategy and the Internet”, Porter M., HBR, March 2001

Case Study: Nucor corporation in 2012: using economic downturns as an opportunity to grow stronger


Sessions 5:
Strategic Options and Decision making 1

Readings:
Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, Chapters 6
“The nature and sources of competitive advantage”, in Grant R, 1995, Contemporary Strategy Analysis, 2nd ed, Chpt 6, pp 149-172, Blackwell Business Pub. Cambridge, Massachussets

Case Study: 7-Eleven in Taiwan: adaptation of convenience stores to new market environments.


Session 6:

Mid Term in Class Mini- Case Study Analysis Test


Session 7:
Strategic Options and Decision making 2

Readings:
Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, Chapter 7
“The right game: use game theory to shape strategy” Brandenburger A & Nalebuff B, 1995, HBR, July –August, pp 57-71
“Speed & strategic choice: how managers accelerate decision making”, Einsenhardt K., 1990, California Management Review, Spring, pp.39-54

Case Study: Tata motors: can it become a global contender in the automotive industry?


Session 8:
Strategy and Ethics

Readings:
Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, Chapter 9
“The business of ethics and the ethics of business”, Pattan J.E, Journal of Business Ethics 3, 1984, Pp.1-19

Case Study : Rhino sales, hunting, and poaching in South Africa, 2012


Session 9:
Strategy Execution 1

Readings:
Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, Chapter 10
“Cost advantage”, 1985, Porter M., Competitive advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance, New York, The Free Press, pp. 97-118
“Competitive cost dynamics: the experience curve”, 1982, Hax A., & Maljuf N., Interfaces, 12/5, Pp.50-61

Case Study: Starbucks in 2012: evolving into a dynamic global organisation


Session 10:
Strategy Execution 2

Readings:
Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, Chapters 11 & 12
“Innovation & competitive advantage: what we know & what we kneed to learn”, 1992, Lengnich-Hall C., Journal of Management, 18/2, pp.399-429
“Differentiation strategy”, 1985, Porter M., Competitive Advantage: Creating and sustaining superior performance, The Free Press, New York, pp.150-163

Case Study: Group Presentations

he information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.
This is a standard ‘3 Unit’ MBA course which requires about 156 hours of student effort. These 156 hours includes the time spent in class and undertaking assessment as well as the reading and assignment preparation you must undertake outside of the class hours.

Thorough case preparation and willingness to participate in class discussion is essential to the educational process as well as the achievement of a satisfactory grade in strategic decisions and implementation. Participants will be required to prepare two or three readings plus a case study for discussion for every session. Participants will be regularly quizzed on both cases and readings, so please come prepared.

This course includes small group discovery experiences. Students are expected to participate in small group discovery on a weekly basis.

Ind Class Participation
Constructive participation in class discussion
10%

Mid Term In Class Test
Mini Case Analysis – Monday October 19
20%

Group Presentation
Group Presentation
15%

Group Assignment
Group Report
15%

End of Term Exam
Case Base – Monday November 23
40%

Attendance

Our specific requirements are that students must attend at least 80% of class sessions to be graded for that course. Students failing to meet these requirements will be automatically graded 0% Fail (F) on their transcripts.

Grade minimum

To gain a pass for this course, a student must achieve at least 50% overall with a minimum of 45% for the overall individual components. Students not achieving this requirement will have a fail (F) recorded as their final grade The individual component is the weighted average of the class participation, mid-term test and the final exam grades.

ndividual Class Participation (10%)
Thorough case preparation and willingness to participate in class discussion is essential to the educational process as well as the achievement of a satisfactory grade in strategic decisions and implementation. Participants will be required to prepare two or three readings plus a case study for discussion for every session. Participants will be regularly quizzed on both cases and readings, so please come prepared.

Mid Term in Class Test (20%)
The mid term in-class test will take the form of a short case analysis. Participants will be required to: Read and familiarise themselves with a short case study; Answer specific questions relating to the case and its industry; Demonstrate their ability to integrate relevant knowledge and skills covered in the first half of the course and, where applicable, in other relevant management areas.

Group Presentation (15%)
Details of the presentation will be discussed at the first class. You will have a total of 30-40 minutes to make your presentation and answer questions. Presentations will be held on the last day of the course.

Group Assignment (15%)
Please see details of the questions to be addressed on the following page. Please note that all groups and organisational choices must be approved by the lecturer. The nature and focus of group reports will be discussed in Session 1

Examination (40%) The examination will be Case based and will be “open book”. Specific details and expectations will be discussed in the course.