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?
Offered By
University of London
UCL School of Management
University of London
3,661 enrolled
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week
13 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.
8 videos (Total 48 min), 7 readings, 1 quiz
8 videos
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
23 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.
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.)
11 videos (Total 59 min), 4 readings, 2 quizzes
11 videos
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
Diversification12m
Microsoft-Linkedin acquisition30m
Week
33 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.
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.)
9 videos (Total 36 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes
9 videos
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
Divestiture8m
Week
42 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.)
9 videos (Total 49 min), 5 readings, 2 quizzes
9 videos
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
Further readings10m
Introduction to quiz on resource allocation10m
2 practice exercises
Corporate Headquarters10m
Resource allocation30m
4.7
40 Reviews33%
started a new career after completing these courses
33%
got a tangible career benefit from this course
25%
got a pay increase or promotion
Top Reviews
Studied Corporate Strategy on my MBA at London Business School many years ago under Phanish Puranam. This course was a great refresher on motives of Corporate Strategy. Can recommend.
Great course, very clear explanations. Would highly recommend! The textbook is also very informative and anyone taking a strategy course would benefit from reading it.
Instructor
Bart Vanneste
Associate ProfessorUCL School of Management
About 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
About 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.
UCL counts 30 Nobel Prize winners amongst its academics and alumni, and the School takes full advantage of being part of a world-leading university through its interdisciplinary outlook, and builds on close collaborations in both research and education with other UCL departments, including computer science, engineering, economics, psychology, public policy, statistics and medical sciences.
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