Strategic Management (BUS 4407) at UoPeople

I’ll talk about Strategic Management (BUS 4407) in this entry. It’s an interesting course that is the accumulation of many other business classes at the UoPeople. It’s a challenging class in terms of course load, as you’ve to write 8 Discussion posts, 8 Written Assignments, and 8 Learning Journals. The class is centered around topics like Michael Porter’s Five Forces, SWOT, PEST, Corporate Strategies, Ethics, Globalization, Competitive Advantage, and Innovation.

My class had 21 students, but not many dropped out. My instructor was from the US and had an MBA. He had just started instructing at the school. He was decent but didn’t really help me understand some of the riddling concepts. I had to get help on my own through a professor from another school, which somewhat validates the notion that instructors are simply moderators at the school, as one of my acquaintances puts it. I’ll explain later on why I had to get the services of another professor.

There is no prescribed book for this course. You learn everything from the links, which are a bit inconsistent. For example, one link explains Porter’s Five Forces differently than the other, and that’s where the problem arises, especially in the Graded Quizzes and the Final Exam.

The Discussion posts, Written Assignments, and Learning Journals are worth 10% each or 30% in total of your final grade. It’s the only class I came across at the UoPeople where you’ve to write 8 Written Assignments. The last assignment is graded by the instructor. The workload is most intimidating, as you’ve to write 24 assignments in the course without any break. However, the trickiest part is the Graded Quizzes and Final Exam. Typically, I can understand concepts on my own, but the questions in Graded Quizzes were quite confusing, and I totally blew up both of them. That’s where I needed the assistance of the instructor to help me understand the bewildering concepts, which he couldn't provide, sadly. That’s when I got the help of a business professor through my connections.

I found the Discussion posts, Written Assignments, and Learning Journals all uncomplicated. The word count requirement was also minimal in Written Assignments. The Learning Journals are one of those where you've to tell your instructor what you did in the week, along with talking about a topic. No sorcery there! 

Be mindful that there are only 10 questions in each Graded Quiz, which are worth 40% of the final grade. In other words, if you get 4 wrong, you lose 8% of the final grade. There is no justification for presenting 20 questions worth 40% of the final grade. It’s utterly absurd if you ask me. In my stance, such a thing works well in analytical classes like math, stats, algebra, etc., but not in business classes. There is no shortage of topics in the class. So, in my opinion, it’s very irrational and lazy work from the course committee. I had a chat with the instructor, and he agreed; it was not something in his hands, but the course committee's. For 40% of the final grade, students should be quizzed on at least 30-40 questions. If you don’t do well on the Graded Quizzes and the Final Exam, you might not get a decent grade, as they’re all worth 70% of your final grade. I must confess that the Graded Quizzes gave me a wake-up call by making me realize that I needed to work extremely hard to maintain an A average in the class.

You get 30 mins to answer 10 questions in each Graded Quiz. You get 60 mins to answer 35 questions in the Final Exam. Many hypothetical questions on the Final Exam covered topics like Porter’s Five Forces, PEST, SWOT, growth, integration, comparative advantage, diversification, ethics, various strategies, etc. All the concepts must be at your fingertips, especially Porter’s Five Forces, PEST, and different strategies. You should be able to tell what happens in hypothetical scenarios and differentiate between weak and strong Porter’s forces. If I could remember, there were at least 10-12 riddling questions on the Final Exam, which presented imaginary situations through which you had to guess the answer. The service of the prof I acquired tremendously assisted me in understanding the concepts. It’s probably one of the courses whose Final I studied the hardest for at the school. I’m immensely proud to say that I got 33/35 right or about 28%/30% on the Final to obtain an A.

Final thoughts: it’s a compelling class with many enlightening topics. However, it's a poorly put-together course with too much weight given particularly to the Graded Quizzes (20 questions worth 40% of your grade = 💀😭). Study hard, and make legible notes on the topics I specifically mentioned. Make a counter strategy to checkmate the class just like I did. Get someone's help in comprehending the topics if your instructor is unwilling to assist. I’m optimistic you can do well on it, too. All the best, now!