The 11th Edition Instructor’s Package

A full complement of instructional aids is available to assist adopters in using the 11th edition successfully. The two-volume Instructor’s Manual contains suggestions for using the text materials, various approaches to course design and course organization, a sample syllabus, alternative course outlines, a thoroughly revised and expanded set of 940 multiple-choice and essay questions, and a comprehensive teaching note for each case. There is a computerized test bank for generating examinations, a set of color transparencies depicting the figures and tables in the 11 text chapters, and PowerPoint presentation software containing a full set of color visuals for classrooms equipped with computer screen projection capability. The PowerPoint disks can also be used to make black-and-white overheads in the event you utilize an overhead projector to support your lectures. The PowerPoint package includes over 500 visuals that thoroughly cover the material presented in the 11 chapters, thus providing plenty to select from in creating support for your classroom lectures (we deliberately created enough visuals for each chapter to give you an ample number of choices in putting together a presentation that fits both your preferences and time constraints). To help instructors enrich and vary the pace of class discussions of cases, there are video supplements for use with the Starbucks Corporation, "Chainsaw Al" Dunlap and Sunbeam Corporation, Competition in the Video Game Industry, Outback Steakhouse Goes International, Herb Kelleher and Southwest Airlines, and Stew Leonard’s Dairy cases.

In concert, the textbook, the three companion supplements, and the comprehensive instructor’s package provide a complete, integrated lineup of teaching materials. The package gives you exceptional latitude in course design, allows you to capitalize on the latest computer-assisted instructional techniques, arms you with an assortment of visual aids, and offers rich pedagogical options for keeping the nature of student assignments varied and interesting. We’ve endeavored to equip you with all the text materials and complementary resources you need to create and deliver a course that is very much in keeping with contemporary strategic management issues and that wins enthusiastic student approval.

Acknowledgments

We have benefited from the help of many people during the evolution of this book. Students, adopters, and reviewers have generously supplied an untold number of insightful comments and helpful suggestions. Our intellectual debt to those academics, writers, and practicing managers who have blazed new trails in the strategy field will be obvious to any reader familiar with the literature of strategic management.

We are particularly indebted to the case researchers whose casewriting efforts appear herein and to the companies whose cooperation made the cases possible. To each one goes a very special thank-you. The importance of timely, carefully researched cases cannot be overestimated in contributing to a substantive study of strategic management issues and practices. From a research standpoint, cases in strategic management are invaluable in exposing the generic kinds of strategic issues that companies face, in forming hypotheses about strategic behavior, and in drawing experienced-based generalizations about the practice of strategic management. Pedagogically, cases about strategic management give students essential practice in diagnosing and evaluating strategic situations, in learning to use the tools and concepts of strategy analysis, in sorting through various strategic options, in crafting strategic action plans, and in figuring out successful ways to implement and execute the chosen strategy. Without a continuing stream of fresh, well-researched, and well-conceived cases, the discipline of strategic management would quickly fall into disrepair, losing much of its energy and excitement. There’s no question, therefore, that first-class case research constitutes a valuable scholarly contribution.

The following focus-group panelists provided insightful suggestions and advice regarding ways to make the 11th edition better:

Steve Barndt, Pacific Lutheran University
J. Michael Geringer, California Polytechnic University
Mingfang Li, California State University-Northridge
Richard W. Stackman, University of Washington-Tacoma
Stephen Tallman, Cranfield School of Management
Gerardo R. Ungson, University of Oregon

We are also indebted to David Aviel, Maria A. Corso, David Flynn, J. Leslie Jankovich, Eveann Lovero, Vince Luchsinger, James Boulgarides, Betty Diener, Daniel F. Jennings, Daivd Kuhn, Kathryn Martell, Wilbur Mouton, Bobby Vaught, Tuck Bounds, Lee Burk, Ralph Catalanello, William Crittenden, Stan Mendenhall, John Moore, Will Mulvaney, Sandra Richard, Ralph Roberts, Thomas Turk, Gordon VonStroh, Fred Zimmerman, S. A. Billion, Charles Byles, Gerald L. Geisler, Rose Knotts, Joseph Rosenstein, James B. Thurman, Ivan Able, W. Harvey Hegarty, Roger Evered, Charles B. Saunders, Rhae M. Swisher, Claude I. Shell, R. Thomas Lenz, Michael C. White, Dennis Callahan, R. Duane Ireland, William E. Burr II, C. W. Millard, Richard Mann, Kurt Christensen, Neil W. Jacobs, Louis W. Fry, D. Robley Wood, George J. Gore, and William R. Soukup. These reviewers were of considerable help in directing our efforts at various stages in the evolution of the text.

Naturally, as custom properly dictates, we are responsible for any errors of fact, deficiencies in coverage or presentation, and oversights that remain. As always, we value your recommendations and thoughts about the book. Your comments regarding coverage and contents will be most welcome, as will your calling our attention to specific errors. Please fax us at (205) 348-6695, e-mail us at athompso@cba.ua.edu, or write us at:

P.O. Box 870225
Department of Management and Marketing
The University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0225

Arthur A. Thompson
A. J. Strickland