Code: UMSCD8-10-M

Title: Aerospace Strategic Management

Version: 1

Level: M

UWE credit rating: 10

ECTS credit rating:

Module type: Project

Owning Faculty: BBS

Field: Strategy and International Business

Valid from: 1 September 2002

Discontinued from:

Contributes towards: CPDA Scheme

Pre-requisites: None

Co-requisites: None

Excluded combinations: None

Aims

• To be able to critically evaluate strategies and their implementation in students’ organisations

• To understand theoretical underpinnings of strategy development in commercial organisations

• To be able to synthesise both theoretical and practical approaches to strategy realisation

• To understand and critically examine commonalities and differences between strategy as practised in the aerospace versus other industries and sectors

• To able to understand and contribute to the strategy development process within organisations

• To be able to put in a business context the technical topics contained within other CPDA modules.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the module the delegates will demonstrate the following skill sets…

Cognitive skills and subject specific skills:

• knowledge and understanding of the main theories, concepts and models relevant to strategy development and processes

• the ability to evaluate key managerial issues involved in preparation and execution of strategy

• the ability to apply strategic planning techniques and models to in-organisation issues, using problem-solving methods appropriate to the area

Practitioner skills

• the ability to compare and optimise external and internal factors influencing an organisation’s strategic effectiveness

• facility in understanding own role in relation to higher-order strategic requirements: particularly based on appreciation of core competences in functional / process areas

• familiarity with the main approaches to strategy development and implementation

Other transferable skills:

• development of an appreciation of the different strategic environments experienced [as illustrated by co-delegates organisational predicaments]

• development of reflective practitioner skills

• ability to think less introspectively about organisational issues and plans.

The above learning outcomes will be assessed within the overall project requirement as this requires:

• application of theories

• identification of a current strategic issue within the organisation

• comparison of internal and external environmental factors

• a critique of current plans

Syllabus outline:

1. Strategy: introductory concepts: what strategy is; how is it executed; what the pitfalls are; how aerospace strategy differs from other areas; the role of regulation and government

2. Strategic issues in aerospace: specific strategic issues; the role of risk; capital investment; lifecycles; manufacturing versus service-based concepts

3. Strategic environments: external analysis; scenario planning; data collection and dissemination

4. Competitive strategy: generic strategies; building and sustaining competitive advantage; balancing the portfolio of products / services

5. Building capabilities: core competences; dynamic capabilities; building and maintaining competitive and distinctive competences against competition

6. Management of knowledge: taxonomy of knowledge; knowledge as a strategy; protecting and acquiring knowledge

7. Manufacturing / quality strategy: bases of manufacturing strategies; application to aerospace environment; maintaining quality in the face of competition; lean manufacturing and the link to strategy. Exploration of the link between technology and strategy

8. Collaboration as a strategic move; principles of alliance-building; ‘co-opetition’; fundamentals of good practice vis. joint ventures and partnerships

9. Global strategy: globalisation principles; country-based versus international advantage; strategies to cope with globalisation; the role of government in global trading

10. Scenario and strategy ; practical application of skills learned; simulation of strategy building and implementation in chosen industry sectors

Teaching and learning methods:

The course includes the following methods: lectures on main topics; use of a wide variety of case studies including primarily those based on the aerospace primes sector but also including others outside this immediate sector; a day-long strategy simulation exercise; guest lectures from industry contributors; discussion based on delegate experience and knowledge of their organisation’s strategy. Students are encouraged to make explicit links between theoretical material and practical observation of strategy in their own organisations and those of co-delegates.

Delegates will prepare 4 substantive case studies prior to the module [on which they will be given further preparation guidance at the module itself ], and also read the central textbook and, in the course of preparing their assessment, read significant journal articles relevant to their particular project.

Delegates will be encouraged to submit proposals for their project-based assessments in order to seek approval and advice concerning any anticipated problems in accessing in-company information.

Reading Strategy:

There are 5 levels of reading associated with this module:

1. the standard textbook which gives delegates the necessary building blocks

2. aerospace-related case studies which outline industry predicaments

3. seminal journal articles covering each topic

4. in-depth journal articles of particular interest to individual students

5. indicative journals in which students are encouraged to browse topics of interest.

