MBA 2430 Business Strategy
MBA 2430 Business Strategy
The essence of strategy is the creation of sustainable competitive advantage, i.e. developing products and services that the customers perceive as valuable and unique. The field of strategic management provides a range of models that is useful in the attempts to develop sustainable competitive advantage. In this module the students will get acquainted with several of these models, both through lectures and case applications. On the level of the business unit, we will study both external, environmental conditions and internal resources and activities. External conditions include markets, economic parameters and competitive arenas with players and conditions that together give the conditions that the firm must position within. Internal analysis is a method to understand what resources and activities the firm possesses to take strategic action. On the corporate level, we will study the benefits of organizing several firms under the same corporate leadership. Strategic expansion, and different forms of organizations like alliances and mergers and acquisition will be given specific attention. We will also discuss firms operating across borders, and the specific challenges met by internationalisation. Finally we will look at challenges related to strategy implementation.
Having finished this course the students have gained knowledge in different strategy perspectives and their underlying assumptions. This knowledge enable valuable contributions on long term strategic options for any company. Further, the course enables students to understand the strategic role of their unit in the company.
In this course students will learn how to select, perform and present strategic analysis. Presentation formats include short executive summaries, oral presentations to audiences such as investors, and power point summaries. Students learn how to combine analytic insight into strategic choices, initiate and run strategy processes, and measure the value of strategies.
The course encourage students to reflect on the competitive position and value proposition of a company and the sources of this value through activities, resources and positioning.
DAY 1
An introduction to strategy. The field of strategy and its developments
Core concepts and approaches
Strategy levels.
External Analysis: The competitive arena and key strategic actors, strategic groups
DAY 2
Internal analysis: Activities and Resources, Strategic Choices
DAY 3
Global and Corporate Strategies
DAY 4
Implementation Strategies
2 of the teaching hours in this course are dedicated to CSR, ethics, social and environmental issues.
The course is conducted as a teaching module, where students have classes all day for four subsequent days, a total of 32 hours.
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.
Candidates may be called in for an oral hearing or a supervised written test as a verification/control of home assignments
Specific Information regarding any aspect of student evaluation will be provided in class. It is the student's responsibility to obtain this information. Please note that whilst attendance is not compulsory, it is the student's responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage/it's learning or text book. Homepages and/or it's learning are not designed for the purpose of students who choose not to attend class.
The course is a part of a full MBA and examination in all courses in the MBA programme must be passed in order to obtain a certificate for the MBA degree.
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 BI-Fudan MBA programme. Please consult our student regulations.
| Mandatory coursework | Courseworks given | Courseworks required | Comment coursework |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voluntary | Hand-ins during the course |
| Assessments |
|---|
Exam category: Activity Form of assessment: Class participation Weight: 30 Grouping: Group/Individual Comment: Class participation and case presentations, count 30% of the total grade. Exam code: MBA 24301 Grading scale: China Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 70 Grouping: Individual Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: Take home case analysis exam,counts 70% of the total grade. Exam code: MBA 24301 Grading scale: China Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
| Activity | Duration | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Prepare for teaching | 30 Hour(s) | Reading four cases, books and articles, and preparing hand-ins |
Group work / Assignments | 20 Hour(s) | Group discussions and hand-ins before, during and after the course |
Teaching | 40 Hour(s) | |
Submission(s) | 20 Hour(s) | Individual paper work |
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.