Corporate Strategy

University of London

About this Course

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Corporate strategy is the strategy a firm uses to compete across multiple businesses. Many small firms want to grow by entering new businesses. Many large firms already are in multiple businesses, e.g. a photo camera producer selling also sunglasses. 
We developed this course to help you make good corporate strategy decisions. Of the many decisions a firm has to make, corporate strategy decisions are among the most consequential. We will look at these key corporate strategy decisions:
- Diversification: How and which businesses should your firm enter?
- Divestiture: How and from which businesses should your firm exit?
- Corporate HQ: How should we organize corporate headquarters to create value across the different businesses?

Learner Career Outcomes

17%

got a tangible career benefit from this course

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Flexible deadlines

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Beginner Level

Approx. 11 hours to complete

English

Subtitles: English

Instructor

Instructor rating

4.82/5 (122 Ratings)

Bart Vanneste

Associate Professor

UCL School of Management

14,250 Learners

1 Course

Learner Career Outcomes

17%

got a tangible career benefit from this course

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Beginner Level

Approx. 11 hours to complete

English

Subtitles: English

Offered by

University of London

The University of London is a federal University which includes 18 world leading Colleges. Our distance learning programmes were founded in 1858 and have enriched the lives of thousands of students, delivering high quality University of London degrees wherever our students are across the globe. Our alumni include 7 Nobel Prize winners. Today, we are a global leader in distance and flexible study, offering degree programmes to over 50,000 students in over 180 countries. To find out more about studying for one of our degrees where you are, visit www.london.ac.uk

UCL School of Management

The UCL School of Management is the business school of University College London, one of the world’s leading universities, consistently ranked in the global top 20 for its academic excellence and research.

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

Content Rating98%(3,462 ratings)

Week

Week 1

3 hours to complete

Corporate Advantage

Welcome to week 1! This week, we introduce corporate strategy and its main goal: corporate advantage. To deepen our understanding of corporate strategy, we compare it with business strategy. We also cover sum-of-the-parts analysis, an often used technique to value multi-business firms, and we discuss how it relates to corporate advantage.

3 hours to complete

8 videos (Total 48 min), 7 readings, 1 quiz

8 videos

Welcome to Corporate Strategy!3m

Examples of Multi-Business Firms4m

Defining Corporate Strategy2m

Understanding Difference 1: Number of Businesses4m

Understanding Difference 2: Corporate Advantage7m

Understanding Difference 3: Competition7m

Conducting a Sum-of-the-parts Analysis12m

Why We Cannot Infer Corporate Advantage from a Sum-of-the-Parts Analysis4m

7 readings

How to Use Discussion Forums10m

Get to Know Your Classmates10m

Optional: Example of a Sum-of-the-Parts Analysis10m

Lecture slides10m

Chapter Corporate Advantage45m

Glossary10m

Assessment2m

1 practice exercise

Corporate Advantage20m

Week

Week 2

3 hours to complete

Diversification

Welcome to week 2! A key decision in corporate strategy is determining which businesses a firm should be active in. This week we look at the diversification decision: entering a new business.

3 hours to complete

11 videos (Total 59 min), 4 readings, 2 quizzes

11 videos

Examples of Diversification4m

Understanding the Basic Modes of Diversification7m

Understanding the Diversification Test5m

Understanding Synergies8m

A Five-step Approach to the Diversification Decision2m

Step 1: Finding Synergies6m

Step 2: Identifying Resource Gaps4m

Step 3: Identifying Candidates3m

Step 4: Evaluating Ally or Acquire7m

Step 5: Evaluating Organic or Inorganic Growth6m

Concluding the Five-step Approach to the Diversification Decision1m

4 readings

4Cs Synergies Framework10m

Lecture slides10m

Chapter Diversification25m

Introduction to quiz on Microsoft-Linkedin acquisition10m

2 practice exercises

Diversification30m

Microsoft-Linkedin acquisition30m

Week

Week 3

2 hours to complete

Divestiture

Welcome to week 3! A key decision in corporate strategy is determining which businesses a firm should be active in. This week we look at the divestiture decision: exiting from a business.

2 hours to complete

9 videos (Total 36 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes

9 videos

Examples of Divestiture4m

Understanding the Basic Modes of Divestiture4m

Understanding the Divestiture Test7m

Understanding the Regional Perspective3m

A Three-step Approach to the Divestiture Decision1m

Step 1: Finding Synergies5m

Step 2: Identifying Better Parents5m

Step 3: Choosing Divestiture Mode2m

Concluding the Three-step Approach to the Divestiture Decision1m

2 readings

Lecture slides10m

Chapter Divestiture: Stay or Exit10m

1 practice exercise

Divestiture30m

Week

Week 4

3 hours to complete

Corporate Headquarters

Welcome to week 4! A key decision in corporate strategy is determining how to organize to create value across businesses. This week we look at corporate headquarters and how they can influence the different businesses. If you get stuck on the quiz or assignment, you should post on the Discussions to ask for help. (And if you finish early, I hope you'll go there to help your fellow classmates as well.)

3 hours to complete

9 videos (Total 49 min), 5 readings, 2 quizzes

9 videos

Example of Corporate Headquarters2m

Who Controls Corporate Headquarters?6m

How to Control More than You Own6m

Understanding HQ Influence Models5m

Understanding the Financial Perspective3m

Understanding the Uncertainty Perspective4m

Understanding the Synergy Perspective9m

Understanding the Social Perspective3m

Using the Synergistic Portfolio Framework6m

5 readings

Course review2m

Lecture slides10m

Chapter Designing the Corporate HQ10m

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Corporate Strategy