About this course: The purpose of this course is to present, analyze and discuss the different facets of business strategy formulation. Emphasizing that strategy can be seen as a unified theme that provides coherence and direction to the actions and decisions of a firm, we will cover a variety of business strategy topics concerned with firm positioning in the context of different markets, industries and locations. At the end of the course, you will be able to: - Identify why a strong strategy is essential for the future business success - Formulate a business strategy that suits the needs and visions of your organization - Explain why managers too often formulate sub-optimal strategies - Extrapolate measures to optimize current business strategies Workload: 2-4 hours per week.
Created by: Copenhagen Business School
Taught by: Marcus Møller Larsen, Assistant Professor, Strategic Management and Globalization
Department of Strategic Management and Globalization
| Basic Info | Course 2 of 4 in the Strategic Management and Innovation Specialization |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Introducing strategy formulation
In the first module of this course, we will examine and discuss the foundations of strategy formulation, emphasizing key concepts such as competitive advantage, value creation, planned vs emerging strategy, and strategic fit.
3 videos, 2 readings
- Video: Course introduction
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: Discussion forum
- Video: Defining business strategy
- Video: Competitive advantage
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: Strategy plans
Graded: Strategy formulation
WEEK 2
Industry analysis
Building on the insights generated in the first session, in the second module we explore different industrial organization frameworks and discuss the importance of industry effects on firm performance. Keywords of this module include competition, industry attractiveness, and the ‘Five forces’-framework.
7 videos, 7 readings, 3 practice quizzes
- Video: Vestas and the wind turbine industry
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: Vestas Wind Turbines
- Тренировочный тест: Attractiveness of the industry
- Video: Business environment
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: Aviation trends
- Тренировочный тест: Aviation trends
- Video: Competition from substitutes
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: The cost of energy
- Video: Threat of entry
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: The case of Suzlon
- Video: Rivalry between established competitors
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: The threat from China?
- Video: Bargaining power of buyers
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: The vulnerability of the wind turbine industry
- Video: Bargaining power of suppliers
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: The supplier's fault?
- Тренировочный тест: Industry attractiveness
Graded: Industry analysis
WEEK 3
Resources and capabilities
The purpose of this session is to understand the role of firm resources and capabilities in building and formulating a strong strategy. In particular, we will discuss concepts such as the value chain, core capabilities, heterogeneous resources, and the VRIO framework.
5 videos, 6 readings, 4 practice quizzes
- Video: ECCO and the production of shoes
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: ECCO's leather tanneries
- Тренировочный тест: ECCO's leather production
- Video: The relationship between resources and competitive advantage
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: The resource based view
- Video: Firm resources
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: Microsoft buying skype
- Тренировочный тест: Microsoft and Skype
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: What would FC Barcelona be without Messi?
- Тренировочный тест: Lionel Messi
- Video: Organizational capabilities
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: How firms view organizational capabilities?
- Video: Sustaining competitive advantage through resources and capabilities
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: VRIO framework
- Тренировочный тест: Time for reflection
Graded: Resources and capabilities
WEEK 4
Global strategies and the multinational corporation
The opportunities and challenges of operating internationally are substantially different to the domestic context. Thus, to understand strategy in a global context, we focus on the multinational corporation and discuss strategic terms like foreign entry mode, location strategies, global integration/local adaptation, and distance.
4 videos, 4 readings, 3 practice quizzes
- Video: Carlsberg in China
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: Reflections of a CEO
- Тренировочный тест: Doing business in China
- Video: Defining the multinational enterprise
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: Definitional problems?
- Video: Motives for internationalization
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: East India Company and Google
- Тренировочный тест: East India Company and Google
- Video: Integration-responsiveness approach to global strategies
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: The balance act between local and global forces
- Тренировочный тест: The case of the global beer industry
Graded: Global strategies and the multinational corporation
WEEK 5
Strategic decision making
In this module, we will investigate the processes of strategic decision making and explore how this matters for firm performance. We will discuss topics such as ‘bounded rationality’, management politics, and hidden costs.
5 videos, 6 readings, 3 practice quizzes
- Video: LEGO’s outsourcing journey
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: LEGO production
- Тренировочный тест: LEGO
- Video: Homo economicus and bounded rationality
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: Bad business decisions
- Video: Cognitive limitations
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: Cognitive biases
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: The Mozart of Chess
- Тренировочный тест: Decision making
- Video: Strategy as forecasting
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: Strategy as forecasting
- Video: Hidden costs
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: The hidden costs of offshore outsourcing
- Тренировочный тест: Dealing with the hidden costs
Graded: Strategic decision-making
WEEK 6
Formulating a Strategy in a 21st Century Creative Company
Drawing on the content covered in this course, your job is to formulate a strategy for the Danish design company e-Types. Specifically, based on an analysis of the firm and the environment, you should formulate a strong strategy for how e-Types should move forward. Background information on the company and the assignment is provided below.
4 videos, 3 readings
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: Assignment information
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: Video info
- Video: Story of e-Types
- Video: e-Type business
- Материал для самостоятельного изучения: A strategic dilemma
- Video: Story of e-Types - part II
- Video: e-Types dilemma
Graded: Formulating a strategy for e-Types
FAQs
How It Works
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Creators
Copenhagen Business School
Centrally located in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen Business School (CBS) is one of the largest business schools in Europe with close to 23,000 students. CBS offers world-class research-based degree programs at undergraduate, graduate, and PhD levels as well as executive and other post experience programs.
Pricing
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|---|---|---|
| Получить доступ к материалам курса | Available | Available |
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Ratings and Reviews
One of the finest course i have taken till date!!
A really provocative approach to the topic which was very interesting.
great course. re-open my eyes on the subject matter. the course examples were great, but I would suggest refreshing them for recent years.
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JN
Would have loved more about Innovation