THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS

Executive MBA Program

Fall and Spring Semesters, 2006/2007

COURSE TITLE: Strategic Field Project

COURSE DESCRIPTION: An integrative course that spans two semesters and draws
on and deepens knowledge and skills acquired in previous courses. It is also an
experiential learning course in which students deepen their knowledge and skills in
strategic management. Students participate in “consulting teams” that work with local
businesses to help them identify and evaluate their current business model and
recommend new business models that could assure future competitive success. The focus
of these consulting projects is enterprise transformation.

Two hours of credit will be given in each of the fall and spring semesters.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: (The things the student who successfully completes the
course should learn or be able to do)

1. To identify an enterprise’s strategic business design (business model) and to

analyze whether or not the design is customer centric and profit centric, the
conditions that allow a firm to operate in a “profit zone.”
2. To identify transformational changes in an enterprise’s strategic business design
that could either move the enterprise from a no-profit zone to a profit zone or
from a weakening profit zone to a strong profit zone.
3. To identify and apply at least 22 “profit models” (business models that lead to
profit zones).
4. To integrate and apply important business principles and skills acquired in
previous EMBA courses to an actual company.

MEANS OF ASSESSMENT: (How the student’s achievement of the above learning

objectives will be evaluated):

Grading basis will be letter grades: A, B, C and F.

First Semester - 2 credit hours will be awarded using the following grading basis:
Group participation (grades assigned by fellow group members) 40%
Class attendance and participation (5% for each of the two classes) 10%
Group presentations in class 2 50%

Note: If your peer grade on group participation is “C” or below, the best grade
you can make for the semester will be a “B.”

Second Semester – 2 credit hours will be awarded using the following grading basis:

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 Group participation (peer grading) 40%
Class attendance and participation (5% for each of the two classes) 10%
Final Group presentations in classes 3 and 4 50%

Note: If your peer grade on group participation is “C” or below, the best grade
you can make for the semester will be a “B.”

TEXTBOOKS, ETC:

1. Adrian J. Slywotzky and David J. Morrison, The Profit Zone: How Strategic
Business Design Will Lead You to Tomorrow’s Profits, New York: Times
Business (Random House), 1997.

COURSE OVERVIEW:

Course is Built Around Text: The Slywotzky & Morrison book argues that a firm’s
strategy formulation orientation should be toward creating a “business design” (or
“business model”) that is customer centric in the sense that it serves one or more
important customer needs, and profit centric in the sense that it captures an acceptably
high level of profits. If the business design achieves these two goals, the firm should be
able to operate in a “profit zone.”

Consulting Project: Analysis Phase Students will work within their groups and these
groups will function as consulting teams. Each team will identify a local company (the
“client”) and use the profit-zone principles in Slywotzky & Morrison to (1) identify the
client’s current, strategic business design; and (2) evaluate this design in terms of the
authors’ “Dimensions of Business Design”:

• Customer selection
• Value capture
• Differentiation/Strategic Control
• Scope.

Consulting Project: Recommendation Phase The team will then do further analysis,
interviewing, and creative thinking to develop a set of logical, defendable, and feasible
recommendations as to what the client company should do strategically in order to move
to a profit zone or to a superior profit zone.

Consulting Methodology In both the Analysis Phase and Recommendation Phase, the
consulting team should rely on Chapter 15, entitled “The Profit Zone Handbook,” as the
guide to conducting the project. The questions at the end of some or all of the chapters in
Part II (“The Reinventors and How They Succeeded”) may also be useful. The team may
also incorporate other strategic principles that were covered in Dr. Peng’s Strategic
Management course and other courses previously taken.

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The team members will need to conduct extensive research on their client company and
the client’s industry using such sources as the company’s annual report, its 10K report,
the company’s website, press releases, and news stories in such publications as Wall
Street Journal, Fortune, Business Week, industry publications, etc. Interviews with
executives and managers at the client company and perhaps with customers of the client
company will also be necessary.

