MGT 795 Strategic Management and Ethics is designed to provide an integrated examination of traditional and emerging strategic and ethical business management issues. It explores the means by which the overall direction and strategy of the organization is constructed, established, implemented, and revised. Focus is on analyzing, creating, and implementing strategy within the context of the firm's resources and capabilities.
Coursework develops a perspective of the organization as a whole adapting to its internal and external (primarily competitive and market) environments, as well as corporate social responsibility. Explicit examination is given to the responsibilities, skills, and perspectives required of senior executives in the organization. This course is the capstone course of the MBA program and is recommended to be taken at the end of your program.
Coursework Highlights
Coursework is designed for strategy development and plan implementation. Here are examples of some assignments you may complete as part of MGT 795 Strategic Management and Ethics.
- Test and share your knowledge of the coursework by taking weekly quizzes and participating in discussion boards with posts and responses.
- Identify three ethical challenges, along with resolutions, that your assigned company will face during the implementation of strategies you are proposing.
- Create a strategic plan and video presentation for an assigned, publically traded company. Highlight key elements of formulation, implementation, and evaluation to motivate potential investors to purchase stock.
Weekly Themes
Each week of this course focuses on a different theme. Your group discussions, coursework, and final strategic plan and video presentation will align with the week’s theme as well as its primary objectives. All weekly course material is proposed and subject to change.
Week 1 – Strategy, the Business Model, and the Process
During the introduction week, you’ll receive an overview of strategic planning, as well as mission and vision statements. Among many things, you’ll be able to:
- Explain the strategic management process.
- Identify key terms used in strategic management.
- Discuss the role that mission and vision statements play in the strategic management process.
- Draft mission and vision statements.
- Evaluate possible alternatives for maintaining competitive advantage.
Week 2 – Evaluating the Firm's Environment
In week two, focus shifts toward the external and internal forces at play within a company. Among many things, you’ll learn to:
- Explain the 10 major external forces that affect organizations.
- Identify the basic functions of management, marketing, finance and accounting, production and operations, research and development, and management information systems.
- Gather data for a competitive profile matrix, and develop EFE and IFE assessment matrices.
- Analyze quantitative data and discuss the role that it plays in the formulation of a strategic plan.
- Describe cost/benefit and value chain analysis, and benchmarking as strategic-management tools.
Week 3 – The Five Generic Competitive Strategies and Strategic Moves
Throughout week three, an exploration of objectives and strategies occurs – from the common to the criminal. Among many things, you’ll be able to:
- Discuss the value of establishing long-term financial and strategic objectives.
- Evaluate data and assess which strategies are most appropriate to pursue.
- Explore Porter’s five generic strategies and identify 16 types of business strategies.
- Describe strategic management in nonprofit, governmental, and small organizations.
- Develop decision-making models for strategy choice.
Week 4 – International and Multi-business Firms
During the midpoint week of the course, the strategic analytical tools available here and abroad are examined. Among many things, you’ll learn to:
- Describe a three-stage framework for choosing among alternative strategies.
- Develop a Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) Matrix, Strategic Position and Action Evaluation (SPACE) Matrix, and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix.
- Create an Internal-External (IE) Matrix and Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM).
- Evaluate important behavioral, political, ethical, and social responsibility considerations in strategy analysis and choice.
- Analyze the role of organizational culture in strategic analysis and choice.
Week 5 – Business Ethics and The Good Corporate Citizen
As you progress to week five, you’ll discuss all the elements involved in managing successful strategic change. Among many things, you’ll be able to:
- Discuss the challenges inherent in strategy implementation.
- Develop annual objectives and policies as part of the strategies to be implemented.
- Analyze the relationship between production/operations and strategy implementation.
- Evaluate methods by which a firm can effectively link performance and pay to strategies.
- Explain how to modify an organizational culture to support new strategies.
Week 6 – Strategy Capable Organizations
In week six, you’ll take a deeper examination of the creation and implementation of a strategic plan. Among many things, you’ll learn to:
- Create effective perceptual maps to position rival firms and identify market segments.
- Explain market segmentation and product positioning as strategy-implementation tools.
- Discuss procedures for determining the worth of a business.
- Develop projected financial statements to reveal the impact of strategy recommendations.
- Perform EPS-EBIT analysis to evaluate the attractiveness of debt versus stock.
- Integrate business analytics, data mining, and management information systems into strategies.
Week 7 – Structuring the Firm to Promote Strategy
Throughout this week, the evaluation of strategy success is reviewed in terms of timeline, effectiveness, and balanced scorecards. Among many things, you’ll be able to:
- Propose a practical framework for evaluating strategies.
- Develop options for contingency planning in strategy evaluation.
- Explain the role of auditing in strategy evaluation.
- Describe and create a balanced scorecard.
- Identify three 21st century challenges in strategic management.
Week 8 – Effective Execution of Corporate Strategy
During the last week, you’ll examine business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability, along with strategic factors of international operations. Among many things, you’ll learn to:
- Develop company enforcement strategies to meet ethics and regulatory compliance.
- Discuss why whistle-blowing is important to encourage in a firm.
- Compare and contrast laws and practices pertaining to bribery in the transnational setting.
- Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of entering global markets.
- Identify management challenges unique to U.S. firms and multinational organizations.
Get Started
To learn more about this course or other courses in the online MBA program from the University of Saint Mary, call 877-307-4915 to speak with an admissions advisor or request more information.