BUSINESS 4050

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT I
Spring/Summer 2022

Course Syllabus

THE MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY OF NEWFOUNDLAND CODE

All members of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Community, which includes
students, faculty, and staff, shall treat others with respect and fairness, be responsible and honest,
and uphold the highest standards of academic integrity.

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION
This course introduces students to the strategic management approach. The course builds upon
the knowledge and concepts developed in Business 1000 and prepares students for later business
courses in their programs, especially Business 7000. Through experience and analysis in and of
real or reality-based situations and issues, students will develop critical and integrative thinking
and information literacy. Activity and action components of the strategic management process
are the basis for student learning. The purpose of this course is to recognize the importance of
situational analysis and strategy in the Management process, including business functional and
organizational integrative thinking, and decision-making regarding courses of action, resource
allocation, and leadership.

Prerequisites: BUSI 1600, BUSI 2010, BUSI 2101, BUSI 2210, BUSI 2400, BUSI 3310, BUSI
3401

Co-requisites: BUSI 4000 and BUSI 4330.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Instructor: Dr. Tim Jones

Office: BN-3019

Office hours: On zoom by appointment. I am very flexible about timing here – email
or text me and I will arrange something.

Telephone: 709-749-0246 (text)

E-mail: tjones@mun.ca

Course Course materials etc. can be found at http://online.mun.ca. Note: there

Website: is an email function with this site (that I never use – i.e., if you send me
email there, don’t expect a speedy response). Simulation materials are
found at www.intopsim.com
Textbooks and Materials

INTOPIA Simulation Materials: available at www.intopsim.com

NOTE: a registration code will need to be purchased for the simulation online at
www.intopsim.com

Textbook: Crossan, Rouse, Fry, and Killing. Strategic Analysis and Action. 9th Edition (8th or
7th are fine too). Pearson Education Canada. (this will be used in BUSI 7000 too). There are a
few older versions available on AMAZON for really cheap (under $10). This is suggested
only.

General Objectives

The learning objectives for this course are based on Bloom’s taxonomy. Going further than basic
knowledge and comprehension, they emphasize application, situation analysis, synthesis and
evaluation. Objectives are described below.

Knowledge and Comprehension:

Be able to define and describe the concepts and techniques of strategic management, including
theoretical, categorical frameworks for these concepts and techniques, including ethical and
international dimensions. Be able to describe examples and illustrations of the concepts or
techniques of strategic management, including ethical and international dimensions, as they
may be evident in business or organizational situations.

Application:
Be able to appropriately and effectively apply the concepts and techniques of strategic
management, and their theoretical, categorical frameworks, including ethical and international
dimensions, to business and organizational strategic situation analysis and planning realities.

Situational Analysis and Synthesis (Problem Identification and Solving):

Based on the concepts of strategic management and their theoretical, categorial frameworks,
including ethical and international dimensions, be able effectively to undertake strategic situation
analysis and planning.

Evaluation (Critical Thinking):

Based on strategic management concepts, and their theoretical, categorical frameworks,
including ethical and international dimensions, be able effectively to make critical analysis and
planning assessments and judgements with stated rationales and criteria.
Course Delivery:

This course will be delivered via remote learning. It is fundamentally different than the online
course (BUSI 4050 086). This course will be delivered in several different ways.

1. Regularly scheduled classes

2. Regularly scheduled lab sessions
3. Videos and other content (e.g., readings) delivered through D2L
4. The INTOPIA Business Simulation (available at www.intopsim.com) – an integrated
business strategy simulation exercise aimed at exposing students to practical side of
strategic management.

Online classes:
We will still meet for classes according to the schedule below. We will have these meetings on
zoom. Refer to the Course Schedule for days that classes are/are not happening. Once the
simulation gets going, we will do less classes as a section and more 1:1 meetings with teams and
me.

You should attend your regularly schedule time (because we may break into teams during the
class); however, if you need to attend another, feel free to do so. I will record at least one of
them (i.e., either section 1, 2, 3).

Classes
Section 001: Mondays, 10:30 am – 11:45 am (Room BN 3007)
Section 002: Tuesdays, 10:30 am – 11:34 am (Room BN 3007)

Lab Sections
003 Mondays 12:30 pm (RM BN3009)
004 Thursdays 10:30 am (RM BN3009)
005 Thursdays 12:00 pm (RM BN3009)
006 Tuesdays 12:30 pm (RM BN3009)
007 Wednesday 10:30 am (RM BN3009)
008 Wednesday 1:30 pm (RM BN3009)
Student Evaluation

Learning in this course results primarily from in-class discussion of comprehensive business
problems, participation in a management simulation, as well as out-of-class analyses and
readings. Where you identify that you are having issues with a particular learning objective, you
should schedule time with the instructor. At the end of the course, each student will meet
individually with the instructor to discuss progress on the learning objectives.