Find a Sponsor: Because of the necessity to interview managers and executives, the
team must identify a high ranking “sponsor” at the client company who will give the
team some of his or her time, speak with candor, provide useful written documentation
and internal data, and help the team gain access to key people in the organization.

Class and Client Presentations: Prior to leaving on the international trip (Apr. 13 – 27,
2007) in the spring semester, each group will present to the class their analysis and
recommendations. A similar presentation should be made to the sponsor and any
managers or executives the sponsor wishes to invite. This client presentation should be
completed by the time the class leaves on the international trip but no later that the end of
the spring semester.

__________________________________ _____________________
Jasper H. Arnold Date

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CONTACT INFORMATION:

Instructor's Name: Dr. Jasper H. Arnold, Director-Executive MBA Program

Instructor's Phone Number: Office: (972) 883-4235

Instructor’s E-mail Address: jarnold@utdallas.edu

Instructor's Mailing Address: The University of Texas at Dallas

P.O. 830688, SM 10
Richardson, TX 75083-0688

Instructor’s Office: School of Management Building, Executive Education Center, Room

1.909

ASSIGNMENTS:

Class 1:
Read pgs. 3 – 108 in Slywotzky and Morrison.

Immediately after the first class, the groups should meet to identify a client company to
study. Then, a sponsor should be found within the client company. You will need to
educate your sponsor on exactly what the group will do, and what will be required of the
sponsor in terms of time, information, and assistance in gaining the cooperation of others
in the company. It’s best to choose a company that employs a member of the group. This
will better assure cooperation and reduce the chance of people at the company changing
their minds about working with you.

Groups cannot study the following companies that are used in the book as examples:
• General Electric – Ch. 4
• Swatch – Ch. 6
• Coca-Cola – Ch. 7
• Schwab & Co. – Ch. 8
• Intel – Ch. 9
• Disney – Ch 10
• Thermo Electron – Ch. 11
• ASEA Brown Bovari (ABB) – Ch. 12
• Microsoft – Ch. 13

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Class 2:

In Class 2, the groups will make presentations on four of the companies (“reinventors”)
discussed in Part Two of Slywotzky and Morrison:

Groups 1 and 2 are assigned Swatch.

Groups 3 and 4 are assigned Coca Cola
Groups 5 and 6 are assigned Schwab
Groups 7 and 8 are assigned Microsoft

Members of each group should read the chapter in Part II of the book that discusses the
company the group is assigned.

For each company, the odd numbered group will: (1) identify and briefly explain the
general nature of the profit model exemplified by the company (This may come from the
thumbnails in the Appendix of Chapter 3.); (2) present the list of questions at the
beginning of the chapter in order to orient the class on the kinds of decisions managers
must make to implement the profit model the company adopted; (3) present a summary of
the “story” Slywotzky and Morrison tell about the company and how it applied its profit
model; and (4) describe the results the company’s profit model achieved. (20 minutes)

The even numbered group will then ask the class to answer the questions about the
company that are listed in the “Pilot’s Checklist” at the end of the chapter. After some
class discussion of each question, the group should present its own answers. (20 minutes)

The order of the presentations will be from the bottom up: Microsoft, Schwab, Coke, and
Swatch.

All students should read Chapter 15, “The Profit Zone Handbook,” including Appendices
1 and 2 (pgs 289 – 328). This chapter explains the primary consulting methodology the
groups will use.

After class 2, students should read the remaining chapters.

No later that October 14th – Each group should turn in to Dr. Arnold the name of the
client company (or division of a large company) that will be studied and the name and
title of the person who has agreed to serve as sponsor.

No later than Saturday, November 25th, each group should send to Dr. Arnold a “Project
Status Report” in the form of the sample attached to this syllabus. By this date, the team
should be deep into the Analysis Phase.

Dr. Arnold will schedule M – F at 4:00 p.m. early-December conference calls with each
group to discuss the status of the group’s project. These calls should require no more than

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30 minutes. Teresa will schedule them in October so all group members should be
present for the call.

