MAN 6709 Creating Customer Value and Business Growth
MAN 6709 Creating Customer Value and Business Growth
| MAN 6710 - first term | |
| MAN 6711 - second term |
Addressing top management teams, this program focuses on growth of technology firms. Such firms face considerable risks of failure due to a variety of knowledge gaps and lack of overview and control over actual and potential risk factors. These may concern technology risks, market and customer risks, partnership risks, regulatory risks, financial risks, management team risks, operational risks etc. This course starts out by offering tools and frameworks designed to conduct external analyses of a firm’s industry, markets and stakeholders, including clients. Internal tools offer an understanding of key resources and capabilities, in addition to the activities that firms need to create value for themselves and their customers. Based on these tools/frameworks, the student will conduct comprehensive strategy analyses.
It then moves on to focus on the need of the company to create sufficient value to its customers and the need to develop in depth knowledge of actual customer needs to ensure convincing product-market fit. Based on this, the students will conduct market and customer research to validate their market and customer strategies.
The following topic will be on management control strategies and methods commonly used to reduce risks and manage the scaling up processes. Finally, the program will teach and evaluate scaling-up market strategies covering both domestic and international alternatives.
- The candidates will learn and be able to perform advanced strategic analysis
- The candidates will acquire in depth knowledge of the critical need to understand their customers’ actual needs and opportunities, and to base their market and scaling up strategies in evidence based knowledge of markets and customers.
- The candidates will learn to conduct qualitative market research in theory and practice to challenge and put to the test their own assumptions and hypothesis about customer needs, customer complexity, decision-makers, contexts of operation, etc.
- The candidates will acquire knowledge of ownership and management control mechanisms and tolls to manage risk reduction and scaling up processes.
- The candidates will learn to evaluate alternative scaling-up strategies.
- The candidates will be able to utilize strategic analysis and -mapping tools
- The candidates will learn new ways to reduce market and customer risks
- The candidates will be able to analyze their own companies in more detail
- The candidates will be able to analyze their target markets and customers in more detail
- The candidates will be able to critically engage with other companies’ challenges by using theory, models and acquired experiences to challenge and help other management teams develop their companies
- The candidates will be able to conduct semi-structured qualitative market research and to use the results to update their business model
- The candidate will be able to critically evaluate their scaling-up strategies and adapt them to acquired new knowledge
Through the program the candidates will be given assignments both in teams, as individuals and jointly in class, to reflect upon the learning process concerning each of the major topics. This will include focused discussions, feedback presentations in class and written notes that develop ideas and offer advice to other companies as well as to their own top management teams, on how the acquired learning may be applied to solve important challenges.
As part of the program the students will face relevant ethical and moral issues in business, and be able to pose critical questions in this regard.
“Customer Value Creation” consists of 6 lecturing modules and minimum 30 student work hours with out of class student research work.
1) Strategy
2) Strategic analysis
3) Creating customer value
4) Market and customer validation
5) Risk reduction and management control
6) Scaling-up strategies
Student research work will focus on research problems, key assumptions and hypothesis identification, on data gathering from interviews as well as from secondary sources, and on analysis, presentation and discussion of findings in class and clarification of implications for business model adjustments. The work will be instructed by the program responsible faculty team and supported by Tsinghua-BI team of associated coaches, mentors and investors assisting the candidates during out of class work.
The program is structured as a learning process from module to module, with team work as well as individual assignments to be done in class and in between the modules. The program combines academic lectures with student research work, group or class based discussions, guest lectures from both academia and business, and individual student assignments. Total lecturing time in class will be 120 hours, and all students are required to do at least 30 student-hours of out of class research work in addition to ordinary preparations for class and exam related out of class homework. Instructions of methods to follow up the research work will be provided in class.
Computer based tools
Simple reporting tools to follow up student research work and support their preparations for presentations of findings in class.
Examination
The candidates are evaluated and graded by two exam elements. One is a term paper exam to be done in teams of maximum 3 candidates. The term paper exam counts for 60% of the summarized grading equivalent to 18 ECTS credits. The other exam is a portfolio of individual papers exam with a selection of 4 out of 5 individual papers based on assignments handed out during each of the 5 first modules in the program. This exam counts for 40% of the summarized grading equivalent to 12 ECTS credits. Details about the selection of papers and final deadlines for handing in the exams will be provided in class. Both exams must be passed to receive the program certificate.
Bachelor degree, corresponding to 180 credits from an accredited university, university college or similar educational institution and 2 years of relevant work experience. Please consult our student regulations.
| Assessments |
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Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 60 Grouping: Group (2 - 3) Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: Term paper, counts 60% of the final grade. Exam code: MAN 67091 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 40 Grouping: Individual Duration: 2 Semester(s) Comment: Portfolio of individual papers, counts 40% of the final grade Exam code: MAN 67092 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
All exams must be passed to get a grade in this course.
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 30 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 800 hours.