SCHEME OF WORK

Subject: BUSINESS STRATEGY (BS)

Lecturer: HA SON TUNG (Assoc. Prof. Dr.)

RAHUL BHANDARI

Contact: tunghs@neu.edu.vn

rahulbhandari1983@gmail.com

Tutor: PHAM THI BICH NGOC

LE THI THAI HA

Contact: bpham1002@gmail.com

haltt@neu.edu.vn

PART 1- GENERAL INFORMATION

Vietnam is increasingly integrated with the global markets, meaning that the business context of
Vietnamese firms is dramatically changing. There are at least two strategic issues concerning Vietnamese
firms in such a changing context. Firstly, they should be fully aware of how critical the changing context
is to their future business success. Since Vietnam carried out its economic reform in 1986, the business
environment has been continuously transforming towards a more formal institutions-led economy. To
date, Vietnam has signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with many other countries and territories around
the world, accelerating the market liberation. This process signals a strong implication to Vietnamese
firms that “playing by the rules” is a critical success factor in business management. Contrasting with this
trend, Vietnamese firms are still relying on social relations as a common way of doing business. This
practice makes firms continuously scan the external environment to detect new opportunities and threats
associated with the transition.

Secondly, Vietnamese firms are often small scale, resource constraint, and managed ineffectively,
making them difficult to compete fairly on the global scale. Since 1986, the private business sector has
gained more attention and gradually been recognized as an importantly constructive element in the
economy. This increasing recognition of the private business sector has facilitated the process of

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innovation in which new management methods are introduced and applied to increase firms’
performance. This practice makes firms more acknowledgeable about what resources they have and how
they can use those resources to strengthen their (sustained) competitiveness. Put differently, in today’s
business environment Vietnamese firms are required to understand their internal environment.

The rapidly changing context of Vietnamese business environment has urged firms to rethink
their ways of doing business strategically in such a way that they need to analyze both external and
internal environment critically and simultaneously. This course is designed to provide the next
management generations of Vietnamese firms with fundamental knowledge and know-hows to implement
these both tasks (external and internal analyses) effectively.

External and Business

Internal Strategy
environment (formulation and
analysis Implementation)

PART 2 – COURSE OBJECTIVES

This course aims four learning objectives (LO).

LO 1: Being aware of the external environment analysis. There are characteristics inherent to the
transition of Vietnamese economy that differ remarkably from developed markets. We are economically
integrated with the global markets, but socially different to them at one point or another. This knowledge
is expected to link students’ way of thinking to the global business context when being asked to justify a
specific business case either in Vietnam or worldwide.

LO2: Being aware of the internal environment analysis. The key idea is to understand what firms are
relying on to compete with others (resources), how to use what firms have to compete successfully
(competitive advantages), and how to maintain firms’ success as long as possible (sustained competitive
advantages). The knowledge provided aims to help students sharpen their way of looking at firms to
connect resources with firms’ strategic goals.

LO3: Understanding ideas of generic competitive strategies. To date, three generic competitive strategies
introduced by Michael Porter have reserved their own values, especially to Vietnamese firms when they
are at a crossroads: change or unchange. The knowledge in this section gives initial thoughts of what to

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do in terms of business strategy implementation. Students are expected to be able to interpret these
generic strategies applicable to Vietnamese context.

LO4: Exercising analysis of various business cases. Knowledge provided in this course is abstract and
highly theoretical. The best way for students to internalize this knowledge is through practical exercises.
Students are expected to verbalize what they think through their presentations so that the lecture can
interact to either correct or give comments on their way of thinking.

PART 3 – 18 THEORETICAL ISSUES

There are 18 theoretical iusses selected from the textbook to introduce with students in this course. To
know what they are, students are supposed to read specific chapters or extra materials as indicated in the
table below.

Issues Questions Answers

1 What is the strategy? Chapter 1, p.3-12

Chapter 1, p.12-
2 How can the subject of strategy be studied?
19

Whether and how is the macro environment important to the business Chapter 2, p.35-
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strategy? 55

Whether and how is the environment of the business sector in which a Chapter 3, p.63-
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company is operating important to the business strategy? 86

5 What are typical characteristics of emerging markets? Sheth 2011

Whether and how do the contextual differences between emerging markets Burgess and
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and high-income markets influence our business strategies? Steemkamp 2006

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 Chapter 4, p.95-
7 How do we know what we have to be able to compete with others?
119.

