3 semester credits

Strategic planning, including aligning key activities with an organization’s mission and vision, often leads to a strong competitive position. Through this course, students gain an understanding of the importance and process of formulating, implementing, and evaluating a strategic plan. They examine the role of strategic planning in achieving organizational performance as well as the notion of planning as a cyclical process within the healthcare organization. Students also explore key concepts in strategic planning, including identifying the relationship of the plan to the organization’s mission, values, and vision; assessing the competition; identifying external influences and resources; forecasting trends in organizational performance; setting goals; selecting strategies; implementing marketing actions; identifying implications of the strategic plan on organizational finances and human resources; and evaluating the plan’s progress. Students apply course concepts, including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis, as they research and develop components of a strategic plan for a specific healthcare organization.