All chapters include Study Questions, Learning Exercises, and References

 Chapter One – Basic Strategy Concepts

• Definition of the concept of “strategy”
• Purpose of strategic management
• Levels of strategy
• Strategic thinking or strategic mindset
• Incremental vs revolutionary strategy
• Intended vs actual strategy
• Strategic planning and management
• Strategic direction
• How organizations benefit from practicing strategic planning and management
• How strategic management goes wrong
• Barriers to strategic management
• Focus on the health care and Biotechnology industries
• Environmental forces that affect strategy-making in the health care and Biotechnology industries

 Chapter Two – Internal Audit of Strategic Assets

• Analysis of Historical Financial Performance and Current Financial Condition
• Resources and Competencies
• Strategic uses to which resources and competencies can be put
• Breakdown and evaluation of the internal value chain

 Chapter Three – External Environmental Assessment – Law, Economics, Demographics

• Strategic benefits of a general external environmental assessment
• Difficulties in conducting a general external environmental assessment
• Step-by-step process for assessing the general external environment
• Basic categories of external environmental factors/forces in health care and Biotechnology
• Interdependencies among external environmental factors
• Information sources for external environment assessment
• Tools and techniques for analyzing and monitoring the external environment
• What to do with the information on the external environment

 Chapter Four - External Environmental Assessment - Market and Customers

• Analyzing the Market and Its Segments
• Analyzing the Customer
• Planning Strategy to Meet Customer Needs in a Targeted Segment

 Chapter Five - External Environmental Assessment - Industry and Competitors

• Industry
• Industry Value Chain
• Five-Forces Model of Industry Structure
• 1. Competitive intensity
• 2. Threat of entry by competitors from outside the industry
• 3. Availability of equivalent, substitute products
• 4. Bargaining power of buyers or customers
• 5. Bargaining power of suppliers or employees
• Strategic Firm Responses to the Five Forces
• Competitors
• Which competitors to analyze? 
• Competition with and among networks and systems
• Narrowing the scope of competitor analysis
• Individual competitor analysis
• Using analysis results to forecast how a competitor is likely to behave strategically
• Competitive intelligence
• Corporate-level competition

 Chapter Six - Defining Future Direction of the Organization

• Responsibility for defining strategic direction
• Mission
• Vision
• Values
• Strategic objectives
• Examples of real-world's strategic direction documents

 Chapter Seven - Formulating Corporate-Level Strategy

• Value-adding functions of the corporate Center
• I. Manage the portfolio of SBUs
• Model process for corporate portfolio management
• Corporate-level strategic options
• Growth - Expand the Portfolio
• Stability - Maintain the Portfolio
• Retrenchment - Cut Back the Portfolio
• II. Raise Financial Capital for Allocation to the SBU's
• III. Allocate Resources and Services to the SBU's
• IV. Facilitate Synergies among the SBU's
• V. Choose a Parenting Style for SBU Interactions
• VI. Participate in the SBU Strategic Planning and Management Process
• VII. Oversee and Monitor the Performance of the SBU's
• VIII. Manage the Corporations Relationships with External Stakeholders
• How the corporate Center can reduce the value created by its SBU's right

 Chapter Eight - SBU-Level and Functional Area Strategy

• Strategic duties of SBU management
• The role of the corporate Center in SBU strategy
• Formulating strategy in SBU's and individual businesses
• Selecting a generic business strategy - à la Porter
• Functional area strategies
• Responding to competitors’ strategic moves

 Chapter Nine - Implementing the Strategy

• Supportive Resources and Competencies
• Functional Area Sub-Strategies
• Creating and coordinating functional area strategies
• Decisions and Actions for Implementation
• Implementation problems that need to be monitored and corrected

 Chapter Ten - Monitoring, Fine-Tuning and Changing the Strategy

• What strategic monitoring involves
• Why strategic monitoring has become more important
• Price of failure to notice and respond to strategic change
• How a strategic plan can go wrong in its implementation
• Key principles of a strategy monitoring and adjustment program
• Monitor the past, present, and future
• Steps in setting up a strategic monitoring system
• Strategic parameters to be monitored
• Changes that could be detected by a strategic monitoring system
• Conclusions that could be reached and changes that could be made

 Chapter Eleven - Strategic Financial Management

• Financing of Capital Investments
• Maintaining or Improving Organizational Creditworthiness
• Allocating Capital Funds to Strategic Initiatives
• Tracking the Financial Performance of News Strategies
• Common Mistakes in Strategic Financial Management

 Chapter Twelve - Strategy in Other Types of Organizations

• Not-for-profit (NFP) organizations
• Public/government agencies
• Entrepreneurial startups/new ventures
• Benefits of strategic planning and management for these organizational types