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Course Descriptions
The primary intent of the Strategic Management course is to develop in the student a strategic or general manager point of view, where he/she is responsible for the overall success of an enterprise. The term Strategic or General Manager represents the job description of any individual in an organization who has multi-functional responsibilities and is involved, at his or her particular level, in formulating the appropriate strategy and implementing it effectively and efficiently. The term also covers positions that may reflect the individuals ascent on the corporate ladder, such as the positions of project team leader, branch manager, division manager, and ultimately COO and CEO.
The thinking behind the Strategic Management course is: General Management is Strategic Management, while Strategic Management is Strategy Formulation and Strategy Implementation. Strategic Management is also the managerial process, where Strategy Formulation is Planning, while Strategy Implementation is Organizing, Leading, and Controlling. Therefore, the complementary or supporting objective of this course is to develop the strategizing and executing skills of the students.
The complementary objective is based on the reality that an entry-level MBA is unlikely to be hired as a strategist¯. Therefore, that individual must contribute or add value not only by performing a function such as Marketing or Finance, but by incorporating the frameworks of Strategic Management to develop and implement a strategy for his or her unit in an integrated manner, taking into consideration the overall objective and needs of the entire organization.
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Learning Methodologies:
A. From Information and Knowledge To Understanding and Wisdom
Strategic thinking is an integrated perspective of the company, a synthesis. It is not about using the one right strategic planning approach, or finding the one right answer. The class will spend a substantial amount of time in learning to formulate their own strategic frameworks, in becoming their own "strategy guru". They will exercise "synthetic" thinking, not just analytic thinking. The class will need understanding and some wisdom to do this.
While information answers the who, what, when, where, and how many (we sometimes consider this knowledge), knowledge answers how-to questions (some consider these as skills and competencies). Understanding uses explanations, since it answers why questions, while wisdom involves the exercise of judgment. Let us take Porters Five Forces model as an example. While information can provide us with the details of buyers, suppliers, substitutes, competition, etc., knowledge can show us how to build Porter's 5 forces model with this information. Understanding can explain to us why we utilized the model (objective is to determine industry attractiveness and/or use as a threat matrix), while wisdom enables us to discern the objective's value or relevance to us and our desired outcome. Wisdom is about effectiveness while the rest are about efficiency.
In typical class discussions, the usual question is "What's the problem?" In the real world, the strategic problem is extracted from interactions of various industry actors. Wisdom is all about the synthesis/management of these interactions. Hence, one needs to be able to prescribe one's own strategic framework, ethics, leadership style, etc., depending on the interactions one faces.
B. Discussion Of Reflections, Not Case Facts
Overall, the course is intended to provide a deeper and practical understanding of strategic management. Discussions will focus on the thinking behind the strategic framework. The strengths and weaknesses of the framework will be highlighted and evaluated, where both reverence and irreverence to the framework guru will be the rule.
This will mean a departure from the usual case crunching students are used to. The course will be a voyage of discovery, on finding out the why and wherefores and value of most of the strategy formulation and implementation frameworks the students have been exposed to. Hence, the students will have to do a lot of thinking and reflection in the absence of case facts. By the end of the course, the students should be able to conceptually formulate and implement on their own, with or without the use of guru frameworks, where they are in a position to create their own models to suit their specific needs.
Textbook: Fundamentals of Financial Management 10th ed. by Brigham & Houston (B&H)
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