Introduction

We'll start into the body of BA 422W with an introduction to strategic management. To accomplish this, we'll explore the concept of strategy as a discipline and make the case that sustainable competitive advantage is critical to the success of any business. We'll also examine the strategic planning process and hopefully will quickly come to the realization that strategic planning never ends!

At this point in your studies, you've already completed MGMT 301 and gotten a firm foundation in the basic management principles of planning, controlling, organizing, and leading. While strategic management certainly emphasizes planning, strategy involves more than compiling business plans. Rest assured that this course will go far beyond a rehash of the “planning” functions in MGMT 301. Strategy as a discipline is challenging, interactive, visionary, and compelling, and I sincerely hope you'll find it as engaging as I do!

Learning Objectives

• Define strategic management and understand the critical importance of business strategy to enabling a company's success.
• Explain the strategic management process and the cyclicality of the strategic process.
• Recognize the role of effective management at all levels of the organization toward developing and executing winning strategies.
• Describe the impact of effective leadership on the strategy creation and execution process.
• Appreciate the critical importance of finely crafted vision and mission statements toward creating strategic structure.
• Identify major stakeholder groups and explain the importance of addressing their constituencies when creating and implementing strategy.