COURSE SYLLABUS SYLLABUS School of Management The University of Texas at Dallas
Accounting and Information Management Programs Course: Strategic Cost Management, AIM6342.0G1 AIM6342.0G1 Instructor: Constantine Konstans Semester: Spring 2006
| Course Information | Information | Technical Requirements | Requirements | Course Access Access | | Communications Communications | | Dishonesty | Course Evaluation | Evaluation | Course Outline | Outline | | Student Assessment | Assessment | Scholastic Dishonesty |
Course Information Course Description Instructor:
Constantine Constantin e Konstans, Ph.D., CPA, CMA, CIA, CFE
Professor of Accounting and Information Management Executive Director, Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance Telephone: 972-883-6345 Office: SM 2.403 FAX: 972-883-5968 E-mail: Course internal email as primary contact Web site: http://www.utdallas.edu/~konstans http://www.utdallas.edu/~konstans Office Hours: By appointment Course Description
This course extends the perspective of cost management/analysis from a primary focus on tactical short-run/micro concerns to an emphasis on strategic long-run/macro issues. The linkage between cost management/analysis and strategy is facilitated by utilizing three powerful strategic management tools: value chain analysis, strategic positioning analysis and cost driver analysis. Supported by these as well as by other financial and non-financial tools, cost management/analysis evolves into Strategic Cost Management (SCM). SCM exists to support decisi decision-makers on-makers as they develop, communicate, implement, evaluate and modify organizational strategy. There are three course themes: 1. Developing new ways of looking at at familiar problems problems and concepts concepts – an SCM look at at such familiar issues as product line profitability, make/buy or new product introduction. 2. Introducing some some relatively new and/or interesting topics/tools topics/tools in cost cost analysis that facilitate SCM, to include but not limited to:
Activity Based Management/Budgeting Economic Value to the Customer
SCM for Line of Business Evaluation SCM for Product/Channel Decisions
Life Cycle Costing
SCM for Sourcing Decisions
Lean Production Balanced Scorecard Strategy and Management Accounting Measuring and Managing Capacity Quality Cost Measurement/Management Value Chain Analysis Target Costing Theory of Constraints Environmental Cost Measurement/Management
3. Interacting with practitioners practitioners of SCM. This course is designed for for students who plan to pursue careers as management consultants, as internal consultants or as business managers. Regardless of the career career path selected, all students students will benefit from exposure to the unique perspective of contemporary practitioners. Therefore, three professional practitioners will be featured featu red as teleconference teleconfer ence guest lecturers lectur ers on selected aspects of SCM . Course Prerequisite
The course is designed for MBA/MS students who have completed the equivalent of AIM 6305 or AIM 6202. Course Approach
The course will rely heavily on student-intensive student-intensive activities activities.. Student teams will have the responsibility for presenting case analyses and topics as shown in the course schedule below. Course Preparation and Participation
Each student must accept the responsibility responsibility for course prepa preparation. ration. Thus, for each session, every student must study the assigned assigned readings and analyze the as assigned signed cases. In addition, each student is expected to participate actively in teleconferences and “chat room” sessions. The course uses cases cases extensively. In order to derive maximum benefit, it is essen essential tial that you mentally "get inside" the case situation. situation. Do not approach a case as you would would a chapter in a book or an article article in a journal. You are not an observer but a participant. participant. If a case centers on a decision that needs to be made, put yourself yourself in the shoes of the decision-maker. Feel the frustration (s)he feels with respect respect to data limitations. Feel the pressure (s)he fe feels els with respect to difficult tradeoffs, limited resources, resources, potential conflicts, etc. Share your ideas with oth others ers as we work jointly to resolve the issues. I will guide you in your case and topic presentations presentations (see below below). ). For topic presentations, presentations, you are required to find and use a minimum of three references from the internet or a variety of publications such as, but not necessarily limited to, the Journal of Cost Management , the Journal of Management Accounting Research ; Accounting, Organizations Organizatio ns and Society ; Harvard Business Review ; and Sloan Management Review . I will be av available ailable to review review your plans plans for these activities. Professional Linkages
SCM represents a lucrative, important and growing area for consulting services both domestically and internationally. internationally. SCM consulting services services are provided by management management consulting firms as well as by the “Big Four” accounting firms.
