GRA 6835 The Practicing Strategist
GRA 6835 The Practicing Strategist
This is the final course for MSc in Business, Strategy majors. The course integrates and builds on knowledge gained in the other MSc courses. To prepare students for practical work in strategy, this course focuses on developing and applying the skills which are needed to operate as a strategist. In order to develop these skills, students will undertake a "live" strategy project for an organization. Students will be organized into groups, each with a unique project.
During the semester, interact directly with their “client organization”. The groups scope their projects, identify and gather data for their strategic analysis, and provide recommendations to their clients.
- Participants have gained insight into the practice of strategic analysis/consulting
- Participants have gained experience in real projects
- Participants can analyze internal and external environments and identify key strategic challenges
- Participants go beyond the basic issues and identify nuances and complexities of the issue
- Participants identify and question the validity of key assumptions underlying the issue
- Participants have developed skills in identifying main strategic challenges and breaking these down into manageable topics/issues to analyze
- Participants have developed skills in assessing the appropriateness of applying key concepts and frameworks to practice
- Participants are able to identify, gather, and analyze data to make robust decisions
- Participants use data to support arguments
- Participants have developed skills to communicate clearly both orally and in written form
- Participants have learned how to work in teams when working on strategy projects and problems
- Participants understand the complexities related to strategic management
- Participants can draw on established theories and frameworks to improve their decision-making
This course is a capstone experience in which groups of MSc students constitute strategy consulting teams and work on actual projects. The course is a professionalization opportunity during which students: actively manage their project; collaboratively specify the project’s objectives; and develop research, analytical, and presentation skills. Bridging the gap between classroom and conference room, the experience will help students develop industry skills expected in professional consulting and other future career paths. Much of the class involves “flipping the classroom” through student presentations and disucssion of ongoing projects. This allows all students to learn from diverse projects while developing analytical skills, critical thinking, and presentation skills. The in-class sessions are structured as consulting workshops.
Active class participation is part of the evaluation in this course. The participation grade reflects the students' engagment in class discussions, in-class presentations and inter-project feedback.Tools and exercises may be used during class to facilitate information sharing and communication.
Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class.
This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded by using points on a scale from 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 examination code (course). Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam elements will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades when the course starts.
At resit, all exam components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.
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 spesific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.
Covid-19
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there may be deviations in teaching and learning activities as well as exams, compared with what is described in this course description.
Teaching
Information about what is taught on campus and other digital forms will be presented with the lecture plan before the start of the course each semester.
| Assessments |
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Exam category: Activity Form of assessment: Class participation Weight: 25 Grouping: Individual Exam code: GRA68351 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: 45 Grouping: Group Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: The written deliverables include periodic hand-ins of specific tasks that students are working on as part of the consulting project. The course outline will specify which (and when) tasks are mandatory to hand in (e.g., company overview, problem statement, consulting contract, overview of relevant concepts/models/frameworks, etc.). All of the written hand-ins contribute to the progress of the consulting project and ability to complete the final client deliverable. The specific format of the final written client deliverable may vary slightly across projects, due to the different nature of the projects. These details will be agreed upon with the client organizations. Group evaluations are mandatory at the end of the course and may affect individual grades. Exam code: GRA68351 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: 30 Grouping: Group Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: The presentation grades are initially group-based but will be individually adjusted based on clarity and persuasiveness of the communicated information. Group evaluations are mandatory and may affect individual grades. Individual adjustments may also include, but are not limited to, how the individual structures the message, the clarity and substance of what is communicated, transitions between speakers, voice quality and pace, mannerisms and eye contact, and the use of media. Exam code: GRA68351 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 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.
The in-class consulting workshops emphasize learning through presentations, discussions, and by giving and receiving feedback.