3.10801 PRINCIPLES OF STRATEGY

This course equips students with an understanding of the characteristics of strategy and the elements of strategic planning, together with a consideration of how strategy is formulated in organizations, both private and public. It considers that while strategic planning is that set of decision making which leads to the development of an effective strategy, a strategy itself is a unified, comprehensive, and integrated plan designed to ensure that the basic objectives of the enterprise are achieved. The course also traces the debate between proponents of planning-based definitions of strategy and those who suggest that strategies can emerge from a firm without any formal plan. Thus strategy is a 'plan', 'ploy', 'pattern', 'position' and 'perspective' or Weltanschauung (a way to view the world). The course then considers the key players involved in strategy formulation and outlines the key strategy making tasks, namely (a) developing a strategic vision, (b) setting objectives and (c) crafting a strategy.

Contact hours: Four hours per week.

Text:

Thompson, A. A. Jr. & Strickland III, A. J., 1998, Strategic management: concepts and cases, 10th edn., Irwin McGraw-Hill, Boston, Massachusetts