The following course in Business Policy and Strategy is provided in its entirety by Atlantic International University's "Open Access Initiative " which strives to make knowledge and education readily available to those seeking advancement regardless of their socio-economic situation, location or other previously limiting factors. The University's Open Courses are free and do not require any purchase or registration, they are open to the public.

Objective:

1. Why research is important and what research must be constantly done to run a business company profitably.
   
2. Why VISION and MISSION is the foundation for running a company in a competitive environment
   
3. Who are the likely stakeholders of a business company and how to optimize their conflictinginterests in the business.
   
4. The role and importance of ETHICAL behavior on the part of the managers in running a company.
   
5. HOW in an industry the competition ballgame is played: initiative, responses and counter response.
   
6. About the increasing role of technology and innovation in creating values for sustaining competitive advantage.
   
7. The CAPSIM simulation game play will take you to the real world of what is known as playingcompetition ballgame (CBG). You will learn how the real business companies in real worldtake decisions involving so many variables to compete, win/lose and move further.
   
8. About the need to periodically evaluate the attractiveness of industries for managing the Risk & Return balance. This is the basis for diversifying a company.
   
9. About a relatively new and increasingly popular experience of forging some form of collaboration between some like-minded competitors.
   
10. The increasing importance of global form of business, and the strategies that are pursued to manage global businesses.
    
11. How important it is to have a system in place: [a] for holding the company managers accountable for doing their jobs; [b] to make sure the company organization structure helps (and not prevents) its managers taking right decisions and right on time; and [c] to ensure that the company managers are also good leaders to inspire their subordinates to perform at their best with at high level of job satisfaction
    
12. How to hold the senior managers can be motivated and held accountable for their jobs, how to keep the [ company's organization structure updated and how to create and sustain a work environment where ; leadership is a major factor to keep people motivated for achieving high performance.

Course Description:

In the Business Policy and Strategy course all functional disciplines are integrated together in an attempt to look at and comprehend the wholesome business picture. While running a business in COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT, it is expected that senior managers have conceptual and abstract skills to understand the business issues and challenges NOT ONLY in their respective areas of expertise, BUT ALSO, and more importantly, from other functional managers' perspective. The senior mangers are also expected to have an understanding how the company as a whole is evolving over time. The senior managers should have good vision to shape up the company's destiny not just by exploiting the emerging opportunities in the surrounding environment, but also creating its own opportunities. When the market is intensely competitive, the managers must be able to run the company based on their wholesome integrated view of the company. This requires a constant monitoring of the company’s external and internal-organizational environment to aware of the dynamics of the situation. In the environment of intense competition and rapid technological innovation, it is imperative that managers are fully aware of the situation and take appropriate & timely actions to adapt with the changing environment and direct the company responsively and proactively. Remember that there is no substitute for this process.

Introduction: Business Policy and Strategy (Open)
This brief Video Introduces the professor and topics to be covered in the course

Course Content, Lessons, and Tests: Business Policy and Strategy (Open)
The lessons and topics for this course are provided in audio and video format. A test will follow the conclusion of each lesson to verify the concepts covered have been learned.

Review of Topics and Lessons: Business Policy and Strategy (Open)
A outline of the topics covered in this course is provided in video format.

Conclusion: Business Policy and Strategy (Open)
Final notes and comments about the course made by the author.

Resources and Bibliography

• www.census.gov provides latest census information for the United States. Look at “Business” subheading and explore the “economic census,” “foreign trade” and “more business topics” links.
• www.census.gov/epcd/www/econ97.html provides economic information about cities and regions in the United States. Just type in the zip code and information is provided for various industries in terms of sales and many other factors.
• www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html and
• www.state.gov/www/issues/economic/trade_reports/index.html provide information to help U.S. companies wanting to do business overseas with information about every nation in the world.
• Michael A. Hitt, R. Duane Ireland, and Robert E. Hoskisson,Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization – Concepts, 7th Edition, Thomson South-Western Publishing,
• 2007. ISBN 0-324-316-941
• www.quickmba.com