Course Materials
Texts (and their abbreviations) “BCL”
“CCM”
COST MANAGEMENT: A STRATEGIC EMPHASIS 3 RD Edition. Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 2005, by E. J. Blocher, K. H. Chen and T. W. Lin. CASES IN COST MANAGEMENT: A STRATEGIC EMPHASIS 3 RD Edition. South-Western, 2006, by J. Shank.
Textbooks and other materials can be ordered online through MBS Direct Virtual Bookstore Bookstore or or Off-Campus Books web ordering site. site . They are also available at UTD Bookstore and OffCampus Books. Top Back to Top
Technical Requirements In addition to a confident level of computer and Internet literacy, certain minimum technical requirement must be met to enable a successful learning experience. Technical requirements include but are not limited to: Hardware A Pentium Pentium processor processor or equivalent equivalent Mac Mac system; system; Windows 98/Me/2000/XP or Mac OS 9.x or OS X 10.1. Internet access with 56.6 modem (minimum). A high-bandwidth connection is recommended. 32 MB system Ram; 200 MB free free disk disk space or sufficient sufficient storage Sound card CD-ROM capabilities Microphone and Speakers (or headset) – for Teleconference •
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Software Internet Explorer 5.0 to 6.0 (but 5.5 SP1 SP1 not supported), or Netscape Netscape Navigator Navigator 6.2.x (see notes) and 7.0 (4.78, 4.79 and 6.0-6.1 not supported), or AOL 7.0 and 8.0. See browser configuration information below. MS Office Office 2000 2000 is the minimum minimum standard. standard. (Microsoft software is available available at a nominal nominal cost from the UTD/Microsoft Program. For more information, visit the Global MBA Online Student Service web page at: http://som.utdallas.edu/globalmba/gmba_online_services.htm). Virus detection/protection detection/protection software (such as McAfee) “Plug-ins” including the most current version of RealPlayer RealPlayer (available at: http://www.real.com) and Adobe Acrobat Reader (available at: http://www.real.com) http://www.adobe.com/pro adobe.com/products/acroba ducts/acrobat/readstep2.h t/readstep2.html tml ) http://www. A zip zip file expansion tool such such as WinZip or or Stuffit Stuffit Expander Expander (available at: http://www.download.com). •
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Web Browser Configuration
For WebCT courses to work properly, you will need one of the WebCT supported browsers listed above with JavaScript enabled and cookies enabled. It is also important that you set the cache settings of your browser to verify web documents “Every Time”. The methods for configuring these settings vary among browsers. Please follow this web link provided by WebCT to tune-up your browser: http://www.webct.com/tuneup/ http://www.webct.com/tuneup/.. Back to Top
Course Access and Navigation This course was developed using a web course tool called WebCT. It is to be delivered entirely online. You will be notified by email about the course access information at the start of the course. You’ll need to have a UTD NetID and password to access the course. If you have not set up a UTD NetID account yet, please go to the UTD NetID page at http://netid.utdallas.edu http://netid.utdallas.edu to initiate your account shortly before before or at the start of the semester . Your UTD NetID is your WebCT ID. It is to be used to access all of your UTD WebCT courses plus other UTD computing systems e.g. your UTD email account. Please note that it’s required that your account password to be updated every 6-12 months . UTD IR will send you reminding messages to your UTD email account towards the time when your password is getting expired. To update your password, please login at the above NetID page. For more information, please visit the NetID FAQs FAQs page. page.