Class 3 (Spring Semester)

Groups 5, 6, 7, & 8 will give class presentations on their client company. A 40 minute
time limit including Q & A will be strictly enforced.

These groups turn in a copy of their PowerPoint presentations to the instructor.

Class 4 (Spring Semester)

Groups 1, 2, 3, & 4 will give class presentations on their client companies. A 40 minute
time limit including Q & A will be strictly enforced.

These groups should turn in a copy of their PowerPoint presentations to the instructor.

Client company presentations should be made during the spring semester at the sponsor’s
office. These presentations should be scheduled at the convenience of the sponsor and the
group members, but Dr. Arnold should be advised of when and where the presentations
will occur with necessary driving instructions. He will attend these presentations if his
schedule permits.

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 Overview of the Strategic Field Project

Consulting Teams:
• 5 EMBA students in a team. The team members assume the role of consultants.
• Project is done as part of a 4 credit hour course at the University of Texas at Dallas.

The Client – The team of student consultants will study a publicly held company in the D/FW area.

The Sponsor – The team will work with a high-ranking executive – the Sponsor – at the Client company.
The Sponsor will assure organizational cooperation.

The Consulting Goals – The team is to use the Slywotzky & Morrison approach to strategy formulation.
These authors argue that a firm’s business strategy should be customer centric in the sense that it is
designed in a manner that serves one or more important customer needs and that the strategy should be
profit centric, i.e. it employs a business model/business design that captures an acceptably high level of
profits. It is often the case that in order for a firm to move into such a “profit zone” management must
transform or redesign the firm’s business model.

The Consulting Methodology – The team will work with the Sponsor and other managers and executives
the Sponsor suggests to do the following: (1) identify the client’s current, strategic business model; and (2)
evaluate this model in terms of the Slywotzky’s and Morrison’s “Dimensions of Business Design”:

• Customer selection
• Value capture
• Differentiation/Strategic Control
• Scope.

The team will then do further analysis, interviewing, and creative thinking to develop a set of logical,
defendable, and feasible recommendations as to what the Client should do strategically in order to move
into an acceptable profit zone. The answers to twelve questions can get the Client into a new profit zone:

1. Who are my customers?

2. How are their priorities changing?
3. Who should be my customer?
4. How can I add value to the customer?
5. How can I become the customer’s first choice?
6. What is my profit model?
7. What is my current business design?
8. Who are my real competitors?
9. What is my toughest competitor’s business design?
10. What is my next business design?
11. What is my strategic control point?
12. What is my company worth?

Finding answers to these twelve questions will be an important focus of the team’s efforts.

Deliverables:
1. A PowerPoint presentation at the Client company for the Sponsor and any employees the Sponsor
wants to include.
2. A PowerPoint presentation to the class.

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 Project Status Report
Project:
Prepared by:
Date:
For the period from to

Accomplishments for the period:

Are you on schedule? If not, why?

Since the last report has the project been a success?

If not, what factors caused the negative evaluation?

What was done well?

What could have been done better?

Any necessary changes to project objectives?

Any other changes needed?

Action steps (tasks) in next 60 days are:

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Student Conduct & Discipline

The University of Texas System and The University of Texas at Dallas have rules and regulations
for the orderly and efficient conduct of their business. It is the responsibility of each student and
each student organization to be knowledgeable about the rules and regulations which govern
student conduct and activities. General information on student conduct and discipline is contained
in the UTD publication, A to Z Guide, which is provided to all registered students each academic
year.

The University of Texas at Dallas administers student discipline within the procedures of
recognized and established due process. Procedures are defined and described in the Rules and
Regulations, Board of Regents, The University of Texas System, Part 1, Chapter VI, Section 3, and
in Title V, Rules on Student Services and Activities of the university’s Handbook of Operating
Procedures. Copies of these rules and regulations are available to students in the Office of the
Dean of Students, where staff members are available to assist students in interpreting the rules and
regulations (SU 1.602, 972/883-6391).

