SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Course Syllabus mba Strategy Capstone
MGMT 697 (4 credits)

INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION
Name: Dr. Marcus Castro
Location: Cal Tech Campus
Phone: (626) 353-0337
Email: Marcus_castro@redlands.edu

CATALOG DESCRIPTION
MGMT697W (4 credits): Capstone seminar integrating prior coursework within the context of strategy formulation and implementation.

COURSE OVERVIEW AND RATIONALE
Strategic management deals with the ways firms build and sustain superior competitive positions and achieve long-run profitability. Successful strategy design and implementation requires an understanding of the firm’s external environment and its internal resources and capabilities. It also requires an integrated view of the firm that spans functional areas such as operations, marketing, and finance. In this class, you will learn some frameworks, tools and techniques of making and implementing strategy. You will learn by doing, by taking the role of a general manager in the companies that we will do case studies on.

COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. Acquire familiarity with the principal concepts, frameworks, and techniques of strategic management
2. Gain expertise in applying these concepts, frameworks, and techniques in order to:
– understand the reasons for good or bad performance by an enterprise,
– generate strategy options for an enterprise,
– assess available options under conditions of imperfect knowledge,
– select the most appropriate strategy,
– recommend the best means of implementing the chosen strategy
3. Integrate the knowledge gained in previous and parallel courses
4. Develop your capacity as a general manager in terms of:
– an appreciation of the work of the general manager,
– the ability to view business problems from a general management perspective,
– the ability to develop original and innovative approaches to strategic problems,
– developing business judgment
5. Improve your skills of oral & written communication, and team work

MAJOR TOPICS
1. The concept of strategy
2. Fundamentals of strategic analysis
3. Environmental analysis: Industry analysis
4. Internal analysis: Resources and Capabilities
5. Business Level Strategies
6. Strategies in specific environments such as in emerging industries
7. Corporate strategy: diversification and vertical integration
8. Managing strategic change
9. Strategic management and sustainability

TEXTS AND RESOURCES

Grant, R. (2010). Contemporary strategy analysis: text and cases. (7th ed.). Blackwell Publishers. Paperback, ISBN: ISBN: 978-0-470-74709-4, ISBN-10: 0470747099,
The above is also available as an e-book. For details see this link: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470620382.html
E-book specifications: Contemporary Strategy Analysis: Text and Cases, Desktop Edition, 7th Edition. ISBN: 0136094945 Wiley Desktop Edition E-Book, 2010.
Online resources (free, optional):
For students: http://www.contemporarystrategyanalysis.com/studentassets.php
Citation Styles
Faculty may choose any recognized style for the correct and consistent citation of resources and must provide students with links to books or websites that provide details concerning their preferred style. Faculty may also instruct students to use an appropriate style of their own choice. Examples of appropriate styles include American Psychological Association (APA), Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA), Modern Language Association (MLA), and Turabian.

COURSE OBLIGATIONS
Case Analysis:
This course makes extensive use of cases. Students will post their answers in a Moodle forum and we will discuss cases in class. You will need to come to class with your posting uploaded and prepared to discuss the case. Questions are attached with the syllabus. For all responses, start with the most important ideas and support the idea with facts. However, you can add tables, figures, and charts.