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BA 469 - Strategic Management and Business Policy

SUMMER 2008 (Sec 001 & 002)

 

[Sec 001 & 002 Schedule] [Course Requirements]

 

Professor: Manolete V. Gonzalez, Phd  

Email: gonzalezm@bus.oregonstate.edu

 Office:   B 224B

Office hours: Tues 2:00-3:30pm; Wed 9:00-10:30am

 

 

LEARNING OUTCOMES 

 

The purpose of this course is to provide students an understanding of the general manager’s function.  A general manager deals with strategic decisions, decisions that must consider the many parts of an organization, the organization in its totality, and with long-term consequences for the organization.  The aim of this course is to provide students with a broad overview of concepts in strategic management.  Strategic Management provides students a number of frameworks and models to frame strategic decisions, understand and analyze the global, macro-environment, the industry environment, and firm-level resources.  At the end of this course, a student should be able to think strategically, as opposed to a functional orientation; a student should be able to identify the strategic imperatives facing an organization and formulate creative and innovative strategies that are consistent with realities faced by the organization within the context of its external environment.  These skills will reflect the assimilation of functional expertise obtained in other classes in the business core. 

 

The learning outcomes for this course are:

1.      develop the ability to discern the difference between causes and symptoms of strategic problems

2.      develop skills in using strategic assessment tools to identify company wide problems

3.      develop skills in determining company wide strategy

4.      develop an awareness of the impact of external factors on business strategy

5.      understand the strategic challenges a business organization must address as a result of the foregoing analysis

6.      understand the difficulties, realities, etc. associated with formulating and implementing appropriate responses to these challenges,

7.      communicate ideas and principles coherently to a business-related audience through both oral and written mediums

 

Mastery of these learning outcomes will depend on how a student meets the demands of the class.  There will be opportunities to work within a group of students, but there is no substitute for individual effort.  A roadmap will be provided as to how you can master these learning outcomes, e.g. class schedules, lectures, assignments, etc.  This roadmap will create the conditions and provide situations that will hopefully facilitate a student’s learning, and establish the methods by which we can determine whether you have mastered the learning outcomes.


 

E-mail Communication: All students registered for business courses have an assigned e-mail address on the College of Business computer system.   If you are not familiar with the system, signs in the Hewlett-Packard Computer Lab (Bexell 112) explain how to access your account.  Also, if you prefer to use your ONID e-mail address, Bexell lab assistants can explain how to have mail addressed to @bus.orst.edu automatically forwarded to your ONID address.   I may communicate outside of class using e-mail; it is important to check your e-mail regularly.  

 

TEXT

 

Thompson, A. A., Strickland, A. J., & Gamble, J. E. 15th ed. Crafting & Executing Strategy; The Quest for Competitive Advantage. Mc-Graw Hill/Irwin (2007)

 

COURSE PREREQUISITES

 

Students taking BA 469 should have senior standing and have taken BA 340, BA 350, BA 352, BA 357, and BA 390.  We will draw on your knowledge of concepts in these courses. 

 

LEARNING PROCESS

 

Case Analysis.  The traditional approach to teaching Strategic Management and Business Policy is through the analysis of business cases.  There will be at least 8 cases assigned in this course and are listed in the course schedule.  It is expected that students will read and analyze the case assigned for a particular day before coming to class.  The assessment of students’ mastery of the learning outcomes described above will be partly based on written assignments based on these cases, participation in case discussions during class, and coverage of these case discussions in quizzes. Written assignments are described in the Course Requirements and Report Instructions files which can be found in the BA 469 page of the COB website (click on Academic Requirements, then go to Course Materials.)

 

Lectures.  The theoretical concepts in strategic management will be covered through assigned readings and lectures covering specific chapters.  For classes with scheduled lectures, students are expected to have read the assigned chapter prior to coming to class.   These include reviewing figures, illustrations, and other aids to learning that form part of the chapter.  During class, the content of each chapter will be explained through lecture, class discussion, and in-class exercises.   

 

Quizzes.  There will be at least 3 quizzes to evaluate a student’s mastery of strategic analysis tools and concepts covered in the assigned readings and material discussed in class.  These will include multiple choice and short essay questions.  There will be no Final Exam.