A student at the university neither loses the rights nor escapes the responsibilities of citizenship.
He or she is expected to obey federal, state, and local laws as well as the Regents’ Rules,
university regulations, and administrative rules. Students are subject to discipline for violating the
standards of conduct whether such conduct takes place on or off campus, or whether civil or
criminal penalties are also imposed for such conduct.

Academic Integrity

The faculty expects from its students a high level of responsibility and academic honesty. Because
the value of an academic degree depends upon the absolute integrity of the work done by the
student for that degree, it is imperative that a student demonstrate a high standard of individual
honor in his or her scholastic work.

Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, statements, acts or omissions related to
applications for enrollment or the award of a degree, and/or the submission as one’s own work or
material that is not one’s own. As a general rule, scholastic dishonesty involves one of the
following acts: cheating, plagiarism, collusion and/or falsifying academic records. Students
suspected of academic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary proceedings.

Plagiarism, especially from the web, from portions of papers for other classes, and from any other
source is unacceptable and will be dealt with under the university’s policy on plagiarism (see
general catalog for details). This course will use the resources of turnitin.com, which searches the
web for possible plagiarism and is over 90% effective.

Copies of these rules and regulations are available to students in the Office of the Dean of
Students, where staff members are available to assist students in interpreting the rules and
regulations.

Incomplete Grade Policy

As per university policy, incomplete grades will be granted only for work unavoidably missed at
the semester’s end and only if 70% of the course work has been completed. An incomplete grade
must be resolved within eight (8) weeks from the first day of the subsequent long semester. If the
required work to complete the course and to remove the incomplete grade is not submitted by the
specified deadline, the incomplete grade is changed automatically to a grade of F.

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Disability Services
The goal of Disability Services is to provide students with disabilities educational opportunities
equal to those of their non-disabled peers. Disability Services is located in room 1.610 in the
Student Union. Office hours are Monday and Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Tuesday and
Wednesday, 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; and Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The contact information for the Office of Disability Services is:

The University of Texas at Dallas, SU 22
PO Box 830688
Richardson, Texas 75083-0688
(972) 883-2098 (voice or TTY)

Essentially, the law requires that colleges and universities make those reasonable adjustments
necessary to eliminate discrimination on the basis of disability. For example, it may be necessary
to remove classroom prohibitions against tape recorders or animals (in the case of dog guides) for
students who are blind. Occasionally an assignment requirement may be substituted (for example,
a research paper versus an oral presentation for a student who is hearing impaired). Classes
enrolled students with mobility impairments may have to be rescheduled in accessible facilities.
The college or university may need to provide special services such as registration, note-taking, or
mobility assistance.

It is the student’s responsibility to notify his or her professors of the need for such an
accommodation. Disability Services provides students with letters to present to faculty members
to verify that the student has a disability and needs accommodations. Individuals requiring special
accommodation should contact the professor after class or during office hours.

Religious Holy Days

The University of Texas at Dallas will excuse a student from class or other required activities for
the travel to and observance of a religious holy day for a religion whose places of worship are
exempt from property tax under Section 11.20, Tax Code, Texas Code Annotated.

The student is encouraged to notify the instructor or activity sponsor as soon as possible regarding
the absence, preferably in advance of the assignment. The student, so excused, will be allowed to
take the exam or complete the assignment within a reasonable time after the absence: a period
equal to the length of the absence, up to a maximum of one week. A student who notifies the
instructor and completes any missed exam or assignment may not be penalized for the absence. A
student who fails to complete the exam or assignment within the prescribed period may receive a
failing grade for that exam or assignment.

If a student or an instructor disagrees about the nature of the absence [i.e., for the purpose of
observing a religious holy day] or if there is similar disagreement about whether the student has
been given a reasonable time to complete any missed assignments or examinations, either the
student or the instructor may request a ruling from the chief executive officer of the institution, or
his or her designee. The chief executive officer or designee must take into account the legislative
intent of TEC 51.911(b), and the student and instructor will abide by the decision of the chief
executive officer or designee.

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