This course focuses on the analysis and synthesis underpinning sound strategic management. Strategic management is concerned with the long-term direction, scope and performance of an organization. Whether the overall strategy of an organization emerges from the interplay of functional departments or is a grand plan devised by one group, its success is contingent on the fit that is made between the organization and the relevant environmental dynamics. The actions of the organization are simultaneously a result of these dynamics and a cause of them. Hence a continuous, accurate analysis and synthesis of environmental and organizational interactions is a critical component of successful strategy.