1.1: Definition
This video introduces strategic management, starting with a traditional approach. It leads you through the major concepts that will follow in the course. Do not be overwhelmed by the scope of strategic management. You may want to have the course syllabus in front of you and note the flow of the course as you watch the video.
The videos in this course come from a wide range of business experts, scholars, and organizational leaders. Therefore, you might hear the narrators encourage you to participate in activities outside of our course. Also, the narrators might offer you access to other resources you might consider using as a helpful tool to expand your knowledge of strategic management.
Pay attention to the critical concepts stressed in the instructions included with each activity as you progress through the course.
Before you watch this video, write down your definition of strategy. Pay attention to the role of strategy in achieving organizational goals. This professor has recorded many informational lectures on strategy that we cannot specifically reference in this course because of copyright issues. However, as you continue through the materials in this course, you are encouraged to do your own independent research to access other items by the professors with presentation styles that are meaningful to you.
Consider this high-level introduction to Strategic Management and its applications. Outline or take notes as you read, and pay attention to the key points identified in each section. Consider the three-legged stool explanation 5 minutes into the Kryscynski video you just viewed, especially the summary. How do the three legs compare with this book's three main processes of strategic business management?
1.1.1: Strategy
Watch this video, which challenges strategic managers to ask the right questions to build a winning business strategy. Start thinking about the metrics, strengths, weaknesses, inputs, and outputs you will need to think about your company's performance.
1.1.2: Markets
Read this short article and study the diagram. This is a good reference item identifying and defining the four basic market structures. In developing a strategy, one needs first to determine the structure the firm is competing in.
This video defines and explains competition in each market structure from an economic viewpoint. In which structure might uniqueness be the most important? In which structure might uniqueness be the least important?
As you watch this video, pay attention to the terms you've heard in your economics courses. Pause the video and review any terms that are unfamiliar to you. Can you name at least one business or service in your community that is an example of (near) perfect competition?
Watch this video for a better understanding of monopolies. Consider the current evolution of these two structures (perfect competition vs. monopoly) in an expanding global-enterprise environment.
1.1.3: Firms
In microeconomics, the purpose of every business is to make a profit. In business strategy management, this profit motive is often opposed by organization goals that bend towards social welfare or the firm's reputation. Read the section on the firm's pricing objectives. Can you identify a business that appears to promote a non-profit business goal, such as being a "green" organization?
Read this section, which serves as an overview of the strategic planning process from a market plan perspective. Various stakeholders may look to a firm to maximize different objectives. Think about how firms are in a competitive marketplace and how they can survive and thrive long term.