College of Wooster
Department of Economics
Spring 2007
Prof. J. Sell

Course Objectives:

• To highlight important concepts that you have learned in previous economics and business courses and to show you how they apply in real-world settings.
• To demonstrate that business problems are cross-functional and that solutions to them require strategic thinking.
• To encourage you to be precise and specific in your thinking and to help you separate the important from the incidental.
• To develop a set of analytical tools to enable you to evaluate complex situations.
• To improve your presentation skills and to give you confidence in expressing yourself in front of others.

By the end of the first week of class, each student is expected to send me an e-mail from this link confirming that s/he has found, read, and accepts the materials explained in this and linked documents

Prerequisites: Business Economics 119, Economics 110 and 202, at least one (preferably more than one) other Business Economics elective course.

Text: Fred David, Strategic Managment: Concepts and Cases 11th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2007)

Business Economics 260 (Strategic Management) is an upper-level course the focuses on how firms formulate, implement, and evaluate strategies that pursue the firm's goals within a broader economic, social, and political context. You will be challenged to use all of the knowledge that you have acquired in other Business and Economics course work to develop effective strategies for different organizations. Your primary responsibility in the course is to make objective and reasoned strategic decisions and to justify them through oral and written communication using appropriate economic and business-oriented analyses.

The first part of the course (approximately the first seven weeks of the semester) consists of interactive lectures on strategic-management techniques and a review of some major accounting, finance, econmic, and marketing tools. Special attention is given to the integration of business concepts and strategies. The remainder of the course consists of a series of case studies, described separately, in which teams of students take turns analyzing real business situations using the tools developed in the class. Teams for this purpose will be assigned early in the course as will the specific case assignments.

An online Reading and Assignment list is the official syllabus for this course. It will be updated frequently, so you should visit it at least once per week for the latest information. For the first part of the course, the syllabus contains reading assignments and exercises. During the second part of the course, the syllabus lists case studies and the teams responsible for leading them.

Evaluation: There will be two examinations during the first half of the course, each counting 25% of your final grade. Case presentations count 35% and case quizzes (for those not presenting), 10%. During the first part of the course, homework will be periodically collected and graded for the remaining 5%. An optional comprehensive final examination will be given during the final examination period which, for this course, is Monday, May 7, 2007 at 2:00pm. If you elect to take this examination, the grade that you receive on it will replace the lower of the two midterm examination grades. There will be no make-up quizzes or examinations. A student who misses a midterm examination for a legitimate reason is required to take the final examination. You are expected to abide by the "Code of Academic Integrity" as printed in the Scot's Key. This is required reading by the second class period. Address questions about the Code's applicability to this course to me by the end of the first week of class. Teamwork in case studies aside, any work that you submit for evaluation must be your own work, done independently. Otherwise, it will be considered plagiarism and dealt with appropriately.  This may include a grade of "F" on the assignment or for the course and additional penalties specified by the College. Your enrollment in this course beyond the first week signifies that you understand the material in this syllabus and agree to be bound by its terms.

Office Hours and Contact Methods

rev. 10 January 2007 by Jws.