In this course, we will study the strategic management process – the set of decisions, commitments, and actions guided by a firm’s top managers, taken to help the firm achieve competitiveness. The aim of the course is to introduce you to concepts and tools to help you understand how strategies are developed and managed, and how competitive advantage may be created and sustained. We will take the perspective of a general manager to examine complex, multifunctional, enterprise-wide problems and situations that rarely have clear or straightforward solutions. Because you are studying in London, we will draw heavily on cases and business events that involve UK and European companies. At the end of the course, you should be able to look at any organization — small or large, public or private, for profit or not-for-profit, domestic or multinational, single business or multi-business, new or old — and analyze why it is successful or not so successful to identify value-creating decisions and actions that might be taken to develop competitive advantage.
Please note that some London Center: Whitman Core off-site visits cannot be scheduled during regular class meeting times. These visits are integral to the class and mandatory. Specific dates will be provided at the beginning of the semester.
Course restrictions: Open only to Syracuse School of Management majors as part of the London Center: Whitman Core program and taken concurrently with MGT 248 and SOM 354. Sophomore standing required.
This course has an associated course fee. See the London Course Fees page for more information.
Department: Management
Location: London
Semester: Spring
Credits: 3