MBAA 676 Crafting Business Strategy (4)

This course introduces a process for conducting strategic analyses (including SWOT) that integrates and extends what has been learned in previous trimesters. The process is applied using case studies of different business organizations in different industries, giving students an opportunity to assess strategic decision making in a variety of environments. Students examine the differences in business, corporate, industry, and global strategies as well as strategic options within each type of strategy. They develop a solid understanding of how to create strategic options and craft a grand strategy, which embodies, integrates, and synthesizes multiple types of strategies. It examines the link between strategy and structure and explores design choices for building and sustaining core competencies to effectively and efficiently implement the strategy under differing external conditions. Issues relating to management of alliances and partnerships are examined. Concepts and tools for managing external and internal interrelationships and cross-impacts of businesses, functions, and processes are introduced. Included is a study of how organizational structure and processes progressively evolve during their stages of development from start-up entrepreneurships to mature, complex global systems.