Final exam project

FINAL EXAM PROJECT

5/1/13

MGT-548 Strategic Management Dr. Peggy Lee Faculty

FINAL EXAM PROJECT

FINAL EXAM PROJECT MGT-548 STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT FACULTY

DR. PEGGY LEE

Overview of the Process Dr. Lee designed a final exam to test her student’s ability to recognize issues of ‘strategy’ that are present in the periodical press and apply the framework, concepts and ideas raised in the formal readings and case discussions to the current ‘real world’. Each team (4-6 students per team) identified a recent news article that met the following set of requirements: 1.

2.

3.

4.

The article must have been first in press during our term The article must be new news – not a re-hash of previous news, The articles must center on a specific company or organization The article must relate to a course topic (e.g., competitive strategies, value creation, core competence, and strategy under uncertainty. Etc.

Each group provided a (20 minute) presentation online that: 1. Quickly describes the company and the situation presented in the article 2. Makes a recommendation as to what the company should do (and why – How will it help performance?)

3. Analyzes the situation (using analytical tools that were learned in class throughout the program, additional information e.g. financials, competition, etc. not necessarily included in the article. They also had to include an external and internal analysis 4. Provide an implementation plan The online presentations were followed by a question & answer session with one of the other groups. The specific details of the entire process are outlined in the appendix section of this document.

Dr. Peggy Lee Interview (will conduct this interview once Dr. Lee is back on campus)

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Student Feedback There were approximately 125 students in Dr. Lee’s classes and a survey was emailed to measure how satisfied the students were with the process for their final exam. Student were surveyed approximately two weeks after the final exam, and were asked the following questions: 1. How satisfied were you with the Internet program Brainshark to prepare your PowerPoint presentation?

2. Please rate your satisfaction with the convenience and ease of use of Brainshark.

3. How satisfied were you with the ability to add audio to your presentation?

4. Please rate your satisfaction with the support that you received ruing your final exam?

5. Compared to more traditional final exams, how would you rate your satisfaction with this process?

Due to the fact that a large number of the students were graduating and the fact that the survey was conducted two weeks after the final, we only have a 28% response rate.

Satisfaction with Brainshark 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% Series1

15% 10% 5% 0% Extremely Satisfied

Very Satisfied

Satisfied

Unsatisfied

Extremely Unsatisfied

Brainshark is an online program that allows you to upload your PowerPoint presentation, add audio to your content and share your presentation with others.

This program was chosen because it was compatible with Blackboard our learning management system.

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Satisfaction Rate-Ease& Convenience 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20%

Series1

15% 10% 5% 0% Extremely Satisfied

Very Satisfied

Satisfied

Unsatisfied

Extremely Unsatisfied

Brainshark was also chosen because of the ease of use of the program. As identified in this chart, the majority of the students were satisfied to very satisfied with this program.

Satisfaction - Ability To Add Audio 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% Series1

15% 10% 5% 0% Extremely Satisfied

Very Satisfied

Satisfied

Unsatisfied

Extremely Unsatisfied

Students also appear to be very satisfied with the ability to add audio to their presentations.

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Rate Satisfaction with Support-Final 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20%

Series1

15% 10% 5% 0% Extremely Satisfied

Very Satisfied

Satisfied

Unsatisfied

Extremely Unsatisfied

Due to the nature of the final exam format, and the use of Brainshark; Dr. Lee and one of the online academic services personnel were available via email during the four-hour period of the exam, in case students required any assistance. It is important to note only one issue occurred and was handled immediately.

Compared to More Traditional Final Exams 35% 30% 25% 20% 15%

Series1

10% 5% 0% Extremely Satisfied

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Very Satisfied

Satisfied

Unsatisfied

Extremely Unsatisfied

FINAL EXAM PROJECT

Appendix APPENDIX C: GROUP PRESENTATION

This assignment is intended to develop and test your ability to recognize issues of ‘strategy’ that are present in the periodical press and apply the frameworks, concepts and ideas raised in the formal readings and case discussions to the current ‘real world’. Each team (4-6 students per team) will identify a recent news article* that meet the following set of requirements: (1) the article must have been first in press during our term, (2) the article must be new news - not a re-hash of previous news, (3) the articles must center on a specific company or organization and (4) the article must relate to a course topic (e.g., competitive strategies, value creation, core competence, and strategy under uncertainty, etc.).

Each group will make a presentation (20 minutes) that: 1. Quickly describes the company and the situation presented in the article 2. Makes a recommendation as to what the company should do(and why How will it help performance?).

3. Analyzes the situation (using analytical tools that you have learned in class and throughout the program, additional information e.g. financials, competition, etc. not necessarily included in the article. You must include both and external and internal analysis 4. Provide an implementation plan.

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The presentation will be followed by question & answer with one of the other groups. Presentations should be professional (clear, concise, based on fact, with references) but students are encouraged to have fun with this.

Think of it as an opportunity to practice your communication and analytical skills in a very friendly environment.

Some Specifics/ Details to note: a) On April 1, 2013, you and your group must upload a 2-slide presentation that introduces your group members and your group topic.

This exercise is worth 2.5 points (of the 40 for the final group project) and serves to make sure that: 1) You know how to use Brainshark (i.e. working the kinks out of the technology before final exam time), and 2) Your group has started thinking about your final group project. This will be worth 2.5 points b) Presentations will be recorded using Brainshark (see Blackboard demo). By 5pm on Friday, April 26, groups will upload 1) Their 20 minute presentation and 2) All backup slides. c) Your Final Exam is scheduled for Saturday, April 27 from 8am to Noon. During that time, your group will: 1) View another group’s final presentation and serve as the “Board of Directors”.

