Welcome!
Welcome to the Capstone course that helps you integrate all the knowledge you have gained about the various aspects of a company / organization!
Course Overview
You will have two projects going on simultaneously in this class to achieve the Learning Objectives.
1. Learn concepts from the Textbook: Read the book chapters, take notes, submit them weekly, then take the Chapter Practice quiz. After three chapters (Chapters 1,2, and 3) there will be a quiz for credit. Then you go to the next three chapters (Chapters 5,6 and 7) and repeat the process. Finally you read two chapters (Chapters 10 and 9 in that order) and take the quiz on those two chapters.
2. Business Strategy Game: Register on the BSG Online website using the code you will get on the Discussion Board, download and read the Player’s Guide, familiarize yourself with the game, conceptualize the dynamics of the company and the industry, plan your strategy as a team and make decisions. Once the game is run, you can access reports right away to see what happened, analyze the trends, adjust decisions for the next round in light of your strategy and past year results so that the company can perform well and achieve objectives set by investors.
These two projects are designed to achieve the following learning objectives:
- Explain the Fundamental concepts and theories of strategic management.
- Analyze and evaluate a company’s situation using concepts of environmental analysis and internal analysis.
- Synthesize recommendations for future strategies/courses of action for the company using all of the knowledge and analytical skills learned in this course and the business program.
- Apply written, oral, and electronic communication skills.
1. Acquisition of disciplinary knowledge: You will have to read the textbook, and think critically about current concepts in Strategic Management of organizations / companies and illustrations of the concepts. We will focus on eight chapters that provide you with the essential concepts. You are of course welcome to read the other chapters to expand your knowledge.
To learn concepts well, students need to read their book at a regular and measured pace. To ensure this process, there are weekly Chapter Notes assignments where students will submit their notes.
Students also have access to Practice Chapter Quizzes to test their understanding and retention.
2. Assessment of Disciplinary Knowledge: You will take quizzes on all relevant chapters, thus your ability to apply that knowledge is being assessed on a regular basis.
3. Application of Theories and Concepts for Analysis of Company situation and Synthesis of action steps: You will play a Simulation Game to learn about the competitive dynamics of an industry, and how managerial decisions shape the competitive strategy of a company. The simulation is like a living case where your decisions will have an impact on your team’s performance. You will have to perform necessary analysis of industry and company reports, base or revise plans as needed, and make decisions about the various functions in the company. The analysis, planning and decisions must be of high quality if the company is to prosper and if the team is to receive a good grade.
4. Application of concepts to Teamwork: One student alone could theoretically manage the company in the Simulation Game. Use of teams allows students to observe and apply knowledge of Individual and Group dynamics, to learn or apply principles of Projects Management for a team, and to discover their own leadership potential. Students evaluate participation of their team members, and this evaluation will be part of the individual’s grade. As in real life jobs, non-performing team members can be fired by the team, and it will probably lead to a D or F grade for the fired student.
5. Refinement of Presentation Skills: Student teams make presentations about how their team analyzed, planned and made decisions in the simulation. This activity is related to Learning Objective #4, and helps students develop a facility for articulating their ideas and analysis. Students learn to think ahead about how they will track their assumptions, expectations (forecast) of competitor actions, actual competitor actions and impact on performance, and changes to their competitive strategy. This is an extremely important skill for success in any managerial career.
6. All these activities together help students understand the complex nature of strategic management and manage a company strategically for long term performance.
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