Preparation and Content 50%

Student Information Sheet 2
(individual)
Quizzes (2) – (individual) 30
Reflective Memo (individual) 18
Simulation 50%
Simulation (group work) 50
TOTAL 100
CONTRIBUTION/Attendance +5%

Quizzes (individual work 2 @ 15% each)

There will be two quizzes that will be completed online throughout the term. The quizzes will be
made available for 24 hours beginning Wednesday, June 8 (Quiz 1) and Wednesday, July 6
(Quiz 2). The quizzes will take approximately 30 minutes to complete – you will have 60
minutes to complete the quiz once it has been launched.
Simulation Reflection Memo (individual work - 18%)
The purpose of the reflection memo is to apply your knowledge of strategic management in the
assessment of your INTOPIA Company. There is a heavy emphasis on analytics and theory in
this course and managerial relevance. Accordingly the memo needs to utilize the analytics,
theory and concepts assigned and taught in the course. I suggest that you structure the memo
around the DIAMOND-E framework which we will use predominantly in this course.

Each individual should keep a (rather informal) log or diary of deliberations, work papers, and
general running history of their INTOPIA Company for use at the end of the academic term.
You will also be well advised to keep an informal record of your reactions, insights, confusions,
general thoughts and other personal mental events that occur during your INTOPIAN
experience. This material will be very valuable to you in deepening your learning experience
and in helping you to prepare your final assignment.
This “diary” should accumulate naturally day by day as a by-product of your work. It will be
useful to type up two or three paragraphs a week to summarize. But 10 minutes of effort per day
is the spirit of things here, not more. Your diary entries should reflect what you expected, your
assumptions, and the outcomes. Understanding what did (or didn’t) happen – and why – is
important. You will learn both by keeping the “diary” and by reviewing it occasionally. The
diary will help you to prepare the memo due at the end of the course.

Each memo should be no more than two pages in length, single-spaced, 1-inch margins, and in
Times New Roman 12-point font. The memo is to be submitted in PDF format to the
DROPBOX. Submit the memo only, not your diary.

Simulation Performance (Group Work - 50%)

A key component of your grade will be your company’s performance within the INTOPIA
world.

Component Assessment Description Allotment

(marks)

Team Registration On-time registration of team at www.intopsim.com 1

(by May 25 at 10:00 pm). This requires that you
have registered as individuals first.
Phase one practice On-time submission of all five practice decision 1
decisions files

Game quizzes (on simulation website) 2

Phase two practice On-time submission of all four decision files 1

decisions
IPO Submission On-time Submission of IPO and assessment of 10
IPO

Game Results Earnings relative to similar companies, future 35

potential of firm, adjustments due to effort, ethics,
enthusiasm, and other circumstances.

TOTAL 50

Further details about the simulation will be provided on the simulation website.
My Grading Style and My Expectations

The evaluation to determine a grade is based on the quality of the submission. There is a bit of
subjectivity in this evaluation as with most evaluations in social sciences; however, my
experience indicates that there is a "standard" answer that defines the relevant concepts, makes a
logical argument, and uses relevant examples where required. For problem solving, the
“standard” answer involves identifying the issues, analyzing the facts and making relevant
recommendations. Generally, this type of submission demonstrates basic understanding of
course material and deserves a B.

Submissions that demonstrate unique insights and provide a comprehensive understanding of the
concepts/issues get rewarded accordingly with a B+, A-, A, A+. In determining the final grades,
please keep in mind that submissions are evaluated absolutely and relatively. Reports and exams
are evaluated absolutely according to the requirements. Reports and exams are also evaluated
relative to one another to form a ranking from the best to the least best.

Grades are never negotiable, so please don’t try. If I have made an addition error, then I will fix
that. Otherwise, if you feel you have been unjustly graded you are encouraged to submit the
entire assignment/paper/exam for re-grading. I will then reassess the entire submission. You
should recognize, however, that your final grade may stay the same, be increased, or be
decreased based on the re-assessment.

Written Submissions
All written submissions must be word processed on 8.5" X 11" white paper in a size 12 font, and
be free of spelling and grammatical errors. Submissions not conforming to these requirements
will not be assessed or will receive deductions.

High-quality writing is essential in the business world. Reports that contain obvious or careless
errors signal that the author (s) has a general lack of competence or that the report is not credible.
The Memorial University of Newfoundland Student Calendar contains the following regulation:

5.8.3 Good Writing 

1. Students at all university levels should have reasonably sophisticated and effective communication skills
and are expected to demonstrate proficiency in logical organization, clarity of expression and grammatical
correctness. Good writing is expected of students in all courses.

