Courses / Module

This module provides participants with a range of strategic management concepts and tools that from which an advanced insight into the process of strategy formulation emerges. The module explores the concept of strategy and why it is a central aspect of the process of value creation and capture for firms. We will explore multiple levels of analysis, focusing especially on both business unit strategy and corporate strategy. If you are managing one business unit, your core concern is how to organise efficiently and effectively to create and capture value from your customer. Where an organisation has multiple boundaries, then an additional question arises: how do we organise a portfolio of businesses to create value? This is the essence of corporate strategy: ought businesses operate independently, or ought we to coordinate value creation across business units to create synergies. This module will not focus on recipes, but rather on a set of strategic management principles upon which participants can think about designing and implementing a strategy dependent on the environmental circumstances that their organisation is facing. It will cover a range of strategic management concepts and tools that have stood the test of time as well as exploring contemporary and emerging approaches to strategy formulation and implementation. The focus of strategy is firmly upon making decisions that improve the performance of the organisation.

Working in groups and individually, participants will develop their strategy formulation and implementation capabilities, including development of recommendations to decision makers that are rooted in appropriate strategy analysis. Capabilities to communicate and participate effectively in a strategy making process will be developed through class interaction, group work, and written and verbal presentations.