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Swot Analysis

Full-time MBA CORE, 2006
Topic: Strategy

Faculty

Thomas Hellmann hellmann@sauder.ubc.ca 604-822-8476 Office: HA 266

Overview
There are important performance differences across companies. These differences are caused by both industry effects and firm-specific effects. This course is designed to increase your understanding of these effects so that the firm or organization you will work for will be a superior performer.

Strategic management is concerned with the management of the whole company. Thus, strategy requires looking at an organization from different functional perspectives and deciding which are the most critical.

Regardless of what role you envision yourself holding in an organization, a solid understanding of strategy is essential if you are going to contribute to major decisions. This component of the CORE will teach you how to analyze the internal and external environments of firms, generate strategic alternatives and evaluate them.
Learning Outcomes
Students will learn the basic concepts of business strategy and will be able to apply them. The main learning outcomes are the ability to conduct comprehensive strategic analysis of a business and to improve strategic thinking.

Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
1. Evaluate the current performance of an organization from a strategic perspective, describe the current strategy of the organization and write a strategy statement
2. Analyze the external environment of an organization, including the ability to provide an industry overview, conduct Porter’s five forces, competitor analysis and dynamic industry analysis.
3. Analyze all aspects of the internal environment, including activities and resources
4. Determine whether the firm has a sustainable competitive advantage
5. Generate and evaluate strategic alternatives

Readings and Cases
• Michael E. Porter, "What is Strategy?" Harvard Business Review, November-December 1996, 61-78.
• The...