GRA 8271 Strategy Analysis and Value Creation
GRA 8271 Strategy Analysis and Value Creation
Organizations seek to provide value in different dimension to their stakeholders. Understanding different dimensions of, and perspectives on, value creation is therefore essential. This course develops abilities in structuring and analyzing problems and opportunities related to sustainable value creation and highlights the differences and complementarities of competitive strategy and cooperative strategy. Appropriate tools and frameworks for solving strategic dilemmas in a sustainable manner 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 role of competitive strategy and cooperative strategy in creating sustainability
The students shall learn to:
- Use insights from strategy analysis (e.g. through the SWOT framework) in generating, evaluating and choosing strategic alternatives
- Evaluate strategic alternatives from a sustainability perspective.
- Consider the role and importance of networks and ecosystem 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) Value (co-) creation and sustainability (3) Similarities and differences between competitive strategy and cooperative strategy.
The foundations of strategy analysis
Some organizations are more successful than others; they create and appropriate value in a sustainable manner.
To understand the strategic nature of such organizations we need to apprehend both the organizations and their environments. 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 sustainability
Here the main focus is on value co-creation and sustainability. We will introduce the relational view of strategy and discuss the complex interdependencies between strategy, value creation, and sustainability.
Main themes covered in this section:
- Relationships and value co-creation
- Sustainability from a triple bottom line perspective
- Business model design
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 together’. 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
- Ecosystems and networks
- Resource bundling
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: Submission PDF Weight: 60 Grouping: Individual Duration: 4 Week(s) Comment: Individual hand-in (case analysis), counts 60% of the final grade. Exam code: GRA 82712 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Submission PDF Weight: 40 Grouping: Group (4 - 8) Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: The students submit a Powerpoint presentation, counting 40% of the final grade. Exam code: GRA 82713 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
All exams must be passed to get a grade in this 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.