http://webct.utdallas.edu.. The course may be accessed at The URL for the course login page is: http://webct.utdallas.edu any time. You are required to meet all assignment and exam deadlines. Participation in scheduled class activities is required. You should login to the course site regularly (at least three times per week) to check course updates, and discussion board messages. You’ll access the “My WebCT” page after you login. The page lists all courses that you have registered for. You can click the course title to access the course Home Page which displays several icon links. Clicking each icon link will take you to different subsidiary pages containing the course content elements or built-in course tools. Some navigation components such as the Navigation Bar with Course Menu on the left side, the Menu Bar and the path link on the top, and the Action Menu on the content page can help you navigate within the course site. To get started with a WebCT course, please see the Getting started: Student WebCT Orientation link. Orientation link. For more information about WebCT tool usage, please see the WebCT Student Help Index. Index. Within the course site, you can always click HELP on the WebCT Menu Bar to find information and answers. You can also check out the Orientation Center to Online Learning and WebCT provided WebCT provided on WebCT’s web site. site. For more WebCT information information and its learning resources, visit http://www.webct.com http://www.webct.com.. If you have any problems with your UTD account or any problem with the UTD WebCT server, you may email to:
[email protected] or
[email protected] or call the UTD Computer Helpdesk at: 972-883-2911. If you encounter any technical difficulties within the course site, please send an email to
[email protected] [email protected].. Back to Top Top
Communications WebCT built-in communication tools: There are four built-in communication communication tools to facilitate learning, communication, and collaboration. A course conferencing system, the Discussion , allows communication among all course participants. Discussion topics or groups can be set up for topic discussions and homework assignments. You can use the course Mail tool to communicate privately with the instructor and any class participants. The Chat tool can be used
for real-time communication among course participates. Please see specific information for accessing Chat tool. tool . Finally there is a graphic interface Whiteboard tool tool which allows real-time interaction among course participants. If necessary, I will schedule times to use the Chat and/or Whiteboard tools for office hours and/or class discussion sessions. Small groups may also use the Chat tool for group discussions. Interaction with Instructor : I will communicate with students mainly using the Discussion board. Students may send personal concerns concerns or questions to me using the course Email tool. I will reply to student emails or Discussion board messages within 3 working days under normal circumstances. Emailing: Besides using the WebCT course internal email, if there is any need, students may contact me via external regular emails. UTD provides each student with a free email account that is to be used in all communication with university personne personnel. l. This allows the university to maintain a high degree of confidence in the identity of all individuals corresponding and the security of the transmitted transmitted information. Beginning September 1, 2004, 2004, the Administration has informed faculty to require any email communications to be through UTD email accounts.
To access your UTD email, please go to: http://pipeline.utdallas.edu and http://pipeline.utdallas.edu and login with your UTD NetID and password (same as WebCT login). The Department of Information Resources at UTD provides a method for students to forward email from other accounts to their UTD address and have their UTD mail sent to other accounts. Students may go to the following URL to establish the email forwarding if necessary: http://netid.utdallas.edu http://netid.utdallas.edu.. For any assistance with UTD email account, call 972-883-2911 or email
[email protected].
[email protected]. : UTDfor maintains a telephone conferencing system. All Meeting P la laccine TeleConference participants the course can useSystem the system teleconferences throughout the semester. Participants access a meeting by dialing either a “972” area code number or a toll free number if outside the Dallas area (but within the continental U.S.) with a touch tone phone. When prompted, you will enter a code. If a teleconference is scheduled for the course, you will be notified of the time and given access instructions. A class teleconference is usually recorded and can be reviewed over the phone after the conference. Please see TeleConference Guide for general instructions. If you would like to reserve a time to meet with a group of your classmates, please send an email one week in advance to
[email protected].
