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This course examines business and corporate strategies and requires you to assume the role of a general manager. General Managers have to cope with tremendous complexity, uncertainty, and inadequate information. The focus throughout is on strategic management - the process of choosing and defining purposes and objectives, formulating and implementing a viable strategy, and monitoring strategic performance. The course is predicated on the thesis that the role of the policy course in the business school curriculum is to develop an ability to see the enterprise as a whole and to understand how and why the various functions of the business are interdependent and need to be coordinated. Hence, the thrust of the course is the organization in its totality - the environment in which it operates, and its internal administrative activities. The emphasis is on the kinds of problems and issues that affect the success of the entire organization. A serious attempt is made to elaborate on the general applicability of the strategy-policy disciplines to all sizes and types of organizations, although the major emphasis will focus on profit-oriented enterprises operating in a competitive environment. An important requirement of a general manager's job is the ability to think in a cross- functional and holistic manner. Very often, decisions that are optimal for an individual business unit or department are not in the best interests of the whole firm. Creativity and innovation are critical to achieve success; as to follow often-traveled strategic paths is unlikely to result in a superior performance. Creativity can be exercised in both analysis as well as implementation. The orientation is consistently pragmatic and managerial. By use of the case method and the consulting project, students are placed in managerial roles where they can apply the concept of strategy in characteristically management situations.