Overview
ADMN 404 is a three-credit required course in all business degree programs offered at Athabasca University. This course is intended to build on everything else you have learned about management to date. That’s why you are encouraged to take this course as late as possible in your program.
What sets this course apart from all others is its focus on entire organizations and, more specifically, their success or failure. So, whereas marketing courses help you understand the marketing function and accounting courses help you make sense of an organization’s accounts, this course draws upon your knowledge from many other courses to examine how and whether an organization can be successful.
In ADMN 404, you are asked to play the role of owner/CEO. If you become an owner/CEO someday, this course can help you in that role. But even if you never become an owner/CEO, this course can benefit you as a manager/employee when you are asked to contribute to your organization's strategic planning efforts. It can also benefit you as an investor as you try to choose the companies that are most likely to succeed. Simply put, this course will help you to better understand what makes organizations successful.
Outline
Section I: Strategy Context
- Lesson 1: Strategic Leadership
- Lesson 2: Stakeholders and Governance
- Lesson 3: External Analysis
- Lesson 4: Internal Analysis
Section II: Strategy Content
- Lesson 5: Functional-Level Strategies
- Lesson 6: Business-Level Strategies
- Lesson 7: The Influence of Industry Characteristics
- Lesson 8: Strategy and Technology
- Lesson 9: Global Strategies
- Lesson 10: Integration and Outsourcing
- Lesson 11: Diversification Strategies
Section III: Strategy Implementation
- Lesson 12: Implementing Strategy Through Organization
Learning outcomes
After completing this course, students should be able to
- demonstrate the tools, skills, and inclination to think critically and strategically about events, issues, and trends that affect organizations.
- demonstrate knowledge of the strategic management process and it elements.
- analyze the internal and external environments of an organization.
- identify and describe the tools and skills required to implement an organization's strategy.
- prepare a strategic plan for an organization.
Evaluation
To receive credit for ADMN 404, you must complete all quizzes and assignments, achieve a grade of D (50 percent) or better on Assignment 3, and achieve an overall course grade of D (50 percent) or better.
There are 12 online quizzes (one for each lesson) and three assignments in this course. Their weighting toward your final grade is as follows:
| Activity | Weight |
| Quizzes | 12% |
| Assignment 1 | 18% |
| Assignment 2 | 25% |
| Assignment 3 | 45% |
| Total | 100% |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Note: Students planning to transfer this course to a Chartered Professional Accountant designation are advised that they will be required to achieve a grade higher than the minimum passing grade. See CPA Requirements for details.
Materials
Digital course materials
Links to the following course materials will be made available in the course:
Hill, C. W., & Schilling, M. A. (2020). Strategic management: An integrated approach. Theory & cases (13th ed.). Cengage Learning. ISBN: 9781337918749
Other Resources
All other learning resources will be available online.