GRA 8271 Strategy Analysis and Value Creation (2023/2024)
GRA 8271 Strategy Analysis and Value Creation (2023/2024)
Organizations intend to provide value to their stakeholders. Understanding different dimensions of, and perspectives on value creation is therefore essential; it has significant implications for the overall strategic performance of organizations. This course will develop abilities in structuring and analyzing problems and opportunities related to the creation of value. This is done by drawing on strategy analysis including research on competitive strategy and cooperative strategy. Appropriate tools and frameworks for solving strategic dilemmas are highlighted.
The students shall be able to understand:
- The strategic fit between an organization’s internal resources, capabilities and activities, and its external context
- The functioning of external and internal analytical tools/frameworks
- The links between these tools and their role in the overall strategy process
- The role of strategy for organizational performance including the creation of triple bottom line values
The students shall learn to:
- Use insights from strategy analysis (e.g. through the SWOT framework) in generating, evaluating and choosing strategic alternatives
- Promote value co-creation between manufacturing firms and different kinds of service organizations
- Consider the role and importance of relationships (internal and external) in the value creating process
The students shall be able to:
- Reflect on different perspectives given by competitive strategy and cooperative strategy
- Understand the dynamic and recursive nature of strategy analysis and process
- Reflect on social and ethical issues concerned with business strategy decisions and stakeholder performance
- Reflect on different dimensions of value creation and business model design
The course is structured around three main areas relevant to strategy and value creation: (1) The foundations of strategy analysis (2) Dimensions of value (co-) creation and business model design (3) Similarities and differences between competitive strategy and cooperative strategy.
The analytical foundations of strategy analysis
Some organizations are more successful than others; they create and appropriate value by competing and cooperating with a number of stakeholders in their environment. To understand how successful organizations deliver and capture value we need to apprehend both the organization and its environment. Internal strategy analyses illustrate how resources and activities contribute to organizational performance. The purpose of external analysis is to analyze how external factors influence organizational strategies. The information obtained from external and internal analyses are synthesized in a SWOT framework, which, if correctly developed and employed, is a fruitful tool when generating strategic alternatives and making decisions.
Dimensions of value (co-) creation and business model design
Here the main focus is on value co-creation and business model design. We will introduce the relational view of strategy and discuss how the notions of strategy, value creation, and business models are related. The importance of customer-supplier interaction and relationship management will be emphasized. Important stakeholders are essential in co-creating value with a focal organization, but they may also be able to restrict this organization’s appropriation capacity, and consequently undermine its performance.
Main themes covered in this section:
- Relationships and value co-creation
- Business model design
- Business model design, strategy and value creation
Similarities and differences between competitive strategy and cooperative strategy
Competitive pressures, bargaining power and cooperative mindsets all influence the creation and appropriation of value. Conventional strategy analysis is competitively oriented; it seeks to develop internal rents and a competitive advantage for a focal organization. The transition from competitive strategy to cooperative strategy involve a shift from trying to be ‘better than others’, towards and ambition of ‘being better with others’. Themes in focus here center on cooperative strategy, how organizations can generate relational rents, and how resources can be analyzed in a more cooperative manner in search for improved value creation rather than a competitive advantage.
Main themes covered in this section:
- The nature of competitive strategy
- The nature of cooperative strategy
- Internal rents and relational rents
- Analyzing resource bundles to create value
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 is 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.
Candidates may be called in for an oral hearing as a verification/control of written assignments.
All the exams of the course must be passed in order to obtain a grade for the course.
The course is a part of a full Executive MBA program and examination in all courses must be passed in order to obtain a certificate.
In all BI Executive courses and programmes, there is a mutual requirement
for the student and the course responsible regarding the involvement of the student's experience in the planning and implementation of courses, modules and programmes. This means that the student has the right and duty to get involved with their own knowledge and practice relevance, through the active sharing of their relevant experience and knowledge
Granted admission to the EMBA programme. Please consult our student regulations.
Disclaimer
Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this.
| Assessments |
|---|
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 40 Grouping: Individual Duration: 4 Week(s) Comment: Individual hand-in (case analysis), counts 40% of the final grade. Exam code: GRA 82711 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: Activity Form of assessment: Presentation Weight: 40 Grouping: Group (2 - 8) Comment: Group oral presentation, counts 40% of the final grade. Exam code: GRA 82711 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: Activity Form of assessment: Class participation Weight: 20 Grouping: Individual Comment: Oral class contribution, counts 20% of the final grade. Exam code: GRA 82711 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
| Activity | Duration | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Teaching | 32 Hour(s) | |
Prepare for teaching | 23 Hour(s) | |
Student's own work with learning resources | 60 Hour(s) |
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.