Chapter 12: Strategic Leadership
Generally speaking, firms tend to look for a CEO outside the organization when the firm
needs to become more innovative, has seen declining performance, needs a new strategy,
3. Given their different leadership styles, describe the differences you see in Apple’s culture
under Tim Cook’s leadership compared to the culture in Apple when Steve Jobs was
CEO.
Cook is known for empowering, delegating, and sharing the limelight. These differences
4. Using information in this Mini-Case as well as additional materials available to you via
searches, how do you evaluate Tim Cook as a CEO? Is he an effective strategic leader or
not? Use examples from the chapter’s discussion of “Key Strategic Leadership Actions”
to justify your answer to this question.
Students’ answers and specific examples may vary, but they should be able to support
their answers with logical reasoning. For the most part, Cook has continued on with the
Chapter 12: Strategic Leadership
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES
The following questions and exercises can be presented for in-class discussion or assigned as
homework.
Application Discussion Questions
1. Have the students choose a CEO of a prominent firm that they believe exemplifies the
positive aspects of strategic leadership. What actions does this CEO take that demonstrate
effective strategic leadership? What are the effects of those actions on the firm’s
performance?
4. Have students examine some articles in the popular press and select an organization that
recently went through a significant strategic change. They should collect as much
information as possible about the organization’s top management team. Is there a
relationship between the top management team’s characteristics and the type of change the
organization experienced? If so, what are the nature and outcome of that relationship?
7. Students should identify a firm in which they believe strategic leaders have emphasized
and developed human capital. What are the effects of this emphasis and development on
the firm’s performance?
8. Have students select an organization that has a unique organizational culture. What
characteristics of that culture make it unique? Has the culture had a significant effect on
the organization’s performance? If so, what is that effect?
Chapter 12: Strategic Leadership
Ethics Questions
1. As discussed in this chapter, effective strategic leadership occasionally requires managers
to make difficult decisions. Is it ethical for managers to make these types of decisions
without obtaining feedback from employees about the effects of those decisions? Be
prepared to justify your response.
5. As a strategic leader, would you feel ethically responsible for developing your firm’s
human capital? Why or why not? Do you believe that your position is consistent with the
majority or minority of today’s strategic leaders?
INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES FOR MINDTAP
Cengage offers additional online activities, assessments and resources inside MindTap,
our online learning platform. Here is a comprehensive listing of the activities available
within each chapter of MindTap for Hitt, Ireland Hoskisson’s Strategic Management:
Competitiveness and Globalization, 13th edition:
Course Level Resource: Cornerstone to Capstone Diagnostic- features short quizzes in
Chapter Level Resources:
• What Would You Do Video
• MindTap Reader (eBook)
• Assignments:
o Multiple Choice Quiz
o Video Quiz
Chapter 12: Strategic Leadership
35
• Student Study Tools:
o A+ Test Prep
Course Level Case Resources:
• Text Cases (Readings)
• Group Case Activities (Group Case Assignments)
• Supplemental Cases (Readings)
To view more information on each of these MindTap activities, along with the default
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR SELECT MINDTAP RESOURCES:
WHAT WOULD YOU DO? JAPAN AIRLINES
This exercise introduces students to strategic decisions as they are made in the real world.
Students should come to class prepared to discuss this exercise, and why they chose the
answer they did. All answers are graded as correct – the point of the exercise is to engage
your student’s interest.
VIDEO QUIZ: JAPAN AIRLINES
The media quiz offers additional opportunities for students to apply the concepts in the
chapter to a real-world scenario as it is described in news reports.
Title: Japan Airlines
RT: 2:04
Topic Key: Strategic leadership, Top management team, Human Capital, Social
Capital, Organizational culture
Haruka Nishimatsu, the Japan Airlines CEO, is known as the world’s most humble CEO.
Chapter 12: Strategic Leadership
Chapter 12: Strategic Leadership
Suggested Discussion Questions and Answers
• Describe why Haruka Nishimatsu’s leadership style is effective and why his
employees adore him.
Japan Airlines employees adore Nishimatsu because he cares about their well-
• What facet is Nishimatsu focusing on to turn Japan Airlines around? Why is he
focusing his efforts on that one area?
Haruka Nishimatsu is focusing on culture. This was needs as the economic
• Should other CEO’s perform this same type of actions? Can they perform these
actions to the degree of Nishimatsu?
Other CEO’s should perform these same types of actions. Countless times you
GUIDED CASE: CAN YOU FOLLOW AN ICON AND
SUCCEED?
This auto-graded activity asks students to read the short end-of-chapter case on Apple, and
Chapter 12: Strategic Leadership
Apple’s former CEO, Steve Jobs, was a legendary strategic leader, known for visionary
innovations in technology. Many of his groundbreaking products, such as the iPod,
What is notable about Cook is just how different he is from Jobs in terms of leadership
style. Jobs was known for being driven, impulsive, demanding, and even selfish, while
In answering the Guided Case Questions, students will review these concepts:
• Internal and external managerial labor markets
YOU MAKE THE DECISION: KRISPY KREME
You Make the Decision branching exercises are real-world activities that allow each
student to work through challenges by choosing from different decision-making options.
Krispy Kreme, the doughnut restaurant, is in need of a strategic overhaul. In recent years,
Krispy Kreme has seen its market share and profitability fall due to a lack of innovation
and flexibility to adapt to market demands. Krispy Kreme has not adapted to a population
Chapter 12: Strategic Leadership
39
The students will act as the board of directors in order to bring innovation to the company.
They will use skills in strategic management and take concepts learned in this and
previous chapters to approach this business challenge.
Students will review these concepts:
• CEO duality
The ideal path that earns a perfect score is the following:
• Choose to end the CEO duality that is currently held in Krispy Kreme that would hinder
change. The current CEO is known to fight changes in strategic direction.
The leader will also need to be transformational. A transformational leader is more likely
to be effective. This style motivates followers to exceed the expectation others have of
them, to continuously enrich their capabilities, and to place the company’s interest above
their own. With this quality, Krispy Kreme can turn its ill fate around.
GROUP PROJECT: STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP: GLASS
CEILING OR GLASS CLIFF?
This chapter of the book deals with managerial succession. An interesting study has come
out of Michelle K. Ryan and S. Alexander Haslam that suggests that women typically
confront a “glass ceiling” while men seem to have a “glass elevator.” While women are
Chapter 12: Strategic Leadership
But what happens when women do achieve leadership roles? And what sorts of positions
are they given?
Chapter 12: Strategic Leadership
Students will be asked to:
• Read the study of The Glass Cliff.
To modify this project to be an individual assignment, consider requiring just one
deliverable: a presentation to the class or just the paper.