Giordano Strategy
McCombs School of Business MAN 374 (04458)
University of Texas at Austin Fall 2007
GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
COURSE OVERVIEW
Joe Giordano jagintx@austin.rr.com Office: CBA 3.246
Text: Porter, Michael E. Competitive Strategy. (New York: Free Press, 1998).
Office Hours: Tuesday or Thursday by Appointment. Contact in class or through e-mail to arrange time.
Course Description
Perspective and Themes This course is about the creation and maintenance of a long-term vision for the organization. This means that it is concerned with both the determination of strategic direction and the management of the strategic process. As such, it deals with the analytical, behavioral, and creative aspects of business simultaneously.
The course is organized around six themes in strategic management: the role of the general manager, the components of business strategy, corporate strategy development, divisional-level strategy development, managing strategic change, and the development of general managers.
Our perspective in this course is that of the general manager whose responsibility is the long-term health of the entire firm or a major division. The key tasks involved in general management include the detection of and adaptation to environmental change; the procurement and allocation of resources; the integration of activities across subparts of the organizations; and, at the most senior levels, the determination of purpose and the setting of corporate direction.
General managers, from our perspective, are managers who are in the position to make strategic decisions for the firm. Note that such managers are not “generalists” in the sense that they need to know a little bit of everything, but not very much of anything. To be effective, general managers need to have in-depth understanding of the generic problems in all the relevant functional areas. Furthermore, they must be able to deal with problems and issues at the level of the
University of Texas at Austin Fall 2007
GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
COURSE OVERVIEW
Joe Giordano jagintx@austin.rr.com Office: CBA 3.246
Text: Porter, Michael E. Competitive Strategy. (New York: Free Press, 1998).
Office Hours: Tuesday or Thursday by Appointment. Contact in class or through e-mail to arrange time.
Course Description
Perspective and Themes This course is about the creation and maintenance of a long-term vision for the organization. This means that it is concerned with both the determination of strategic direction and the management of the strategic process. As such, it deals with the analytical, behavioral, and creative aspects of business simultaneously.
The course is organized around six themes in strategic management: the role of the general manager, the components of business strategy, corporate strategy development, divisional-level strategy development, managing strategic change, and the development of general managers.
Our perspective in this course is that of the general manager whose responsibility is the long-term health of the entire firm or a major division. The key tasks involved in general management include the detection of and adaptation to environmental change; the procurement and allocation of resources; the integration of activities across subparts of the organizations; and, at the most senior levels, the determination of purpose and the setting of corporate direction.
General managers, from our perspective, are managers who are in the position to make strategic decisions for the firm. Note that such managers are not “generalists” in the sense that they need to know a little bit of everything, but not very much of anything. To be effective, general managers need to have in-depth understanding of the generic problems in all the relevant functional areas. Furthermore, they must be able to deal with problems and issues at the level of the