MBA 2430 Business Strategy

MBA 2430 Business Strategy

Course code: 
MBA 2430
Department: 
Strategy and Entrepreneurship
Credits: 
4
Course coordinator: 
Randi Lunnan
Course name in Norwegian: 
Business Strategy
Product category: 
Executive
Portfolio: 
MBA China
Semester: 
2019 Autumn
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

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.

Learning outcomes - Knowledge

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.

Learning outcomes - Skills

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.

General Competence

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.

Course content

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.

Teaching and learning activities

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.

Software tools
No specified computer-based tools are required.
Qualifications

Granted admission to the BI-Fudan MBA programme. Please consult our student regulations.

Assessments
Assessments
Exam category: 
Activity
Form of assessment: 
Class participation
Weight: 
50
Grouping: 
Individual
Comment: 
Class participation and case presentations, count 50% 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: 
50
Grouping: 
Individual
Duration: 
1 Semester(s)
Comment: 
Take home case analysis exam,counts 50% 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
Type of Assessment: 
Continuous assessment
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Total weight: 
100
Sum workload: 
0

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.