[email protected]. Be sure to include the course name, student names and email addresses, choice of date, and start and end times. Once a reservation has been made, students will receive a confirmation email with access instructions. Back to Top Top
Student Assessment Grading Information
Team Case Analysis Team Topic Presentation Timed Final Examination
100 100 100
Possible Points
300
Translation of the total point score into a letter grade will be based on the instructor’s judgment. The letter grade will reflect each student's performance relative to the course and standards expected of MBA students. Important, Time-Sensitive Requirement
Note: Study teams will be formed immediately. To facilitate the process, please send me an e-mail e-mail at
[email protected] [email protected] , , with the subject “AIM 6342”, containing the information shown below. 1. Last Name; First First Name; UTD Degree Program and Expected Graduation Semester 2. Day-Time Telephone Number and FAX Number; Day and Evening e-Mail Addresses 3. Collegiate Degree(s) Earned; Year(s) Earned; Name(s) of the Granting Institution(s) 4. Number of Earned Collegiate Semester Hours of Accounting; Where Earned (Institution) 5. Name of Current Employer; Your Position or Title; Months with Employer 6. Short Summary of Prior Business Experience with Most Recent Experience First 7. A Short Statement of Your Career Objectives and How You Expect This Course to Help
Guidelines on Case Presentations
Each team will present one case during the semester. semester. These will be assigned at the instructor’s instructor’s discretion on the basis of of student interest, “first-com “first-come, e, first-serve”, and other criteria criteria.. Two weeks prior to the week that a team’s case solution is due, team members should discuss the case and develop a tentative solution using various modes of communication to include the use of the team’s private discussion forum. One week prior to due due date, team members should should provide the instructor their their tentative solution using the cou course rse internal e-mail. The instructor will provide comments by telephone telephone for enhancing the case solution. On the week that a team case solution is due, a team member should post the team solution on the Discussion Board by Wednesday evening at 10 P.M. for all students to review. review. The case solution will be in two parts. parts. The major part will be a written repor reportt that does not exceed six pages, double-spaced double-spaced exclusive of exhibits. exhibits. The report should addres address s each of the case questions succinctly, succinctly, yet completely. The second part will be a PowerPoint PowerPoint presentation of the case that could be used in a traditional traditional classroom setting. Use no more than 15 slides.
A. B. C. D. E.
Analyzing each question question effectively Identifying and evaluating alternative alternative solutions Linking the case to strategic issues Organizing the case logically Quality of the PowerPoint slides Total
20 20 20 20 20 100
Guidelines on Topic Presentations
Each team will also present present one topic. The topic solution will be in two parts. The major part will be a written report that does not exceed six pages, double-spaced exclusive of exhibits. The report should address address the topic succinctly, succinctly, yet completely. The second part will be a PowerPoint presentation presentation of the topic that could be used in a traditio traditional nal classroom setting. Use no more than 15 slides. On the week that a team Topic Presentat Presentation ion is due, a team member should post their PowerPoint presentation on the Discussion Board by Wednesday evening at 10 P.M. for all students to review. Send your reports (preferably (preferably in Word) to the Professor directly and not to the students. Again, the students get only you yourr PowerPoint presentation. presentation. As regards to the timing of Case Case and Topic presentations, presentations, they will be evenly evenly distributed so as not to be concentrated in one part part of the semester. Topic presentations will will be graded using the following criteria: A. B. C. D. E.
Organization and balance between between too much and too little little detail Well researched with emphasis on the important aspects of a topic Linking the case study to strategic issues covered in the course “Cutting edge” developments are identified and introduced. Quality of the PowerPoint slides Total
20 20 20 20 20 100
Final Exam
Timed case write-up. A short case will be made available within Co Course urse Site as an online exam. Exam must be taken within the scheduled time window and must be completed online in 2.5 hours. You can access the exam by clicking the Final Exam icon and then clicking the available exam title link. The exam is timed and can only be accessed once within the scheduled time window. Please read the on-screen instructions carefully before you click the Begin Quiz button. After the exam is graded and released, you may go back to the exam page and click the “View scores” button to review your exam results.
Scholastic Dishonesty Dis honesty The University has policies and discipline procedures regarding scholastic dishonesty. Detailed information is available on the Scholastic Dishonesty Dishonesty web web page. All students are expected to maintain a high level of responsibility with respect to academic honesty. Students who violate University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the
possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University. Since such dishonesty harms the individual, all students and the integrity of the University, policies on scholastic
Course Evaluation As required by UTD UTD academic regulations, regulations, every student student must complete an evaluation evaluation for each enrolled course at the end of the semester. An online instructional assessment form will be made available for your confidential use. Please look for the course evaluation link on the course Homepage towards the end of the course.
