Solution Manual for
Essentials of Strategic Management The Quest for
Competitive Advantage 8th Edition By John Gamble,
Arthur Thompson and Margaret Peteraf
SECTION 1
Instructor Resources, Chapter
Features, and Case Overview
INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES
We strived to achieve four goals in preparing this package of Instructor Resources for the 8th Edition of
Essentials of Strategic Management:
1. To equip you with all the resources and pedagogical tools, you‘ll need to design and deliver a
course that is on the cutting edge and solidly in the mainstream of what students need to know
about crafting and executing winning strategies.
2. To give you wide flexibility in putting together a course syllabus that you are comfortable with and
proud of.
3. To give you a smorgasbord of options to draw from in keeping the nature of student assignments
varied and interesting.
4. To help you deliver a course with upbeat tempo that wins enthusiastic applause from students.
We believe the contents of the package will be particularly informative and helpful to faculty members
teaching the strategy course for the first time, but we have also tried to embellish the content with ideas
and suggestions that will prove valuable to experienced faculty looking for ways to refurbish their
course offering and/or to keep student assignments varied and interesting.
© McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill LLC.
,A QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE ENTIRE INSTRUCTOR RESOURCE
PACKAGE
The Instructor‘s Manual for Essentials of Strategic Management contains:
A quick look at the topical focus of the text‘s 10 chapters (Section 1).
An overview of the 12 cases in the text, along with a grid profiling the strategic issues that come into
play in each case (Section 1 and Section 3).
A discussion of the reasons to use a strategy simulation as an integral part of your strategy course. The
two web-based strategy simulations—The Business Strategy Game or GLO-BUS—that are companions
to this text incorporate the very kinds of strategic thinking, strategic analysis, and strategic decision
making described in the text chapters and connect beautifully to the chapter content. The automated
online nature of both simulations entails minimal administrative time and effort on the instructor‘s part.
You will be pleasantly shocked (and pleased!!) at the minimal time it will take you to incorporate the
use of GLO-BUS or The Business Strategy Game and the added degree of student excitement and
energy that either of these competition-based strategy simulations brings to the course—see Section 2
for more details.
Tips and suggestions for effectively using either GLO-BUS or The Business Strategy Game in your
course (covered in both Section 2 and Section 3).
The merits of incorporating the use of the Connect Management assignment and assessment platform
accompanying the 8th edition into your course requirements. Connect includes chapter quizzes, case
assignment exercises for all 12 cases, and two learning assurance exercises for all 10 chapters of the 8th
Edition. Connect offers automatic grading for all chapter quizzes, one learning assurance exercise
per chapter, and all 12 cases in the text. Also, in this edition is a set of Connect Exercises for
Simulation Participants. Connect offers an easy-to-administer approach to testing and assessing
individual-level student mastery of chapter concepts and case analysis (covered in Section 3).
Ideas and suggestions on course design and course organization (Section 3 and Section 4).
Recommendations for sequencing the case assignments and guidance about how to use the cases
effectively (Section 3).
Our recommendations regarding which cases are particularly appropriate for written case assignments and
oral team presentations (Section 3).
Two sample course syllabi (Section 4)
A variety of schedules of activities for face-to-face, hybrid, and online courses (Section 4)
Two sample schedules of class activities and assignments for face-to-face courses offered during
a 15-week term;
Two sample schedules of activities for hybrid courses offered during a 15-week term;
One sample schedule of class activities for face-to-face courses offered during a 10-week term;
One sample schedule of class activities for hybrid courses offered during a 10-week term;
One sample schedule of class activities for a 7-week online course; and
One sample course schedule for face-to-face course offered in 5-week terms.
Lecture Notes for all 12 chapters in the text (Section 5).
, A comprehensive teaching note for each of the 12 cases in Essentials of Strategic Management (Section
6).
In addition to the Instructor‘s Manual, the support package for adopters also includes several important
features that should be of interest. A 600+ question test bank is available for printed or online exams in
McGraw Hill‘s Test Builder web-based application.
Connect® The 8th edition package includes a robust collection of chapter quizzes, chapter learning
assurance exercises, and case preparation exercises that should prove to ease instructors‘ grading and
assessment obligations. Student understanding of chapter concepts can be assessed at the individual-level
through chapter quizzes and applied learning assurance exercises that record each student‘s grade in a web-
based grade book. All chapter quizzes are automatically graded and one Assurance of Learning exercise for
each of the 10 chapters is automatically graded.
Features of the Connect package for the 8th edition include:
Autograded chapter quizzes consisting of 20 multiple-choice questions that students can take to measure
their grasp of the material presented in each of the 10 chapters.