Students are encouraged to seek remote access to resources but it should be borne in mind that they are also members of Bristol University library and have access to significant in-company library resources on the whole.

Essential reading:

R Grant, Contemporary Strategy Analysis, Blackwells

Further texts:

Aris (2002) Close to the Sun: How Airbus challenged America’s domination of the skies, Aurum;

Lawrence and Thornton (2005) Deep Stall: The Turbulent Story of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Ashgate: Heppenheimer, (1998)

Turbulent Skies: The History of Commercial Aviation, Wiley; Garvin (1998) Starting Something Big: The commercial Emergence of GE Aircraft Engines, AIAA.

Barton C et al (1994) “Is there a Future for Europe’s Airlines”, McKinsey Quarterly, Vol 4, pp.24-40

Coyne K (1996) “Bringing Discipline to Strategy”, McKinsey Quarterly, Vol 4, pp.15-25

Porter M (1996) “What is Strategy”, Harvard Business Review, Nov-Dec, pp.61-78

Schoemaker P (1992) “How to Link Strategic Vision to Core Capabilities”, Sloan Management Review, Fall edition, pp.67-81

Hamel G, Prahalad C (1993) “Strategy as Stretch and Leverage”, Harvard Business Review, March-April, pp.75-84

Collis D, Montgomery A (1995) “Competing on Resources”, Harvard Business Review, July-August, pp.118-128

Hamel G, Prahalad (1990) “The Core Competence of the Organisation”, Harvard Business Review, May-June, pp.79-98

Boeing Stresses Quality Management, Engineering Accountability to Suppliers., Quality Progress, Jun 2000, Vol. 33 Issue 6, p28, 1/5p

Cross, Baird (2000) “Technology is not enough, Improving performance by building Organisational Memory”, Sloan Management Review, Spring, 41/3

Jones, P Jordan J, “Knowledge orientations and team effectiveness” , Long Range Planning, Vol 33, pg 35

Teece D (2000) “Strategies for managing knowledge assets: role of financial structure and industrial context”, International Journal of Technology Management, 1998, Vol. 16 Issue 1-3, p152

Bartlett, Ghoshal (2000) “Going Global, lessons from late movers”, Harvard Business Review, Mar/April, pg 84

Ohmae, K (1989), ‘Managing in a Borderless World’ Harvard Business Review, May-June, pp152-161

Porter M (1990) ‘The Competitive Advantage of Nations’, Harvard Business Review

Dussauge and Garrette (1999) Collaborative Strategy: Competing Successfully through Strategic Alliances, Wiley

Ohmae (1989) “The Global Logic of Strategic Alliances”, Harvard Business Review, March-April, pp.143-54

Various journals should be scanned also: Flight International and Aviation Week & Space Technology, McKinsey Quarterly, California Management Review.

Assessment

The post-module assignment is designed to assess a delegate’s ability to critically examine the development and execution of strategy in their organisation or within a strategic business unit therein. They need to allign theoretical course material to data collected about that organisation’s strategy through desk research and interview. They would be expected to assess the extent to which both development and execution have followed accepted principles and to look at the adequacy of the strategy and propose alterations where necessary. It would be expected that delegates also critically examine the usefulness, robustness and adequacy of strategic theories.

In extremis, where a student is not allied to a particular organisation at the time of study, a case-study based project may be provided and the student will be given guidance as to how to research additional material.

Weighting between components A and B N/A

ATTEMPT 1

First Assessment Opportunity

Description

Component A

Description of each element

1 Project – maximum 3500 words

Component B

N/A

Element weighting

1

Element weighting

Second Assessment Opportunity (further attendance at taught classes is not required)

Second Assessment Opportunity

Description

Component A

Description of each element

1 Project - maximum 3500 words

Component B

N/A

Element weighting

1

Element weighting

SECOND (OR SUBSEQUENT) ATTEMPT Attendance at taught classes is required.

Specification confirmed by …………………………………………………Date ……………………………

(Associate Dean/Programme Director)