Course Outline/Schedule Date
1/9-1/15 Week 1
CASE (CCM)
TOPIC/ACTIVITY TOPIC/ACTI VITY
Lecture #1 -- Cost Management: Strategic versus Conventional Approaches – Instructor Provides Course Overview
READING (BCL)
Orientation to WebCT and Course Site. Send instructor time-sensitive data requested in syllabus. Class Administration and Team Organization
Voice Conference #1: Professor outlines the class expectations and assigns groups.
1/15/06; Sunday, 7:00 pm - 8:00 PM 1/16-1/22 Week 2
Lecture #2 - -- Baldwin Baldwin Bicycles; Bicycles ; Instructor Presents Case to Illustrate SCM
PowerPoint slides and streaming audio available under “Course Materials” on the course site.
Chapters 1*, 2* & 9*
1/23-1/29
Lecture #3 – Mavis Machine
PowerPoint slides and streaming
Chapter 15*
Week 3
Shop; Instructor Presents Case to Illustrate SCM
audio available under “Course Materials” on the course site. Voice Conference #2: “Live Guest” Speaker: Mi Mikk e Van De V Ven en ; Exec. VP ; Southwest Airlines 1/29/06; Sunday, 7:00 pm – 8:30 PM.
1/30-2/5
Case #1 – – DairyPak DairyPak
Topic #1 -- Value Chain Analysis
Week 4
2/6-2/12
– Morrissey Morrissey Forgings Case #2 –
Topic #2 – Cost Drivers and SCM
Week 5
2/13-2/19 Week 6
Case #3 – American American Management Servic esInvestment Services (AIMS)
Topic #3 --SCM Strategic Positioning and
Chapters 2* & 3* Chapters 3* & 5* Chapters 7 & 9* 5*,
2/20 2/26 Week 7
Case #4 Tijuana Bronze Machining
Topic #4 Activity Based Budgeting/Management
Chapters 3 , 5* & 12
Voice Conference #3:“Live Guest” Speaker: Tom Pr yor President , ICMS 2/26/06; Sunday, 7:00pm – 8:30 PM.
2/27- 3/5
Case #5 – Chalice Wines Wines
Topic #5 – Quality Cost Measurement/Management
Chapters 2*,13 & 16*
3/6-3/12
Case #6 -- Montclair Montclair Deep Colors Colors --
Topic #6 -- Target Costing
Chapters & 10* 6*
3/13-3/19
Case #7 – – DEC DEC and Minicomputers Minicomputers Case #8 – Jones Ironworks
Topic #7 - -- Life Life Cycle Costing
Chapters 10* Chapters 6* & 19* Chapters 9* & 10*
Week 8
3/20-3/26
– Lean Lean Production Topic #8 –
Week 10
3/27-4/2
Case #9 – Tashtego
Week 11
4/3-4/09
Case #10 #10 –– Kinkead Equipment Topic #10 – Supply Chain
Week 12
4/10-4/16 Week 13
Topic #9 – Theory of Constraints and SCM
Management and SCM
Lecture #4 – Balanced Scorecard : Instructor Presentation
PowerPoint slides and streaming audio available under “Course Materials” on the course site.
Chapters 13*, 15* & 17* Chapters 2* & 17*
Voice Conference #4: “Live Guest ” Speaker: P at B ywat ywaters ers Director, The Player Group 4/17/06; Monday, 7:00 pm – 9:00 PM.
Discussion of Final Exam 4/23-4/24 Week 14
Final Exam: Timed case write-up. Short case available available within Course Course Site as an online exam. Exam must be taken taken within the scheduled scheduled time window and and must be completed online in 2.5 hours.
* Study from designated chapters NOTICE OF POLICY ON CHEATING Students are expected to be above reproach in all scholastic activities. Students who engage in scholastic dishones dishonesty ty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the the possibility of failure failure in the course and dismis dismissal sal from the University. University. “Scholastic dishonesty dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination for another another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage advantage to a or the attempt to commit such acts.” (Regents’ Rules and Regulations, Part One, Chapter VI, Section 3, Subsection 3.2, Subdivision 3.22. This policy will be strictly enforced.