Chapter 5, p.129-
8 How do we use what we have to stay competitive against others?
149.

Is what we have sustainable or enable us to stay advantagous as long as we

9 Barney 1991
want in the business sector?

Is there a real business case that illustrates what we have discussed so far in Prahalad et al,
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this course? 1991

Chapter 6, p.157-
11 What is the role of culture in the business strategy?
177

What is the business strategy-influencing factor that is highly applicable to the

12 Hunt et al., 1996
context of emerging markets?

Chapter 7, p.202-
13 What are the generic competitive strategies? 212.

Chapter 7, p.212-
14 What are the strategy clock and business models? 214 & p.221-227.

15 Chapter 8, p.237-
What are strategy directions and diversification drivers?
246

16 What are Vertical integration, and Profolio Matrices? Chapter 8, p.246-

262

Chapter 10,
17 What are entrepreneurial strategies? p.303-318.

Chapter 10,
18 How are entrepreneurial companies established and developed? p.318-325.

PART 4 – 9 BUSINESS CASES

To craft the knowledge of students in such a way that fits the transitional context of Vietnam,
nine practical cases of business are included.

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 Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL). This company was established in 1990. In the past, it was known as a multi-
business sector company (real estate, forestry, thermos power, rubbery). Today, HAGL is focusing on pig
Practical 1 farming and banana growing. Write up a case to clarify what make HAGL change its scope of business
critically.

Vingroup (VNG). Established in 2008, VNG is known as a multi-business sector company. Till now, the
company has made several critical changes related to its scope of core businesses: closing a chain of
Practical 2 electronics store (Vinpro) in 2017, divesting a chain of food stores (Vinmart) in 2020, and entering the
automobile business sector in 2018. Write up a case to elaborate on the exit business strategy that VNG
made to its chain of food stores.
FPT. Established in 1988, FPT is now consolidating its presence in several business sectors including
software, telecommunication, education, retailing. More recently, FPT co-founds a chain of
Practical 3 pharmaceutical stores. Write up a case to explain why this company decides to step in this sector?

Mobile World Group (MWG). Established in 2004, this company made its mark in the business sector of
mobile devices. Now, it is spreading its scope of business into other business sectors such as consumers’
Practical 4 electronics goods (The Gioi Di Dong), a chain of food stores (Bach Hoa Xanh). Recently, this company
expanded its business portfolio with a chain of pharmaceutical stores (An Khang). Write up a case to give
more insights about the recent business strategy of this company in pharmaceutical sector.
Vinamilk. Established in 1976, this company was among one of few state-owned companies that grows
impressively along the economic reform period of the country. Now, it has been equitized and published
on the stock market. For years, this company has been seen as a leading company in the diary business
Practical 5
sector of Vietnam. However, it has been experiencing a traumatic phase of operation when the cost has
been reported growing constantly and the revenue seems to stay the same. Write up a case of external and
internal analysis to bring a clarity to the current situation of this company.
Hoa Phat. Established in 1992, this company is operating in business sectors of steel production,
agriculture, real-estate development, and electronics products for consumers. Among these business
Practical 6 sectors, steel production is a major revenue creating sector while agriculture is a relatively new business.
Write up a case of external and internal analysis to further explain why this company diversifies its scope
of businesses into agriculture.
THACO. Established in 1997, this company spreads its operation in such business sectors as auto
manufacturing, assembling, export and import, distribution, maintenance and repairing services for
automobiles in Vietnam. More recently, the company has diversified its operation into infrastructure
Practical 7
development for industrial areas, real-estate, hi-tech and mechanized agriculture. Write up a case of
external and internal analysis to further explain why this company diversifies its scope of businesses into
agriculture.
Minh Phu. Established in 1992, this company is known for the largest shrimp production and exporting
company in Vietnam. In the period of 2013-2015, the company decided to cancel its listing on the stock
Practical 8 market to restructure. Write up a case of external and internal analysis to gain a better insight on this
decision.