Fatal Writing Errors:

The errors listed below are ones that I commonly see in submitted assignments. In my opinion, these
are errors that are not acceptable at the university level or what I consider to be “fatal errors”. For this
course, if any of the errors below appear in an assignment, the assignment will be given a grade of 0.
The purpose of this strict rule is to ensure that you thoroughly proofread your assignments. Often, using
the spell checking feature in your word-processing program will not catch these errors. The assignments
submitted in this course are not onerous (e.g., 2-3 pages in length); therefore, it is not unreasonable for
me to expect you to find and correct these errors.

I will go over these in class. Also, you are encouraged to visit a number of websites that list common
errors in English. A particularly good website is Common Errors in English Usage located at:
www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/index.html.

List of unacceptable errors:

 there instead of their or vice versa

 would of, could of, should of instead of would have, should have, could have
 affect instead of effect or vice versa
 your versus you’re
 its versus it’s
 use of the word ‘irregardless’ anywhere or anytime – unless it’s in the context of making fun of
people that use the word ‘irregardless’
 incomplete sentences
 then versus than
 use of shortcuts typically reserved for text messaging or other informal electronic messaging
(e.g., lol, u, ur, brb, tx)

Late Assignments:

All assignments are due on or before the specified due date and time. Late assignments are not
accepted unless permission has been given PRIOR TO the due date. There are no exceptions.

Contribution (+5%)

You are expected to have read any assigned readings before the class. In many cases, we will
not cover the assigned reading directly; however, you will be responsible for the material.
Lectures and class activities are supplemental to the course reading – they do not necessarily
cover what is in the reading assigned. Each day, we will spend some time discussing the
readings and how they do or do not coincide with the lecture material. Contribution to the class
can be enhanced by:

 asking insightful questions of guest speakers or the instructor;

 coming to class adequately prepared to discuss the day’s readings;
 coming to class with additional material that supplement the day’s topic;
 answering questions thoughtfully if called upon by either the instructor or other class members;
 interacting with and questioning other students and the instructor positively; and/or
 contributing to the class in a creative, entertaining, and enlightening manner.

Note: there are no marks for class contribution, just additional marks. I reward those that make
the class better for me and the other students.
GUIDELINES ON CONSULTATION AND GROUP WORK IN

THE FACULTY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

General Remarks

These guidelines are intended to help students in the preparation of written work to be handed in
— case analyses, assignments, essays, computer programs, etc. In the Faculty of Business
Administration, written work is done: (1) individually; or (2) individually, but with consultation
among students permitted or encouraged; or (3) in groups of two or more. The instructor will
specify the category into which written work in the course falls. The instructor may do this
orally or in writing. If a student is unsure what is permitted, it is the student’s responsibility to
ask the instructor whether and to what degree consultation is allowed.

(1) Individual Work

In the case of work to be completed individually, consultation with others is not permitted.
Identical or nearly identical work may be regarded as plagiarism.

(2) Consultation Is Permitted or Encouraged, but Individual Papers Are Submitted

In this case, students are permitted/encouraged to consult with each other, but each student must
submit his or her own paper, representing his or her own understanding. Since each student’s
understanding will be different, even when consultation has taken place, each student’s wording
is expected to be different: the wording must therefore not be identical to or nearly identical to
the wording of any other student’s work, although the content it represents may be the same.
Identical or nearly identical wording may be regarded as plagiarism.

To avoid producing identical or nearly identical wording, it is suggested that students prepare a
draft before consulting with others. That draft can then be modified based on discussions with
other students.

(3) Group Work

Group work requires collaboration among and contributions from all group members. A single
paper, representing the work of the group as a whole, is to be submitted.

If a group member is not making an appropriate contribution, students are advised to discuss the
problem with the individual as soon as possible. Complaints should be supported by
documentation (e.g., written records of scheduled group meetings missed, commitments not
honoured). If the problem cannot be resolved within the group, students should consult with the
instructor. Adjustments to individuals’ grades may be made at the discretion of the instructor.
Avoiding Plagiarism

Some work may require students to use information from another source. Such information may
take the form of quotations, summaries, paraphrases, or facts or ideas that are not common
knowledge. Whatever its form, the source of the information must be clearly documented by in-
text citations referring to a list of references at the end of the paper. Omitting such
documentation is plagiarism. Plagiarism is a very serious academic offence that may result in a
range of penalties up to and including expulsion from the University. (For further information,
see the University Calendar, Procedures Governing Academic Dishonesty.) The standard format
used for documentation in the Faculty of Business Administration is the APA style.