Strategy Formulation

Strategy Formulation and Implementation

MBA 980

Spring, 2009

Professor Jay Dial Office 860 Fisher Hall

Email dial.12@osu.edu Phone 292-5438

Reading packet There is a required reading packet available at Uniprint-Tuttle Park that includes course readings, cases and lecture notes for classroom discussion. This is copyrighted material and each student must purchase an individual copy of the reading packet.

Additional highly recommended readings will be selected from Management Skills: A Jossey-Bass Reader (ISBN # 0-7879-7341-6). It is available from both BarnesandNoble.com and Amazon.com.

Course Overview

This course is about the creation and maintenance of long term value for the organization. It is concerned with both the determination of the strategic direction of the firm and the management of the strategic process. The course builds on prior studies of functional areas while recognizing that most real business problems are inherently multi-functional in nature. Thus, this course employs an explicitly integrative approach in which we adopt the role of the general manager who has the responsibility for the long-term health of the entire organization. The course would be taught primarily through the case method of instruction.

Course Objectives

1. Understand the nature of strategic competitiveness and develop the ability to analyze the competitive environment facing a firm, assess the attractiveness of the industry and isolate potential sources of competitive advantage and disadvantage.

2. Develop business level strategies by defining the type of advantage sought, scope of operations and activities required to deliver the chosen strategy. Assess the likely sustainability of firm strategies and competitive positions.

3. Discriminate among the types of data that general managers need to evaluate alternative scenarios. Make quantitative assessments of strategic alternatives and develop logical, coherent and persuasive...