GRA 6240 Strategic Management for Business Control
GRA 6240 Strategic Management for Business Control
The course aims to develop the students’ managerial skills and abilities, enabling them to formulate, evaluate and understand different strategies for companies in pursuit of sustainable success in contexts characterized by increasing change and digitalization. The course emphasizes the application of strategic management theory in strategy analysis, formulation and implementation. The course will do so with a focus on different business models and contexts. The course presumes that the students have taken an introductory course in strategic management, and that the students are familiar with fundamental strategic management theories and analytical frameworks.
The student has
- knowledge of relevant strategic management theory applications in contexts characterized by increasing change and digitalization.
- knowledge of relevant strategic management process applications to real world problems facing companies
- knowledge of how strategic management theories and processes inform the formulation, evaluation and choice of strategic courses of action.
The student can
- analyze and manage the resource and activity configuration of companies
- analyze and manage the change drivers, industry structure and stakeholders of companies and well as identifying positioning opportunities
- select and apply appropriate strategy formulation processes for companies
- develop relevant strategic options for companies
- evaluate strategic options
- identify and deal with challenges associated with leading and implementing processes of strategic change.
The student can
- apply knowledge of strategic management to the analysis and management of business cases
- apply knowledge of strategic management to carry out strategy projects
- communicate key strategic challenges, insights, and possible solutions in a concise and clear way
- use knowledge of strategic management to identify alternative courses of action and innovative approaches.
The course is a mixture of strategy analysis and strategy process. Course topics will typically include, but are not limited to, the following themes:
- Assessing the influence of external environments
- Assessing the firm's resource and activity configuration
- Stakeholder management and co-operative strategy
- Strategic cognition and sensemaking
- Scenario planning
- Strategy development processes
- Strategy as practice
- Strategy implementation
- Strategy execution using management control systems
Teaching will be either 12 three-hour sessions, 6 six-hour sessions or a mixture of this. Some sessions will consist of lecturing, class exercises, case study analyses, and class discussions. Students are expected to attend every class and participate fully in the exercises and case discussions. It is therefore imperative that students read the assigned material and case studies before class. Mini-cases and exercises may also be assigned in-class.
A collection of articles, assigned cases, hand-outs, and online material.
All the reading material as well as issues covered during the lectures are examinable. Strategy is a field which is closely tied to current events. Students are strongly encouraged to follow business news in the media to enrich their experience and skill development.
The exam for this course has been changed starting academic year 2023/2024. The course now has one ordinary exam in addition to a mandatory work requirement that must be approved to be allowed to sit for the exam. It is not possible to retake the old version of the exam.
It is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class.
All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have specific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.
Disclaimer
Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this.
| Mandatory coursework | Courseworks given | Courseworks required | Comment coursework |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mandatory | 1 | 1 | This course has the following work requirement: All students are required to actively participate in class for a minimum of 75% of the sessions. Active participation means being able to answer questions about any of the readings, present any of the readings either individually or in small groups, to work in small groups with mini-cases, article synthesis, etc. |
| Assessments |
|---|
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Invigilation Weight: 100 Grouping: Individual Support materials:
Duration: 3 Hour(s) Comment: Final written examination under supervision Exam code: GRA 62401 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.