IM/IB 320 - Strategic Management

This course serves as a cohesive map for strategic management and takes a general management perspective, viewing the firm and organization as a whole, and integrating the various functional disciplines into an overall competitive strategy. It takes a practical view of how business corporations and organizations actually function and includes the key concepts, tools, and principles of strategy formulation and strategy implementation. It is designed to integrate the accepted theories in the area with real world applications and cases to provide students with the knowledge and skills needed for strategic management. As a cross-functional survey of business management the course is concerned with managerial decisions and actions that affect the performance of business enterprises as a whole. Strategic Management as an integrative and interdisciplinary course assumes a broad view of the environment that includes buyers, suppliers, competitors, technology, the economy, capital markets, government, and global forces. In studying strategy, the course draws together and builds on the ideas, concepts, and theories from the major functional courses such as Accounting, Economics, Finance, Marketing, etc.  The key strategic business decisions of concern in this course involve choosing competitive strategies, creating competitive advantages, taking advantage of external opportunities, securing and defending sustainable market positions, and allocating critical resources over long periods. Decisions such as these can only be made effectively by viewing a firm holistically, and over the long term.