Business 290         STRATEGIC THINKING

CATALOG COURSE DESCRIPTION: 
Examines the integrative role of the general manager as a strategist responsible for leading and managing a multi-functional business unit.  Develops a strategic perspective for decision-making under uncertainty; through analysis of the business environment, markets, competition and capabilities.  Includes a required comprehensive integrative project. 

REQUIRED TEXTS:

William E. Rothschild. Putting It All Together: A Guide to Strategic Thinking and Decision Making, (William E. Rothschild, 2002), ISBN 0-9720898-0-2 

William E. Rothschild, The Secret to GE’s Success, (McGraw-Hill, 2007), ISBN 0-07-147593-1 

COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

1. Ability to understand global market and industry dynamics
2. Ability to identify critical business factors for strategic decision making
3. Ability to correctly apply analytic methods to business decisions
4. Ability to present thorough, logical, coherent and integrated strategic analysis papers
5. Ability to write organized, editorially correct, professionally formatted and referenced reports

LEARNING OUTCOME ASSESSMENT: Evaluation of the Comprehensive Project Paper will assess the achievement of the above course      learning objectives.  Refer to the class handout of the form used in grading the paper.

COURSE GRADING: Your grade for this course will be determined by your grade on your Comprehensive Project Paper.  Grade adjustments may be made based on class participation and contribution.  

A short (one or two pages) written proposal outlining your project is due no later than the second Tuesday class meeting,   You are encouraged to get an earlier start by submitting your proposal any time by e-mail or delivery to my office.  If I see any problem with your plans or if we need to discuss something, I will contact you. 
 
Comprehensive Project: Purpose and Format:  The purpose of the comprehensive project is to fully demonstrate your ability to put together your MBA coursework in the various business functions.  Projects should be individual efforts, not group work.  You study project should ideally include analysis on the whole business field; that is, it should cover the functional fields (marketing, finance, operations, MIS, organizational behavior, etc.) in an integrative, comprehensive manner.  Your specific project may not include each and every functional area, but it must be cross-functional.  Single function projects, such as developing a compensation plan or analyzing a production line layout, would not be acceptable in meeting the comprehensive requirement.  If you have any doubts, let's talk about it.

The following frameworks usually work well as projects.  Other approaches may be acceptable as well, subject to approval at the proposal stage.
- A complete business or strategic plan for a business (unit)
- A strategic analysis of a specific market or industry
- A competitive analysis of the competition for a specific firm
- A comprehensive organizational analysis of a firm or business unit
- A complete, in-depth study of an important current business issue

Length:  There is no set number of pages required.  Appendices, attachments, tables and exhibits will add considerable length to the well-documented report.  Page count is not important in itself, as the quality of the content and quality of the presentation will determine to final grade evaluation.  In the past, papers have tended to average between 30-50 pages. Few have run longer, and few good papers have been much shorter.

Standards and Grading:  As befitting the importance of the comprehensive project in the MBA Program, your work must be of professional quality, neat, organized and correct in spelling and grammar.  In all respects, the written report should represent your best work.  Materials used from others' work must be properly cited.  You must receive a minimum grade of "B" on the written Comprehensive Project report in order to satisfy graduation requirements for the MBA degree.  Papers will be graded on the criteria of:  Content (clarity of analysis, use of analytic methods, breadth and depth of analysis, and integration) and Presentation (editorial correctness, references, format, writing style, and overall professional appearance).

Class preparation assignments (to be completed before class session): The following is a schedule for topic reading, along with assignment due dates.  Be prepared to adjust the pace and intensity of your preparation reading depending on your familiarity with the subjects.  Likewise, we may modify the topic coverage schedule listed below to allow for more or less time on any particular sections, depending upon our interests.

              Orientation: Class Structure, Procedures and Requirements
READ:    Putting It All Together:  Chapter 1and Epilogue (239-243)

Historic Analysis: Past, Present and Future
READ:    Putting It All Together:  Chapters 2 and 7

Strategic Analysis: Customers
READ:    Putting It All Together:  Chapter 3

Strategic Analysis: Industry and Competitors
READ:    Putting It All Together:  Chapters 4 and 5

Strategic Analysis: Own Company
READ:    Putting It All Together:  Chapter 6

Levels of Strategy: Investment/Corporate/Portfolio
READ:    Putting It All Together:  Chapter 8 

Levels of Strategy: Business/Functional/Management
READ:    Putting It All Together:  Chapters 9 and 11

Strategy Implementation and Improvement
READ:    Putting It All Together: Chapters 12 and 13
Secret to GE’s Success

Strategy Implementation and Improvement (continued)            
READ:  Secret to GE’s Success

Comprehensive Project Paper Due

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