OPERATIONS STRATEGY

BUSINESS 9464 — September 2019

J. DAVID M. WOOD
Room 3366
Telephone: 519-661-4052
Cell: 519-841-0687
E-mail: dwood@ivey.uwo.ca

INTRODUCTION
Business strategy frequently treats operations rather statically—as if its capabilities were fixed and
unalterable. This frequently leads management to view operations as a liability whose potential
difficulties and costs are to be minimized, instead of an asset whose strengths are a source of
competitive excellence to be nurtured and exploited. This is surprising; given that the operations
function has almost exclusive responsibility for producing and acquiring the goods and services
whose success in the marketplace ultimately determines the overall success of the enterprise.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
The Operations Strategy course aims to redress the balance by focusing on the issues that confront
organizations who wish to position operations so that it both supports and motivates their business
strategy. Viewing operations as clusters of capabilities that are owned or not owned, and exploited
or not exploited, the question for operations strategy is how to acquire and exploit the capabilities
most favorable to the long-run competitiveness and profitability of the firm.

Source: Hayes, Pisano, Upton and Wheelwright. Operations, Strategy, and Technology: Pursuing the Competitive Edge

MATERIALS AND LEARNING METHOD

The course will be taught through cases. The casebook includes both the cases and supplemental
readings, and is the only required course materials. For those that would like additional reading
material there are three suggested textbooks to choose from: Operations, Strategy, and
Technology: Pursuing the Competitive Edge by Robert H. Hayes, Gary P. Pisano, David M.
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Upton and Steven C. Wheelwright, The Execution Premium by Robert S. Kaplan and David P.
Norton, and Restoring Our Competitive Edge by Robert H. Hayes and Steven C. Wheelwright..
Other materials will be posted on Learn.

COURSE ACTIVITIES AND GRADING

The grade in this course is a composite of class contribution and individual case briefs. I will assign
your grades for written and non-written work based on the following:

Component Weight
Class Contribution 50%
Individual Case Briefs 50%
Total 100 %

EXPECTATIONS AND CLASS CONTRIBUTION

Your contribution in class will provide the basis for my judgment of your normal level of
day-to-day preparation. I expect you to be fully engaged in the entire learning process and you
should be prepared in each class to contribute voluntarily and when called upon. This means
devoting time and energy to preparation before class, including learning team meetings, listening
to others during class discussions and engaging in class discussions. Collective reasoning and
discovery are critical to the successful application of the case method. Prior to any case discussion,
engaging in discussions with (or examining notes from) others who may have already experienced
a case is a clear violation of our norms.

Detailed note-taking during class can often be distracting for others and counterproductive to your
own learning. Instead, we would advise you to be selective in taking notes during class. At the end
of each class or at the end of the day it is a good idea to consolidate what you have learned.

Using your computer during class for personal activities such as reading/writing email, writing
letters, surfing the Web, playing games, etc. is also distracting and counterproductive and violates
our norms.

Attendance at all sessions in this course is mandatory and it is your responsibility to advise me and
get assistance if you are unable to participate. Circumstances may arise which make it impossible
for you to attend. For example, if you are unable to attend a class due to health-related reasons. If
you are going to be absent, it is your responsibility to inform me. Under University regulations, I
can determine at what point absenteeism has become excessive and thus can prevent you from
passing the course. Specifically, any student missing more than 25 percent of the classes (2.5
sessions) will not be permitted to pass the course.

Your class contribution grade will be based on a daily assessment of your performance. Both the
quantity and quality of your class contribution will be assessed as indicated below. No credit will
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be given for missed classes, although you might be asked to provide evidence of your preparation
in writing.

Asking questions can make high quality contributions to class when they advance general
understanding by stimulating an in-depth analysis or explanation of a point. Remember, the main
objective of your contribution is not evaluation, but learning and helping your colleagues to learn.
The following list might be of some help.

A — EXCELLENT
• Contributed consistently to class discussions;
• Contributions indicated thorough preparation and deep thought;
• Frequently explained difficult points or concepts;
• Provided positive direction for class discussions;
• Able to build and develop strong arguments for position

B — GOOD
• Contributed consistently to discussions;
• Contributions indicated thorough preparation and some thought;
• Often explained difficult points or concepts;
• Occasionally built arguments for a position

C — FAIR
• Contributed to class discussions;
• Gave indication of preparation and thought;
• Occasionally helped in developing an argument

D — POOR
• Contributed infrequently to discussions;
• Gave little indication of preparation and thought;
• Did not aid in providing a positive atmosphere for meaningful discussion

F — UNSATISFACTORY
• Frequently misses classes
• Never, or almost never contributed to discussions;
• Gave no indication of preparation or thought;
• Actively inhibited or impeded the course of class discussions

INDIVIDUAL CASE BRIEFS

Each student will be expected to turn in three individual case briefs for any of the following cases:
Alden Products Inc., Engineering Inspection and Insurance Company, Eli Lily and Company,
Vickers Incorporated: Omaha Plant and Rite Aid: An Uncertain Future. The case briefs will be
graded and are due at the beginning of the class in which the case is scheduled. Students can submit
a maximum of four case briefs. The highest three grades will be used for the purposes of
calculating your grade for the course.
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Case briefs are limited to one single page (no less than 11 point font with one inch margins), plus
up to two additional pages of calculations, charts, diagrams or graphs. All calculations and figures
must be clearly labeled and referred to in the body of the case brief. Key points can be summarized
in the case brief, but your instructor should be able to deduce the basic logic and details of your
analysis and recommendations. The suggested format for your case brief is as follows:
• Overview of major issues
• Recommendations
• Analysis to support your recommendation (if needed)
• Implementation
• Appendix (two page maximum)

Case briefs are individual assignments. Consistent with the School’s philosophy of encouraging
small group discussions, you can consult with classmates about the case brief cases, but the work
that you submit must be your own. Any analysis prepared jointly must be limited to exhibits and
identify each individual that contributed. The one-page write-up must be your own work.

Case briefs must be submitted on Learn. Any assignments that submitted after the start of class
will not be accepted. Acceptable formats are Word or PDF (Adobe).

PLAGIARISM
Students must write their essays and assignments (at Ivey this includes case exams and reports) in
their own words. Whenever students take an idea, or a passage from another author, they must
acknowledge their debt both by using quotation marks where appropriate and by proper
referencing such as footnotes or citations. Plagiarism is a major academic offence (see Scholastic
Offense Policy in the Western Academic Calendar).

All required papers (at Ivey this includes case exams and reports) may be subject to submission
for textual similarity review to the commercial plagiarism detection software under license to the
University for the detection of plagiarism. All papers submitted will be included as source
documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently
submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between
The University of Western Ontario and Turnitin.com (hyperlink www.turnitin.com).

COURSE OUTLINE
An outline of the course schedule follows. Our class schedule and assignments by session appears
on Learn and is the most up-to-date version of our course. Please check the course site regularly
for this information and other course news.

QUESTIONS OR PROBLEMS
My office is room 3366 at Ivey, and my phone number is (519) 661-4052 (cell: 519-841-0687; e-
mail: dwood@ivey.ca). My assistant is Gina Luciani, located on second floor on the north side of
the building. I welcome visits from students, so feel free to drop in at any time or make an
appointment in advance.