GRA 8169 Strategy Process (2019/2020)
GRA 8169 Strategy Process (2019/2020)
All companies have strategies, but many surveys report the same finding: between 50% and 90% of organisations that have decided on a new strategic direction fail to implement it (see www.businessballs.com). Therefore one key managerial challenge for strategists is in developing and executing strategies successfully.
This course is centred upon three central themes; strategy development processes, strategy implementation, and strategic change processes. The first theme considers sensemaking and dynamic processes of forming multiple strategies. The second theme includes strategy execution, such as how to align the organisation in realising a new strategy. Challenges in managing the change process are the third theme.
The course addresses the managerial challenges involved in strategy implementation by emphasizing application and practice. We will discuss state of the art cases in order identify key problems in executing strategy, and how such problems might be solved in order to align the organisation with a new strategy. This will be supplemented with the use of simulations and input from guest speakers (who are senior managers with a responsibility for strategy in their organisations).
Students will have the opportunity to directly apply course material to their own organisations or business units via project reports and case presentations.
The intent of the Strategy Process course is to give students an understanding of how to engage in strategy development and implementation processes over time. It builds on the frameworks and competence gained from the Strategy Analysis course. More specifically:
- Gain understanding of the roles of the strategist in setting and implementing the strategic process
- To recognize the links between strategy development and implementation
- Develop insight into how strategies actually get implemented in organizations
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- To develop skills in how to execute strategy in organizations
- To understand the dynamic nature of strategy processes
- To gain insight into the challenges of strategy execution in the students own organisational context
The course content would typically include, but is not limited to, topics such as:
- Strategy development processes
- Sensemaking and the cognitive side of strategizing
- Dynamic processes of formulating and forming multiple strategies
- Execution of strategic intentions
- Translating strategy into actions (AOPs, KPIs)
- Aligning the organisation to achieve change (fulfilment of strategy processes in a variety of strategizing contexts)
- Implementation and strategic change processes
The course will be organised around; combining teaching about the topics contained within the course outline with in-depth discussion of cases, use of simulations, input from guest speakers, and drawing on the professional experience of participants.
Course participants will be required to work with the relevant theories and frameworks and explicitly use these in the various tasks to be undertaken during the course. The workload will involve intensive group and individual work that is aimed at integrating theories and application.
1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours.
Attendance to all sessions in the course is compulsory. If you have to miss part(s) of the course you must ask in advance for leave of absence. More than 25% absence in a course will require retaking the entire course. It's the student's own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage/ It's learning or other course materials.
This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component will be graded using points on a scale 0 -100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the course. Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam components will get a lower grade or may fail the course. Candidates may be called in for an oral hearing as a verification/control of written assignments.
Specific information regarding the points system and the mapping scale beyond the information given in the course description will be provided in class. This information may be relevant for requirements for term papers or other hand-ins, and/or where class participation can be one of several elements of the overall evaluation.
The course is a part of a full Executive MBA programme and examination in all courses must be passed in order to obtain a certificate.
Granted admission to the EMBA programme. Please consult our student regulations.
Participants must have passed GRA 8168 Strategy Analysis.
| Assessments |
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Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 20 Grouping: Group (2 - 8) Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: A case description and analysis based on participant experience (group work) – 20% Exam code: GRA 81691 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 20 Grouping: Group (2 - 8) Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: A case analysis report (group work) – 20% Exam code: GRA 81691 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 50 Grouping: Individual Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: Individual critical review report (critically review 2 articles from the course and write a 2 page report) - 40% Exam code: GRA 81691 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 10 Grouping: Individual Duration: 2 Semester(s) Comment: Students write a reflection note in terms of their learning from the course Exam code: GRA 81691 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 4 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 110 hours.