SmartBook 2.0 is an adaptive learning solution that provides personalized learning to individual student
needs, continually adapts to pinpoint knowledge gaps, and focuses learning on concepts requiring
additional study. It fosters more productive learning, takes the guesswork out of what to study, and helps
students better prepare for class. Our adaptive reading experience has been made more personal,
accessible, productive, and mobile.
WhiteBoard Videos: These brief, contemporary, and engaging videos offer dynamic, student-centered
introductions, illustrations, and animations that guide students through challenging concepts with
assignable assessment questions.
A variety of cases, found in most chapters, provide an opportunity for students to delve further into the
topical content and read about real-life products and companies. Accompanied by assignable, thought-
provoking questions that check students‘ ability to apply the course material to these scenarios, these
case analyses help students foster their critical thinking abilities and develop their workplace readiness
skills.
Interactive versions of two Assurance of Learning Exercises for each chapter that drill students in the
use and application of the concepts and tools of strategic analysis. There is both an autograded and
open-ended short-answer interactive exercise for each of the 10 chapters.
Application-Based Activities: These highly interactive, automatically graded exercises provide students
a safe space to practice using problem-solving skills to apply their knowledge to realistic scenarios.
Each scenario addresses key concepts and skills that students must use to work through and solve course
specific problems, resulting in improved critical thinking and relevant workplace skills. Students take on
specific roles to complete a strategy-related task within a real-world context. These tasks often involve
multiple decision-making paths that students can take as they work to complete the task. Students see
the impact of their decisions immediately and feedback is provided all along the way.
New integration of Exercises for Simulation Participants into Connect. Students are required to apply
concepts presented in all 10 chapters to business simulation participation in both autograded and open-
ended assignment questions
Included in this edition is a set of autograded exercises for all 12 cases in the text. The automatically
graded case exercises follow the assignment questions in the case TN to fully prepare students to make
meaningful contributions to class discussions of the cases. The Connect case exercises may also be used
as graded assignments or a portion of graded case assignments—allowing the instructor to grade only
, students’ recommendations for written case assignments. All students who purchase a Connect Plus eBook
or a new copy of the text are automatically provided access to Connect at no additional charge.
PowerPoint Slides To facilitate delivery preparation of your lectures and to serve as chapter outlines,
you‘ll have access to comprehensive PowerPoint presentations for each of the 10 chapters. The collection
includes 350+ professional-looking slides displaying core concepts, analytical procedures, key points, and
all the figures in the text chapters.
A Comprehensive Test Bank and Test Builder Software There is a 600+-question test bank,
consisting of both multiple-choice questions and short answer/essay questions. All of the test bank questions
are also accessible via Test Builder. Available within Connect, Test Builder is a cloud-based tool that
enables instructors to format tests that can be printed or administered within an LMS. Test Builder offers a
modern, streamlined interface for easy content configuration that matches course needs, without requiring a
download.
What to Expect in the 8th Edition
The distinguishing mark of the 8th edition is its enriched and enlivened presentation of the material in each
of the 10 chapters, providing as an up-to-date and engrossing discussion of the core concepts and analytical
tools as you will find anywhere. As with each of our new editions, there is an accompanying lineup of
exciting new cases that bring the content to life and are sure to provoke interesting classroom discussions,
deepening students‘ understanding of the material in the process.
While this 8th edition retains the 10-chapter structure of the prior edition, every chapter—indeed every
paragraph and every line—has been reexamined, refined, and refreshed. New content has been added to
keep the material in line with the latest developments in the theory and practice of strategic management.
Scores of new examples have been added, along with fresh Concepts and Connections illustrations, to make
the content come alive and to provide students with a ringside view of strategy in action. The result is a text
that cuts straight to the chase in terms of what students really need to know and gives instructors a leg up on
teaching that material effectively. It remains, as always, solidly mainstream and balanced, mirroring both
the penetrating insight of academic thought and the pragmatism of real-world strategic management.
A standout feature of this text has always been the tight linkage between the content of the chapters and the
cases. The lineup of cases that accompany the 8th edition is outstanding in this respect—a truly appealing
mix of strategically relevant and thoughtfully crafted cases, certain to engage students and sharpen their
skills in applying the concepts and tools of strategic analysis. Many involve high-profile companies that the
students will immediately recognize and relate to; all are framed around key strategic issues and serve to
add depth and context to the topical content of the chapters. We are confident you will be impressed with
how well these cases work in the classroom and the amount of student interest they will spark.
