Titular Professors
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
- Assess industry attractiveness and recognize the drivers of firm profit
- Design strategies that help firms achieve, sustain, and renew competitive advantage
- Think outside of industry boundaries and create new market space
- Be aware of the challenges to implement a strategy once it has been formulated
Topic 1: Introduction. Case Method.
Topic 2: What's strategy? Case: Go Global or No | Exercise: Strategic implications.
Topic 3: What's strategy? Introduction to strategy.
Topic 4: Purposes & Expectations. Vision, Mission, Stakeholders & Corporate Governance | Exercises: Defining Mission; Stakeholders Mapping.
Topic 5: Industry analysis (I). External Analysis.
Topic 6: Industry analysis (II). Five forces model Exercise: Industry analysis.
Topic 7: Analizing competitive Advantage (I). Internal Analysis Exercise.
Topic 8: Analizing competitive Advantage (II). Low Cost and Differentiation Strategy Case.
Topic 9: Analizing competitive Advantage (II). Corporate Strategy | Case.
Topic 10: Strategy Implementation. Exercise: Club Ed.
Topic 11: Strategy Implementation. Organizational Structure.
Topic 12: Going Global. Born Global Companies.
Topic 13: Wrap Up.
For each topic, a combination of the following tools will be used:
- Lectures: Students will be presented with contents about the major topics covered in the course. Active participation is expected from students.
- Weekly Assignments: Assignments will be given BEFORE each topic is presented. Therefore, students are not expected to provide a right or wrong answer for each assignment but are expected to think about the main issues of each topic.
- Discussion exercises: Questionnaires and exercises will be held in order to reinforce the concepts of the session. Therefore, students are expected to discuss about the main issues of each topic.
- Videos: When available, relevant videos will also be viewed, as additional materials for the class discussions.
- Readings: A list of recommended books and papers will be provided for further understanding of the main topics.
The Course grade will be based on an overall assessment for the whole course. The Course grade will be based on the following point breakdown:
- 50%: Individual and team inclass activities
- 25%: Mid-term Exam
- 25%: Final Exam
Important note: To pass the course, both Mid-term and Final exam grades must be higher than 4.
Failure to submit a Project Checkpoint Presentation or a Final Project Presentation will result in an NP, regardless of examination performance.
Exam Retake Policy: If a student fails an exam, they will be permitted to take a retake exam.
All compulsory material will be provided through the eStudy with specific guidelines for each topic.
In addition, you are advised to either borrow or purchase:
- Contemporary Strategy Analysis by Robert Grant (2019, 10th edition, John Wiley & Sons).
Please note that other editions of the text may be used but note some chapter numbers will be different. This book is available in a Kindle edition.
The chapters listed in the course outline are from this book. These are further readings for you to develop your knowledge and to review as you complete your course assignments. I do not expect that you will have done them before class but would expect that you would read them at some point.