2021-2022 Catalogue

Strategic Management

Strategic management involves decisions about the set of goal-directed, coordinated commitments and actions that a firm undertakes to gain and sustain superior performance relative to competitors. It includes diagnosing the competitive challenges facing a firm, formulating strategies (including corporate, business, international, etc) to address the competitive challenges, and devising a coherent set of actions to implement a firm’s strategy. 

Knowledge of strategic management complements students’ mastery of particular functional or operational areas, and allows graduates to understand how their functional roles and activities in a firm relate to the firm’s overall strategic objectives.

Minor Objectives
Upon successful completion of this minor*, the student will be able to:

1. Relate and discuss the potential functions and applications of management processes in the areas of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, leading, and controlling.
2. Identify and examine the needs of today’s managers in assessing and implementing strategies used in the management of information technology in the workplace.
3. Recognize and describe issues as they relate to organizational behavior in terms of individual, group/team, and overall organization.
4. Examine and explore potential management problems and opportunities and discuss possible strategies and applications to be used in addressing such managerial concerns.
5. Recognize and discuss ethical conduct and the social responsibility of business in the lives of internal and external stakeholders.
6. Analyze the external and internal environmental forces affecting business organizations that affect the effectiveness of managers in today’s competitive and global organizations.

*Strategic Management is also offered as a concentration for Business Administration majors; please see the Business Administration page of the course catalogue for additional details.

Required Courses (18 hours)
Each course listed is 3 hours.
•    BUS 315: Principles of Management
•    BUS 317: Organizational Behavior
•    BUS 330: Strategic Management
•    BUS 332: International Business Management
•    ACC/BUS 333: Business Information Systems
•    BUS 350: Entrepreneurship

Course Descriptions

BUS 315: Principles of Management
Goal: To understand the basic concepts, theories, and research in management and to apply them to practical management problems.
Content: Examination of the principal functional areas of management-planning, organizing, directing, and controlling as well as environmental, legal, economic, ethical, statistical, international, and career issues.
Taught: Fall
Prerequisite: None
Credit: 3 hours

BUS 317: Organizational Behavior
Goal: To examine the three components of an organization - the individual, the group, and the system.
Content: This course will study the relationships of these components, the effects on decisions, and the strategies to employ to best meet organizational needs.
Taught: Fall
Prerequisite: None
Credit: 3 hours

BUS 330: Strategic Management
Goal: To explore the processes and models managers use to make short and long run strategic decisions in corporations.
Content: Students study environmental scanning (both external and internal), strategy formulation (strategic or long-range planning), strategy implementation, and evaluation and control.  Strategic management will also incorporate the integrative commit of business policy with a heavier environmental and strategic emphasis.
Taught: Spring, alternate years
Prerequisite: BUS 315
Credit: 3 hours

BUS 332: International Business Management
Goal: To investigate the economic, social, and political organizations that have an influence on managing international businesses and/or investments.  Students may analyze customer-driven strategies, quality of global competitive environments, global logistics, and international business activities in differing political, legal, economic, cultural environments, and other pertinent topics.
Content: The course will cover the changing nature of the global economy in differing political, economic, legal, and cultural differences throughout the world. Ethical issues trade flow, foreign direct investment, regional economic agreements, global monetary system, World Bank, strategic alliances, marketing mix, product development, performance appraisal systems and supply-chain management are among the topics which may be analyzed.
Taught: Occasionally
Prerequisite: None
Credit: 3 hours
 
BUS 333: Business Information Systems
Goal: To understand how firms plan, build, and implement systems to process accounting information necessary to the business.
Content: A study of the fundamentals of business data processing techniques and systems. Technological advances and their effects on business are discussed.
Taught: Fall, alternate years
Prerequisite: ACC 201
Cross-listed as: ACC 333
Credit: 3 hours

BUS 350: Entrepreneurship
Goal: To awaken the student's entrepreneurial spirit and to make the student aware of the significant role that entrepreneurial thinking plays in the successful development of new enterprises whether they be for-profit or non-profit organizations.
Content: Class discussions and textbooks readings will explore entrepreneurial characteristics, entrepreneurial opportunities, and effective small business planning and management systems. Because the business plan serves as a model and framework for entrepreneurial thinking, the student will create a personal and informal business plan for a business or non-profit organization of their choosing.
Taught: Occasionally
Prerequisite: None
Credit: 3 hours