About this course: The purpose of this course is to present, analyze and discuss the different facets of business strategy formulation. Emphasizing that strategy can be seen as a unified theme that provides coherence and direction to the actions and decisions of a firm, we will cover a variety of business strategy topics concerned with firm positioning in the context of different markets, industries and locations. At the end of the course, you will be able to: - Identify why a strong strategy is essential for the future business success - Formulate a business strategy that suits the needs and visions of your organization - Explain why managers too often formulate sub-optimal strategies - Extrapolate measures to optimize current business strategies Workload: 2-4 hours per week.
Created by: Copenhagen Business School
Taught by: Marcus Møller Larsen, Assistant Professor, Strategic Management and Globalization
Department of Strategic Management and Globalization
| Basic Info | Course 2 of 4 in the Strategic Management and Innovation Specialization |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Introducing strategy formulation
In the first module of this course, we will examine and discuss the foundations of strategy formulation, emphasizing key concepts such as competitive advantage, value creation, planned vs emerging strategy, and strategic fit.
3 videos, 2 readings
- Video: Course introduction
- Reading: Discussion forum
- Video: Defining business strategy
- Video: Competitive advantage
- Reading: Strategy plans
Graded: Strategy formulation
WEEK 2
Industry analysis
Building on the insights generated in the first session, in the second module we explore different industrial organization frameworks and discuss the importance of industry effects on firm performance. Keywords of this module include competition, industry attractiveness, and the ‘Five forces’-framework.
7 videos, 7 readings, 3 practice quizzes
- Video: Vestas and the wind turbine industry
- Reading: Vestas Wind Turbines
- Practice Quiz: Attractiveness of the industry
- Video: Business environment
- Reading: Aviation trends
- Practice Quiz: Aviation trends
- Video: Competition from substitutes
- Reading: The cost of energy
- Video: Threat of entry
- Reading: The case of Suzlon
- Video: Rivalry between established competitors
- Reading: The threat from China?
- Video: Bargaining power of buyers
- Reading: The vulnerability of the wind turbine industry
- Video: Bargaining power of suppliers
- Reading: The supplier's fault?
- Practice Quiz: Industry attractiveness
Graded: Industry analysis
WEEK 3
Resources and capabilities
The purpose of this session is to understand the role of firm resources and capabilities in building and formulating a strong strategy. In particular, we will discuss concepts such as the value chain, core capabilities, heterogeneous resources, and the VRIO framework.
5 videos, 6 readings, 4 practice quizzes
- Video: ECCO and the production of shoes
- Reading: ECCO's leather tanneries
- Practice Quiz: ECCO's leather production
- Video: The relationship between resources and competitive advantage
- Reading: The resource based view
- Video: Firm resources
- Reading: Microsoft buying skype
- Practice Quiz: Microsoft and Skype
- Reading: What would FC Barcelona be without Messi?
- Practice Quiz: Lionel Messi
- Video: Organizational capabilities
- Reading: How firms view organizational capabilities?
- Video: Sustaining competitive advantage through resources and capabilities
- Reading: VRIO framework
- Practice Quiz: Time for reflection
Graded: Resources and capabilities
WEEK 4
Global strategies and the multinational corporation
The opportunities and challenges of operating internationally are substantially different to the domestic context. Thus, to understand strategy in a global context, we focus on the multinational corporation and discuss strategic terms like foreign entry mode, location strategies, global integration/local adaptation, and distance.
4 videos, 4 readings, 3 practice quizzes
- Video: Carlsberg in China
- Reading: Reflections of a CEO
- Practice Quiz: Doing business in China
- Video: Defining the multinational enterprise
- Reading: Definitional problems?
- Video: Motives for internationalization
- Reading: East India Company and Google
- Practice Quiz: East India Company and Google
- Video: Integration-responsiveness approach to global strategies
- Reading: The balance act between local and global forces
- Practice Quiz: The case of the global beer industry
Graded: Global strategies and the multinational corporation
WEEK 5
Strategic decision making
In this module, we will investigate the processes of strategic decision making and explore how this matters for firm performance. We will discuss topics such as ‘bounded rationality’, management politics, and hidden costs.
5 videos, 6 readings, 3 practice quizzes
- Video: LEGO’s outsourcing journey
- Reading: LEGO production
- Practice Quiz: LEGO
- Video: Homo economicus and bounded rationality
- Reading: Bad business decisions
- Video: Cognitive limitations
- Reading: Cognitive biases
- Reading: The Mozart of Chess
- Practice Quiz: Decision making
- Video: Strategy as forecasting
- Reading: Strategy as forecasting
- Video: Hidden costs
- Reading: The hidden costs of offshore outsourcing
- Practice Quiz: Dealing with the hidden costs
Graded: Strategic decision-making
WEEK 6
Formulating a Strategy in a 21st Century Creative Company
Drawing on the content covered in this course, your job is to formulate a strategy for the Danish design company e-Types. Specifically, based on an analysis of the firm and the environment, you should formulate a strong strategy for how e-Types should move forward. Background information on the company and the assignment is provided below.
4 videos, 3 readings
- Reading: Assignment information
- Reading: Video info
- Video: Story of e-Types
- Video: e-Type business
- Reading: A strategic dilemma
- Video: Story of e-Types - part II
- Video: e-Types dilemma
Graded: Formulating a strategy for e-Types
FAQs
How It Works
Coursework
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Creators
Copenhagen Business School
Centrally located in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen Business School (CBS) is one of the largest business schools in Europe with close to 23,000 students. CBS offers world-class research-based degree programs at undergraduate, graduate, and PhD levels as well as executive and other post experience programs.
Pricing
| Audit | Purchase Course | |
|---|---|---|
| Access to course materials | Available | Available |
| Access to graded materials | Not available | Available |
| Receive a final grade | Not available | Available |
| Earn a shareable Course Certificate | Not available | Available |
Ratings and Reviews
Covers all the aspects that should be taught to make someone learn strategy formulation
It was really a pleasure, with focused theoretical explanations and useful readings. The task to elaborate every answer in the questionaries in the forum was always a challenge, and forces the student many times to review again the theory. The result is an improvement in learning process.
As good as possible.
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Excellent opportunity to start put in practice the concepts presented in course 1. The Porter analysis and RBV are realy good tools to help companies define strategies.