Business Policy and Strategy
MGMT 0325

Spring Session

Instructor:  Cornelia Daniel                        Office:  Wilson 413A

• Office (413) 572-5696                             In Person Office Hours: TBA
• Cell    (413) 627-3620                             I am online every day. If you email me you can expect to hear from me within 24 hours.            

Grading Criteria

• Participation in Discussions (do your questions or responses have depth? Are you thinking? Are you using the text?)  and assignments ( see grading criteria) 40%
• Homework Assignments      25%
• Final Paper – Complete Case Analysis 20%
• Test 15%

• Required Texts And Materials

Gamble and Thompson, Essentials of Strategic Management: The Quest for Competitive Advantage, 1^st Edition, supplemented by student use of the companion Case-Tutor files. Web site is www.mhhe.com/gamble,

Course Description

• Unlike other business courses that concentrate narrowly on a particular function or piece of the business—accounting, finance, marketing, production, human resources, or information systems, strategic management is a big picture course. It cuts across the whole spectrum of business and management. The center of attention is the total enterprise–-the industry and competitive environment in which it operates, its long-term direction and strategy, its resources and competitive capabilities, and its prospects for success.
• Throughout the course, the spotlight will be trained on the foremost issue in running a business enterprise: “What must managers do, and do well, to make the company a winner in the game of business?” The answer that emerges, and which becomes the theme of the course, is that good strategy-making and good strategy-execution are the key ingredients of company success and the most reliable signs of good management. The mission of the course is to explore why good strategic management leads to good business performance, to present the basic concepts and tools of strategic analysis, and to drill you in the methods of crafting a well-conceived strategy and executing it competently.
• You’ll be called on to probe, question, and evaluate all aspects of a company’s external and internal situation. You’ll grapple with sizing up a company’s standing in the marketplace and its ability to go head-to-head with rivals, learn to tell the difference between winning strategies and mediocre strategies, and become more skilled in spotting ways to improve a company’s strategy or its execution.
• In the midst of all this, another purpose is accomplished: to help you synthesize what you have learned in prior business courses. Dealing with the grand sweep of how to manage all the pieces of a business makes strategic management an integrative, capstone course in which you reach back to use concepts and techniques covered in previous courses. For perhaps the first time you’ll see how the various pieces of the business puzzle fit together and why the different parts of a business need to be managed in strategic harmony for the organization to operate in winning fashion.

• The Next Weeks Will Be Exciting, Fun, Challenging, and Filled with Learning Opportunities. No matter what your major is, the content of this course has all the ingredients to be the best course you’ve taken—best in the sense of learning a lot about business, holding your interest from beginning to end, and enhancing your powers of business judgment. As you tackle the subject matter, ponder Ralph Waldo Emerson’s observation, “Commerce is a game of skill which many people play, but which few play well.” The overriding intent of the course is to help you become a more savvy player and better prepare you for a successful business career. We sincerely hope this course will prove to be instrumental in making you “competitively superior”, successful in your career, and much wiser about the secrets of first-rate management..
• [You may find it useful to download the Case-Tutor files to a USB device if you are working in a computer lab and/or need to transport your work from computer to computer.]
• Course Objectives

· 1. To develop your capacity to think strategically about a company, its present business position, its long-term direction, its resources and competitive capabilities, the caliber of its strategy, and its opportunities for gaining sustainable competitive advantage.

· 2. To build your skills in conducting strategic analysis in a variety of industries and competitive situations and, especially, to provide you with a stronger understanding of the competitive challenges of a global market environment.

· 4. To acquaint you with the managerial tasks associated with implementing and executing company strategies, drill you in the range of actions managers can take to promote competent strategy execution, and give you some confidence in being able to function effectively as part of a company’s strategy-implementing team.

· 5. To integrate the knowledge gained in earlier core courses in the business school curriculum, show you how the various pieces of the business puzzle fit together, and demonstrate why the different parts of a business need to be managed in strategic harmony for the organization to operate in winning fashion.

· 6. To heighten your awareness of how and why ethical principles, core values, and socially responsible management practices matter greatly in the conduct of a company’s business.

· 7. To develop your powers of managerial judgment, help you learn how to assess business risk, and improve your ability to make sound business decisions and achieve effective outcomes.