Strategic Analysis

Catalog description

This course provides an introduction to the basic frameworks of modern strategy that aim to help firms establish and sustain competitive advantages. The objective of this course is to introduce students to the role of the “general manager,” who is faced by core strategic choices that concern the long-term performance of the firm, and provide them with the necessary skills to formulate and implement effective strategies. This course is equally relevant for students who want to work with companies as consultants, attorneys or investors, helping clients understand and solve critical strategic issues. From this course, you’ll learn to think critically and analytically about competitive business situations. You’ll also learn to embrace uncertainty, ambiguity and complexity of these situations, and to help firms improve the decision making process with sensible and actionable solutions. Firm performance is jointly determined by external economic and internal organizational forces. As a general manager, students need to have the ability to conduct strategic analysis at both the firm and industrial levels. To help them develop these analytical skills, this course is organized around four questions that are central to firms' strategic decisions: • What is the firm’s external environment? • What is the firm’s competitive advantage? • With whom should the firm compete? • How should the firm compete? To answer these questions, we will cover the following four main topics in this course: • Industry analysis: the environment, opportunities, threats, industry competition • Firm level strategy: competitive advantage • Competitive dynamics • Corporate strategy This course combines interactive lectures and case analyses. While the lectures provide a synthesized theoretical framework as the guidance for logical thinking, the case analyses offer an opportunity to integrate and apply the…