2) As the board members, you need to ask probing questions in a designated discussion forum on Blackboard 3) You will also need to respond to questions by the board members who have been viewing your presentation. Your responses can be supported only by the evidence you have in your presentation and backup slides.

You may not do additional research to answer those questions during the exam time.

4) Plan for one set of follow-up questions and answers.

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d) All members of your group should help prepare the presentation, although you may choose as many (or as few) members to do the in-class presentation as you wish. e) You will be expected to provide qualitative and quantitative data to support your analysis and recommendations as part of the presentation. f) Deliverables: The topic and group members must be introduced and posted on Blackboard using Brainshark by April 1, 2013.

Your 20-minute presentation and backup slides must be uploaded by 5pm Friday, April 26, 2013. From 8am to noon on Saturday, April 27, 2013, you will be engaged in a group “final exam” which includes reviewing another group’s presentation and answering the questions that your presentation raises.

Here is a suggested way to spend your group final exam time: 1) 8-8:45am: review another group’s presentation and post questions on the designated discussion forum site.

2) 9-10:30am: read and answer the questions that have been asked of your group. Remember – you can use your backup slides to answer the questions. Consider this your opportunity to show me how prepared you are and how much you have learned during your MBA program, 3) 10:45-11:15am – read answers given by the group you are reviewing, and post follow-up questions, 4.) 11:15-noon– read and answer your follow-up questions. 5 points of your final group presentation grade will be allotted to your ability to ask relevant questions as a board member.

*You may also choose a strategic issue that your firm is currently facing to analyze.

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APPENDIX D: TEAM EVALUATION SHEET NAME:____________________________

Use this form to evaluate the contributions that your team members made to the overall performance of the group.

This will be used to adjust the group portion of each person’s grade. As such, individual grades of group work can be either above or below the actual group. If you do not turn this form in when a group project is due, I will assume that you rate each member of your group equally.

Note that you are not evaluating your own contributions, but the contributions of the others in your group. You may comment on your own performance in the “additional comments” section.

In the section below, list the names of group members. Next to that, allocate points to each member, based on their contribution.

You have a total number of 10 points per team member (other than yourself).

Thus, points = (# of group members – 1) x 10; for example, a team of six will have 50 points to allocate. Keep in mind that 10 points is the average rating. If you allocate 10 points to each member, you are saying that each person contributed equally.

Names: Points ____________________________ _______ ____________________________ _______ ____________________________ _______ ____________________________ _______ ____________________________ _______ Additional Comments Page 8

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BRAINSHARK http://www.brainshark.com/

Brainshark is currently a free web-based application that allows individuals to upload PowerPoint presentations and to create video presentations with audio .

Student would complete their PowerPoint presentations and then upload them to Brainshark and record their audio to accompany the presentation slides. They would then be able to submit the link to their presentation into Blackboard so that the reviewers and the instructor could view it.

BLACKBOARD SET-UP When the course was initially set-up students self enrolled into groups (7-8 per group) to participate in the group discussions throughout the course. Example: Team 1

Team 6

Team 2

Team 7

Team 3

Team 8

Team 4

Team 9

Team 5

Team 10

A few days prior to the final examination each group was then assigned as follows: Team 1 will present – Team 2 will review Team 2 will present – Team 3 will review Team 3 will present – Team 4 will review Team 4 will present – Team 5 will review Team 5 will present – Team 6 will review Team 6 will present – Team 7 will review

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Team 7 will present – Team 8 will review Team 8 will present – Team 9 will review Team 9 will present – Team 10 will review Team 10 will present -Team 1 will review Each (presenting/reviewing) team consists of two groups. The groups were preassigned allowing only those team members to be in the same group.

The teams would be available to students by 8:00a.m. the day of the final and close at 12 noon.

These groups are located under "Discussion Board" (on the left of our BB site). You should see TWO discussion forums available to you: 1) one for you to upload your presentation materials, 2.) and one for the presentation you will be reviewing.

If you have forgotten your Team number, an easy rule of thumb is checking out the "common team" in the two discussion boards that you have access to.

Having access to these discussion boards means that you are able to start uploading presentation materials today. You should be able to upload multiple files, delete existing files, and re-upload. This means that you are able to continue revising your materials until 10pm on Friday night (April 26).

As a reminder: 1) Please make sure that the Brainshark link works (i.e. visible etc.).

2) Please adhere as closely as possible to the 20-minute presentation limit.

3) Please adhere to the suggested schedule in your syllabus (Appendix C). This ensures that all groups will have enough time to answer questions and that we have at least "two rounds" of questions. You should view these questions as your opportunity to demonstrate the comprehensiveness, depth, and thoroughness of your analysis.

4) If your group is experiencing "free-rider" problems, please fill out the evaluation in Appendix D of your syllabus. This evaluation should ONLY be filled out if you are experiencing problems; otherwise, I will assume that team members have contributed equally.

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5) There is a 10MB limit for uploaded files. If your file is larger than that, you will receive a message indicating that your file is too large. DO NOT PANIC. Simply upload the file onto Brainshark and provide a "link."

6) For your review of a group presentation (this is 5 points of your final group project grade), please have ONE board member send me an email indicating the board of directors' "vote" on the suggested recommendations and the rationale behind your decision.

The final exam time is from 8am-12pm on Saturday morning (April 27th). During that time I will be available via email if you have questions.

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