MGT 1301-08
Fundamentals of Strategic Management
Part-time MBA Program, Winter 1999

Description

MGT 1301 introduces basic concepts, frameworks, and methodologies useful to managers in crafting and executing business strategy. The course focuses on the fundamental conditions that enable a firm to conceive, develop, and sustain a superior strategic position. The material covers the functions and responsibilities of senior management, the issues affecting the success of the organization, and the decisions determining its direction.

The MBA curriculum requires the study of several management functions and their underlying disciplines. In considering how a general manager can position a business and its resources to maximize long-term returns in the face of competition and uncertainty, this course provides you with an opportunity to use the functional knowledge developed in other courses and in your work experience.

Ultimately, the objective of this course, for all of us, is to improve our decision-making capabilities through the acquisition and internalization of strategy tools and through active discussion and debate with our peers. The emphasis in this course, and particularly class discussion, is on thinking and learning rather than finding the right answer.

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Course Description

Business strategy refers to the decision-making process used to create and maintain competitive advantage. Firms strive for a sustainable competitive advantage in order to achieve superior profits over the long run.

The decision-making process involves the formulation of the business strategy (what strategic direction), the implementation of the chosen strategy (how to organize the firm’s structure and policies to achieve the chosen strategy), and the continual monitoring of the firm’s strategy and performance (when to change the firm’s strategic direction).

The Chief Executive Officer's (CEO) perspective is adopted in this course, because strategic decisions involve broad and significant decisions, which impact the long-term economic viability of the firm.

This course is not just for future CEOs, however. Management decisions at the functional levels require knowledge of the firm’s strategy, and those functional managers who have a deep understanding of their organizations’ strategies will be more effective and successful.

In this course, we examine the following topics through a combination of cases, readings, and class discussions:

• Strategy and Environment The organizational environment possesses opportunities and threats that impact which strategies will be successful. What factors in the environment are most significant to strategic decisions and firm performance?

• Competition and Cooperation Strategies are designed and implemented in a competitive environment in which every competitive move receives a counter move. There are many strategies employed, including cooperation, to compete against other firms. Under what conditions are these various strategies successful?

• Strategy and Organizational Structure Strategies are implemented through the organization, and not all strategies fit with all structures. Further, in practice, the type of organizational structure limits the types of strategies chosen. Why?

• Crafting Strategies. Strategies are formulated and implemented in a continual on-going process; and the stages of the strategic decision-making process often overlap and perhaps occur simultaneously. How can we manage the process?

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