Challenging and rewarding careers can be fashioned by individuals who seek top leadership positions in business or who seek to be valued consultants to businesses and other organizations. Prospective top leaders and consultants must prepare themselves to see and evaluate the “big picture” and think and act strategically. Leaders develop analytical and strategic thinking skills early in their careers. Even in their first jobs, before they are responsible for setting strategies, they recognize how they can contribute to successful implementation of the firm’s strategy, and lead others toward its accomplishment. Later, they participate in developing the strategy and play significant roles in implementing it. Consultants engage in problem solving with their client firms, always with an understanding of the strategic implications of what they are doing, and ultimately may help firms develop and implement strategies. The concentration in Strategic Management prepares students for such careers. That is why we say Strategic Management is a career, not a job.

The environment of firms has been changing in dramatic ways. The strategic challenges are exciting and endless. Globalization is a reality, technological change is sweeping over all sectors of the world economy, industries are consolidating, new industries are forming, organizational learning is an imperative, and a great deal of business development is occurring through alliances and acquisitions. All these challenges and more make strategic management essential to navigate the changing competitive landscape and chart ways to continually add value. It is an exciting field, and one where a great deal of new knowledge is being developed regularly. The faculty in the Department of Strategic Management and Organization are actively involved in discovery of knowledge in this field, and will share it with you through the courses offered in this concentration.

The concentration in Strategic Management may be taken as a primary concentration or as a dual concentration, complementing a concentration in another area. Strategic Management as a primary concentration is an ideal choice for students who are already employed and on the move upward, for selected individuals who already have an extensive business background, or for the growing number of students who wish to launch careers in management consulting. For others who seek to enter management careers through functional paths such as marketing, finance, operations, or information technology, Strategic Management would be excellent as a dual concentration. The flexibility in the concentration enables students to design a program of study that would add vital strategic management knowledge for jobs as diverse as brand management, investment banking, financial analysis, plant management, and product development.

Concentration Requirements
For a primary concentration a minimum of 12 credits is required, of which a minimum of 6 of those credits must be selected from the list of concentration courses shown below. The remainder may come from the list of Strategic Management electives below, or from other courses on the concentration list.

For a dual concentration a minimum of 8 credits is required, of which a minimum of 4 of those credits must be selected from the list of concentration courses, and the remainder may come from the list of electives, or from other concentration courses.

Course Notes

• Some of the Strategic Management courses (MGMT 6004, 6050, 6051, 6070, 6084, 6110, 6305) appear on the menu of courses that fulfill the Economics requirement, the Managing People requirement, the Entrepreneurship concentration, or the E-business concentration. The policy is that up to one course (2 or 3 credits) may, if the student wishes, be counted toward both a Strategic Management Concentration requirement and another MBA core requirement, Entrepreneurship concentration requirement.
• Courses that are cross-listed MGMT/ENTR may count either towards an Entrepreneurship Concentration OR a Management Concentration, but not both.
• To enter the concentration a student must have completed or at least enrolled in MBA 6300, the core required course in Strategy.
• Strategic Leadership, Mgmt 6034, will not be offered 2002-2003.
• Mgmt 6004 is a pre-requisite for Mgmt 6035.