MGT480

Textbook

Your course textbook can be accessed via the DART eBook link in the Getting Started module.

Textbook: Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases: Competitiveness and Globalization 

Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R. D., Hoskisson, R. E., & Harrison, J. S. (2024). Strategic management: Concepts and cases: Competitiveness and globalization (14th ed.). Cengage Learning Inc. 

Read Chapters: 1, 2, 3 

• Chapter 1 – Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness: This chapter is important to learn about how strategic management process drives competitiveness and returns for the company. The chapter covers how to analyze the external environment, explains how to compete in turbulent environments, and presents different models for applying strategic initiatives that are reviewed and applied with examples.   

• Chapter 2 – The External Environment: Opportunities, Threats, Industry Competition, and Competitor Analysis: This chapter explains how to examine the challenging and complex features of the external environment for a company. You will explore the three major parts of the external environment. The general environment has seven segments that will be explored. Chapter 2 also contains a mini case study (“Mini-Case Instacart Looks for New Ways to Succeed in a Rapidly Changing and Increasingly Competitive Environment). This is an interesting exploration of the company Instacart. Understanding how the company started and the external challenges it faced will allow you to gain insight for external analysis. Perhaps you know someone that provides services to Instacart customers.  

• Chapter 3 – The Internal Organization: Resources, Capabilities, Core Competencies, and Competitive Advantages: This chapter is important because it focuses on the core competencies of the organization. There are many significant core competencies that are paramount for careful analysis of resources. For example, human capital, organizational culture, and value-creating organizational knowledge.