BUS-J 501 Developing Strategic Capabilities

• 7 weeks
• 1.5 credits
• Prerequisite(s): MBA Core, for those not in the MBA program, graduate student status and instructor's permission

Most of the companies around the world are facing a true revolution, calling into question the way they lead their organizations to deal with ever-changing environments, intense competition, and changing customer demands. This organizational revolution has to be managed, and thus today’s managers are required to possess important strategic analysis capabilities, including a strong ability to understand the current reality and employ a set of strategic skills to facilitate the introduction of changes in resource allocations and incentive programs. Underlying this process is the ability to strategically solve macro and micro level business problems – often in ambiguous situations.

The study of strategic management is dedicated to providing analysis methodologies and frameworks to assist in that problem-solving effort. This course seeks to provide students with a clear understanding of the context companies are facing today, as well as with the basic tools needed to evaluate and change organizational capabilities. The goal is to equip the student with a portfolio of strategic analysis frameworks, the same tools used by the top management teams of today’s leading organizations.

During the course, students will:

• Learn the top frameworks in use by leaders of the top companies in the world.
• Understand key strategy frameworks such as: Scientific Method, Blindspots, RBV, Stakeholder Analysis, Competitor Analysis/Benchmarking, Balanced Scorecard, GE/McKinsey Business Screen, McKinsey 7S and Porter Diamond
• Apply the frameworks in current case studies and the latest corporate news.
• Work in teams to analyze strategic issues.