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 VIB. A company operates in banking business sector. By the time of establishment, the company has a
registered capital of 50 billion VND (equivalent to 2 million USD). By end of 2021, the capitalized value
of the company reached 3.2 billion USD. This means that after 25 years of operation, the company was
Practical 9 1,500 times larger in terms of capital than its initial days in operation. Currently, VIB is ranked the fifth
largest private-owned banking organization in Vietnam. Write up a case of external and internal analysis
to better understand what strategic decisions the management has made to enable the company to grow
continuously.

PART 4 – EXPLANATIONS TO THE SCHEDULE OF WORK

As can be seen in the table of work schedule, there are six columns which provide information to guide
activities of students throughout the course.

Column 1 declares 4 learning objectives that are clearly stated in Part 3.

Column 2 indicates classes in the course that are organized in a timing sequence.

Column 3 indicates the groups organized in the course and assigned to relevant tasks in each class.

Column 4 indicates the topics covered in the course and assigned to relevant classes.

Column 5 states the questions that are given in advance to direct students’ attention while reading.

Column 6 specifies the academic tasks given to students along the course.

Each group is assigned to do three tasks. Performing these tasks enables students to build up their
knowledge and competence required to complete their final writings, including one business case and two
theoretical issues. A business case involves groups in searching and presenting a case of business in the
reality, giving them a chance to interpret the real-world business from the perspective of strategic
management. A theoretical issue is either a reading of one chapter in the textbook entitled Exploring
Strategy or a reading of one scientific paper related to the topic of strategic management. Both provide
students with a solid background of concepts and theoretical issues in strategic management. They are
supplementary to each other. While the textbook is written for worldwide students, scientific papers are
selected to benefit students from emerging markets.

To do a business case, groups document the brief history of company’s establishment and development,
the product/service that the company is offering, the customers the company targets, the external
environment factors that impact the company’s performance, the internal environment factors that the

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company deploys to realize its business goals, the rationales for a particular business decision. A business
case should be written in no longer than 15 pages (or 5000 words) and no more than 25 slides and
presented in the class in no more than 30 minutes.

To do theoretical issues, groups summarize the key points in the chapters or papers assigned in which
they demonstrate what points they understand most and what points they don’t. These tasks should be
prepared with no more than 25 slides and presented in the class in no more than 20 minutes.

PART 5 – SUBMISSION AND COMMUNICATION

1. The entire class will be divided into 9 small groups. Each group looks at the scheme of work to know
exactly what to do and when. In each class, there are 3 groups presenting, 6 groups following with
discussions and evaluations.

2. Presenting groups are required to submit their PowerPoint outputs on MS TEAMS before the class
happens. The output files must be named properly as shown in the following: GroupNumber_Task.
For example: Group 1 is going to present in class 2. They submit their preparation file as
Group1_BScase (or issue 1).

3. Communication channels are on Teams and via Zalo in which Teams for lecturing when necesssary
and Zalo for social exchanges where students can post questions and receive instant responses from
the lecturer to facilitate their study process.

4. To assess study performance of individual students, three steps are applied. One, class attedance.
Students are required to attend at least 70% of all classes (lectures and tutorials) to be eligible for the
course assessment procedure.

PART 6 – READINGS

1. Exploring strategy, Whittington et al (2020).

2. Marketing renaissance: how research in emerging markets advance marketing science and practice,
Burgess and Steenkamp, 2006.
3. The impact of emerging markets on marketing, Sheth 2011.
4. The explanatory foundations of relationship marketing, Hunt et al., 2006
5. The core competence of the corporation, Prahalad et al., 1991.

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PART 7 – SCHEME OF WORK

Classes Groups Assignments

(1) (2) (3)
1 Course orientation
1 Practical 1
2 Issue 1
2
3 Issue 2

4 Practical 2
5 Issue 3
3
6 Issue 4

7 Practical 3
8 Issue 5
4
9 Issue 6

1 Issue 7

5 2 Practical 4

3 Issue 8
4 Issue 9

6 5 Practical 5

6 Issue 10
7 Issue 11
7 8 Practical 6
9 Issue 12
1 Issue 13
8 2 Issue 14
3 Practical 7
4 Issue 15
9 5 Issue 15
6 Practical 8
7 Issue 17
10 8 Issue 18
9 Practical 9

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11 REVIEW