Strategic Management
COB 487
Spring, 2013
Instructor: Dr. Matt Rutherford
Email: rutherma@jmu.edu
Phone: 568-8777
Office: 511 Zane Showker Hall
Office Hours: Monday 1:30–5:00 and Wednesday 3:30 – 5:00, or by appointment
Email policy: I am generally available during working hours Mon - Fri
Course info: M/W 5:05: Section 1, ZSH 108
Course Description: Strategic Management is unique in that it adopts the perspective of an upper level manager who has the ability to impact the strategic direction of his or her firm. This course will examine the many factors influencing firm performance, and will provide you with many tools that will allow you to better understand why we see such dramatic differences in firm performance. At its core, Strategy involves evaluating the opportunities and threats facing a firm in its external environment, understanding a firm’s internal resources and capabilities, and then developing strategies that will lead to enhanced firm performance. In particular, we will focus on issues such as industry analysis, understanding differences in organizational resources, business and corporate level strategy, strategic implementation, and corporate governance. Strategy is an integrative discipline, and we will thus also draw on some of the functional level expertise that you have acquired throughout your prior COB courses. It is my hope that you will find this course to be informative, challenging, and interesting.
Strategic Management (COB 487) Learning Objectives:
Overall: The purpose of strategic management is to help students think in a more systematic, integrated, and rigorous way about issues surrounding firm performance.
Specifically,
1. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the impact of external environment elements on business decisions and actions (e.g., Porter’s five forces, stakeholder analysis).
2. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the impact of internal organizational strengths...